chocolate – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Susie’s Rise & Dine, Dear Grain, The Saj Wraps

Published on March 24, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Mapo Frito Pie from Susie’s Rise & Dine at the Taste of Little Italy

The food at last year’s Taste of Little Italy was a bit of a disappointment — it was mostly an assortment of generic street festival stuff, without a whole lot of local flavour. There were a few gems, however. Most notably: the Mapo Frito Pie from Susie’s Rise & Dine, which consists of a bag of Fritos topped with a seriously tasty chili (that, as the name implies, is infused with mapo tofu flavour). They serve this at the restaurant, and clearly I’m going to have to check the place out.

Buckwheat cookie from Dear Grain

I can’t say I’ve ever had a buckwheat cookie before, but if the one from Dear Grain is anything to go by, I need more buckwheat cookies in my life. It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie, but with a nuttiness and earthiness from the buckwheat. It’s also got a nice sprinkling of salt on top to cut through the sweetness. It’s a very good cookie.

Sujuk saj wrap from The Saj Wraps

I feel like, very broadly, there are two types of restaurants: restaurants you’re happy to go out of your way for, and local joints that are solid, but not exciting enough to warrant any kind of trek (well, I guess there’s also a third kind — a bad one — but I make it a point to not discuss anything I outright do not enjoy on this blog). I’d classify The Saj Wraps as more of a local place — the wrap I tried was solid, but nothing about it particularly jumped out at me.

Top-Tier Gelato at Death in Venice

Published on March 21, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1418 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://deathinvenice.ca/

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Death in Venice, which I remembered being very good, but perhaps not up there with the best in the city.

Well, clearly I was extremely wrong about that, because the flavour I just had at Death in Venice? Some of the best gelato I’ve ever had. Crazy good.

The flavour in question: cheeseboard (“made up of all the ingredients of a classic cheeseboard, brie cheese, white wine, pears, jam, honey and berry jam. Perfect balance of sweet and savoury.”)

I’ll admit that I ordered this because it sounded like a fun novelty — the type of flavour that’s more interesting than delicious. I was 100% incorrect. Dangerous levels of deliciousness.

I thought the savoury flavour of the cheese might be overwhelming (I’ve had blue cheese ice cream that went a bit too hard on the blue cheese, making it somewhat unpleasant) but it all goes together so well. There’s a very, very mild savouriness, but it enhances rather than detracts from the sweet gelato.

I wish I had taken a photo of the gelato once I had started eating it — the photo above makes it look a bit plain, but there was actually a pretty generous amount of tasty jam swirled throughout, not to mention walnut chunks that add some nice texture.

There was a lot going on with the flavour here, but it all works so well. And the quality of the gelato itself was perfectly rich and creamy. Seriously: top five gelato of my life.

I should note that I came back a week or two later and tried the bourbon and smoked chocolate gelato (“For real chocolate lovers… We smoke our dark chocolate and cook it with bourbon. Once we add cream and milk this thick and dense gelato becomes the ultimate chocolate treat”). It was just as good, with an intense chocolatiness, and noticeable pops of flavour from the smoke and the bourbon.

You’d think those other flavours might overwhelm the chocolate, but they complement it so well. Clearly, any ranking of the best gelato in the city that doesn’t include this place is flat-out wrong.

Okay, I’m going to update this one more time, then I should really post it. I came back another couple of weeks later and tried the soft serve, which features two rotating flavours. When I went, one of the flavours was chocolate mousse, and holy moly — it was maybe the best soft serve I’ve ever had? It tasted just like a really great chocolate mousse, but in soft serve form. It had a profound chocolately flavour, and was intensely creamy and rich. Ridiculously good.

Tasty Gelato at Kati Thai Gelato

Published on February 25, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 567 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/katitoronto/

Note: This location has closed since I visited, but you can check their Instagram for other locations.

As you’d guess from the name, Kati Thai Gelato serves gelato that’s infused with Thai flavours. As you probably wouldn’t guess from the name, they also serve a variety of savoury Thai snacks like grilled pork skewers and bao buns.

I stuck to the gelato side of things, and had a scoop of the Milo: “A nostalgic childhood favourite, featuring the rich, chocolatey taste of Milo (chocolate malt powder).”

They certainly have more interesting flavours here, but I have a hard time saying no to anything Milo-related. It’s malty, chocolatey, and delicious.

It’s predictably tasty in gelato form. Why wouldn’t it be? The gelato itself is maybe a bit thin, but it’s very smooth with zero iciness, and has a nice hit of Milo flavour.

Quick Bites: La Casa Dolce, The Fourth Man in the Fire, Petite Bouchée Patisserie

Published on February 16, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Chocolate chip cookie from La Casa Dolce

I certainly wasn’t in a rush to go back after my last visit to La Casa Dolce, but I was in the area and craving something sweet, so sure, why not? I went with the chocolate chip cookie this time, because it’s basically impossible to mess that up. That’s one of those things where even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. And this one: not bad! Not great, certainly, but it had a good amount of decent quality chocolate chips (bittersweet, I think), a nice chewy texture, and it wasn’t too sweet. It felt like something was missing, however (vanilla, maybe?), which held it back from being much better than pretty good, but I still enjoyed it.

Meatball sandwich from The Fourth Man in the Fire

I’ve written about the pizza from The Fourth Man in the Fire a couple of times on this blog, and in case you don’t feel like clicking on that link: it’s great. I like it a lot. So I decided to try their meatball sandwich this time (“Meatballs (Beef and Pork Mix), Povolone. Served on Fresh Baked to Order Bread”), and yeah, it’s good. In particular, the flavourful, tender meatballs were actually pretty amazing, and the ultra-rich tomato sauce they come with is the stuff dreams are made of. I want to bathe in the stuff. Oddly, I was expecting the bread to be the highlight (I like the crust on their pizza quite a lot) and it wasn’t. It got the job done, but I think it might have been slightly underbaked, with a mildly doughy consistency that I wasn’t crazy about.

Chocolate cake from Petite Bouchée Patisserie

I picked up a chocolate cake from this place after reading several references to it being the best in the city, and hey, wouldn’t you know it — it just might be. The cake itself is delightfully tender and fluffy, and the rich and creamy frosting is crammed with a delicious, chocolately flavour. It’s very sweet, but not in a way that feels overwhelming or cloying. Immediately after eating it, we were all making plans to order another one. So yeah, it’s quite good.

Tasty Cheesecake in a Jar at Laila’s Cheesecake Co.

Published on February 10, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 855 Browns Line, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.lailascheesecake.com/

It’s hard to go wrong with cheesecake, and Laila’s definitely makes a tasty one. Which is good, because it’s literally all they serve.

You can get whole cheesecakes, slices, or individual jars of cheesecake, which seems to be their specialty. The jars come in two sizes: four ounce or eight ounce. I found the four ounce serving to be a perfect amount, but eight is there if you really want to cheesecake it up (or if you’re sharing).

They have a variety of flavours like salted caramel, blueberry, and cherry; I went with caramel chocolate pecan.

It’s really good. It’s sweet but not too sweet, with a nice balance of flavours between the chocolate, caramel, and tart cheesecake (with another nice dose of texture and flavour from the graham cracker crust at the bottom). The NY-style cheesecake base is just the right amount of dense and creamy. It’s a satisfying dessert.