steak – Michael Eats

A Tasty, Beefy Sandwich at Giragi

Published on January 4, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto (inside Wellington Market)
Website: https://www.giragito.ca/

Wellington Market at the Well was already one of the better food courts in the city, but the recent expansion — with places like Bear Steak Sandwiches, Chen Chen’s Nashville Hot Chicken, and The Carvery — makes it hard to beat.

Giragi is another one of the newer places in the food court. It’s an offshoot of Taline, a Michelin-noted restaurant, and yeah, they clearly know what they’re doing.

They serve a variety of meats (and falafel) that you can get in a sandwich or a bowl. I went with the davar (beef) which comes topped with “pickled cucumber, hummus, pevaz, toum, chilli, cilantro, parsley.”

It’s a great sandwich. The first bite is pretty much just sauce, but once you get past that, it’s absolutely crammed with good quality beef. It’s basically a steak sandwich with Armenian flavours, and it’s quite delicious.

That beef, in particular, is just right — it’s cut into fairly sizey chunks, but they’re all tender enough, with rosy pink meat within, that this totally works. They also have a very distinctly smoky flavour from the grill. I liked it a whole lot.

Quick Bites: Outback Steakhouse, Blondies Pizza, Insieme

Published on December 20, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse

Remember the Outback? We had a bunch of them around the GTA, but then they abruptly closed down all their locations and, mostly, left Canada altogether. But they’ve got a couple of locations in Niagara Falls, so sure, for nostalgia’s sake, why not? I got the Bloomin’ Onion (of course) and a steak. The steak was just okay (it was mostly pretty decent, but was something like 50% gristle), but the Bloomin’ Onion was actually pretty great. This was always my favourite thing about the Outback, and yeah, it’s just as delicious as I remembered. It was nicely seasoned and perfectly fried, with the individual petals having a great exterior crispiness and tender onion within. And the zesty dipping sauce complements it perfectly. You can find knockoff Bloomin’ Onions at various carnivals and ribfests, but the version at the Outback can’t be beat.

Cheese pizza from Blondies Pizza

I’m not sure why it took me so long to check out Blondies Pizza — they’ve been around for a few years now, and have expanded to an impressive 14 locations. So clearly, they’re doing something right. I tried the plain cheese pizza, and yeah, it’s not bad. But while it’s definitely a step up from chain pizza like Dominos or Pizza Pizza or whatever, it’s not remotely on the level of any of the better pizza joints in the GTA. Most pressingly, the slice I got was fresh out of the oven (it was still hot despite the fact that it was handed straight to me without being reheated), but had a crust that was just one-note soft and chewy, with zero exterior crispiness.

Margherita pizza from Insieme

Speaking of pizza that’s not much better than okay… Insieme. They have a lunch special where you can get a pretty generous salad and a pizza for 18 bucks (or at least they did when I originally wrote this — I’m not seeing any mention of it on their website), so it’s definitely a good deal. And the pizza was mostly pretty solid, with a great amount of char on the crust and a nice exterior crispiness. It’s a bit gummy, however, and I’m not sure what kind of tomatoes they were using, but the sauce was overly acidic (it was downright sour). Still, it certainly wasn’t outright bad, and they have chili oil available by request that really jazzes it up.

Tasty Sandwiches at Paris Steak

Published on May 25, 2025May 25, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 120 Atlantic Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.parissteak.ca/

Paris Steak has an admirably focused menu — you can get their steak (ribeye, striploin, or chuck) in a sandwich, by itself with fries, or on a salad, and that’s about it.

They have a small seating area downstairs, but seem to be mostly a take-out joint.

The sandwich, as per their menu: “Your choice of steak, seasoned and grilled medium rare, served on a buttered ciabatta bun with arugula salad and house-made chimichurri.”

I tried a couple: ribeye and striploin, and both were quite tasty; I slightly preferred the fattier ribeye, but both were perfectly cooked and quite tender, with the toasty ciabatta bun being a great vehicle for the substantial steak.

It’s a very satisfying sandwich, though the heavy-handed application of garlicky, herby chimichurri — while extremely tasty — kinda defeats the point of using dry-aged steak, at least somewhat. While dry-aging does add tenderness, which is certainly a factor here, its main draw is that it adds complexity to the beef’s flavour. That’s almost entirely lost here, with the flavour of the beef being mostly overwhelmed by the chimichurri.

I should reiterate that the thing that’s overwhelming the flavour of the steak is thoroughly delicious, so it feels absurd to complain too much. But I wish that the chimichurri was dialed back a bit so that it could complement the steak without becoming the star of the show. Regardless, it’s a very good sandwich.

The duck fat fries (“fresh-cut fries tossed in duck fat and finished with parmesan crumble”), on the other hand? 100% perfect, no notes. Great flavour, with an amazing crispy/creamy balance. Legitimately some of the best fries I’ve ever had.

Tasty Burritos at Bolets Burrito

Published on March 30, 2025 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 134 Lower Sherbourne Street, Toronto
Website: https://boletsburrito.square.site/

Pretty much any time the topic of the best burrito in Toronto comes up on the Toronto food subreddit, Bolets is mentioned. I finally got around to it recently, and yeah: it’s quite good.

They have a handful of meat options (including some esoteric choices like Buffalo chicken and sweet spicy Thai), but the steak seems t o be the one they’re most known for, so that’s what I got.

The burrito comes crammed with steak, along with the usual assortment of rice, beans, and veggies.

The steak is tender, plentiful, and very well seasoned, and the proportion of meat to veggies to sauce is spot on. I asked for it hot, and while it’s not exactly going to blow your head off, it’s got a good kick. There were a couple of inedible gristly bits in the steak, which was unfortunate, but otherwise I really enjoyed this.

Is it the best burrito in the city? I don’t know, but it’s probably a contender.

Quick Bites: Brodflour, Harry and Heel’s California Donuts, Super Serve

Published on February 2, 2025February 2, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Steak sandwich from Brodflour

Brodflour sells the best sourdough sandwich bread in the city; that’s just a fact (though a lot of bakeries that might have been in contention for this crown take themselves out of the running by refusing to slice their bread, which is just baffling to me). I was in the bakery to pick up a loaf and saw a pile of steak sandwiches that I couldn’t resist. I mean, if you can see this display and not immediately demand to eat one of these sandwiches, you and me are very different people:

This isn’t on the regular menu, but I wish it was. It’s a top-notch steak sandwich, crammed with a whole bunch of great-quality beef and a zippy, garlicky sauce that complements it perfectly. And, of course, the sourdough flatbread that it’s served on is very good. The steak was slightly tough in spots, but this was otherwise a seriously tasty sandwich.

Sour Cream Glazed from Harry and Heel’s California Donuts

I love a good sour cream glazed doughnut, and this was a tasty one. I kinda wish they had an unglazed option (it’s very, very sweet), and I could barely taste the chocolate on top, but the doughnut is crispy, cakey, and delightful. I quite enjoyed it. Harry and Heel’s specializes in raised doughnuts rather than cakey ones, so I’m going to have to go back at some point to try one of those. I should note that if you’re looking for this place, it doesn’t have its own storefront — it’s inside Fourth Man in the Fire, a pizza joint.

Strawberry Sundae from Super Serve

If you’ve been missing Sweet Jesus, which has lost all but a handful of its locations over the years, you’ll be happy to hear that Super Serve is very, very similar. They have a few sundaes on the menu, along with the option to customize your own. I went with “Serve 3,” which is a chocolate/vanilla twist that comes topped with cookie crumbs and strawberry sauce. It’s tasty enough, though the quality of the soft serve is only about on par with what they have at Dairy Queen or McDonald’s (to go back to the Sweet Jesus comparison, their ice cream is noticeably richer and creamier).