sandwich – Page 13 – Michael Eats

A Solid Sandwich at Banh Mi Boys

Published on June 24, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 392 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://banhmiboys.com/

Remember Banh Mi Boys? They opened back in 2011, and were thoroughly amazing. They were one of my favourite places for a quick bite downtown. But then they expanded and, like with so many places, the quality went downhill. After a couple of particularly iffy sandwiches, I stopped going altogether.

But it’s been a few years, and I figured it was time to give them another shot. And hey, what do you know — they’re pretty good again. I don’t know if they’ll ever hit the highs of their early days, but it was a really solid sandwich.

I had the five spice pork belly banh mi, and yeah, it was tasty. The pork was slightly tough and the flavours don’t quite pop like they used to (and the spice level was sadly anemic, despite asking for it hot), but this was otherwise a satisfying banh mi. The bread was nice and fresh, and the abundant pickled veggies do a good job of cutting through the richness of the pork.

Amazing Sandwiches at BEAR Steak Sandwiches

Published on June 20, 2024June 20, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 550A College Street, Toronto
Website: https://bearsteak.ca/

BEAR Steak started out small, serving sandwiches out of someone’s house — a pandemic-era pop-up that was popular enough to graduate to a real-deal restaurant (albeit a tiny one with just enough room to grab your sandwich and go).

The place has gotten an enormous amount of hype since it opened, and let me tell you: it’s all 100% deserved. The hype is real.

They only have a couple of sandwiches on the menu: roast pork, and their specialty, the original steak sandwich. The sandwich is beyond simple — it’s just thickly-sliced flank steak and chimichurri sauce on a Portuguese roll. It’s so good.

You have to be pretty confident in what you’re serving to slice the steak this thick; if the meat isn’t perfectly tender, you’re going to end up pulling it out of the sandwich after your first bite, and no one wants that. But the medium rare beef here somehow manages to be buttery tender while still having a satisfying meaty bite.

It’s also got a great beefy flavour that lets you know they’re using the good stuff. The zippy, garlicky chimichurri adds a nice brightness that complements the beef perfectly, and the lightly crusty bread has just enough substance to hold up to the meat without overwhelming. It’s one of the best sandwiches in the city.

Quick Bites: Union Chicken, Poke Poke, Bake Code

Published on June 16, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Nashville Lightning Hot sandwich from Union Chicken

I had the Buffalo chicken sandwich from Union back in 2019 and found it to be absolutely delightful; well, I recently tried the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, and yeah, it’s very, very good. It’s got that same addictive combo of exterior crunchiness and interior juiciness, and it’s really tasty, with a nice zippy flavour that cuts through the richness of the chicken. The toasted bread it comes on was a bit dry/boring, and I wish the sandwich were spicier (it’s barely hotter than mild), but overall it’s a superlative fried chicken sandwich.

Poke from Poke Poke

Poke Poke is thoroughly okay. I had the O.G. bowl (“classic salmon, seaweed salad,
avocado, corn, edamame, masago”) on white rice (brown rice, cauliflower rice, greens, and noodles are also choices), and it was perfectly tasty. Nothing about it particularly blew me away (it’s a bit overstuffed with toppings and understuffed with salmon — given that it came up to just over twenty bucks with tax, a more generous helping of fish would have been nice), but I’m not mad I ate it.

Salted Egg Yolk Croissant from Bake Code

I tried the PB&J croissant from Bake Code a few years ago and enjoyed it, though I found the croissant itself to be just okay. I have very similar thoughts about the salted egg yolk croissant, which features a generous amount of tasty, custardy filling, but is otherwise nothing too mind-blowing. I’m also not convinced that a croissant is a better vehicle for this particular filling than a more traditional bun, but I can’t deny that it’s tasty.

Tasty Eats at Do West Fest

Published on June 10, 2024March 8, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Do West Fest is a surprisingly massive street festival (it covers about 1.5 km, from Landsdown to Ossington) with a whole bunch of tasty eats. I tried a few things.

Heirloom’s Hot & Honey Big Crunch from Heirloom Food Truck

I was actually quite excited about this one. I tried the Szechuan fried chicken sandwich from this food truck a few years ago, and thought that it was basically fried chicken perfection. It was crazy good.

So when I saw the Heirloom truck, I figured another fried chicken sandwich was a safe bet. They have a few on the menu (though not the Szechuan, sadly), but the Hot & Honey Big Crunch caught my eye. “Crispy chicken breast, hot & honey sauce, creamy slaw, pickled cucumber, iceberg lettuce, chipotle aioli, brioche bun.”

It’s a solid fried chicken sandwich. It’s nice and crunchy, and features a good balance of sweetness and acidity (alas, very little spice). It’s tasty. But, in my sandwich at least, the chicken itself was pretty dry, as was the thick brioche bun. I still enjoyed it, but that was a bit of a bummer. Certainly, it wasn’t the mindblower that the Szechuan sandwich was.

Strawberry Rhubarb cake from Moonmilk

Moonmilk is a great little ice cream shop and bakery on Dundas. I’ve tried the ice cream on a previous visit, and it was quite tasty. They also sell a handful of cakes; I went with the strawberry rhubarb, and yeah, this place knows what they’re doing.

It’s a pretty simple cake — basically just strawberry and rhubarb layered with buttercream frosting and a fairly plain cake — but it’s thoroughly delicious. It’s kinda strawberry shortcake-esque, with a great balance between the slightly tart strawberry/rhubarb filling and the silky buttercream. The cake has a good amount of substance to it, but isn’t too dense. It’s very good.

Margherita pizza from Acute Pizzeria

Acute boasts that their pizzas are made from sourdough, and yeah, the crust does have a bit of that sourdough tang. It actually works quite well. It’s also clear that they know exactly how to bake it, as it has a nice crackly crust, a bit of char, and a fluffy interior.

I got the margherita, and it was really good for all the reasons that margherita pizzas tend to be really good — they nailed it. I’d say this place is only a teeny-tiny step below top-tier pizzas like Badiali and North of Brooklyn.

Crispy Coconut Shrimp Dumplings from FeasTO

FeasTO is a dumpling truck that’s been around a while (I last tried it in 2019), and given how good their dumplings are, it’s easy enough to see why.

I tried the crispy coconut shrimp dumplings, which feature a great balance between the crispy fried exterior and the perfectly cooked shrimp within. The sauce they put on top was a bit sweet for me (it’s pretty intense), but otherwise these were quite satisfying.

Tasty Fried Chicken at Ghost Chicken

Published on June 7, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 74 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://ghostchicken.ca/

I think you could make the argument that the city has too many places that specialize in fried chicken sandwiches. I’m not saying I would, but someone could make that argument.

My counterpoint: fried chicken sandwiches are delicious and there should be a restaurant selling them on every block.

Ghost Chicken serves a variety of chicken sandwiches, along with wings, chicken strips, and a handful of sides. I went with the Nashville: “fried chicken thigh, Nashville spice blend & oil, sweet pickles, choice of heat: medium, hot, fire.”

It’s a solid fried chicken sandwich. It’s nice and crispy, generously sized, and the chicken itself is pleasantly juicy. The slightly sweet, fresh bun suits it well.

I wish it were a bit more flavourful, though. The chicken is a bit underseasoned, and even the pickles don’t add the zinginess you’re hoping for (I think maybe they weren’t quite pickled enough? They tasted mostly like soft cucumber slices). I ordered the “fire” level of spiciness, and while it did have somewhat of a kick, it didn’t put any sweat on my brow.

Still, it’s generally a well-prepared fried chicken sandwich; it’s hard to go wrong there, even if the flavours could have been amped up a bit.