tomato sauce – Michael Eats

More Great Pizza at Pizzeria Badiali

Published on July 25, 2026July 25, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 581 Markham Street, Toronto
Website: https://pizzeriabadiali.com/

After years of around-the-block lines at their original spot near Ossington, Pizzeria Badiali has finally opened a second location. Whenever a great restaurant starts expanding, the fear is that the quality will start to dip. Thankfully, that’s not the case here (not yet, at least!).

And the new location is a definite upgrade — it’s got a decently-sized seating area inside, and an even bigger patio out front. I went on a Sunday afternoon around lunch, and while it was packed inside and out, there was barely a line.

Mostly, it’s the same assortment of slices and full pizzas that you’ll find at the original location, with the notable addition of the Grandma Pie: “square, tray baked pizza with mozzarella, fior di latte, sicilian oregano, tomato sauce, pecorino and padano cheeses, olive oil and fresh basil.”

This was fantastic — the crust is slightly thicker than a standard slice, with a perfectly crispy exterior, a nice level of chewiness, and a good amount of flavour. It’s also fairly greasy, but in a way that feels pleasant and not overly heavy. And the balance (and quality) of sauce and cheese is stellar, as you’d expect from Badiali.

There’s always a possibility that a place this popular will coast by on their success and become overhyped, but the pizza here continues to be among the best in the GTA.

A Tasty Veal Sandwich at Buon Giorno Caffe & Panini

Published on February 17, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1134 The Queensway, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.buongiornocaffe.ca/

The last time I visited Buon Giorno Caffe, I was specifically there to try the veal, but was sidetracked by the cold cut sandwich (which was thoroughly delicious — I regret nothing). I finally came back to try the veal sandwich, and yeah, it was worth the wait.

You can have the sandwich topped with mushrooms, onions, hot peppers, or sweet peppers (cheese is also available for a bit extra). To me, all a good veal sandwich needs is some spice, so I went with the hot peppers and left it at that.

I used to have a pretty hardline opinion that the veal in this type of sandwich needs to be freshly fried and sauced on the spot so that it stays at least a little bit crispy. But I’ve come around to the pleasures of the hot table version of this sandwich, which they serve here, where the sauce has had time to really soak into the nooks and crannies of the veal.

It gives you a soft, silky texture that you couldn’t get from a freshly-fried version. It’s different, but if done right, still very tasty.

Spoiler alert: they did it right here, with a generous amount of tasty veal, a whole bunch of rich and flavourful sauce that really sings, and a nice kick from the hot peppers.

The texture of the veal was great; it wasn’t so tender that it was just mush — it still had some bite to it — but wasn’t tough at all. And the hearty bread is the perfect match for the saucy sandwich, retaining its texture and chew even under the deluge of sauce.

Great Pizza at King Slice

Published on February 9, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1598 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.kingslice.ca/

Whenever there’s a discussion of the best pizza joints in Toronto, King Slice pretty much always comes up. They’ve been around since ’89 and predate all the trendy spots in the GTA by a few decades, so clearly they’re doing something right.

And yeah, okay. I just tried a pepperoni slice, and I get it. I don’t know if it’s my favourite slice in the GTA, but it would be in my top 10 for sure.

It’s a simple slice of pizza, but everything is just right: it’s got a good amount of cheese and pepperoni (it’s heavy on both, but doesn’t feel overloaded), the sauce has a zippy richness and definitely doesn’t taste like the canned stuff you might expect from an old-school place like this, and the crust is nicely baked (if a bit bland) with a light crispiness on its exterior.

That’s not to mention the famous garlic oil, which they can either slather on just the crust or the whole slice (I went with the former). This stuff is herby, garlicky, and delicious, and definitely brings the pizza a bunch of personality. The crust is otherwise a bit lacking in flavour, but once you add a bunch of that garlic oil, you’re in business.

The pizza doesn’t taste as fussed-over as some of the trendier joints in the GTA like Badiali or One Night Only (I’m pretty confident that there’s no sourdough or 48 hour proofs happening with the dough here), but for an old-school, no-frills pizza joint like this, it doesn’t get much better.

I liked it so much that I came back about a week later to try the margherita slice, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I should also note that the slices are comically oversized; I don’t think I’ve had such a gigantic slice of pizza since the heyday of The Big Slice (RIP).

Quick Bites: Brodflour, Corleone’s, Villa Madina

Published on January 28, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Pain Suisse from Brodflour

I’ll admit I hadn’t even heard of pain Suisse (which is similar to a chocolate croissant, but with pastry cream and chocolate chips) before seeing it at Brodflour, so I was excited to try it. And yeah, it’s good. I mean, look at it. Of course it’s good. The combo of the gooey chocolate chips and the slightly sweet pastry cream is a clear winner, and the croissant itself — as you’d expect from Brodflour — is stellar.

Veal sandwich from Corleone’s

Corleone’s sells a variety of Italian sandwiches like veal, meatball, and eggplant. I tried the veal, and it was totally fine. Nothing about it particularly jumped out at me (and the bun was a bit gummy) but it’s a solid sandwich. There are a couple of things that stand out about this place, however. One is that they offer a “junior” version of their sandwiches; most places like this sell massive gut-busters that pretty much demand that you take a nap afterwards, so I appreciated that the smaller sandwich here is satisfying without being comically oversized. The other thing I appreciated is that the spiciest version of the sandwich is legitimately fiery, with a generous amount of a legitimately hot pepper paste spread on top.

Chicken shawarma wrap from Villa Madina

Is the shawarma from Villa Madina the best you’ll ever eat? No, absolutely not. But it’s actually pretty decent, and for a eatery from a mall food court, that’s enough. The shawarma has a decent amount of crispy bits and is relatively juicy, and the wrap itself is saucy and tasty. It’s very middle-of-the-road, but it gets the job done.

A Great Veal Sandwich at Palma’s Kitchen

Published on November 24, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3485 Semenyk Court, Mississauga
Website: https://palmapasta.com/

I found this place after typing “veal sandwich” into Google Maps while shopping (hey, sometimes you’ve gotta have a veal sandwich), but Palma’s Kitchen has quite a bit more going on than that. There’s the typical Italian hot table, along with a small but fairly extensive supermarket selection.

They have a handful of sandwiches on the menu; I went for the veal, and had it topped simply, with just hot peppers — I don’t think a good sandwich like this needs anything else, and this is definitely a good one.

It’s that sauce. It has such a delightfully rich, savoury flavour; I could eat it out of a bowl like soup.

The veal is served from a hot table, so its crispiness is long gone, but when the sauce is this tasty and it’s really soaked into the veal (which is melt-in-your-mouth tender), you don’t miss it.

The bread — clearly very fresh — suits the sandwich perfectly, with a very light exterior crispiness, and enough heft within to hold up to the saucy veal (but not so much that it feels overly dense). It’s great quality bread.

I wish the hot peppers were a bit hotter (okay, a lot hotter — they’re only mildly spicy), but this was otherwise a seriously great sandwich.