Toronto Round 2

So Toronto deserved a second round, which we happily gave it. After touring Niagara for a couple days, hitting the wineries, seeing the sites, and living the life of luxury, it was time to get back to the city. Toronto is massive, for those of you who don't know, and you basically start getting into 'Toronto' thirty minutes before you get anywhere close to 'Toronto'. I hope that makes sense. There were a couple people we had missed on our first run through the city, and it was time to get social. On day one we did got our beach spot back, and it was a little later than we intended, so we showered, relaxed a bit and hit china town for some cheap eats. I contacted my cousins in town, and also a friend of mine I haven't seen in a good long time. No sooner had we talked than me and ze German entered a fabulous dumpling house. This place was authentic, a little bit dirty, but seriously rolling and stuffing dumplings to order. I was suitably excited about what we would get. I feel it pertinent to mention that upon going to the restroom, I did have to stand next to several full garbage bags in order to urinate, not the most pleasant thing in history. Nevertheless, we had a great seaweed and sesame salad to start and followed it with pork dumplings. I don't want to say the dumplings were amazing, because the stuffing tasted of nothing in particular. That being said, the dumpling dough was amazing, the dumplings and stuffed and formed to order, and boiled right before serving. The dough was perfect, like a recipe I would like to thieve and have my way with. And by my way I mean stuffing some dumplings. And by stuffing some dumplings I mean with food products. Just thought I'd attempt dispel our societies collective dirty mind. I'm sure I failed. In any case, no sooner had we left the dumpling house than we saw a sign for "the best bbq pork in north america", a boast which we could not leave untested. We entered a small chinese restaurant which locals affectionately term Kum Jugs, because it's real name is Kom Jug Yuen. My cousin Matt met us there because he knew exactly where it was. He's also a cook, currently toiling behind the stoves at a spot known as 1800, for it's 1800 degree stove. We ordered a big platter of BBQ pork and chewed the fat awhile whilst waiting for my friend Allison to get there. Upon her arrival and refusal to eat some overcooked chinese broccoli in oyster sauce despite hunger pangs, we decided our purposes would be better served elsewhere. I really think Chinatown in Toronto is a special place, and one day I'm going to go there with like 300$ and a couple of friends and just eat one or two dishes at a bunch of different spots. It will be a festival of magnificence, and in all likelihood will result in at least one of us getting sick.

After Kum Jug's, our crew slowly meandered down Spadina towards my other cousins place, never knowing what was in store. My other cousin is Alistair, he's big, fun, intelligent and just won the Independant music award for Acoustic artist of the year. His band's name is Donalyn, and no girls and music agents(so many of which follow my blog I know), I will not give you his contact information. His house is right downtown in a wicked locale with a wicked patio, I was jacked. He even has a ping pong table. I'm starting to think I should almost dislike him on principle, because he's rocking out so hard. Anyways, it was great to see him because it's been a couple years and he was so shocked by my beard only one person has topped his reaction so far. We proceeded up to his patio and drank til members of our party slowly got knocked off one by one. We then went to a bar and billiards and played some pool before calling it a night. I slept at my cousin Matt's that evening, which is right near chinatown. This worked out well, as the next day I met with a friend of mine from childhood who is living nearby as well. Before meeting with my friend I took a quick run around Kensington and stopped in on Luis, the chef of Torito restaurant, who I'd met at the farmer's market last week. His restaurant is deceptively small-looking from the front, but it opens up into a large room, has a good sized patio, and a whole other dining room downstairs. He works with a lot of producers, uses parts not commonly used in north america, grows his own sprouts upstairs, and keeps a wicked latin vibe to the place, complete with gorgeous and attentive waitstaff. He also has a prep kitchen and office space upstairs, helping to keep the pressure off during the day. It's a really great place, well branded, with an interesting idea behind it. He has had to evolve it over time, and is currently planning some big changes, but it runs smooth. He told me that I was welcome for dinner anytime, and I should eat there before I leave Toronto. It was to be, as later the opportunity would arise for dinner, and what place should I choose but Torito?

Alex and I decided we should go rasta for lunch, and as such visited "The Ackee Tree", an all-Jamaican eatery in the heart of Chinatown. Sounds strange I know. It was relatively good, the sandwich I had was tasty, and Alex dined on BBQ chicken, which was decent as well. Alongside his chicken he got beans and rice, which was hilarious because he has recently traveled to Belize to spread awareness about AIDS and sexual education. That sounds incongruous but he assures me that almost all he ate while in Belize was rice and beans. We also had ginger beer with our lunch, which was so sugar laden it covered the spice of the ginger up. I was pissed. I love good ginger beer, I hate bad ginger beer. While dining on a late lunch I was also setting up a dinner date with Suresh and Nina, from Spotlight Toronto, who we had met at the Slow Food Pork Roast. He was really enthusiastic about Torito, and Luis had earlier invited us to dine there, so that was the spot to be. I do not regret it at all. The only regret is that I didn't return to the van before going to dinner, so I lacked proper clothing, hygiene and the camera to take pictures of the food. Also, I lacked Fabian, which turned out to be an issue, because he couldn't find the place, got lost downtown, and got angry. It was also raining cats and dogs, which I'm certain didn't help his mood at all.

In any case, the meal was most incredible, and the company was excellent as well. Luis really pulled out the stops, and we got course after course of delicious goods. Starting with serrano grissini with figs and olives, homemade bison salami, moving through smoked trout salad, stuffed poblano peppers, crab cakes,a duo of ceviche;one smoked one traditional, seared flying fish, braised lamb tamales, braised beef tongue and cheek, and finishing with churros and an amazing cacao flan of textural perfection. I was really impressed with the quality of food. The braised cheeks were a particular delight, the jus they were served in not too heavy and fat laden. The smoked trout was also amazing, barely smoked, still juicy and plump. Third highlight on the reel for me would be the ceviches. They provided a wicked contrast to each other, and the traditional was exactly what I was in the mood for that day. Again, the flan was also amazing, like phenomenal in texture and taste. All in all a great experience, and afterwards Luis came and sat at our table to have conversation and get in on what we were talking about. Topics varied, but always close to food. I loved the company that evening and really had a great dinner. Toronto is close enough to home that I will have to visit frequently and keep in touch with everyone I met there. After dinner that night I was as stuffed as I've been all trip, and retired, but not before getting some alfajores for Fabian from Luis. They remind me of Argentina, and that's awesome.

The next morning we'd arranged to meet Suresh and Nina again for Dim Sum. Dim Sum is an awesome sunday morning breakfast, and is a great tradition in general. Though Vancouver is supposed to boast great Dim Sum, there is also great stuff in Toronto. I know this to be true, even if I don't really eat enough Dim Sum to be a connoisseur or anything. It's just a matter of demographics and product availability. Either way, the place we were originally to go was shut down, so we asked a janitor if there was a good Dim Sum house around. This small, wrinkled dude pointed us to his favorite place, a block down and upstairs. We were one of two tables comprised of ethnicities other than East Asians, which is always a good sign. The dim sum was generally of good quality, and cart service is always nice. We were plagued by the perennial problem of overordering. What often happens in Dim Sum is that they send their first carts around, and then a second round with other different things. Now if you load up too much on the first round, you either don't have room, haven't finished what you have already, or are too full to order from the second round. It's a dilemma, and to circumvent it is to really know Dim Sum, because you know what you like and don't take chances on stuff that looks weird or just getting chicken's feet for shock value. I think there should be an Art of War for tactical ordering of Dim Sum. Volume two or something maybe. I'm sure it exists. Either way, the quality was good, I was satiated, and round two of meeting Suresh and Nina was as good as round 1. We got to know a little more about how they started up their enterprise and what brought them to the point they are at now, and exchanged some opinions on the best format for blogs/websites. After breakfast it was time for us to hit the road, but we said our fond goodbyes and I'm certain I'll see them again. A definite pleasure to share the table with. We were now to leave Toronto and visit another wine-laden region of madness, also known as Prince Edward County. Bacchus would be proud of this area of the world.