steak – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Upgraded Street Meat at Nobs’

Published on November 28, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 505 University Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/nobsofficial/

Nobs’ is a street vendor with a really interesting setup; it looks like a hot dog cart, but you won’t find a dog or a sausage on the menu. Instead, they serve a variety of meaty sandwiches (and mushroom for the vegetarians) that are cooked sous vide and finished on the grill. Ideally, this means that the meat will be perfectly cooked, with a nice smoky crust from the fire.

And yeah, that’s what happened.

I ordered the AAA Canadian Blade Steak Sandwich, which comes topped with greens, chimichurri, mayo, and pickled onions.

The steak was perfectly tender, with a good amount of exterior texture from the grill. The rest of the sandwich is quite tasty, too, with the vibrant, garlicky chimichurri matching well with the creamy mayo.

The bread is also great — it’s fresh, with a nice crispy exterior, and enough heft to hold up to the very substantial sandwich.

But the flavours are overwhelming. In particular, the garlic in the chimichurri packs an absolute wallop. It’s intense. It’s delicious, mind you, but it’s basically all you can taste. The beef is mostly just there for texture; the flavour is completely annihilated.

The whole thing is really good; I just wish I could have tasted more of the steak (or any of the steak).

An Excellent Steak Sandwich at Completo

Published on September 4, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5 Coady Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://completo.club/

There are a lot of ways that a steak sandwich can go wrong, but when it’s good, it’s really good.

Completo, a tiny little take-out spot on the east end that describes itself as serving “Latin fresh fast food,” has a steak sandwich that’s very, very good.

The steak sandwich is dubbed the classic churrassco. Pork or chorizo are options, but trust me, you want that steak. It’s topped with diced tomato, avocado, mayo, roasted red pepper sauce, and hot sauce.

It’s one of those sandwiches where everything is just right. I don’t think there’s a single thing that I’d change.

The steak is outstanding. You could put it on two slices of plain Wonder Bread and it’d still be an amazing sandwich. It’s tender, it has a nice crust from the griddle, and a very satisfying beefy flavour.

The other stuff is just the icing on the cake. The mayo and avocado add a nice creamy heft, though it’s the spicy/sweet combo of the hot sauce and the roasted red peppers that really makes the sandwich sing. You have the choice between mild, medium, and hot; I went with hot, and yeah, it’s hot. But the spice works so well with the sandwich’s other flavours. And of course, the fresh bun suits the sandwich perfectly. It’s pretty amazing.

Solid Tacos at Grand Electric

Published on August 20, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 923 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: http://grandelectrictoronto.com/

Though Grand Electric doesn’t get nearly the amount of buzz that it did when it first opened, it’s still chugging along. In fact, they’ve just recently opened a new location a bit further east on Queen (though it’s still on the west end of the city).

When I visited the original location a few years ago, they had some pretty out-there stuff on the menu, like a scrapple taco and pig head fries.

The menu here is much less ambitious than that — there’s nothing beyond the usual suspects (chicken, fried fish, etc.).

It might not be particularly exciting, but if the two tacos I tried were anything to go by, they still know exactly what they’re doing.

The first one I tried was the shrimp taco, which consists of a few generously-sized pieces of fried shrimp topped with a zesty sauce, lettuce, onion, and cilantro.

The shrimp is nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked, with a crunchy exterior that doesn’t overwhelm. The sauce basically tastes like a variation on shrimp sauce, and the other components add a good amount of freshness. It’s a solid taco.

Up next was the Carne Asada, which features steak topped with cilantro, chopped onions, and a couple of salsas. This was even better than the shrimp; the steak was super tender and very nicely marinated, with a nice vibrant flavour that never overwhelms its beefiness. And the salsas compliment it perfectly.

Outstanding (if untraditional) Philly Cheesesteaks at Illstyl3 Sammies

Published on November 5, 2018November 5, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 300 Richmond Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Illstyl3-Sammies-227723081025310/

I’ve mentioned before that it’s surprisingly difficult to find a classic Philly cheesesteak in the city (i.e. just steak, onions, and Cheese Wiz or provolone on a roll).

But if every cheesesteak could be as delicious as what they’re serving at Illstyl3 Sammies, then classic shmassic. Because it’s far from traditional, but exceptionally delicious.

And it’s classic enough. The steak, the onions, and the gooey provolone are all perfect. In particular, the steak is exactly as it should be — it’s super tender, and has enough of a beefy taste to assert itself even among the very assertive flavours of the sandwich.

Specifically, they liberally season the beef with some kind of spice blend (the fennel stands out the most, but there’s definitely a lot going on here), and they add in hot peppers along with the onions. They also top the sandwich with a zesty house-made hot sauce that adds a ton of flavour and a very mild spiciness.

The taste is very far from a classic cheesesteak, but it’s got the three things you’re hoping for: it’s beefy, cheesy, and delicious.

My only real complaint is that the roll was a bit on the dry side, but other than that this was a top-shelf sammich.

Amazing Roast Beef at Woodfire Sandwich Co.

Published on August 1, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3797 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.woodfiresandwich.com/

You can’t go wrong with a really good sandwich. And the folks at Woodfire Sandwich Co. certainly seem to know their stuff.

In particular, the First Date — a roast beef sandwich with crispy onions, arugula, gorgonzola, sauteed mushrooms, and mayo — was something special.

The sandwich is crammed with an absolutely absurd amount of rare roast beef; this would be overwhelming with lesser quality beef, but here it’s amazing. The meat is perfectly tender, with a really satisfying beefy flavour that’s only amplified by the fact that they serve it cold.

Beef and mushrooms are best friends, so I don’t need to tell you that this combination was great. The cheese and the mayo add a nice amount of creaminess, and the peppery arugula does a great job of keeping the sandwich’s richer flavours in check.

It’s served in a sesame seed roll that perfectly straddles the line between lightness and heft; it makes its presence known and holds up well to the onslaught of beef and mushrooms, but it never overwhelms. It’s a great roll for a great sandwich.

I also tried the fried chicken sandwich, which was less great (or more accurately: not great at all). It was fine, but nothing about it stands out. The exterior didn’t really have the crisp factor that you’re looking for in a great fried chicken sandwich, and the seasoning was ho-hum. Plus, the chicken itself (white meat, sadly) was slightly overcooked and a bit dry. It was a perfectly acceptable sandwich, but nothing about it stood out like the amazing roast beef.