food – Page 76 – Michael Eats

Descendant: Still Some of the Best Pizza in the City

Published on September 25, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1168 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: http://descendantdsp.com/

Though I generally like to visit places I haven’t tried when I eat out, exceptions have to be made. Especially in the case of a restaurant serving food as great as Descendant, which makes superb Detroit-style pizza. It’s a strong contender for the best pizza in the city.

And yeah, it’s still great.

I tried a couple of pizzas — the Gatt-Daddy (“house made fennel sausage, Mama Lil’s Peppers, red onion, sauce, basil aioli, fresh parsley & basil”) and the Jaffna (“kothu roti, mango chutney, cilantro cream, green onion, Calabrian chilis, fresh cilantro, coconut sambol”).

Orrdering a pizza as bizarrely topped as the Jaffna might be a dicey proposition at a lesser pizza joint — but Descendant is not a lesser pizza joint. Aside from making technically superb pizzas, Descendant does an amazing job of taking seemingly bizarre flavour combos and doing something special with them. The Jaffna is sweet, spicy, savoury, and tangy in all the best ways.

The Gatt-Daddy is more traditional, and of course, they knock it out of the park.

It helps that the pizza itself is so good — the crust is delightfully crispy on the bottom, and dense enough to hold up to the voluminous toppings while still being delightfully fluffy and amazing. It’s a balancing act, and one that Descendant pulls of beautifully.

And of course, there’s that Detroit-style pizza trademark — the ring of dark, crispy goodness around the pizza where the cheese has come into contact with the square pan. It’s so good.

Cupcake Perfection at Bobbette and Belle

Published on September 24, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1121 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: http://bobbetteandbelle.com/

I’ve already mentioned Bobbette and Belle, a delightful bakery on the east end (they also have a location north of the city).

I quite enjoyed the last cupcake I had here — the cookies and cream — but the pineapple coconut variety I just had blew it out of the water. It was outstanding. It might have been the best cupcake I’ve ever had, and that’s not a proclamation I make lightly.

Holy moly it was so good. I only have the one photo, because I wasn’t planning on blogging about it, but then I ate it and of course I have to blog about it.

The balance between the fluffy buttercream icing and the perfectly moist cake is phenomenal, and the coconut and pineapple flavours work incredibly well together. That’s not to mention the toasted coconut on top, which adds more flavour and a delightful crispiness.

Seriously: it’s ridiculous how delicious this cupcake is.

A Decent Sandwich at Flock

Published on September 23, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 97 Harbord Street, Toronto
Website: https://flockonharbord.com/

The first time I had the pulled rotisserie chicken sandwich from Flock, I wasn’t a fan. It had obviously been assembled in advance and put in the fridge, and it was clammy, with a uniformly soft texture. None of the flavours popped. It wasn’t great.

But Toronto Life recently called it one of the 25 best sandwiches in the city, so I figured I’d give it another shot.

It’s still not the best sandwich ever, but it’s tasty enough. From their menu: “Ace Bakery Bun, Avocado Spread, Crisp Romaine & Horseradish/Beet/Apple Slaw & Crispy Onion”

This time the sandwich was clearly made to order, which helped a lot. The chicken was warm, fresh, and tasty, and there’s a pretty generous amount of it. The sweet slaw adds a welcoming hit of zinginess, and the avocado is nice and creamy.

I’m a little bit baffled that it wound up on a list of the best sandwiches in the city, but it certainly isn’t bad. It just doesn’t stand out in any particular way.

Perfectly Crispy Cannoli at Holy Cannoli

Published on September 20, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: Follow them on Instagram to see where they’ll be
Website: https://www.holy-cannoli.com/

There’s nothing sadder than biting into a cannoli only to find that its would-be crispy exterior has been rendered soft and chewy by the ravages of time.

Holy Cannoli, which had a booth at the recent OssFest street festival, avoids this problem quite definitively by filling their cannoli shells to order. This is clearly the way to do it. I don’t know why every bakery doesn’t do it this way.

So of course, the shell was nice and crispy, just as it should be. It’s crispy but not overly crunchy — it’s basically the perfect cannoli shell.

You can choose from either chocolate chip or vanilla filling; I went with the latter, and it was creamy, sweet, and tasty. Nothing about it particularly jumped out as being amazing, but it was a solid cannoli.

Roasted Marshmallow at Greg’s Ice Cream

Published on September 18, 2019September 18, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 750 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Gregs-Ice-Cream-441306159216990/

I’ll always have a soft spot for Greg’s. I’ve been going there since I was a kid, and they’re still pumping out some of the best ice cream in the city.

It’s hard to go wrong with anything here, but their roasted marshmallow is pretty much ice cream perfection. Unlike some other roasted marshmallow flavours (Ed’s, I’m looking squarely in your direction), it tastes exactly like a roasted marshmallow — but in ice cream form.

The texture is slightly gummy (and no, this isn’t just because of the marshmallow — all of their flavours are slightly gummy), but it’s otherwise rich, creamy, and perfect. And that flavour is phenomenal. It’s intense but not overwhelming. It’s so good.