Etobicoke – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Venerosa Natural Gelato, Stacks, Blackbird Baking Co.

Published on March 2, 2025March 2, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Sicilian pistachio gelato at Venerosa Natural Gelato

Venerosa is a relatively new gelato spot on Queen, and it’s quite good. I don’t really have a ton to say about it. It’s gelato! It’s good! It’s not the best or the worst gelato I’ve had in the city, but it’s leaning much, much closer to “best.” I got the Sicilian pistachio, and it’s nice and creamy, and it has a great pistachio flavour. I will almost certainly be back, though I wish the variety of flavours were a bit more interesting (it’s pretty much all standard-issue stuff).

Classic pancakes at Stacks

Stacks is one of those restaurants at the bottom of a condo tower where you have to pay for parking in an area where paid parking isn’t the norm; that’s a bit of a bummer, but they seem to be doing okay regardless. They have an assortment of sweet and savoury items on the menu; I tried the scrambler wrap, which was fine, and the classic pancakes, which are clearly the thing to order (no surprise at a restaurant called “Stacks”). They’re no-frills pancakes done very well, with a great texture that features a delightful balance between substance and fluffiness.

Jam croissant at Blackbird Baking Co.

The jam croissant at Blackbird is basically an almond croissant, but with the addition of jam. I’ve never had that combo before, but as you’d expect, it’s delicious. It works so well, you have to wonder why you don’t see it more often. The last time I had the almond croissant from Blackbird, I found it to be a bit too subtle in its sweetness, but clearly things have changed because this one had a generous amount of sweet almond filling that’s kicked up by the addition of jam. It’s really tasty, though the croissant itself was a bit on the dry side.

Mike’s Hot Honey Sandwich from KFC

Published on February 20, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 156 The Queensway, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

I mentioned recently that KFC has really been leaning into wacky novelty items of late, which I quite enjoy. Mike’s Hot Honey Sandwich, on the other hand? Pretty standard stuff. It’s just a generic fried chicken sandwich that’s a little bit sweet.

Not the most exciting thing ever, but I guess they can’t all be delightfully weird.

The sandwich, as per KFC’s website: “The Mike’s Hot Honey® Sandwich features our triple-breaded chicken and is topped with signature Mike’s Hot Honey® – crafted from 100% pure honey and chili peppers. It’s also topped with crispy jalapenos for the perfect blend of sweetness and heat.”

(The website doesn’t mention it, but the sandwich also has pickles, and a decent amount of a mildly zippy mayo-based sauce.)

It’s… fine? Like I said, it’s a pretty standard sandwich, though the slight sweetness from the honey does work pretty well. I was afraid it was going to be too sweet, but it was actually pretty subtle. Plus, the zippy pickle slices do a good job of balancing out the honey’s sweetness.

As for the heat, it’s mildly spicy, but nothing that’s going to get anyone too hot and bothered. Even McDonald’s recent attempt at a spicy chicken sandwich, the McSpicy, is hotter.

Mostly, it’s a solid sandwich. Mostly. This is a luck of the draw thing, but the chicken itself was pretty dry and tough. I know they can’t do this (because it would acknowledge that the current way they do things sucks), but if you’re not in a rush, I really wish they’d let you wait for piece of chicken that’s freshly fried, rather than getting one that’s been drying out in a drawer. Oh well.

Cajun Ranch McCrispy at McDonald’s

Published on November 14, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I’ll admit that after the upsettingly bad Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine, I thought, maybe I should give McDonald’s a break? Maybe I don’t need to keep doing this to myself?

But no, I do need to keep doing this to myself. I am compelled. Maybe admitting I have a problem is the first step?

I actually enjoyed this one, though. What do you know!

The Cajun Ranch McCrispy, per McDonald’s website: “A crispy chicken sandwich made with tender and juicy 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken, topped with shredded lettuce, red bell pepper crisps and creamy Cajun ranch sauce, all served on a toasted potato bun.”

I quite liked that Cajun ranch sauce. It had the usual ranch flavour, but was also enjoyably zesty with a very, very mild spicy kick. I’d buy a bottle of that stuff.

And the red bell pepper crisps were a nice touch. They were basically like the crispy onions or crispy jalapenos that McDonald’s has used a few times before, but… with red bell peppers. Little crispy fried bits are always going to be welcome on a sandwich.

Otherwise it’s a standard McCrispy, but that sauce actually does elevate it.

Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine at McDonald’s

Published on November 8, 2024November 8, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I’ll admit that the Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine kind of sent me into an existential panic. Like, where did I go wrong in my life that I’m sitting alone in a McDonald’s on a Friday evening, scarfing down an ill-advised novelty poutine so I can review it for my food blog? What wrong turn did I make to get here?

The Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine is not good. But hey, I ate it. It caused me to look deep down inside myself and not like what I see, but I did eat it and finish it, so of course I’m going to blog about it. Otherwise what was it all for??

Here’s how McDonald’s describes this thing: “this new offering is made with 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken, our World Famous Fries™ layered with stringy cheese curds and savoury gravy, topped with tortilla strips and drizzled with nacho cheese sauce.”

Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit about how bad this is. It’s not gross, I guess, but I didn’t find anything about eating it to be particularly pleasant. It’s mostly just an odd hodgepodge of flavours and textures that don’t particularly belong together.

I think the nacho cheese sauce is the worst offender. I actually like nacho cheese sauce, but combined with the gravy and curds it had an odd sourness that I found off-putting. The tortilla strips were fine, but again, they just seemed odd in the context of a poutine.

As for the big chunks of chicken that they had plopped on top — like everything else, they’re just kinda there, doing their own thing. They don’t really add anything to the dish.

Then there’s the poutine base, which is fine, but I don’t think McDonald’s has a great poutine in the best of times, and this was certainly not the best of times (the fact that the fries were paler and soggier than usual didn’t help).

A Tasty Wrap at Fresh

Published on September 18, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.freshkitchens.ca/

I’ve been to Fresh a couple of times, and thought it wasn’t much better than fine on either visit. So I can’t say my expectations were particularly high on this visit, but you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed my wrap.

I ordered the broccoli Caesar wrap (“Roasted broccoli, heritage blend lettuce, chick’n tenders, Caesar dressing, grilled whole wheat tortilla,”) and when it came, I thought: uh oh. That’s too much green. That is an impenetrable-looking wall of green. That can’t be good.

But the broccoli was nicely roasted and liberally dressed with a zippy, garlicky Caesar dressing, and yeah, it worked. The “chick’n” tenders were crispy and warm from the fryer, and the fake chicken inside was close enough to the real deal that, with all the veggies and dressing, it was quite passable.

I got a salad on the side with the house dressing, which was maybe the oiliest salad dressing I’ve ever tasted? The pool of oil eventually made its way to the wrap and made it slick with grease and hard to eat. But aside from that? A surprisingly tasty meal.