‘Ontario’
Since Niagara-on-the-Lake is a wine region, it comes as no surprise that there is a restaurant called the Old Winery. It may, however, come as a surprise that this spot features blues music on Saturday nights. It also features a pretty good selection of beer, pasta and grill items. Although I am typically a man of the grill, the pasta called my name because it went by the name of Gnocchi.
Back in Niagara-on-the-Lake one more time again, we corrected the mistake of the previous visit and actually took a recommendation on where to eat. We started out with The Irish Harp, a pub with just the kind of food you would expect a pub to have. There were burgers, sandwiches, and for some reason pesky salads.
While visiting Niagara Falls we found ourselves at a place called Elements on the Falls. It’s kind of a fancy joint in a great location (like a great view of the falls), so I expected high prices and subpar food. The prices were certainly high, but considering the dishes were pretty fancy, they didn’t actually seem overly high. The only problem was actually ordering, because we had a pretty difficult time flagging down a waiter or waitress to take our order.
The Chipotle model has been followed by many other fast casual Mexican spots since its inception. And why not? It’s nice to customize burritos and even nicer when you get to mix things up here and there. That’s where Asada Mexican Grill in Wynchwood, Toronto comes in. Like Chipotle, it has all the customization you’d want, with extra options like al pastor, refried beans, and a salsa bar. I was excited about the prospects and picked out my order.
No trip to Canada is complete without at least one stop for poutine. Yes, even outside of the French side of Canada. The internet told me that Poutini’s in West Queen Street West had some of the best in town and I was eager to see if they could live up to the lofty expectations. Like other poutineriess, it had a few different options, but I was most intrigued by their Layered Poutine. This included an extra layer of cheese in the middle, and as much as I like bacon and other such things, this seemed best.
To some it is easy to write Japanese food off as sushi and stuff. Yet, I love Japanese food and have no need for sushi, which means I love places like Toronto. Why? Because Toronto has a diversity of Japanese food to offer, like ramen and curry. One of these places is Gyugyuya, specializing in Japanese curry. Situated right next to a popular ramen spot, it was strangely empty inside and waiting for my wife and I to eat.
While Toronto is a couple borders north of the border, it is an incredibly diverse city with food from just about everywhere. One of the foods we wanted to check out was tacos, and this led us to Grand Electric. Now, going into this we knew that Grand Electric wasn’t going to be serving up traditional Mexican fare, but the menu seemed good enough that it didn’t matter.
As a man who loves his burgers, I often try to find the best burger I can when I go to a new city. In Toronto, this meant a trip to Allen’s. Allen’s charges a hefty price for their burgers, but they come from a local farm, without hormones or antibiotics and all the other stuff that means great meat. Moreover, the butchering and grinding is done in-house, guaranteeing each burger comes from just one cow.
New York is known for many things. One of these things is not fries, especially the poutine variety of fries that is much more closely associated with Canada. So while driving through Ontario, Canada between Detroit and Buffalo, I was surprised to find a chain called New York Fries slinging poutine. Despite my reservations, I decided to give the place a chance instead of grabbing poutine at Wendy’s instead.
On a sojourn to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a day of bike riding and wine drinking, the wife and I found ourselves in need of a quick bite to eat. Usually this would have involved much research from a meat blogger like myself, but I was hungry and wine was waiting so we found ourselves in Taste, a little sandwich and salad spot. I was already concerned about my food because the place’s tagline is “The Healthy Option” and we all know that means healthy in the worst possible sense.