holy chuck burgers

I've been wanting to go to Holy Chuck Burgers for months, so I was pretty excited when Joe suggested we go over the weekend. Joe had the signature Holy Chuck (a bacon double cheeseburger w/ caramelized onions) and hand-cut fries:

I went for the Mad Cow (a junior cheeseburger + a deep-fried cream cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom) and house-made chips:

A closer look at my burger:

So how did it rate? Well, I'm not entirely sold on this place. First off, it cost about $34 for these two meals (including drinks). That's quite steep (but I guess not really crazy for "gourmet" burger joints). The burger patties were fresh and juicy, the buns were pillowy soft, and the fries and chips were awesome. My main problem was that the portobello mushroom on my burger wasn't cooked enough. The coating was uber-crisp, but the mushroom was pretty much and I am not a fan of raw shrooms. I actually took it off my burger and just ate the cheeseburger portion. I also didn't like the herb aioli which was too overpowering. I still want to go back, however, next time I'll go for a plain burger (Joe's was really good) and maybe try one of their outrageous milkshakes (uh, Nutella and salted caramel? Yes, please!). I'm also planning a visit to The Burger's Priest soon to see how their burgers compare.

Holy Chuck Burgers

1450 Yonge St.

fruit fantasy

Is it summer yet? I've been sick and craving fruit like mad. So sad that it's only February.

guu sakabar

When Guu came to Toronto a few years ago, I remember people raving about the food. But I also heard about nightmarish long lines (they don't take reservations) and a noisy atmosphere. Last year, a second location opened up on Bloor St. and a recent dinner invitation gave me the opportunity to finally check it out. The wait was about 40 minutes on a Friday night and the space is loud—really loud—but it's a fun vibe, especially for a group. First up, drinks: sake and nama grapefruit (half grapefruit that you squeeze yourself, vodka, soda). 

The menu is typical of a Japanese izakaya with a bunch of small dishes meant for sharing. There were five of us and we ordered 12 dishes plus dessert. My favs of the night: the saba sushi, takoyaki, tataki and both types of udon.

gomaae: blanched spinach w/ sesame sauce

karaage: deep-fried soy sauce marinated chicken w/ garlic mayo

bbq pork: pork belly w/ honey soy sauce

carbonara udon: udon noodles with bacon, onion and half-boiled egg

ikapiri: deep-fried calamari w/ spicy ketchup and wasabi mayo

kimchi udon: udon noodles w/ spicy cod roe topped w/ kimchi

maguro tataki: seared B.C tuna sashimi w/ ponzu and garlic chips

evening special: seared saba sushi w/ grilled rice

salmon tataki: seared B.C. salmon sashimi w/ ponzu, wasabi mayo and garlic chips

takoyaki: deep-fried octopus ball w/ tonkatsu sauce and karashi mayo

tontoro: grilled pork cheek w/ salt and yuzu pepper

ebimayo: deep-fried prawn w/ spicy mayo

The desserts were just as awesome. Not too sweet, but a perfect ending to our meal.

goma zukushi: sesame ice cream, sesame mochi rice cakes, sesame wafers

roasted green tea cheese cake

Guu Sakabar

559 Bloor St. W

sanko

I went to Sanko for one thing and, as usual, came back with a bunch of Japanese snacks. I can't help it, Asian snacks are a major weakness! My latest obsession is Cratz. Part cracker, part pretzel, they're kinda like the Japanese version of Combos, but way better (there's even almonds mixed into each bag). The two below are smokey cheese and black pepper bacon flavoured. 

Sanko

730 Queen St. W

chocolate chocolate cookies

I recently made the chocolate chocolate cookies from the Milk Bar cookbook (last Momofuku post for a while, I swear).

They definitely had a very rich chocolate flavour (maybe too much so for my taste). But the texture was great. That's the thing that I've found with all the Momofuku cookies that I've made—the texture is perfect: crispy edges, chewy middles. The recipes always call for what you think will be too much salt, but that salty bite really complements and balances out the sweetness of the cookies.

I actually went one step further with these and made a Cherry Garcia ice cream sandwich...that I sadly couldn't finish for fear of falling into a sugar coma.

scadding court market

The Scadding Court market at the corner of Bathurst and Dundas opened last summer and is a pretty unique concept. Rather than having stalls, vendors are housed in refurbished shipping containers that stay put all year long. Food vendors (such as Monforte Dairy and La Pupusa) have small menus akin to food trucks. I feel like this project has a lot of potential and have my fingers crossed that the warmer months bring even more vendors. 

Happily, I walked by last week and saw a new vendor being advertised—a Filipino vendor nonetheless! Exciting times. I sampled a couple of items from Tita Flips when they were at the Toronto Underground Market so I'm pumped to see what they'll offer here.

During the winter, the vendors' hours vary (and some vendors seemed to have closed up shop altogether), but I recently grabbed a few bites from Kim's A La Carte: Ddukbokki (chewy grilled rice cakes smothered in a sweet-spicy sauce, $1) and kimchi mandu (kimchi filled dumplings, $1).

crack pie

Davis brought over a Momofuku crack pie over the weekend. It was gooey and sweet with a crunchy oatmeal crust. Kind of like a pecan pie, but without the nuts. Best eaten cold. I owe Davis big time!

grand electric

What began as a walk through Parkdale, ended in a spontaneous dinner at Grand Electric. We started with the guacamole and chips. Check out that chicharron!

Spicy squid. Sweet, tangy and spicy. Delicious.

There were six taco options. We decided to try all of them. Round one(from top left): beef cheek, baja fish and spicy arbol chicken.

Round two (from top): pig tail, fried queso and roasted poblano, and pork belly al pastor.

Our favs of the night: the baja fish, beef cheek and fried queso. They were so good that we actually went for round three before lugging our full bellies back home. 

Grand Electric

1330 Queen St. W

pizza! pizza!

This pizza dough recipe from Pizzeria Mozza is fantastic! No really, it's probably the best dough I've ever made. There are a couple unconventional ingredients (rye flour and wheat germ) and the dough takes a while to make since you need to make a starter and let the dough rise a few times, but the resulting crust was so worth it. Chewy, full of bubbles and mega-flavourful, I couldn't stop saying "How good is this pizza!?" Here's the final rise of the dough (I made four medium-sized pizzas). You can see the bubbles forming.

Toppings! A good way to clean out the fridge.

Check out that crust: 

The recipe calls for using a pizza stone, but mine cracked a few months back so I improvised: I turned a large baking sheet upside-down and heated it in a 500-degree oven just like you would a stone. I'm already planning next week's pizza night.

farm anatomy

Farm Anatomy has quickly become one of my favourite books from 2011. Covering everything from barn styles to how a cow's stomach works, this illustrated guide to the basics of farm living has me daydreaming about moving out of the city and settling down on a small hobby farm somewhere in rural Ontario.