coleslaw – Michael Eats

Tasty Fried Chicken Sandwiches at Mad Bird Hot Chicken

Published on April 28, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 154 Queen Street South, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/madbird.ca/

There’s certainly no shortage of solid fried chicken sandwiches in Toronto, but Mississauga? That’s a bit more rare. So I was excited to check out Mad Bird Hot Chicken in Streetsville.

They have a variety of sandwiches, wings, and “bird bites” (chicken strips, basically). I went with the Nashville Napalm Sando: “This sando brings serious heat and Southern swagger. Our 48-hour marinated crispy chicken thigh gets baptized in fiery Nashville chili-oil, then stacked with cool Bird’s ranch, crunchy southern slaw, and tangy pickles — all hugged by a buttery brioche bun.”

You can pick your spice level from one to five; the guy behind the counter recommended three, so that’s what I went with.

It’s a tasty sandwich. Nothing about it blew my mind, but it’s nice and crunchy, the chicken is tender, and the slaw and the pickles give it a nice zippiness that cuts through the richness. I’d probably bump up the spice level to four next time, though. The spice level was pronounced, but I want a sandwich like this to really put some sweat on my brow, and this one didn’t quite take me there.

Solid BBQ at Golden Horseshoe Barbecue

Published on November 10, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 657 Dupont Street, Toronto
Website: https://goldenhorseshoebbq.com/

Golden Horseshoe BBQ started life as a pop-up, and opened their permanent location a couple of months ago to immediate hype.

I sort of figured things would have died down by now, but when I showed up just before the place opened at 11:30 on a Saturday, there was already a line waiting to get in. It took about half an hour before I was sitting in front of my food, and the line was even longer by the time I left. So yeah: popular place. Be prepared to wait a bit.

Like most barbecue joints in the GTA over the last few years, they specialize in Texas-style BBQ, and more specifically: brisket.

In fact, when I sidled over to the guy carving the meats so I could order, his first question was “how much brisket do you want?” They just assume you’re ordering brisket, because of course you are. You can try some of the other meats if you want, but the brisket is clearly the specialty.

I got brisket and a sausage link, along with a side of charro beans and coleslaw.

The brisket is nicely seasoned and unctuously tender — I quite enjoyed it. But like pretty much every Toronto-area BBQ joint, the smoky flavour is just barely there (you really have to close your eyes and use your imagination to detect it).

I don’t get it. What’s everyone in this city doing wrong? Is it the local wood? Not enough time on the smoker? The place smelled pleasantly smoky and the brisket had a visible smoke ring, so I’m a bit flummoxed.

Either way, it was very tender and very tasty, but smoky flavour is a big part of the appeal of this type of BBQ, so it’s a shame.

The sausage, oddly enough, was the highlight. It was packed with flavour, pleasantly greasy, and had some nice pops of flavour and creaminess from the cheese interspersed throughout. Again, not particularly smoky, but hugely delicious.

As for the sides, the vinegary coleslaw was crunchy and zippy, and does a great job of cutting through the richness of the meats. And the charro beans (which are basically like a more savoury, less sweet version of baked beans) featured creamy beans and a nice depth of flavour.

Quality Pastrami at Linny’s Luncheonette

Published on May 18, 2025May 18, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 174 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://linnysluncheonette.com/

Whenever there’s a new deli specializing in pastrami or Montreal smoked meat, I sit up and take notice. We have a handful of quality restaurants like this in the GTA, but not nearly enough. There should be one on every block, and there’s what? Like maybe five or six?

The menu here is extremely simple. They serve pastrami, a couple of other sandwiches, and a few sides. It’s also take-out only, so if you don’t get one of the two small picnic tables out front, too bad. Take your food and walk.

The pastrami is quite tasty. The spicing on the meat is weirdly restrained, though, which dials down the flavour and holds the sandwich back from greatness. But otherwise, everything here is exactly where it should be, with thick, hand-cut slices of ultra-tender beef on perfectly-fresh rye bread with just the right amount of mustard (I find a lot of places tend to over-mustard their sandwiches, overwhelming the beef, but here it’s just right).

I will say that although the borderline bland spicing is a bummer, the meat has a distinctly smoky flavour that goes a long way towards mitigating this. And it’s still a great sandwich — it’s just that everything else about it is so stellar that its lack of seasoning stands out more than it would otherwise.

I also got a side order of the coleslaw, which is a great zippy counterpoint to the very heavy sandwich (albeit a little too heavy on the onions for my personal preferences).

Tasty Fried Chicken Sandwiches at Knuckle Sandwich

Published on November 29, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 969 Coxwell Avenue, East York
Website: https://knucklesandwich.ca/

Though Knuckle Sandwich has a variety of sandwiches on the menu, their specialty seems to be fried chicken — it comes first on the menu, and they offer three different varieties (classic, Buffalo, and Korean).

(You’d think there would be a titular “Knuckle Sandwich,” but there is not, which strikes me as a bit odd. You’re really going to name your restaurant Knuckle Sandwich and not have a knuckle sandwich on the menu? Come on.)

I went with the Korean fried chicken (“Gochujang Glaze, Miso Kimchi Slaw, House Pickles”), and I enjoyed it. The sauce was nice and zippy, though the level of crunch wasn’t quite where it should be, the spice level was basically nonexistent, and the chicken itself was a bit dry.

Still, those aren’t huge complaints; the fact that I’m even nitpicking this sandwich is more indicative of how spoiled we are for great fried chicken sandwiches in the GTA than of the actual quality level of this particular one. A few years ago, I would have been blown away by this sandwich, but the current bar for fried chicken sandwiches is impossibly high.

An Enjoyable Sandwich at Henry’s Fish & Chips

Published on November 12, 2024November 12, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 833 Westlock Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/p/Henrys-Fish-Chips-100070019051515/

I’ll admit that I mostly wanted to try Henry’s Fish & Chips because I was driving by and thought, hey, that looks delightfully old-school. And yeah: it is indeed delightfully old-school. The place has been around since 1987; if you’ve been kicking around for that many decades, clearly, you’re doing something right.

Also delightfully old-school: the prices. I got the cod on a bun, which came up to about nine bucks for a fairy substantial sandwich. The chips start at about two bucks, and the small coleslaw cost 66 cents. And if you’re really looking for a deal, one of the fish options is basa — you can get basa, chips, and a can of soda for just under seven bucks.

And the fish is quite good, though I’d definitely order the classic fish and chips over the sandwich next time; the bread is a bit too crusty and substantial, and the fish is so tasty that it just isn’t necessary.

Everything is fried to order, and the fish was nice and flaky and had a crispy, but — and this is key — not overly substantial exterior.

The fries were quite good too, with a great crispy/creamy balance. I saw a few other people ordering the poutine, and yeah, I’m sure that’s tasty.

I should note that the place is pretty tiny inside, with just a couple of small counters if you want to eat in.