hot dog – Michael Eats

Tasty Eats at Wellington Market in The Well

Published on May 30, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto
Website: https://thewelltoronto.com/eat/wellington-market/

When I was invited to a press event at Wellington Market, the new upscale food court in The Well, my first thought was: do I really feel like braving downtown traffic on a random weeknight, only to arrive at a place where I’ll probably have to talk to people?

I’m lazy and antisocial, you see. But also: free food.

Yeah, the prospect of free food got me. The only thing better than food? Food that I don’t have to pay for.

And oh boy, was there a lot of food that I didn’t have to pay for at this event. If you’re unaware of Wellington Market’s whole deal, it’s basically a food court, but filled exclusively with stuff that’s a bit more interesting than standard food court fare. And on this particular night, every restaurant was just handing out free food like candy on Halloween. It was a free food bonanza; I tried a bunch of stuff.

I think the thing I was most excited about was Japadog, the legendary Vancouver chain (sampled by no less than Anthony Bourdain) that specializes in Japanese-influenced hot dogs.

I tried the chili dog, and while I didn’t notice anything particularly Japanese about the flavour, it was a top-notch dog, with a good amount of tasty chili and a satisfyingly smoky wiener (that’s what she said?). It was one of the better things I ate.

There was also Blue Claw, which specializes in lobster rolls. The lobster roll here was probably my least favourite thing that I ate that night, but hey, they can’t all be winners.

(Also, the lights here did something very weird to my phone’s camera, which I’ve never seen before.)

Rosie’s Burgers has a few locations throughout the GTA. They were handing out chicken sandwiches, and yeah, it was a great sandwich. Satisfying combo of crunchiness/juiciness, and a nice zippy sauce to cut through the richness.

There’s also some dessert shops here, including Shake Therapy, which specializes in milkshakes and falooda, a sweet, milky Indian dessert with ice cream.

I tried the rose falooda and thought it was quite tasty, though the texture was odd (it was basically like drinking a sweet glass of milk with a scoop of ice cream in it). Still, I enjoyed it and would get it again.

Back to savoury, there was Doraji, which specializes in Korean bibimbap.

They were handing out samples of the bulgogi beef bibimbap, which you can top with a number of sauces (I went with the old classic, gochujang). This was comparable to the better bowls of bibimbap I’ve had in the GTA; I quite liked it.

There was also La Cubana, a Cuban restaurant with a couple of locations in the city.

They were serving a sampling plate with the classic Cubano, yucca fries, plantain, and a little doughnut hole. Everything here was tasty, though the doughnut was the highlight, weirdly. It had a great lightly crispy/chewy texture, and just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar.

Then there was Samosarie, which, as you’d assume from the name, specializes in samosas.

They have a whole bunch of funky flavours on offer; I was told the tandoori chicken was the most popular, so I went with that.

I enjoyed it (it really nails the tandoori chicken flavour), though it doesn’t have the crispy fried exterior that you’re expecting. I think it’s baked rather than fried, and it reminded me more of a Jamaican patty than a traditional samosa. It’s not bad; it’s just different.

I was getting quite full by this point, but there was still room for a bit more.

This place is called Sam’s Juices. I guess they mostly specialize in drinks, but they do have a “hot & honey” chicken sandwich on the menu.

There was nothing about this that got my heart rate up in any particular way, but I enjoyed it (and it’s quite possible that I would have enjoyed it more if I weren’t extremely full).

I was pretty much ready to tap out, though I did see a place called A La Table handing out what appeared to be fruit cups, which I figured I could handle.

This turned out to have a bunch of cheese and crackers in there, along with the fruit. I’m not sure who would order this or why, but hey, it exists if that’s your thing.

And that was pretty much that. There were a few more places I wish I could have tried (most pressingly: Ryu’s Noodle Bar, which serves some of the best ramen in the city), but alas, I only have so much stomach space.

(I was thinking about making a Schindler’s List “I could have eaten more” joke, but you know what? I’m too classy for that.)

Quick Bites: Street vendor hot dog, Bao Bar, Ed’s Real Scoop

Published on March 30, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Hot dog from street vendor at King and John

Street vendor hot dogs have mostly disappeared from the city, which is too bad; they’re certainly not gourmet, but when you need a quick bite, they’re pretty tasty. I actually made a short film about street vendor hot dogs back in 2007, so yeah, I like them. This particular one wasn’t the best I’ve had (the secret of a good street vendor dog is to grill it until it’s got a crispy exterior and a smoky, charred flavour, and that didn’t happen here), but for five bucks for a quick meal, it’s hard to complain.

Great Chicken and Crackle Belly baos from Bao Bar

I think part of the reason I don’t want to dwell on negativity on this blog is that it’s very possible to catch an otherwise good restaurant on a bad day. So rather than trash a place that doesn’t deserve it, I feel like it’s a better idea to just focus on the places I like. That being said, I tried a couple of the baos at this place, and nothing about them — not the bread, the meats, or the sauces — was even remotely good (I should note that “great chicken” is the name of the dish, and certainly not my description of it). But then Bao Bar is generally fairly well regarded online, so maybe it was just a bad day.

Pumpkin and sweet cream from Ed’s Real Scoop

I have a love/hate relationship with Ed’s Real Scoop (well, love/hate is a bit strong… love/like I guess?); when it’s good, it’s very good. But I find it to be the most inconsistent of the better ice cream shops in the GTA. But here’s them at their best: on this particular visit I had pumpkin and sweet cream, and both were fantastic. The pumpkin had a really satisfying pumpkin pie flavour, and the sweet cream (which is reliably the best flavour here) was as delicious as usual. Having them together is basically like pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. It’s a boffo combination.

Tasty Fried Corn Dogs at Woofdawg

Published on July 29, 2021 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1357 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.woofdawg.com/

Woofdog used to operate out of a cart (called Kung Fu Dawg), where they made their own hot dogs from scratch and generally outclassed what you’d expect from a street vendor dog.

They’ve upgraded to a permanent location and changed their name to Woofdog; as far as I can tell, not much else has changed. They still make their hot dogs in-house — you can pick from beef and pork, beef, or chicken — and they’re still serving top-quality eats.

On this visit I tried the corn dog, and went with a beef and pork hot dog. You can get one that’s more extravagantly topped, but I went with the basic version that comes with grainy mustard and nothing else.

It’s very tasty, though I’ll admit that I was comparing it to the one I recently had at Disneyland, which, surprisingly enough, was clearly superior. The hot dog itself is very good — it’s meaty, not overly salty, and delicious — but the coating is a bit bland. It’s nice and crispy from the fryer, but it doesn’t have a whole lot of flavour.

Still, the hot dog / mustard combo is so tasty that this is barely even an issue. I think the regular hot dog is probably the way to go here, however.

Tasty Hot Dogs at OHA

Published on June 24, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 21 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/oha_toronto/

Kung Fu Dawg set up shop in a little stand on Ossington last year, and they served up some pretty tasty dogs. Alas, that was a short-lived endeavor; they’ve been replaced by OHA, which describes themselves as a purveyor of “Turkish fusion street food.”

It’s mostly a hot dog stand, however. They have a grilled cheese sandwich and something called a “wet burger” on their menu, but they otherwise serve a variety of hot dogs.

I got the OHA Hot Dog, which comes topped with potato salad and tomato sauce.

It’s a tasty dog. Though it lacks Kung Fu Dog’s nice snappy bite, the all-beef hot dog has a nice meaty flavour and a satisfying smokiness.

It’s topped with a thin tomato sauce that packs a decent amount of tomato flavour (I assumed this would be ketchup-esque, but it’s not particularly sweet or vinegary) and a variation on potato salad called Olivier salad. Potato salad sounds like an odd topping, but its zesty creaminess actually works quite well with the salty and smoky hot dog.

Super Deluxe Hot Dogs at Kung Fu Dawg

Published on July 23, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 19 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://kungfudawg.com/

Remember when street vendor hot dogs were everywhere in the city? There was a time when you couldn’t walk more than a block or two without running into one. I’m not sure exactly why they mostly went away, though I’m assuming it has something to do with the explosion of cheap eats around the city over the last decade or so, not to mention the general foodie-ification of the GTA.

But there are still a handful of old school vendors around the city — or if you’re looking for something made with a bit more care, there’s Kung Fu Dawg on Ossington.

They actually make their own hot dogs and put them in a natural casing, which gives you a snappier bite than a traditional dog. The pickles and many of the condiments are homemade as well, so clearly, this is something a bit more special than your typical street meat.

I ordered the namesake Kung Fu Dawg, which is piled high with fennel slaw, pickles, onions, jalapenos, corn relish, spicy mayo, crispy onions, chili, and cheese.

There’s no easy way to eat this. I tried to pick it up out of the cardboard box it’s served in, but it was so big and unwieldy I couldn’t get a grip on it. Eventually, I had to just embrace the mess and dive in.

It’s really good, and an absolute cornucopia of tastes and textures. It’s pretty much got all the flavours: it’s salty, savoury, sweet, vinegary, and a little bit spicy. It’s crispy, it’s crunchy, it’s meaty — it’s everything at once.

I liked it a lot, but I think there might have been a little bit too much going on. They make their own hot dogs, but there’s so much stuff piled on top of it that you can barely taste it. It may as well have been Oscar Mayer.

Of course, the whole thing is super delicious, so it’s hard to complain too much — but next time, I think I’ll order something a bit more plain so I can see what the actual hot dog tastes like.

Oh, and I also tried the fries; like the hot dog, they were way above average.