Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

Round Up Wrap Up

And finally, with the arrival of mid-February we close out the January Round Up.

We’ve asked and answered 26 questions.  Explored things from coffee to cocktails, markets to meat, breweries to brunch and a fair amount of ground in between.

With so many interesting folks participating and sharing their favourites, the January round up was great fun for me and I hope for you.

Thanks to everyone in the January Round Up Crew:

Duarte Da Silva, Matt Kantor, AM Waters, Ryan Anderson, Gerry Ohlsen, Andrea Chiu, Sarah B. Hood, Yasmin Seneviratne, Lana Stewart, Pronosher, Don & Jenn aka foodiePrints, Suresh Doss, Vicky Weiss, Joel Solish, Rosalie McGrath, Shari Goodman, Karl Bélanger, Bev Wooding, Sarah Ramsey, Andrea Tomkins, Ron Cross, Tasting Toronto, Mirella Amato, Lauren Simmons, Sheryl Kirby of TasteTO.com, Jennifer Sudbury, Andrea Toole, Anna Withrow, Rebecca LeHeup, Gerry Thorpe, Tanja-Tiziana, Alexa Clark, François &  Katie  of Apt613, Melvin Ong, Carrie Oliver, Suzanne Long, and Sean Moher

And just in case you missed a post, here is the full round up of the January Round Up:

• Let Us Eat Cake.
• They Write Good Food
• Looking forward to…
• Trend Tuesday – Fast Food Edition
• Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is!
• Finding Ingredients
• What cocktails are you drinking these days?
• Where is your favourite coffee made?
• Trend Tuesday – Meats
• What is your favourite recipe right now?
• Purveyors of Goodness
• Greasy Spoons & Breakfast Specials
• Self Medicating Monday
• Trend Tuesday – Sweet
• Festivals, Fundraisers and Other Food Focused Fun
• To Market, To Market
• Best Things To Put In Your Mouth
• Trend Tuesday - Conscientious Eating
• Snow Day Snacks!
• Nothing Open
• Quaffing Locally
• Trend Tuesday Round Up Wrap Up
• Food Hoods
• Who has the happiest happy hour?
• What's for brunch?
• It’s Time For Romance

It’s Time For Romance

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner I thought I’d close with this Round Up question:

Where are you taking your cutie for a romantic dinner?

Enoteca Sociale or Ruby Watchco.

Suresh Doss -- I spend a lot of time eating and drinking in Ontario, and documenting my experiences through various mediums.

He's been into escargot lately (even talking about farming his own...) and we both always have a great time at Batifole. He orders a Pernod aperitif, I usually start with bubbly and we linger, just like in Paris.
Yasmin Seneviratne   Publisher of LeSauce.com, recipe developer, and magazine veteran (and lover!)

My cutie hates romantic dinners so you'd probably find us at Pho My Duyen!

Tanja-Tiziana Artist. Pro Photographer. Wandering eye.

What's for brunch?

Tomorrow is the weekend and I want to know:

What's for brunch? 

When I go for brunch, and it's rare, I'm a sucker for anything savoury. Lady Marmalade's aged white cheddar and spinach waffles w/ smokey tomato-orange cream (made for me!), and the Gladstone's tofu scramble with grilled portobello mushroom and baked beans win over the sweet stuff every time. Well, Mildred's pancakes and scones are the exception. And the Old York's Bloody Marys with extra horseradish are why I really go there for brunch, even though everything is delicious.
Yasmin Seneviratne   Publisher of LeSauce.com, recipe developer, and magazine veteran (and lover!)

Eggs Benedict

Duarte Da Silva wine drinker,food eater, hohoto co-founder, dj

I'm a fan of the tofu scramble. I've had it at Fressen and at Disgraceland and enjoyed both.
Lauren Simmons High school teacher by profession, local food lover and web wine writer by passion, runner and cyclist by necessity. Eating and drinking new things.

Who has the happiest happy hour?

It's been a long, grueling week. We've worked hard, and now it's time to play hard. Time to meet a friend for a cocktail and enjoy a Happy Hour.

Who has the happiest happy hour?

I love to have cocktails at the Hyatt roof. Best view, and the first place I had a legal drink.
Joel Solish Comical Egoist. Consumed by food. Supporter & champion of all that's local. Interesting & interested. Synonymous with bacon since 1986.

I'm gonna go with Biff's $1 oysters after 5.

Bev Wooding  I'm a food and music fanatic/blogger who also likes to take pretty pictures.

I never seem to be able to make it happy hour, but in the summer I like to sneak up to the Drake Sky Yard on afternoons before the madness descends. Their 4-7pm deals on appetizers are pretty great, too.
Lauren Simmons High school teacher by profession, local food lover and web wine writer by passion, runner and cyclist by necessity. Eating and drinking new things.

Food Hoods

I love exploring new neighbourhoods and finding gems that I have never noticed before or have just opened. Even when the snow is blowing, I find myself popping into spots I've never visited before often discovering a great spot to settle in and warm up.

So I thought I'd check in with the January Round Up Crew - Ottawa and see what neighbourhoods came to mind when they thought about eating.

When you are thinking about eating, what neighbourhood pops to mind first?

Little India - follow your nose to whatever smells best that minute. From thali to vindaloo to mango ice cream, you can nibble your way down the street and be completely stuffed with fabulous eats. Then stop in for groceries and a chai before you roll your way home.   
Jennifer Sudbury Dedicated to trying as many foods as possible both locally and around the globe.

Chinatown on Spadina, Leslieville

Matt Kantor  Chef of Little Kitchen and Secret Pickle

Harbord is a pretty good strip - there's higher-end fine dining like Harbord Room, Splendido, Tati and 93 Harbord, or lower-end staples like Momo's and Harbord House, plus treats from Harbord Bakery, Dessert Trends and Sam James.
Lauren Simmons High school teacher by profession, local food lover and web wine writer by passion, runner and cyclist by necessity. Eating and drinking new things.

Trend Tuesday Round Up Wrap Up

To wrap up our Trend Tuesday thread, we've got the final responses from the January Round Up Crew to the question:

What upcoming trend are you most interested in?

Some trendspotters were recently reporting Korean food will take center stage this year - we're interested to see what comes up.  Would be especially interesting to try North Korean food (we saw a special on Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie where someone's grandmother, who was from North Korea, made some traditional dishes).
Tasting Toronto We're Mark Rodas and Stacey Fowler - Two Torontonians who love food!

 

Shawarma made a big splash throughout the 90s, and then Vietnamese Pho grew in prominence throughout the naughties. Now Korean cuisine seems to be the next up-and-comer in town. Which is good. Bulgogi is yummy, and who doesn't like fermented cabbage?
Ron Cross  Food explorer, traveler, writer and CheapEater.

Vegetable ash
Rebecca LeHeup   Executive Director of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance. Lover of all local food and drink

Quaffing Locally

With eating local and conscious/conscientious dining  becoming such a focus in restaurants and home kitchens, I think it's time to consider local beverage options.  Suresh said it well when he said one of the trends he was most looking forward to was: more wine drinkers becoming aware of locally made juice.

With the Round Up Crew already sharing their favourites, I though it was time to ask what local liquour delights the January Round Up Crew  are opening:

What is your go to local booze?

I'm all about VQA wines and craft beers. Wine is too hard to nail down one. Beer - I love Beau's All Natural. Cider - Waupoos Draft for sure!
Rebecca LeHeup   Executive Director of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance. Lover of all local food and drink

Any local (Ontario) riesling -- but my favourites come from the Beamsville Bench. Wineries like Tawse, Fielding Estate, Vineland.
Suresh Doss -- I spend a lot of time eating and drinking in Ontario, and documenting my experiences through various mediums.

Nothing Open

You're hungry. Really hungry. You don't want to go home and the cupboard is empty. It's late. It's early. It's just a weird time to want to eat. It happens to me all the time. New Year's Day was the most recent search for me.
We've all been there.What do you do? Where do you turn? What are you going to eat?

So I thought I'd see what the Round Up Crew does.

When you're hungry and nothing else is open, where do you go to eat?

Shoppers Drug Mart

Duarte Da Silva wine drinker,food eater, hohoto co-founder, dj

Rashnaa on Wellesley is almost always open, and the food is consistently good. I've recently discovered an Indian restaurant called Nitya which has really impressed me. The best chicken biryani and prawns in the city.
Suresh Doss -- I spend a lot of time eating and drinking in Ontario, and documenting my experiences through various mediums.

The PItaQ at Bloor and Spadina. Seems like its always open.

Matt Kantor  Chef of Little Kitchen and Secret Pickle

Snow Day Snacks!

Come on Toronto - snowpocalypse? Snowmageddon? SnowtoriouslyBIG?  SnOMG this "storm" over-promised and under-delivered on the drama front. 

Though it did get a lot of us a Snow Day! And whether you are spending that day careening down a hill on a tiny piece of plastic or sitting curled up with your favourite tech device by the faux fire, there are going to be snacks.

What's that you are snacking on? 

Dark chocolate covered orange rinds from Dominos foods at the St Lawrence market.

Tanja-Tiziana Artist. Pro Photographer. Wandering eye.

Some of Chef Rossy Earle's home-made Panamanian dulce de leche on toast.

Bev Wooding  I'm a food and music fanatic/blogger who also likes to take pretty pictures.

Honey mandarins.
Sarah Ramsey Home cook & baker, infrequent food blogger & Tweeter, lover of food and good books about food.

Trend Tuesday - Conscientious Eating

One of the most common threads in the Round Up Crew's answers was conscientious eating. From talking about the famers who grew their vegetables and CSA boxes, to commenting on sustainability.  It has become more and more common to consider where your food comes from, how it's raised or grown, and its impact environmentally, and economically and its impact on you personally in terms of health, enjoyment and culture.

What upcoming trend are you most interested in?

More diners being conscientious of what they're eating and where the ingredients are coming from.
More wine drinkers becoming aware of locally made juice.
Suresh Doss -- I spend a lot of time eating and drinking in Ontario, and documenting my experiences through various mediums.

I hope that there's a continued trend of connecting to the source of our food, such as foraging, gardening, visiting farms, or participating in a CSA. I also want to see more people on the quinoa train! I have friends who'd never heard of it until they met me. 
Andrea Toole Geek, food enthusiast, blogger, tweeter.