Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

On A Sunny Afternoon, It’s Beer Time

It’s a beautiful Friday afternoon, and the sun is shining bright, so of course my mind turns to a cold refreshing glass of beer.

What’s your favourite sunny day beer?

Light or dark? Hoppy or citrusy? Craft brew or import? Ale or Lager?  Stout or Porter? 

The options are endless and tasty…

So what is your favourite beer?

[ooops… this “other” field was supposed to let us write in options and have you chose from them too… please add your comments below  (click here) if this very limited list doesn’t include your favourite!]

Some of the missing favourites are included below:

Loving The Food Side of Toronto!

Toronto marks the 175 anniversary of incorporation for the City of Toronto.  Happy Birthday Toronto, you don’t look a day over 100!

The Toronto Star just posted Toronto Star’s 175 reasons to love Toronto and their list includes 15 foodie related reasons including a couple of my favourites:

• 30. Dining on pho at 2 in the morning.
• 45. The dim sum is as good as the tapas. (And the antipasti are as good as the panchan. And ...)
• 64. Marvelling at the machines that churn out sweet walnut cakes in Little Korea.
• 127. Feeling like you're the first to discover fresh pupusas on Augusta Ave.

In celebration of our city and it’s fantastic food, I figured I’d put out a call for why you love the foodie side of Toronto.

Gluten Free Toronto

With more allergies and food intolerances popping up, I’m getting more and more requests for restaurants that cater to more than just your tastebuds.

Yesterday, I got a tweet from @hsanderson asking about:

“any good gluten free restaurants that you know of on the cheap?”

The only one on my radar was Magic Oven, who offer gluten-free pizzas as an option for both eat in and delivery.  I thought Danijela's or One of a Kind Pasta also had gluten-free options but I can't confirm.

So I’m asking you. Here’s what we’ve  heard back so far:

• ginger_bee: Live and Rice Bar have some great gluten free options
• thenaomi:  Veda has many gluten-free options
• CherylRonna: Not sure what the "cheap eats" range is. Il Fornello has gluten-free pizza. Does that count?
• cheryljhoward: Magic Oven pizzas are offered gluten free but they charge up to $6 for it. I find them overpriced and not really that good.
• superflashphoto: how about Big Mamma's Boy? http://www.bigmammasboy.ca/
• hsanderson: thanks! I haven't tried Veda, Rice Bar or Big Mamma's Boy yet. Also heard about Deep Blue Fish and Chips, but haven't got there yet

How about it?  Know any good, cheap, gluten-free restaurants we can add to the list?

Technorati Tags: gluten free,toronto,restaurants

Your Favourites from 2008

The final post in this series of Favourites from 2008 is from you.  Favourite restaurant, food or drink event, taste experience, ingredient, dining adventure – they are all options. 

Here are some of the responses that have already come in via twitter (@ceto)

michalhay what about Cafe Crepe on queen west, definitely under $15 or even under $10 including a drink

• Cafe Crepe, 246 Queen St W, 416.260.1611, CheapEats Toronto pg. 49

TO_realestate just used a 2 for 1 coupon (c/o Toronto Life magazine) at Joe Badaldi's. the food was AMAZING and not that expensive!!

• Joe Badali's, 156 Front St W, 416.977.3064

tribal Best dim sum in Toronto. Bright Pearl is my favourite, but it's 5 blocks from my house. There HAS to be better: http://tinyurl.com/85g6b2

• Bright Pearl Seafood Restaurant, 346 Spadina Ave, 416.979.1103, CheapEats Toronto pg. 45

robtyrie cheapeats.... Yitz’s, Ackee Tree on Spadina, Swatow on Spadina, Jules on spadina, Seven Numbers on Eglinton, Five Doors North

• Yitz’s Deli, 346 Eglinton Ave. W, 416.487.4508, CheapEats Toronto pg. 152
• Ackee Tree, 170 Spadina Ave, 416.866.8730
• Swatow, 309 Spadina Ave, 416.977.0601, CheapEats Toronto pg. 140
• Jules Restaurant Tarterie, 147  Spadina Ave, 416.348.8886
• Seven Numbers, 516 Eglinton Ave. W, 416.322.5183, CheapEats Toronto pg. 131
• Five Doors North, 2088 Yonge St, 416.480.6234

jasoneano brunch at Moroco in Yorkville, ribs at Foxley, Falafel plate at College Falafel, Steak&Fries at Sidecar, Ninja roll at Asa, Vera's Kitchen

• MoRoCo Chocolat, 99 Yorkville Ave, 416.961.2202
• Foxley’s, 207 Ossington Ave 416.534.8520
• Sidecar, 577 College St, 416.536.7000
• Asa Sushi, 18 Jane St, 416.604.3001
• Vera's Kitchen, 90 Eglinton Ave E, 416.482.2878

What were your foodie favourites from 2008?

Technorati Tags: robtyrie,jasoneano,michalhay,tribal,TO_realestate

Gotta Getta Corn Dog!

  IMG_0662
Originally uploaded by Phil Marion.

This week's  CheapEats Photo of the Week is   IMG_0662 taken by Phil Marion.  (Add your own photo to the CheapEats Toronto Flickr Group and it could be our next Photo of the Week.)

Vovici Online Survey Software

Because what is the CNE without Corn Dogs aka Pogos?  It's okay, you can admit it.  We all have our favourites. Those treats we crave all year and can only get at the CNE.  I like Tiny Tom's doughnuts so much that I took a video of them cooking one year.

The media use them to remind us of the tastes and smells of the EX (the good ones anyway), and most of us leave with our bellies full and talking about how much bigger, better or cheaper they were before.  But we all know we'll be craving them again soon and spend another year fantasizing about our favourite treats.

For a little bit of CNE food trivia, did you know that each year more than:

• 18,000 glasses of lemonade are consumed
• 50 tonnes of butter are used for butter sculptures
• 20,000 lbs of Tiny Tim Donuts are devoured

If you are planning your visit around the food building, check out our Food Building Favourites post listing all your, and my, food building favourites.

It's National Grilled Cheese Day

Logan Grill(ed) Cheese -- Thanks to
Charlatan001 for use of the photo.

While I can't find an official website confirming this, Natalie MacLean's Nat Decants newsletter tells me it is so, and Natalie is rarely wrong.

Besides, it's never a bad day for a Grilled Cheese Sandwich whether you eat it with tomato soup, top it with crumbled bacon or dip it in ketchup.

What's your Grilled Cheese Style?

Technorati Tags: national grilled cheese day, grilled cheese, charlatan001, natalie maclean

Would You Glow For Sushi?

In a today's New York Times article "Warnings Don't Deter Lovers of Sushi", New Yorkers are quite cavalier about lab results showing that tuna samples from 5 New York sushi restaurants - Gourmet Garage, Nobu Next Door, Sushi Seki, Sushi of Gari and Blue Ribbon Sushi - all had  unusually high levels of mercury.  Some of the people quoted chose non-tuna items, some chose tuna anyway and Roberta Berman of Staten Island was reported to have shrugged and said :

“If I become iridescent from it, I become iridescent from it.” She added. “I’ll glow in the dark.”

What would you do if the craving for sushi hit?

Technorati Tags: sushi, new york times, mercury, warnings, gourmet garage, nobu next door, sushi seki, sushi of gari, blue ribbon sushi

2008 Reservation Resolution

I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions. I think that if you want to change things in your life, you should change things.  It's like promising to quite smoking in 3 days.  Trust me, those extra 3 days worth of smokes aren't going to do you any more good than those last 3 days.

However, sometimes, deep inside, I do make an annual restaurant resolution.  I will identify a restaurant that I'd like to try but haven't gotten to yet and commit to eating there at least once in the coming year.

Last year's restaurant was C5. The year before was the Rosewater Supper Club.

This year? Well, I think it's ONE

Do you have a 2008 must-try dining experience or restaurant?

Technorati Tags: toronto, must try, resolutions, restaurants, rosewater supper club, c5, mark mcewan, one, where to eat, aspirational eating, fine dining

CheapEats is...

At Canzine yesterday, we asked people to complete the phrase "CheapEats is...", here are some of the responses:

• CheapEats is... handy!!!
• CheapEats is... great & informative.
• CheapEats is... awesome!
• CheapEats is... a directory to yummy cheap restaurants.
• CheapEats is... good.
• CheapEats is... a guide to affordable great food in T.O.
• CheapEats is... are something I need.
• CheapEats is... cheap!
• CheapEats is... wicked cool & handy.
• CheapEats is... a great idea!
• CheapEats is... a book.
• CheapEats is... radically necessary.
• CheapEats is... exactly what I need.
• CheapEats is... a must.
• CheapEats is... well worth it.
• CheapEats is... fantastic.
• CheapEats is... interesting looking.

How would you finish the phrase "CheapEats is..." ?

Technorati tags: cheap eats, cheapeats is

Toronto Food Festival Favourites

So in honour of the impending Summerlicious Restaurant Festival  we wanted to find out what your  favourite Food Festivals are:

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

An interesting note: last year when we asked which food events people would be attending in August, there was a 3-way tie for most popular between:

• Masala! Mehndi! Masti!
• Taste of Danforth
• PS Kensington

They were followed very closely by:

• Toronto Festival of Beer
  

Tags: toronto, toronto festivals, food festivals, summerlicious, masala! mehndi! Masti!, taste of the danforth, ps kensington, toronto festival of beer