marben.

The amount of burgers on this blog are getting a liiiitttle ridiculous. 

But here's another one and it's one of the best to have ever graced this URL domain.

WVRST

Tuesday was kind of a sausage fest.

phone nibblies: part 2.

Rock shrimp tempura roll at Katsuya, Los Angeles, CA.

enoteca sociale.

This past Wednesday, Lo, Gabbs and I had a hot date. 

With Lo's dad, Guy, that is. 

You see, he was visiting all the way from our hometown, Victoria, and we wanted to take him somewhere special for a meal (well really, it was him taking US out, but you catch my drift.) We'd heard great things about Enoteca Sociale, so we decided to head on down there for some Italian grub. 

phone nibblies: part 1

I have a huge collection of food pictures on my phone that never made it to their own post - either I didn't take enough to fill a post with, I didn't deem the quality to be good enough to fill a post with, or I simply just never made one.

But why should these snapshots collect dust in my blackberry photo archives when I can share them with you? They may not be as pretty as the rest, but they're delicious and random and from all over the place.

And so, I bring to you part one of what may just become a regular installment: phone nibblies. Enjoy.

the burger's priest.

Some days, all that will do is a burger. (Please disregard the fact that this post occurred only a mere 3 days ago. Told you I'm tormented.)

This past Saturday was one of those days. I'd had a light dinner of cheese and nibblies the night before, and proceeded to dance off those calories and then some at the concert I attended after said dinner. On top of that, I peered into a fridge the next morning filled with absolutely nothing that appealed to me. So I waited until 3 p.m. to eat my first meal of the day. Yep, it was a big, fat, greasy burger kind of day.

gilead café.

I've mentioned before that I don't like Sundays. But sometimes, I've discovered, with the right set of elements they can be turned around. This past Sunday was the kind of perfect, crisp, sunny fall day that I thought we'd completely skipped in Toronto this year. I was feeling far less groggy than usual. And we were going to Gilead Café for brunch.

fresh.

Fresh is an oldie, but a goodie (there we go, already breaking new years resolutions... quelle surprise!) Their Bloor Street location reminds me of the good old university days when my roommate and I would drag our hungover corpses in to order brunch and the "Liver Flush" juice... and then go out again that night and pillage our bodies with more booze. Sigh. To be young.

the county general.

 

One of my goals for the year - I start my "years" in September... who needs to be trying to embark on a new path on January 1st, a day when you're likely hungover as all hell? - was to try as many new restaurants as possible and avoid my usual trap of just re-visiting favourites because I know they're good (a seemingly easy mission, but I am a big-time creature of comfort.) When my friend Vanessa mentioned The County General, a new place that opened on Queen West serving up a cool twist on Southern food, I was excited to try it. (If you're sensing a theme here, yes, Vanessa's a very good restaurant-finder.) I looove me some fried chicken.

guu izakaya.

My friend Vanessa is pretty cool and has great taste in restaurants and just about everything else so when she recently blogged about her trip to Japanese tapas restaurant Guu Izakaya, I knew I had to copy her and go. Last week, I met with another food-fanatic friend I'd met in a faraway land this summer (and who just happened to be from Toronto!) who'd also been to Guu and gave it the thumbs-up. I was excited.

big fat burrito.

Sunday was a beautiful day, and by noon my best friend/housemate and I found ourselves wandering the ever-bumpin-on-weekends Kensington market. While the street performers and jewellery stalls were tempting, Big Fat Burrito was more so as we hadn't had time for breakfast before leaping out the door into the sunlight. Drawing consistent crowds since its 2005 opening, Big Fat Burrito is famous among Kensingtonians for dishing up big, fat, cheap and fresh burritos to the masses from their corner shack on Augusta. As a major 'rrito fan, it was shocking that in my years in the city I'd never been.

I immediately loved the price, and the fact that all the toppings on the right were included (hate places that try to charge you extra for the good stuff, like guac or sour cream - like it would be an option to have a burrito without guac or sour cream!) I chose the yam burrito, topped it up with everything and asked for both the burrito sauce -a garlicky mayo- and sour cream (too much sauce? I think not.)

 Gabbs' yam burrito was decidedly drier (read: she has more restraint) and prettier than mine, which was a downright sauce-y mess...

...But we do know that sometimes the messiest meals are the most delicious. The sweet yams contrasted wonderfully with the garlic mayo -much like a sauce you'd dip yam fries in- the rest of the veggies were fresh and crunchy and the size and poundage did not disappoint. When I go again, I'll up the spice factor, as I chose medium but could have definitely handled spicier. Nonetheless, I left the joint perfectly full and with a lot less spare change in my purse (yes, I was actually able to pay with spare change floating around in the bottom of my bag - the joy!) Next time you're in Kensington, grab a burrito at this place, if you haven't beat me to it - which you likely have.