1 for 3

Last tuesday I tried to go to the Belmont Restuarant. This place is up at Yonge and Belmont, just north of Davenport. Its a little lunch counter/coffee place that its the basement of a fairly nondescript lowrise office building. I was up there about a month ago only to find that it was closed for renovations. That day I decided to hear farther up Yonge by jumping on the subway and trecking up to St.Clair. I had lunch at Senior's which is a fancy steakhouse upstairs and a no frills family restaurant/spoon on the mainfloor. I had a tuna sanwhich on brown with a side of fries. Naively I asked for mayo on the sandwhich. Needless to say there was too much mayo as the tuna salad itself was already very mayo heavy. The coffee and fries were nothing memorable either. I would like to come back here some other time to give them another chance though. A burger seems like it might be good here.
Anyways, back to last tuesday. I was disspointed to find that the Belmont was closed again. Also, with no posted hours it was difficult to discern whether they had closed for the day or were just closed. This was around 4pm.
I was feeling ambitious so I decided to head down to the Patrician Grill on King street. This is a place that I'd been meaning to get to for quite a while and now with the warmer, bike friendly weather, the east side isn't so far out of reach.
On my way I stopped to take a few pictures at the magnificenct 70s time warp donut shop that is "Donut World". This place can be found on church just east of yonge.






I biked down Church, to Wellesley, then across Wellesley to Sherbourne, then south on Sherbourne. Moss Park stand up! The Wellesley Restaurant has a nice old sign. I wonder if the neon still works.




Sherbourne and Queen

As was my luck that day by the time I got down to the Patrician it was closed. I got there at 4:55 and it said it closes at 5 on the door. I will get back there soon though. Word is they have good burgers.
By this time I was very hungry and frustrated with my luck. I began biking west on King, with plans to hit the Peter Street Deli at Peter and Richmond. I'm not used to being down on King Street at 5pm on a weekday. Its madness! So many cabs lined up in front of all the big office buildings and bank towers. People everywhere, just off work, whistle gone, wanting to get home. It was around all this pedestrian and street chaos that I began to marvel at the beauty and towering magnificance of the buildings along King here. The art deco stone of the 30s and 40s and the steel modernism of the 50s and 60s. I never really thought to much about these buildings but I have to go back soon when I have more time to check them out.
Here is a quick shot I grabbed of the Bank of Nova Soctia building



The Peter Street Deli is a funny little place. Looks like its quite old but its now owned by a Chinese couple. This arrangement is fairly common amoung old diners. You get "chinese and canadian food" as they always advertise. This usually means bad, bad chinese food and decent sandwhiches and burgers. The Queen Star beside the Drake on Queen st. is very similar to this place. I had a BLT with fries and a coffee. The coffee was pretty bad, tasted stale and bitter, as if the pot had been sitting there all day. The fries were overcooked and of low quality too. But the BLT was out of this world! One of the best I've ever had. I don't know how they did it. It was dead simple, no secret ingredients or anything. One of the keys was the chewy bacon I think, I don't like my bacon crispy. It was just the perfect combination of the chewey bacon, soft, juicy tomato, cripsy iceberg lettuce, crunchy brown toast and oozey mayo that made this BLT perfection. DO IT UP.

Friday

NYC is out of business





Barber Shops at Bloor and Ossington



St. George


On friday I bought a used copy of Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys. I have had a non-original pressing of the album on vinyl for a while but have always been dissapointed by the low mastering quality of my version. It sounded really bad and quiet. When the Grand Royal double vinyl reissue came and went in '98 I kicked myself for never picking up a copy. That was 8 years ago and it was a limited, one time batch. Well, I got a used copy at Play D vintage on friday and I am a happy man. I'm listening to it now and it sounds so great; everything this record should be. The full sound of the high quality double pressing can't be matched. Needless to say its one of my favoutire records of all time for many reasons and I'm very happy to own it in this superior format.

V for Verses

Today I had lunch at The Stem with Aurora. I ate at friend egg sandwich with cheddar chesse on toasted brown bread. It came with a side of fries and some pickles. I drank 3 cups of coffee, one glass of fresh squeezed OJ and one glass of water. Needless to say everything was great and The Stem continues to not dissapoint. Everything is always consistent there - quick service, concise, dependable menu, great food and great value. It is perhaps the best all around diner in the city.

Something that is not easy to find in Toronto is a good smoked meat sandwich. Now I do admit that my standards are very high after enjoying world class smoked meat at Katz's Deli in NYC's Lower East Side and Montreal's Schwartz's over the last few years. Perhaps this is why I was so dissapointed by the offerings of the Bloor St's Mel's Montreal Dellicatessen. On their menu they make the claim that their smoked meat is directly imported from Montreal. Now this really doesn't mean anything, as it could easily just come from a Montreal supermarket. They also make a big deal about how their meat is handcut against the grain in order to retain juicyness, etc. If you have to go to these lengths to explain how and why your product is so good its probably not actually that good. The places that have the best food are always the most modest. They know the food is good, their customers know its good but they don't brag about it. The Meat at Mel's was cut into slick, smooth slices that looked like ham from a supermarket. There was no noticeble "smoked meat style" texture. I was supremely dissapointed.
Jump ahead to a few months later...the New Yorker Deli. Hidden on Bay St. just south of Bloor I'm sure this is a popular spot with those employeed around here. The "New York" theme is a little kitschy but the sandwiches are fantastic. Definately the best smoked meat I've had in Toronto. Big portions of fatty, tender meat, light rye, yellow mustard and great fries and cole slaw. Its not cheap, I think the aformentioned combo runs around 11 bucks with tax or something, but man is it a nice treat to have once and a while. The New Yorker will have to tide over my smoked meat cravings until I make it back to Montreal or New York.

You Tube

Basically YouTube is killing it right now. Of the moment clip is this live action Simpsons intro that was apparently done as a promo for some network in UK.
Live Action Simpsons Intro

Also on the Simpsons tip is the clip of the cast on Inside the Actors Studio, great stuff. Another recent discovery is the Mr.T be kind to you mother clip.
A few heavies have weighed in on copyright infringement. I think Prince's lawyers have had all his stuff removed. And there are rumours going around that YouTube is on the brink of being shut down all together. So don't walk, run, to your nearest internet browser and watch all the amazing clips you never thought you'd see. I spent hours watching all kinds of rare music stuff - The Meters, James Brown, Funkadelic, Jacko, Velvet Underground, Stones and I mean this is just scratching the surface. There is so much weirdo 80s tv kitsch (see Mr.T thing as noted above). You can also watch full episodes of current TV shows and it seems like people are uploading sports highlights and stuff soon after their are airing.

Queen Street Man

http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=60615&cdate=20060109

I saw this back in Decemeber at the Joke Club that I DJed at.  I had tried looking for it a while ago on the internet with no success but it seem that someone has now posted it.  ITS FUNNY.

Tims

Tim Horton's has been going downhill for the last few years in several areas.  Firstly, their blue berry fritters used to be my doughnut of choice up until about two years ago when then, for no apparent reason, completely switched things up.  They still had a blueberry fritter but it was no longer the odd shaped ball of blueberry studded dough with a shot of blueberry filling in the middle.  The new look fritter wasn't a fritter at all.  What they now have is more like a dutchie with blueberries instead of raisins.  The apple fritter soon followed suit to this new look doughnut.  Why the change Tims?

My other primary beef with the Horton's has been the constant and gradual reduction in size of their muffins over the years.  The current offered muffin is a shadow of its former self in the size category.  Now, I've heard something about how when Tims opened in the States, they had to reduce the size of their muffins in order to reduce the fat content of them so they could meet some FDA rule about fat content in muffins.  I really don't know what this is all about but needless to say they sure don't make 'em like they used to.  Now Coffee Time, there's a big muffin for ya.  But you have to watch out that they're not too stale as CT isn't quite up to Tim's freshness standards.

 

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