Boulevard Café
161 Harbord Street
416-961-7676
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $50

I’m not much of a patio person. Mosquitoes, smokers, glaring sun, smokers, rain, and smokers all make dining al fresco a bit tedious for a curmudgeon like me, but I can genuinely say that I adore the patio at the Boulevard Café. Fully covered, and on the cold rainy Sunday we dined there, heated for our comfort, the pretty space surrounded by flower boxes and manicured trees and graced with linen tablecloths is the rare type of patio where nothing bothers me. It’s completely charming, right down to the small gang of hobo-like sparrows who scour the area for dropped crumbs.

Continue reading Sunday Brunch - Boulevard Café »

Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas Street West
416-588-0307
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $34

“Hey, did you know Lula does brunch?” my husband asked, waving a colourful postcard that he had found on the sidewalk at me. “We should go!” And so we do, because we like brunch and because we’ve always wanted an excuse to go to Lula. As our musical tastes encompass jazz but tend more to west coast swing than salsa and because we come more from the “unscrew the lightbulb” school of dance than anything so complicated as having to remember steps, there’s never been a really compelling reason to go there. Except – duh – the cooking of Chef Derek Crinson.

Continue reading Sunday Brunch - Lula Lounge »

Cajú
922 Queen Street West
416-532-2550

The word authentic gets bandied about a lot these days – to the point where I wonder if some writers know what it actually means, especially when it comes to food. In our cultural mosaic of a city, where so many cultures have their traditional foods on offer, it’s easy to confuse authentic with watered down versions made to appeal to Caucasians.

Ironically, at Cajú, where they’re upfront about the fact that their dishes have been modified to make a “Canadian” dish, Chef Mario Cassini is more respectful of the foodways of his native Brazil than most places claiming to serve only authentic cuisine.

Continue reading Plates From Brazil »

Perola’s
247 Augusta Avenue
416-593-9728

A few months ago I discovered Irma in the back of Perola’s market, grinding out beautiful pupusas. Tragically it was too late. She was retiring. Just as I was settling into the solitary ritual of wolfing down greasy hunks of cornmeal, languidly licking my fingers at the corner of Baldwin and Augusta, while watching Kensington market blossom early on a Sunday morning, it was over.

Continue reading Return of the Real »

La Cocina De Dona Luz
807 Saint Clair Avenue West
416-652-7430
Buffet for two with all taxes, tip, fresh fruit juice and Peruvian soda: $68

From the outside of the restaurant I didn’t think it was Peruvian, or even Latin American for that matter. The sign only said ‘international food,’ and being in Canada that could mean anything, since almost every style of food Canadians eat is ‘international.’ Despite the vague descriptors I decided to go in, because it seemed to permeate a quiet charm.

Inside there was nothing more than a few tables, and some customers quietly talking in Spanish. People were eating from a buffet laid out like a small cornucopia on two foldable tables. I decided to stay and try the buffet and while waiting for service, I began to notice some of finer points of the restaurant; Latin American folk music softly playing in the background; pictures, paintings and artefacts mostly from Peru; and the quiet staff behind the restaurant’s small bar, all looking like a single family.

Continue reading La Cocina De Dona Luz: A Peruvian Buffet »

Torito
276 Augusta Avenue
647-436-5874
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and wine: $70

Torito is the restaurant most chefs dream of opening. Breaking their backs making coulis for a coolie’s wage, cooks fantasize about owning/running a modest 30-seat restaurant, repeating the mantra “I’m here to get an education, that’s why I’m being paid so little”, while fearing they’ve become just like the whore who tells herself, “my pimp loves me.” This dream is based on the desire to serve unpretentious food made with the best ingredients as a rebellion from the circus of infinite garnishes and needlessly bizarre pairings like red snapper with coffee gellee (I’m not making that up).

Chef-owner Carlos Hernandez has realized this dream. His cozy tapas restaurant Torito has scored with its elegant, honest food and relaxing décor and now it’s bursting at the seams. Hernandez and co-owner Veronica Laudes have doubled their capacity with front and back patios and work the room with the guileless grace that only stakeholders will. They don’t take reservations so we arrived at six. When we left at eight (on a Tuesday), every seat was full.

Continue reading If We Don’t Save Our Pork Fat, the Terrorists Have Won »

Tacos El Asador
690 Bloor Street West
416-538-9747
Lunch with all taxes, tip and dos Coronas: $30

I met my friend Jason for lunch ostensibly to talk about my girlfriend and I splitting up. All week I’d felt terrible and it was affecting my appetite. The case of gorgeous, yellow mangos in my fridge sat barely half-eaten (hello mango jam). I was only sleeping on my half of the bed. But talk quickly turned to comics and movies and our basic understanding of Spanish (it turns out that Bumblebee Man is not an accredited Spanish language teacher) resulted in my eating tripe for the first time in a decade.

Tacos El Asador, a Salvadorian restaurant made up of six picnic tables in the middle of Koreatown, pumps out fresh, hand-made tacos, burritos, tamales, and pupusas to a loyal clientèle of Annex-westers. A hockey-themed gumball machine takes up space that could fit a much-needed stand-up a/c unit. A friend asked me not to hype up his favourite take-out place because he doesn’t need it getting any busier. It was packed when we ate there but they managed to take care of us in a languid sort of way. What do we expect when there is no table service (or call waiting or answering machine)?

Continue reading Tough Medicine To Stomach »

Emporio Latino
243 Augusta Avenue
416-351-9646
Lunch for 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) including drink and tax: $15

Well, I’ve never been to El Salvador. I’d love to go, but thus far it hasn’t been in the cards. Luckily I live in Toronto, about a 15-,minute walk from Kensington Market. A Saturday afternoon visit with my sister who has lived in Latin America for many years, her infant son and my 3-year-old daughter takes us past the fish mongers, punk rockers and butchers to the tiny Latin American shop aptly titled, Emporio Latino. From the street, it looks like a small grocer’s, the entrance piled high with baskets of colourful beans, peppers, tomatillas in green husks, frozen packs of banana leaves, ripe plantains and just about anything else you can imagine. If you venture in beyond the bulk items and South American packaged goods however you’ll find what seems to be, again as someone who has never been, an authentic El Salvadorian street vendor, tucked away in the back of the shop.

Above the cash we find a chalkboard menu with prices for everything hovering around three dollars. Crispy deep fried tacos, enchiladas, fried plantains with a choice of cream or cheese, tamales, burritos and les pieces de resistance, a selection of pupusas - flattish cornmeal pancakes stuffed with a choice of cheese, shredded pork or beans. We order tacos, plantains with cream, pupusas with the works and are handed a tiny slip of paper we’re told to hand to the woman in the back. No problema.

Continue reading Authentico Comida el Salvadoran Style »