steak – Page 2 – Michael Eats

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).

Tasty Korean Fusion at Oddseoul

Published on August 25, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 90 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/90oddseoul/

I know some people are down on the whole small plates format, but I like it. It’s always nice to try a variety of stuff. I guess the main complaint is that you wind up paying more for less food, but that’s not an issue here; with a couple of exceptions, pretty much everything on the menu is in the low- to mid-teens, and the portions are surprisingly generous.

I tried a few things. First up is the spicy scallion and avocado slaw: “mixed greens, cabbage, pickled chilies, bell peppers, crispy shallots, sweet and spicy sesame dressing.” This was a fantastic salad — it’s got a great variety of textures (crispy, crunchy, and creamy) a zippy dressing, and nice pops of acidity from the pickled chilies.

Up next was the squash poutine: “tempura squash, cheese curds, curried gravy, roasted kimchi, pickled onions.” This has very few poutine-like properties (the gooey cheese is fully liquefied, the gravy — while delicious — tastes nothing like a traditional gravy, and the squash can’t really be compared to fries), but whatever it is, it’s very tasty. I wish the squash were a bit crispier, but I’d happily order this again.

The loosey (“Korean Big Mac, served on Texas toast”) was the closest thing to a miss, and even it was tasty enough. The beef was too tightly packed and a bit tough, and none of the flavours struck me as particularly Korean or McDonald’s-esque. Still, it’s a decent enough burger.

Last but not least was the bulgogi cheesesteak (“sliced marinated steak, American cheese, sambal mayo, toasted baguette”). Crossing bulgogi and a Philly cheesesteak is actually kind of ingenious, and the bulgogi here is super tasty. I wish it had been a bit cheesier (it had one thin slice of partially melted American), but it’s still a great sandwich.

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.

A Decadent Meal at Joe Beef

Published on October 30, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2491 Notre-Dame Street West, Montreal, Quebec
Website: https://joebeef.com/

Joe Beef is frequently called one of the best restaurants in Canada, so if you find yourself in Montreal and you don’t mind splurging a bit (okay, a lot — it’s pricey), it’s a must.

I tried a few things. The first was… some kind of tart? This wasn’t on the regular menu and I forgot to take a picture of the blackboard where they wrote down the specials (I also forgot to take a picture of the inside of the restaurant — I’m really good at blogging, as you can tell).

I’m not even sure how to describe this thing. It was somewhat souffle-esque, and it was absolutely drenched in an ultra-rich, buttery sauce. It was outstanding. It’s exactly the type of dish you’re hoping to eat at a really nice restaurant; it’s a delightful alchemy of luxe ingredients and high-end techniques that you could never possibly replicate at home, or even in a normal restaurant kitchen. Every bite was pure magic.

Next up was the “côte de veau sauce ‘vieux téléviseur'”, which was a veal chop covered in an ultra-rich, buttery sauce (ultra-rich and buttery is definitely a theme at Joe Beef). This was just as good as the tart, with the tender beef being absolutely jammed with flavour, and with the rich sauce complimenting it perfectly. It seems relatively simple, but holy moly, the extent to which this was better than pretty much any other steak I’ve ever had was insane.

The side was some kind of braised greens (this also wasn’t on the menu, so I’m not sure exactly what it was). This was a pretty standard version of this dish — tasty, but not mind-blowing. My photo of this turned out pretty blurry, so you’ll have to use your imagination. It was just a pile of greens on an oblong plate, so not much imagination is required.

The only big let-down of the night was, oddly, one of Joe Beef’s signature dishes, the lobster spaghetti. This was perfectly delicious, but the heavy cream sauce was one-note rich, and the chunks of lobster were overcooked. It certainly wasn’t unpleasant to eat, but coming from a restaurant of this caliber, it’s a disappointment.

Quick Bites: Amanecer Salvadoreño Restaurant, Frenchie’s Doughnuts, 3 Mariachis Mexican Restaurant

Published on August 17, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Papusas and a combination plate at Amanecer Salvadoreño Restaurant

This is a fantastic hidden gem in north Etobicoke. I heard that the papusas are the thing to order here, and yeah, they’re top-notch. But the rest of the menu is no slouch; I also tried the combination plate that came with steak, shrimp, and plantain, and everything was very, very good.

Blueberry cheesecake doughnut at Frenchie’s Doughnuts

Frenchie’s has a fun gimmick that makes them feel delightfully distinct from a run-of-the-mill doughnut shop: they fry their doughnuts fresh and then top them to order (you can either pick from one of their pre-topped selections, or customize your own toppings). I went with the blueberry cheesecake, and the highlight was the doughnut itself; it’s cakey and still warm when you get it, like a full-sized version of Tiny Tom’s.

The Mariachi Platter at 3 Mariachis Mexican Restaurant

That beast of a plate is the Mariachi Platter, which comes with a chicken enchilada, two chorizo tacos, a shredded beef burrito, Mexican rice, guacamole, beans, pico de gallo, and a zippy green sauce. As the menu says, “why have one when you can have it all?” Why indeed. I shared this, obviously — I’m not Andre the Giant — and pretty much everything was quite tasty, particularly the burrito, which was crammed with tender, tasty beef. The taco was a bit dry, but aside from that it was a delicious (and huge) plate of food.