cheese – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Great Sandwiches at Leslie’s Sandwich Room

Published on February 7, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 969 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.lesliessandwichrooms.com/

Leslie’s Sandwich Room is a great little sandwich shop on the east end. Pretty much every sandwich on their menu is something I want to try immediately, but I did manage to narrow it down to a couple.

Up first: The Cure (“focaccia, salmon, beets, horseradish dill mayo, rye croutons”). This was basically like an upscale tuna salad sandwich, with a really great flavour and texture on the salmon (and zero fishiness), and with some nice pops of flavour from the beets, not to mention the creaminess from the horseradish mayo. And the focaccia its served on works perfectly, with enough substance to hold up to the overstuffed sandwich, but not so much that it overwhelms.

The highlight here might have been the rye croutons, however. It never would have occurred to me to put croutons in a sandwich, but their satisfying crunchiness perfectly balances out the softness of the other components here.

I also tried La Bomba (“focaccia, roasted chicken, white American cheese, sriracha mayo, sweet pickles, spicy garlic bomba”). This was a really satisfying sandwich: meaty, cheesy, spicy, and profoundly rich. I kinda wished there was something here to cut the heaviness a bit (the pickles are presumably supposed to do that job, but they’re more sweet than zippy, and get a bit lost among the other flavours), but it was still a top-notch sandwich.

Tasty Slices at Di’s Pizza Pies

Published on January 25, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 115 St. Paul Street, St. Catherines
Website: https://www.dispizzapies.com/

Yeah, Di’s Pizza Pies is in St. Catharines and is a bit of a trek from the GTA, but if you’re in the area or passing by, it’s worth stopping in.

They had a few slices on offer; I went with the pepperoni (“Red Sauce, Mozzarella, Battistoni Cup and Char Pepperoni, Pecorino”).

The pizza is interesting. I sort of assumed this was going to be the usual thin crust, NYC-style pizza that you can find at so many pizza joints in the GTA. But the focaccia-like crust is actually quite different from that style of crispiness and chewiness, with a crunchy exterior and a fluffy, bready interior.

It definitely works, with the more substantial crust doing a great job of holding up to the flavourful sauce, salty peperoni, and generous amount of cheese. It’s a great slice.

Matty Melt Sandwich from KFC x Matty Matheson

Published on January 20, 2026January 20, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1610 The Queensway, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

KFC is making a pretty big deal out of their collaboration with celebrity chef Matty Matheson. At the location I went to, there was signage all over the restaurant, and even the bag was emblazoned with Matheson’s name. It’s in the news. People are excited!

And sure, it is kinda exciting. An ostensibly talented chef teaming up with a fast food joint? Yeah, I’m all over that.

There are three new items in this promotion: the Matty Melt Sandwich, the Matty Melt Slider, and the Matty Mega Melt Poutine. Hilariously, that poutine weighs in at a whopping 2390 calories (??), which seems like it’s probably too many calories? I briefly considered ordering this just for the novelty of it, but I just don’t think I’ve reached the level of self-loathing required to want to consume a 2400 calorie poutine from KFC. Sorry.

So I went with the Matty Melt Sandwich: “The Matty Melt Chicken Sandwich features our signature triple-breaded chicken fillet layered with cheese sauce, sweet caramelized onions, and creamy mayo, all stacked on a potato bun.”

I did not enjoy this sandwich. It’s that “cheese sauce,” which has zero cheese-like properties and is mostly just one-note salty in an oddly unpleasant way. If you served this to me blind, I never in a million years would have guessed that it was supposed to be a cheese sauce.

KFC doesn’t mention this in their description, but the only flavour there (aside from the vaguely off-putting amorphous saltiness) is truffle oil. I might be wrong, but there’s either truffle oil in there, or something that tasted a lot like truffle oil to me. I’m not particularly crazy about truffle oil, so can’t say I enjoyed this. Your milage may vary if you like the stuff more than I do.

The only other thing that differentiates this from a standard KFC sandwich are the caramelized onions. Some sweetness actually would have been nice, considering how salty the sandwich is, but I can’t say the onions added much.

It probably didn’t help that the chicken itself had obviously been sitting out for quite a while, and was dried out and chewy around the edges. This is partially my fault — the last time I visited this particular KFC location, I had a bad experience and someone commented that it was “the worst KFC in the GTA.” But that was a few years ago, and I had hoped things had gotten better since then. Clearly not! Oh well.

Amazing Pizza at Tony’s Sourdough Pizzeria

Published on January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 45 Mill Street West, Elora
Website: https://tonyssourdoughpizzeria.com/

Tony’s Sourdough Pizzeria opened a few months ago with a decent amount of hype. That’s despite the fact that it’s way out in Elora, which is a bit of a trek from the GTA, putting it mildly (it’s about an 80 minute drive for me). So when I found myself in the area? Yeah, of course.

It’s a popular place. I showed up right when they opened at 11:30, and it was already pretty packed. Reportedly, they only make 100 pizzas a day before they sell out, so showing up early seems advisable, particularly if you’re making the trek from Toronto.

I kinda wanted to try every pizza on the menu, but I only have so much stomach space, so I went with the meatball and onion: “Fior di Latte Mozzarella | Italian Meatball | Caramelized Onion | Pecorino Romano | Fresh Basil.”

Wow, it was good. It’s that crust. A lot of places advertise that their pizzas are made with sourdough, and if you really concentrate, you can kinda identify a mild sourdough flavour. Here, on the other hand, the sourdough flavour is front and centre, with a noticeable tang that gives the pizza a whole bunch of personality.

And it’s perfectly cooked. The pizza is Neapolitan-adjacent, with a perfect leopard-spotted crust and a great balance between its light exterior crispiness and the chewiness within. It has a bit more heft than your typical Neapolitan pizza, which totally works with the generously-topped pie.

And yeah, the toppings are stellar, too — the meatballs, in particular, are absolutely packed with flavour and have a great tender texture. I could eat a million of these just on their own, but combined with everything else here, it was profoundly delicious.

It’s a ridiculously long drive for a pizza, so… is it worth it? Yes. Yes it is. It legitimately might be among the 10 best pizzas I’ve ever had.

Double Cheesy Melt from McDonald’s

Published on January 7, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I don’t think it’s possible to have too much cheese on a fast food cheeseburger. Generally speaking, I want the beef to be the star of a hamburger, even a cheeseburger, but a fast food burger with fast-food-quality beef patties? Sure, pile on the cheese. The more the better.

And McDonald’s definitely piles on the cheese with this one. Here’s how they describe it: “Two juicy 100% Canadian beef patties with a delicious cheesy sauce, two processed cheese slices, grilled onions, crispy onions and pickles on a warm toasted sesame seed split bun.”

I think the fact that they’re using smaller patties rather than the Quarter Pounder patties that you might expect really helps to tip the cheese-to-beef balance in favour of the cheese. The cheese isn’t kidding around here, that’s for sure.

I liked it. The cheese sauce tastes exactly how you want it to taste: extremely processed, but in a satisfying way. The grilled onions are a nice touch, and make the burger feel a bit more deluxe than your typical McDonald’s fare. And the crispy onions, as always, are tasty and add some nice texture.

I will say that I wish there were more pickles in the burger, or some sauce other than the cheese. The pickles do a great job of rounding things out by cutting through the richness of the cheese, but they’re not in every mouthful; the pickle-free bites feel like they’re missing something.