GTA – Page 104 – Michael Eats

Another Decent Breakfast Sandwich at Egg Bae

Published on July 24, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 189 Augusta Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://eggbae.ca/

I think it’s safe to say that Egg Bae isn’t for me. I think it’s fine — actually, it’s better than fine. All of their sandwiches use high quality ingredients that are prepared well; they’re just not particularly to my taste.

The last sandwich I tried — the eponymous Egg Bae — was tasty enough, but I found it to be one-note soft and rich.

This time, I went with a pick from Toronto Life’s list of the 25 best sandwiches in the city: the Eh Bae Bae (“Soft Scrambled Eggs, Sweet and Spicy Bacon, Muenster Cheese, Tomato, Arugula, Pickled Shallots, Bae Sauce”).

Once again, the individual components are all top-notch; the sweet bun is fresh and fluffy, the bacon is meaty and satisfying, the Muenster is nice and gooey, and the eggs are ultra creamy and luxurious.

But while this sandwich actually has a bit more balance from the pickled shallots, it needs a lot more; it’s incredibly rich. It does have some texture thanks to the bacon and the veggies, but it’s still mostly just soft overload.

That’s not to mention that between the glazed bacon and the very sweet bun, it’s an intensely sweet sandwich.

Still, it’s enjoyable enough — but considering the quality of the ingredients, it could be so much better.

Simultaneous Love and Hate at Blackbird Baking Co.

Published on July 23, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 172 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://blackbirdbakingco.com/

You win some and you lose some.

I just tried the almond croissant from Blackbird Baking Co. On one hand, the croissant itself is fantastic; it’s lightly crispy on the outside, satisfyingly buttery, and has an absolutely perfect texture. The exterior crispiness is maybe a bit too subtle, but for the most part it’s one of the better croissants I’ve had in the city.

But the almond part of this almond croissant is disappointingly anemic. Almond croissants are traditionally stuffed and topped with almond paste; the paste on top gets crispy and caramelized, and the paste inside is gooey and sweet.

That’s how it’s supposed to be, at least. Here, on the other hand, the layer on top was so thin that it may as well not have even been there, and it was filled with a crumbly, dry almond mixture that had almost no sweetness. It’s not at all what it’s supposed to be.

I get wanting to put your own spin on a classic, but if you’re going to do that, maybe make sure that your new creation actually tastes good?

Still, the croissant itself is so amazing that it basically doesn’t matter. Just don’t expect anything particularly sweet or almondy.

A Simple (but Delicious) Sandwich at Mattachioni

Published on July 22, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1617 Dupont Street, Toronto
Website: http://www.mattachioni.com/

If it weren’t for Toronto Life’s list of the best sandwiches in the city, there’s no way I would have ordered the mortadella sandwich at Mattachioni. Aside from the fact that the pizzas looked very, very good, the mortadella sandwich is quite bare bones — it’s just mortadella and fresh mozzarella on tomato focaccia bread.

But of course, sometimes the simplest things are the best. If you’re dealing with really good quality ingredients, less is more.

The contrast between the tender, salty mortadella and the creamy mozzarella works really well (fresh mozzarella has a radically different texture than the rubbery shrink-wrapped balls at the supermarket — it’s soft, creamy, and luxurious).

The fluffy, slightly chewy focaccia is quite good too, though I wish it had a bit more texture (it was soft throughout). It was also soaked through with olive oil; it gives the sandwich a nice greasy heft, though it might have been a little bit too much of a good thing.

Still, it’s a very tasty sandwich. I don’t think I’d put it on my list of the best in the city, but I don’t begrudge anyone for putting it on theirs.

I also got to try a little bit of the Margherita pizza, which was absolutely outstanding (I didn’t take a picture of that one, sadly, so you’ll just have to take my word that it looked and tasted amazing).

They have both custard and dulce de leche bomboloni for dessert (a.k.a. Italian doughnuts). I tried both, and while they were tasty, they definitely weren’t on the level of the sandwich or the pizza. They were a little bit too dense, with a slightly oily flavour.

A Decent Sandwich at Gold Standard

Published on July 19, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1574 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: http://breakfastsandwich.ca/

There’s basically nowhere to go but down from Gold Standard’s breakfast sandwich. It’s bordering on sandwich perfection.

I just tried the Sabich from Gold Standard’s new location on Queen, and yep: it’s not as good as the breakfast sandwich. It’s not even close.

The sabich, per their menu: “egg salad, fried eggplant, cucumber, pickles, parsley.”

It’s fine. It’s decent enough, but the breakfast sandwich is clearly the thing to order here.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with it; the egg salad is nice and creamy, as is the meaty eggplant. The cucumber adds a bit of crunch, though some additional texture would be nice.

The biggest problem is that all of the components are basically on the same wavelength; the flavour is one-note. It’s boring. It needs some acidity to round things out. The pickled onions add a slight vinegary bite, but there isn’t enough of them to make much of an impact.

Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons

Published on July 18, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4100 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/index.php

The Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons is way better than it has any right to be. Is it particularly good? No, not really. Would I order it again? Absolutely not. But it’s perfectly acceptable. It’s not gross.

Maybe that’s a low bar. But Tim Hortons isn’t exactly known for having an appetizing lunch selection. And their last foray into the fake meat game — the Beyond Sausage breakfast sandwich — featured an impressive emulation of actual meat, but was otherwise pretty lousy.

Beyond Meat has clearly been evolving their product since I tried the Beyond burger at A&W last summer. I found that one to be off-puttingly mushy. The texture of the burger I just had at Tim’s was much, much better.

If you compare it to a good quality burger, it’s pretty much garbage. But! It actually compares quite favourably to the frozen burgers that are served all over the city. If I had eaten it blind, that’s what I would have assumed it was. It’s impressive.

In fact, I think I might have liked this a bit better than that type of frozen burger; those ones sometimes have a gamy, off meat flavour that’s a bit off-putting. This one, on the other hand, has a generic meaty flavour that’s not unpleasant. Again, it’s not particularly good, but it’s not bad either. It’s fine.

They top it with cheese (which isn’t melted, of course), lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mustard, which successfully covers up the patty’s lack of a beefy flavour. Between the assertive condiments and the impressively accurate cheap burger texture, you’d never know that you’re not eating a lousy (but real!) hamburger. I know that’s not exactly high praise, but I’m actually really impressed.