the works.

 I rarely write about chain restaurants on this blog, and I'm not quite sure why. It may be that I'm overcompensating for how low-brow the majority of my life/hobbies are (Real Housewives of Vancouver, anyone?) by acting decidedly snooty. It may be that I figure most of you have visited them already. Or it may be that my heart is two sizes too small...

Moving on. 

My recent trip to The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro in London was so delicious I just couldn't keep it from y'all. The Works has a handful of locations across Ontario, and are in the process of opening a few spots in Toronto (yippee!) They also have a menu with over 70 crazy burger combinations. Insanity. 

Needless to say I did my research beforehand, or else my decision-time would have been record-makingly long. 

It may have been that the bf and I had consumed one beer too many the night before and not eaten anything that day - plus WALKED to the restaurant which looked deceivingly close on Google maps - but my burger, the Three Ring Binder (above) hit. tha. spot.

A fresh ground beef patty, topped with gouda cheese, chipotle mayo, fried mushrooms and three big, crunchy, juicy onion rings. I'm gonna say this might be one of the more perfect topping combinations to ever be invented. I've scrolled my page down as I type so I don't have to even look at the picture, which is making my tummy grumble. It was pretty freakin' awesome. 

The bite that I tried of The Urban burger (avocado, grilled eggplant, salsa loco and feta cheese) at the top of this post did not disappoint, either.

Once The Works arrives to Toronto, it's pretty inevitable that someday, somehow I will have made my way through the entire menu. I'm giving myself a month, maybe two. 

Anyone care to place a wager?

relish.

Peanut butter, bacon and cream cheese on a burger.

I had to do it.

I really did.

ozen.

My boyfriend recently moved to London, Ontario to start law school and one of the few things making me feel better about him being in a different city is the thought of all the new restaurants to discover. After doing some review-combing on (you guessed it!) good sushi restaurants, we discovered O"zen, an adorable little japanese-korean fusion restaurant on the main downtown strip last week.

The restaurant itself is cozy (read: packed every time we passed it) with cool decor and the menu had an impressive assortment of standard and specialty rolls, appies and korean dishes.

We weren't starving when we visited, so we each grabbed an avocado salad ($3.95) with "signature O"zen dressing" - a great sweet and tangy japanese-style vinaigrette - and a couple rolls. My spicy tuna with avocado ($5.50) - while sadly unphotographed - came with an amazing spicy mayo (yes, I always order extra on the side) that had a similar spicy-sweet essence to the salad dressing. As a proud spicy-mayo connoisseur, I have to say it was one of the best I've had (HUGE deal). 

Glav had the black dragon roll ($13), which was barbecue eel and avocado on top of a dynamite roll (not an eel fan, didn't even try it) and I ordered the rocket roll ($12, pictured above), a masterpiece of spicy salmon, cream cheese, avocado and tempura bits topped with torched salmon, sweet onion and drizzled in spicy sauce. While I'm not usually big on salmon sashimi, everything here worked perfectly and again, the sauce brought it all together in the most divine way (need to find out what's in that stuff!) The torched salmon on top gave it a slightly smokey hint and the sweet onions were sliced thinly enough to impart just a touch of their flavour. Mmm.

In summary, we may have hit the jackpot for our favourite London sushi spot on first try. In fact, I'm visiting this weekend to experience the debauchery that is Western Homecoming, and if I'm presentable enough at any point in the weekend to be eating at a restaurant, I just might hit up O"zen for round two - no promises though. 

O"zen

607 Richmond Street

London, Ontario

(519) 642-2558

www.ozenlondon.com