Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

QotW: What’s For Breakfast

Yesterday I got into an interesting conversation with Todd, Heather & Jennifer yesterday about breakfasts. It started with Todd’s comment “Went out for breakfast last weekend and realized: have you discovered the cheap, greasy joy of halwa puri? Big breakfast: $5.95”  Halwa puri being a “sweet semolina, chickpea curry, potato curry, and paratha (kind of greasy)”, which Todd had here: Shaheen Halal Tikka & Kabab House

It got us into a discussion which generated this week’s question about "alternative breakfast spots".

What do you get for a yummy non-egg, non-sweet breakfast?

Alternatives that came up were:

• halwa puri
• dim sum
• foul
• dosa
• doubles
• pho
• menudo

What do you order when you want something non-egg, non-sweet for breakfast? 

You can join in the conversation below by adding a comment below or follow the discussion on twitter using the hashtag #TObreakfast

Are You A Foodie?

Recently a friend asked me if I minded being called a “foodie”.

I don’t. For me “foodie” came along as a replacement in language for labels such as “gourmet” and “epicure”, and indicated a shift from food snobbery towards embracing casual home cooking, good quality comfort food and the tasty goodness that comes from what is patronizingly called “honest food”.  If I have to use a label I want it to be one that does not imply pretensions around food and food knowledge while still reflecting the enthusiasm, passion and enjoyment I get from learning more about the production, preparation and origins of the food I eat. 

However recent more people do object to being labeled a “foodie” feeling that the term “foodie” has evolved to imply a snobbery and that pretension I work so hard to avoid personally and professionally.  Or that it has devolved to become, as the NYmag.com’s Grub Street  puts it, “a derogatory term used to describe those who sit at home watching Semi-Homemade on the Food Network.”

Even harsher is one of the Urban Dictionary definitions, where one contributor added that foodie is “A politically correct term for a fat person”.

So, how about you? What do you think being a “foodie” means? Do you embrace or reject the label?  What would you prefer to be called?

QotW: Odd, Interesting, Shocking

In honour of this weekend’s Night Market – newly renamed Night It Up – and a recent request I’ve gotten for a source of frog’s legs, the

Question of the Week is:

What is the oddest, most interesting and/or most shocking thing you've ever eaten? #OddFood

So far the results have included Fried Squirrel, Spicy Fried Ants, Goat’s Liver Curry, Python, Year-old Yogurt Tube and Prairie Oysters.

So how about you?

Toronto’s Eco Eats

In a city focused on reducing waste (for obvious reasons) what is your favourite Eco-friendly lunch or take-out spot?

I thought today’s discussion really should address the biggest concern people have about the strike by Toronto’s city workers – the garbage pile up.

It’s a little shocking, perhaps, to be talking garbage on a food site, but the truth is that for every napkin used, every potato peeled, every 2-item combo on noodles ordered there is an increasing pile of garbage and we are responsible for it.

And some people have come up with brilliant ideas for dealing with it.  (If you haven’t heard about Friday night’s charity trash drive to raise money for War Child, read this now!)

But strike and accumulating ggarbage aside, even the recent 5¢ charge for plastic bags has made us more conscious of our consumption of packaging and extras.  Or at least I hope it has.

So today’s question is what is your favourite eco-friendly take-out lunch spot? Is it a sushi spot which will happily plate on your own platters from home?  A soup spot that will fill your thermos with the soup de jour?  Or a grocery prepared food counter that offers bistro tables and real plates?

We’ve already heard from karmacakedotca and RJToronto via twitter that Camros Eatery on Hayden has great organic, Persian food and all biodegradable packaging! RJToronto says they even have biodegradable cutlery made from potato starch. Now that’s COOL!

karmacakedotca adds “and their kale and beet salad with tahini sauce is my abfab fav. Their borsch is killer and their almond whip "cheesecake" phenom!”

What is your favourite Eco-friendly lunch or take-out spot?

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:

What is your favourite Toronto-area Farmers Market?

Inspired by @TorontoEats' discussion yesterday about heading over to the  Metro Hall Farmers Market & Toronto Life's round up of Toronto Farmer's markets this week’s question is:

What is your favourite Toronto farmer's Market?  (I think the Liberty Village one is listed twice – sorry!)

 

What’s on Your ‘za? #CETO-pizza

This week’s topic is inspired by some recent attention my photo of Gravy Pizza has been getting over at ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com, I thought it might be interesting to hear what toppings you get on your pizza.

Yes, you read that right – Gravy Pizza. It’s a dish inspired by poutine that a small pizza joint just off Elgin Street in Ottawa came up with and it’s very popular with the post-party crowd. Personally, I couldn’t finish even 1/2 a slice… but I can see the appeal if all the ingredients were upgraded.  (more on that experience on the CheapEats Ottawa blog)

I’m happy with a good quality pepperoni & green pepper pizza too, but my favourite these days is Gorgonzola, Calabrese sausage, and roasted red pepper.  But back when Joel’s Pizza was still around I’d get their shrimp, red pepper & goat’s cheese on a rye crust… yum!

So this week’s question is:
“What toppings do you get on your pizza?” 

Note: Today’s @ceto chat will be a little different since I won't be retweeting & clogging up your tweetstream... so if you are participating on twitter please use the hashtag #ceto-pizza.  Otherwise, feel free to join in the comments below.

TO Ice Cream

Today’s @ceto chat started a little late and is still going on.

I posed the question
“What is you favourite ice cream flavour?”
inspired by the Greg's Malt Ball Crunch ice cream I was having at White Squirrel on Queen West when I finally got online today.

I thought it might be a little late in the day, but it turns out it’s never too late to talk Ice Cream!

 

TOhotdogs

Today’s @ceto tweetup started with a quick little question from @lcstranslations asking if there were any good hotdogs in the “Yonge Street area”. 

So I decided rather than have a Friday @ceto tweetup topic, when I’ll be on the road anyway, we’d do it Thursday and it would be about Toronto’s best hot dogs.

Tweets started pouring in tagged with #TOhotdogs about people’s favourite street vendors, best condiments combos and a little side chat about the key elements that define a good hot dog and whether the Buddha Dogs hit them.

Feel free to join the conversation on twitter by telling @ceto about your favourite TO hotdog, or leave a comment below.  (There are 3 more pages that aren’t showing up in this widget)

Quick Notes

• RT @modernmod So Sushi on Bloor is closed by Public Health since Mar. 18. Dooney's is now T Cafe w. A tapas menu, coffee & free wi-fi.
• I'd like to apologize for the wave of daily retweets! No luck in solving the infinite loop of loudtwitter & twitterfeed.

Automatically posted from the CheapEats Toronto twitterfeed - @ceto by LoudTwitter