jam – Michael Eats

Tasty (and Unique) Ice Cream at Good Gang Ice Cream

Published on September 20, 2025September 20, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 656 Annette Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.goodgangicecream.com/

Good Gang’s been scooping up ice cream for a few years now, though they’ve only just moved to their new location on the west end in the last few months. Judging by the pretty serious line when I showed up on a recent Sunday afternoon, it’s a hit.

I should note that their hours are currently a bit odd (they’re open from Friday to Sunday, 3:00pm to 8:00pm), but they’ll presumably be expanding a bit in the coming weeks and months.

When I visited, they had an assortment of 19 flavours — most of it interesting, oddball stuff like black currant leaf, majicha brownie, and salted yuzu.

(I should also note that the format of the menu is quite similar to the one at Bang Bang, which makes me wonder if maybe the owners here used to work there? I will very strongly advise you to not try to look into this by googling “Good Gang Bang Bang,” however. No ice cream facts to be found there, that’s for sure.)

I got a scoop of the toast flavour (“sourdough bread base, haskap jam”), and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

They’re clearly starting with very good quality ice cream — it’s thoroughly rich and creamy, and based on this one scoop, seems to be up there with the best stuff in the city.

And the flavour is quite satisfying. I don’t know if there’s any particular sourdough flavour, but the bread — broken down into soft, fine crumbs — adds a pretty distinct personality to the scoop, and the jam adds a nice fruity sweetness (without being overly sweet). It’s really tasty.

Steakhouse Teen Burger from A&W

Published on May 13, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3300 Bloor Street West, Etobicoke
Website: https://web.aw.ca/en/home

I like A&W. Generally speaking, I think they’re one of the better fast food chains. The Steakhouse Teen Burger, on the other hand? Uh… well, they can’t all be winners, can they?

Here’s how A&W describes it: “A perfectly seasoned grass-fed beef patty topped with sweet and smoky bacon jam, real cheddar cheese, tomato, arugula and creamy peppercorn aioli, all served on a freshly toasted sesame bun.”

It’s that bacon jam. The ads for this thing proudly proclaim that it’s sweet and smoky; I don’t know if I noticed any smokiness, but wow, is it sweet. It’s sweet. I’ve had desserts that aren’t this sugary.

This might have been okay if it has been applied sparingly — a little bit goes a long way — but they had globbed an alarming amount of it onto the burger, and it was all you could taste.

Don’t ask me what the peppercorn aioli tasted like, because I have no idea — the flavour here was 100% pure bacon jam.

And hey, bacon jam can be quite tasty, but this stuff was all jam, no bacon — it had very little bacon flavour, a little bit of tanginess, and a whole lot of sweetness.

I also got unlucky and got a burger patty that had clearly been sitting out for a while, because it was honestly one of the drier hamburgers I’ve had in a long time.

I did not enjoy anything about this. Sorry A&W; I like you, but today was not your day.

Decent Ice Cream Sandwiches at Ernie’s Icebox

Published on October 27, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 403 Jane Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.erniesicebox.com/

Fact: there is no such thing as a bad ice cream sandwich. Cookies + ice cream = delicious. That’s just science.

Which is to say that Ernie’s Icebox specializes in ice cream sandwiches, and they are, of course, good.

Unlike a place like Bang Bang that makes everything to order, the sandwiches are pre-made and kept frozen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but holy moly do they ever freeze the hell out of these things. When they serve it to you, it’s the most frozen thing you’ve ever seen. It’s an impenetrable brick; basically impossible to eat.

I let it stand for about 15 minutes, and it was still rock hard. So I waited yet another 15 minutes, which was probably five to ten minutes too long; it was a bit drippy.

I ordered the peanut butter and jam, which features raspberry (I think?) jam-infused ice cream with chewy peanut butter cookies.

And again, it was good — scientifically, it was an inevitability — but I can’t say anything about it jumped out at me. The ice cream was a bit thin, and nothing about the PB and J combo particularly popped. It was tasty, but both the peanut butter and jam flavours were a bit too muted.

Bizarre Pizza at Big Trouble Pizza

Published on October 25, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 235 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.bigtroublepizza.com/

The dessert pizza at Big Trouble Pizza — called the Butter Jam Jam — is quite odd. It features raspberry jam, butter cream, bocconcini cheese, mozzarella cheese, balsamic reduction, and lemon zest.

It sounds kinda absurd, and… yeah, it’s absurd. I was hoping it would be one of those things that sounds weird but is actually great; no such luck.

It’s not bad, though. It’s generally tasty enough — all of the components are good — but the flavours/textures never quite cohere in any meaningful way. It’s a little too salty for something that’s supposed to be a dessert, and nothing about it particularly pops.

It tastes like something you might whip up in a moment of bizarre inspiration (perhaps under the influence of a certain substance that was just legalized) and then, once you actually try it, never make again.

Still, I didn’t dislike eating it, I guess. And the crust was actually quite good, with a light exterior crispiness, and a pleasantly chewy interior. It definitely makes me want to go back and try one of the traditional pizzas.

Gelato Disappointment at La Viziatta

Published on October 2, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2470 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: None

La Viziatta might be the oddest gelato shop I’ve ever been to. It’s inside a video game store.

I don’t mean that they’re neighbours, or that they sell gelato on one floor and games on another. I mean that it’s a video game store with a gelato counter.

But sure, why not? I’m sure the costs to operate a business in a high-traffic spot like Yonge and Eglinton are quite high. So if you can split them with someone else, you may as well go for it.

And they have an interesting assortment of flavours, including the one that brought me here: peanut butter and jelly.

Sadly, it’s not nearly as amazing as you’d hope. The gelato isn’t particularly creamy, the peanut butter flavour is fairly anemic, and the “jelly” is actually an overly sweet syrup rather than jam or jelly. None of the elements are particularly offensive — I ate it all, and if you put another cup in front of me I’d eat that too — but nothing is as tasty as it should be.

Of course, it’s hard not to compare it to the PB and J flavour at Bang Bang, which is almost unfair — that might just be one of the best scoops of ice cream that I’ve ever had. It’s the exact opposite of what they’re serving here: it’s super rich, it has an intense peanut butter flavour, and the balance with the jam is absolutely perfect.