beef – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Tasty Sandwiches at Centre Street Deli Express

Published on March 9, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 995 Bay Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.centrestreetdeli.com/

I’ve written about Centre Street Deli before; I’ve been going there for as long as I can remember, and they continue to serve some of the best smoked meat sandwiches in the city.

They recently expanded to a new location at Yonge and Bloor. It’s substantially smaller than the original location (they call it “Centre Street Deli Express”), but still has a few tables if you want to eat in. And, of course, they’re still serving the same menu.

I got the Old Fashioned sandwich, and yeah — it’s just as tasty as ever. It’s nicely spiced, tender, and delicious.

Is it the best smoked meat in the city? No, probably not — newer places like SumiLicious and Dave’s Genuine Deli would probably take that crown. But for a place that’s been around for decades and is now starting to expand, it’s still very good; they haven’t lost a step.

Tasty Sandwiches at Frank Ranalli’s Pizza & Italian Beef

Published on February 16, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 185 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.frankranallisitalianbeef.com/

I should note that this place is actually inside Woofdawg Hotdog in Kensington Market, so if you’re looking for Frank Ranalli’s signage, you won’t find it.

They serve Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches here, which you can get topped with sweet or hot peppers.

This style of sandwich consists of a hearty amount of thinly-sliced roast beef topped with giardiniera (pickled veggies) and, since I ordered the spicy version, hot peppers. The thing that makes an Italian beef sandwich stand out is the fact that the bread is given a quick dunk in a beefy au jus sauce. It’s a sandwich that pretty much cannot be dry by default. It’s delightful.

They also serve this type of sandwich nearby at Marq’s Chicago Beef, and I’ll admit that I liked that one a bit better (it has a more satisfying beefy flavour), but the sandwich here was still thoroughly delicious.

Delicious Nigerian Food at Afrobeat Kitchen

Published on January 6, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1510 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/afrobeatkitchen/

Sometimes you hear so many good things about a restaurant, you think, is it actually that good, though? Afrobeat Kitchen, a Nigerian place on Queen, is one of those restaurants, and spoiler alert: it is that good.

I tried a couple of things: the party jollof (“A West African celebration staple! Rice cooked in a fiery bell pepper, onion & tomato reduction — comes with peppered chicken”) and the buka beef stew (“luscious beef shank braised in tomato & palm butter sauce with coco rice & fried plantains”). They have three levels of spice, from medium hot to Naija hot — I went with Naija hot for both.

Both were very, very good, though the jollof rice was probably the better of the two. The rice is zippy and spicy (the level of heat on both was a bit more restrained than I was expecting, but this was the spicier of the two), and the chicken is perfectly grilled and topped with a flavour-packed sauce.

Still, the stew was no slouch in the flavour department, with a beefy, slightly sweet sauce and perfectly tender chunks of shank. It also comes with a nicely gooey egg along with lightly crispy slices of tender fried plantain, whose sweetness complements the beef quite well.

Quick Bites: Masa Deli, T.O. Dickens Restaurant, Papi Chulo’s

Published on December 22, 2024December 22, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Sausage and egg breakfast sandwich from Masa Deli

I think my credibility takes a hit every time I say this (hey, I am what I am), but I feel like as far as breakfast sandwiches go, a McMuffin is surprisingly hard to beat. Whenever I get a breakfast sandwich (which inevitably costs two or three times as much as McMuffin) I ask myself: is this better than a McMuffin? And nine times out of ten, the answer is no, not really. The breakfast sandwich at Masa Deli features “chicken sausage, chive omelette, white cheddar, pickles, aioli, hot sauce, English muffin.” It’s tasty, with perfectly prepared eggs and an enjoyably flavourful sausage. But the omelette was a bit too substantial for the sandwich, and all the toppings were so sloppy that the toasted English muffin had thoroughly lost its crispiness by the time I ate it (which was maybe like three or four minutes after they handed it to me).

Bacon Grilled Cheese and BLT from T.O. Dickens Restaurant

I tried a couple of the sandwiches from T.O. Dickens Restaurant, a no-frills joint with a nice patio in Kensington Market — the bacon grilled cheese, and the BLT. Nothing about either of them particularly stood out (and I wish the quality of the cheese were a bit higher), but they were both solid sandwiches. Is it the most exciting option in Kensington Market? It sure isn’t, but everything I tried was pretty good.

Tacos at Papi Chulo’s

Speaking of restaurants with nice patios and solid but unspectacular food… Papi Chulo’s. It’s fine! I tried a couple of their tacos, and both were perfectly tasty. It’s not the type of place that anyone is going to be raving about, but if you’re on Ossington and you’re looking for a nice patio with decent food, you could do worse.

Tasty Wraps at I Am Doner

Published on December 1, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 433 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.iamdoner.ca/

I Am Doner is an oddly-named doner chain from the UK that serves beef doner and chicken shawarma (along with various vegetarian options like falafel and halloumi) that you can either get as a wrap or a bowl.

I ordered the house special, which comes crammed with chicken shawarma, beef doner, falafel, and halloumi. Because why get one thing when you can get everything?? That’s just science. I ordered it as a wrap, which, by default, comes with chili sauce, mayo, and a whole bunch of veggies.

Between the meat, the cheese, the falafel, the various veggies, and the generous amount of sauce, it’s a bit of a mess. It’s ridiculously crammed with stuff. They’re not kidding around, that’s for sure.

It’s very tasty, but there’s so much going on here that it’s hard to even gauge the quality of the individual components. It’s just one meaty, saucy mass of food. I liked it a lot, but I’d probably just pick one of the meats next time so I can have a better idea of what I’m eating.

The bread they wrap it in definitely has a big job to do, because this thing is so overstuffed that it really needs something with heft to hold up to it all. And yeah, it does its job. It’s nice and chewy, and holds together nicely. It’s a very good wrap.