Toronto – Page 89 – Michael Eats

A Delicious Veggie Sandwich at Forno Cultura

Published on July 4, 2019July 10, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 609 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://fornocultura.com/

I recently had a seriously tasty meal thanks to Toronto Life’s list of the 25 best sandwiches in the city. So it seemed like a safe enough bet to try another entry from that list: the melanzana from Forno Cultura, a great Italian bakery on King Street West.

It’s a roasted eggplant and zucchini sandwich with fior di latte (AKA mozzarella), Emmental cheese, and arugula.

I was tempted by the very tasty looking meatball sandwich, but I stuck with the list, and I’m very glad that I did. The list is on a roll. It’s an amazing sandwich.

The eggplant and the zucchini are both super tasty — they’re meaty and tender, with a very herby, garlicky flavour. The two cheeses balance quite well, with a nice soft creaminess from the fresh mozzarella, and a sharper cheesy flavour from the Emmental. Add in the peppery bite from the arugula, and you’ve got a tasty sandwich.

Though as good as the various fillings are, it’s the sesame-studded focaccia that’s the real star of the show. It’s crispy, fluffy, and amazing.

The sandwich is also exceptionally oily — basically as soon as you pick it up, your hands become slick with grease. Normally this might be a bit much, but I think that oil was also a vehicle for the aforementioned herby, garlicky flavour, because the whole sandwich was tasty and amazing. It never feels overly oily.

I should have left it at that, but I made the mistake of getting the cornetto cioccolato for dessert. It looked so good!

It tastes absolutely nothing like it looks. It was barely sweet at all, and the texture was oddly crunchy and dry. It was, weirdly enough, very similar to a pretzel. Not a warm, fresh pretzel; the dry kind from a bag. I don’t know if that was intentional, but I’m guessing it wasn’t because it was blatantly unappealing. It was quite saltine-esque.

Still; it’s hard to stay mad a place that serves a sandwich that delicious.

Tasty Flavours at Knockout Ice Cream

Published on July 1, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 342 Westmoreland Avenue North, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/knockout_icecream/

Knockout Ice Cream is a new ice cream shop in a formerly industrial area that’s recently become a foodie hotspot — places like Parallel and Famiglia Baldassare are right around the corner.

I’m interested in a new ice cream place by default, but the fact that this is the latest venture from Arthur Pezzelli, who was also involved with Bang Bang and Koishi, clinches it. Bang Bang serves what is clearly the best ice cream in the city, so of course.

The set-up is quite Bang Bang-esque, with the flavours listed on the wall behind the register, a freezer selling to-go tubs to the left, and a space that’s basically just big enough to order and then leave (they have a few chairs outside the entrance).

No ice cream sandwiches, however, though they do have a machine to make bubble waffles.

I tried the dulce de leche, which has a deep, intense caramel flavour (the ice cream itself tastes like dulce de leche rather than having sauce swirled inside). It was also incredibly rich and creamy, so it’s clearly top-tier ice cream.

It was a touch too sweet, however, and the texture was gummier than I’d like, so I don’t think Bang Bang has anything to worry about quite yet. But the place literally just opened (June 21st, according to their Instagram); assuming they work out the kinks, I think it could easily become one of the better ice cream shops in the city.

Guava BBQ Shortrib Medianoche at La Cubana

Published on June 28, 2019July 10, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 392 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://www.lacubana.ca/

I had a bit of an iffy meal on my last visit to La Cubana, but if the sandwich I just had was any indication, that was just a blip on the radar. La Cubana is still very, very good.

Specifically, I had the Guava BBQ Shortrib Medianoche, which Toronto Life recently called the 11th best sandwich in the city. I don’t always agree with Toronto Life’s opinions on food, but in this case they’re dead on. It’s outstanding.

The sandwich features a very generous amount of shortrib topped with “red cabbage slaw, chimichurri, pickled jalapeno, crispy onion.” It’s served on a soft bun they bake in-house.

The shortrib itself is absurdly good. It manages to be melt-in-your-mouth tender while still retaining its texture. It has a nice beefy flavour that’s complemented perfectly by the guava BBQ sauce — the sandwich is saucy as hell (there was a huge pool on the plate when I was done eating), but the sauce is so good that it feels just right. It’s sweet, but it has a tangy, zippy bite that balances it out.

Everything else complements it perfectly. The crispy onions are really tasty, and you get a good amount of crunch and acidity from the slaw and the jalapenos. It’s a great mix of flavours and textures.

And the bun is soft and fluffy, with just enough substance to hold up to the saucy, generously stuffed sandwich. It’s so good.

Creamy Japanese Pancakes at Fuwa Fuwa

Published on June 27, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 408 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.fuwafuwapancakes.com/

Like Hanabusa Cafe in Kensington Market, Fuwa Fuwa specializes in Japanese souffle pancakes, which are basically like a cross between a pancake and a custardy souffle.

I’ve already talked about Hanabusa Cafe; you can probably just read that post to get a sense of what Fuwa Fuwa is like. They’re very, very similar.

I ordered the cookies and cream, which comes with two pancakes topped with Oreo-cookie-infused cream, a whole Oreo cookie, and a scoop of ice cream on the side.

It’s quite good — the pancakes are light, fluffy, custardy, mildly sweet, and very creamy. The only noticeable difference between this place and Hanabusa Cafe are that the pancakes here are slightly creamier. I couldn’t tell if they were slightly underbaked, or if that was intentional. Either way, they were very tasty.

The cookie-laden cream compliments them well, though the ice cream was overly sweet, with an odd flavour I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

Great Fish Tacos at Seven Lives

Published on June 26, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 69 Kensington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://sevenlives.restaurantsnapshot.com/

Seven Lives serves what is frequently called the best fish taco in the city, which makes deciding what to order there quite easy. It’s the fish taco. It’s gotta be the fish taco.

I’ve actually been wanting to try this place for quite a while, but it’s popular; the place routinely has a line-up going out the door, and it’s a tiny restaurant. If you don’t get a seat on one of the two benches out front, or at the one table inside, you’re out of luck. You’ll just have to eat and walk, which is a bit of a challenge with their generously-stuffed tacos.

It’s worth the wait and the hassle. It is as advertised: it’s clearly one of the best fish tacos in the city, if not the best.

It consists of a very generous piece of fried haddock topped with cabbage, pico de gallo, and a garlicky sauce. Everything works really well together. The fish, in particular, is delicious; it’s super tender and flaky with a very satisfying crispy exterior that never overwhelms the fish itself.

The toppings are great — the cabbage and the pico de gallo add some nice freshness and crunch (not to mention an acidity that helps cut through the fried fish), and the creamy sauce brings a nice garlicky bite.

My only real issue here are the two corn tortillas, which were a bit stale (corn tortillas are one of those things that pretty much have to be consumed within minutes rather than hours of being cooked — they get stale fast). But that’s a minor complaint for an otherwise superlative taco.