Toronto – Page 75 – Michael Eats

Chica’s Chicken: The Best Fried Chicken in the City

Published on October 11, 2019October 17, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2853 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.chicaschicken.net/

I’ve said a few times that Chica’s probably serves the best fried chicken in the city. Well, I take it back. At this point, I can confidently say that it’s not probably the best fried chicken in the city — it is the best fried chicken in the city. It’s insanely good.

I just tried the Small Fry Sando, which is Chica’s “small” sandwich (it’s small only by their standards; it’s quite hefty) that comes topped with coleslaw, pickles, and Chica’s Sauce, which they describe as a Thousand Island-style dressing.

It’s so good. I mean, just look at it. What’s that? You want another angle? Well, okay.

The fried chicken itself is almost improbably delicious — the exterior is crunchy and amazingly well seasoned, and the chicken is profoundly juicy. It’s weird how good it is.

Everything else complements it perfectly, particularly the sauce, which is clearly about a million times better than any Thousand Island I’ve had before. It’s a top-shelf sandwich.

I also tried the fried pickles, and hey, wouldn’t you know it — they’re outstanding. The thinly-sliced pickle chips feature a perfectly crispy exterior; I’ve had some fried pickles where the crisp-factor isn’t quite there, but these are amazing. The zippy, slightly sweet seasoning complements them perfectly, as does the delicious ranch dipping sauce (which, like the Thousand Island, is way better than your average ranch).

Mediocre Doughnuts at Donut Monster

Published on October 10, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 28 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.donutmonster.ca/

Donut Monster is a really acclaimed doughnut joint from Hamilton that recently opened a location in Toronto’s Stackt Market. I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about their doughnuts for a while now — if they hadn’t opened an outpost in Toronto, taking a long drive to Hamilton might have been in order.

I’m so glad I didn’t drive all the way to Hamilton for this.

I tried the Cherry Cheesecake Bullseye, which features sour cherry pie filling, cream cheese icing, and a graham cracker crumble.

I know a lot of people are more concerned about a doughnut’s fillings/toppings than anything else, and on that level this was pretty decent — the balance between the tart cherries and the sweet frosting was actually quite good.

But the doughnut itself was seriously disappointing; it was dense and dry and boring. It was like Wonder Bread. There’s nothing to it. I’m pretty sure the prepacked doughnuts you can get at the supermarket aren’t much worse.

It certainly wasn’t unpleasant, but from a high-end doughnut place it’s a huge let-down.

Tasty Miso Ramen at Ramen Isshin

Published on October 7, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 421 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.ramenisshin.com/

Ramen Isshin is a beloved ramen joint on College near Bathurst — so beloved, in fact, that my phone popped up with a notification out of the blue to recommend it to me, and told me there’s a 97 percent chance that I’ll like it. 97 percent! It’s hard to argue with that level of certainty.

And yeah, I liked it. My phone was correct.

I went with the miso ramen: “Isshin Red Miso blend, wok fried pork, onions, bean sprouts, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, chives green onions, pork belly cha shu & thick twisty noodles.”

It’s quite tasty. The tonkotsu broth has a vibrant flavour that’s a bit one-note in its salty/savoury intensity, but still quite satisfying. It’s not the best bowl of ramen I’ve ever had, but even average ramen is better than most other dishes.

Aside from the broth, all of the add-ins are quite tasty: in particular, the bean sprouts add a nice fresh crunch that helps to balance the bowl’s richness, and the ground pork amps up its meaty flavour.

As for the noodles, they’re thick, chewy, and satisfying. It’s a tasty bowl of soup.

Sweet Greek Doughnuts at Lukumum

Published on October 4, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 484 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.lukumum.com/

The Greek doughnuts (a.k.a. loukoumades) they serve at Lukumum are intensely sweet. They’re also extremely delicious.

I tried loukoumades at Loukoumania Cafe in Vaughan last year; the ones at Lukumum are twice as sweet. Three times as sweet? They’re way sweeter.

I tried a couple of varieties. I went with the classic, which is soaked through with syrup and topped with honey and cinnamon, and the hazelnut, which is soaked with syrup and topped with Nutella and hazelnuts.

Both were delicious, though I preferred the classic. Despite being soaked through with syrup, the exterior remains pleasantly crunchy. The inside is completely suffused with syrup, but it’s not mushy. It’s great. The honey adds even more sweetness, and a nice floral note that goes very well with the cinnamon.

The Nutella variety is tasty as well — Nutella makes anything delicious — but the original is more unique.

The Plant-Based, Beyond Meat P.L.T. at McDonald’s

Published on September 30, 2019September 30, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 980 Dundas Street, Woodstock
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

What have I been up to today? Oh, you know, not much, just driving 120 kilometres to try a veggie burger at McDonald’s. That’s 120 kilometres one way, so 240 kilometres total, or about three hours of driving.

You know, a totally rational, normal way to spend a Monday. Not crazy at all.

Yes, in case you haven’t heard, McDonald’s recently embraced the inevitable and announced that they’re going to be joining the increasingly crowded fake meat game.

They’ve teamed up with Beyond Meat, probably the most famous purveyor of veggie burgers that (supposedly) taste like the real deal, and they’re testing them out at 28 locations in and around London, Ontario.

The faux-burger is called the P.L.T. (Plant, Lettuce and Tomato), and they describe it on their website as “a juicy, plant-based patty made with Beyond Meat® and served on a sesame seed bun with tomato, lettuce, pickles, onions, mayo-style sauce, ketchup, mustard, and a slice of processed cheddar cheese.”

It’s… fine, I guess? It’s a Beyond Meat burger through and through, so if you’ve had one of those, then you know what to expect. The McDonald’s publicity machine is claiming that they’ve been working with Beyond Meat to create a custom patty that matches the flavour of their standard burgers, and maybe that’s true. But if it is, I certainly couldn’t tell.

The advance buzz — that this tastes just like a regular McDonald’s burger — is absolutely, positively not the case. It’s basically fine for what it is, but unless it’s been many, many years since you’ve had a burger at the Golden Arches, you’re not going to be fooled.

The biggest issues are the taste and the texture (so… everything, basically). The flavour is vaguely meat-like, but it also tastes off and lacks anything even remotely resembling beefiness. It’s not gross, but it kind of falls into the uncanny valley of hamburgers.

The texture is about the same — close, but not quite there. It vaguely approximates an actual hamburger, but again, it’s off; it’s a bit too soft and mushy.

I recently had the Beyond Burger at Tim Hortons; this is going to sound completely insane, but that one was better. In this particular case, Tim Hortons’ incompetence worked in their favour — the patty had obviously been cooked in advance and kept warm, which dried it out a bit and helped to reduce the off-putting squishy texture.

Everything else about the burger was fine — the many condiments were all McDonald’s standbys, and they were all tasty enough.

Honestly, it could have used more toppings. The patty was still the dominant flavour, and in this case that’s definitely not a good thing. The version at Tim Hortons was more successful in covering up the flavour of the patty with a welcome deluge of assertive condiments.

Is this worth a three hour drive? For a maniac like me who’s eaten at McDonald’s all over the world, maybe? For everyone else, absolutely not. It’s fine for what it is, but when Tim friggin’ Hortons is beating you at your own game, you know you’re in trouble.