Pizzaiolo

Date: June 6 & 7, 2012

Location: 104 Yonge St.

Website: http://www.pizzaiolo.ca

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

Okay, I've since been to Pizzaiolo two additional times since my last post. The first time (Wed) I went back, I got the Spinotta pizza to get my dear readers a visual depiction of the Spinotta pizza (okay, okay, and because I'd been craving it, too). I will post the picture once my coworker sends it to me (yes, I still need a camera. Sigh.)

So as you know, for my own personal enjoyment and for your entertainment, I try to venture to different restaurants (or fast food joint in this case). So although I was bad for going to the same place three times in a row in one week, at least I ordered something different on Thurs! I had their Thai Pie - peanut satay sauce, mozzarella, red onions, chicken, mushrooms and 'spicy' BBQ sauce. 

I didn't taste the peanut nor the spiciness in the BBQ sauce (and I'm not even one who can handle much spice), but I did taste a whole lot of sweetness - too much, in fact, for my liking. I just wasn't a fan. And it wasn't very cheesy - big thumbs down. A far cry from the Spinotta, that's for sure. I'd rate this about the same as those lower end/non-gourmet pizzas.

My verdict: I still love you, Pizzaiolo, but never again will I be ordering the Thai Pie!

Wow Sushi

Date: April 30, 2012 (backdated, as most of my posts are, but I know this really takes the cake!)

Location: 11 Charles St. W. (near Bay/Bloor), Toronto

Website: http://thewowsushi.blogspot.ca/

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

My sister and I stumbled upon this place because Okonomi House was closed again - we'd made three attempts to go and they were closed for renovations every time. Frustrated? Were we ever, but I later realized this was a blessing in disguise because I otherwise wouldn't have discovered Wow Sushi. 

Am I the only one a little bit turned off by the name? I found out the name after our meal, when I was given the receipt. Had I known it was called 'Wow Sushi,' I'll be honest, I don't think I would've gone in. It's like calling your restaurant "Yummy in my Tummy" or something to that effect, you know? My sister, on the other hand, thought nothing of it. Maybe I'm just picky with words. Or a difficult customer to please, haha. Moving along...!

Since we were in the Yorkville area, the prices were a bit steeper than your typical sushi joint. The quality and presentation, however, were well worth it (although the pictures don't really illustrate that. I apologize in advance for their terrible quality.) We were given some fried tofu as complimentary starters, which was nice. The tofu was soft and the batter light and crispy.

For our meal, my sister had the Nabe Yaki Udon lunch special ($10), which was udon noodles in soup with some vegetable tempura on the side. My sister liked this, but I am not particularly fond of tempura nor udon noodles. I prefer thinner noodles so that you get a greater soup-to-noodle ratio and hence, more flavour. 

I had an order of the salmon sashimi ($8 for 4 pieces) and butter fish sashimi ($8 for 4 pieces). The sashimi was slightly seared and sliced and arranged in such a way as to resemble an armadillo. The salmon was soooo amazing!!! It literally melted in my mouth!! I consider myself to be a sushi connoiseur, and I'm telling you, this is the best salmon sashimi I have ever had. Ever. The butter fish wasn't nearly as good; it was a bit overcooked, thereby defeating the purpose of it being a raw dish.  

I also had an unagi maki ($8). It wasn't bad, but the salmon definitely stole the show that day, making everything else really paled in comparison.

My verdict: I'm sure they have other great items, but you really have to try their salmon sashimi. It really is something else! It really does live up to its name. A must try!

Pizzaiolo

Date: June 5, 2012

Location: 104 Yonge St. (just north of King St.), Toronto

Website: http://www.pizzaiolo.ca/

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

Ever since my work started ordering from here, I'd been officially addicted to gourmet pizzas. It's been about a week since my work last ordered from here, so I was really craving some good pizza. 

I ordered their Spinotta today. Spinach, ricotta, parmigiana, mozzarella, tomato chunks, oregano.. wowza! The crust was really light and fluffy on the inside, and crispy on the outside. And, as if things couldn't get any better, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has given this particular pizza a seal of approval based on its nutritional profile. (Thumbs up from me, the nutrition major!) This really hit the spot. Sorry, no photo - I need to get a new camera :(

My verdict: Love!!! Pizzaiolo had already won me over weeks ago, but after today, they've really set the bar to new standards! Also, I noticed their Fredo pizza, a vegan pizza so no cheese (gasp!) but I was intrigued nonetheless by the elaborate display of thinly-sliced Yukon gold potatoes laying neatly in an annular pattern. Believe me. It looked as delicious as it sounds. My co-worker, who claims to be a 'pizza fanatic,' told me Mamma Mia's pizzas are even better, a statement that I found hard to believe, seeing as how heart-stoppingly good everything has been. But my curiosity has been aroused, and I will definitely be checking out MM in the near future and report to you my findings ;)

Willie Stouts Pub & Grill

Date: June 4, 2012

Location: 2175 Sheppard Ave. E. (east of Hwy 404), Toronto

Website: http://williestouts.ca/

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

I'm usually in bed by this time and I am actually quite tired, but something is weighing on my mind tonight and I felt I needed to write to feel better. I promise that what ensues in this post will remain strictly focussed on food, though!

So anyway, my sister and I came here and unfortunately, I've only got one pic for you (to come). We ordered the steak and mushroom pie, which came with mashed potatoes and steamed veggies ($10.99). We didn't really care for the pie, which tasted like the frozen variety that you can buy at your local supermarket. Veggies: nothing really to be said. The mashed potatoes were really good, though - creamy, buttery and oh-so-smooth.

We also had a pound of wings (with honey garlic sauce), which came with potato fries and some veggie sticks ($11.99). We substituted the fries for sweet potato fries for an extra $2.89, and were we ever glad we did, because they were divine - perfectly crispy and well-seasoned! I usually prefer my wings breaded, which these were not, but I was still quite satisfied with these. Medium-sized wings.

The food was piping hot, so this was a welcome surprise, as I find most restaurants' food is only 'quite hot.'

My verdict: I would recommend if you're in a pinch for time and don't have time to wait for a table, as there was lots of seating area. The staff was somewhat monotonous but helpful, lots of TVs, hot food, amazing sweet potato fries... Not bad overall!

Fushimi Authentic Japanese Cuisine

Date: June 1, 2012

Location: 7501 Woodbine Ave. (south of Hwy 407), Markham

Website: http://www.fushimi.ca/

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

I came here today with a friend to celebrate our one month birthdays! (No, we don't actually celebrate our monthly birthdays. We're just embarrassed to admit that we were still celebrating our birthdays six weeks after the fact.)

My friend has been frequenting this place as of late (10 times in the past 6 weeks) and suggested we come here. I was excited to try this place and see if it measures up to A Taste of Japan, which was replaced with this restaurant and was in my family's regular rotation of restaurants. Anyway, my friend and I had the AYCE, and this was what we had:

Miso soup: I didn't have this, but this is pretty standard and pretty hard to mess up, in my opinion.

Avocado salad: lettuce salad with avocado slices and creamy ginger dressing. I was impressed by the fact that the avocado slices - albeit raw -  were so big!

 

Gyozas: pan-fried beef dumplings. A little greasy, but the filling was very good and the dough crispy. Yum.

Funky chicken: crispy chicken, asparagus, topped with avocado, black pepper steak and drizzled with house and eel sauce. I love the name! Interesting it is called funky chicken and not funky beef/steak when I couldn't taste the chicken. I'm normally not a fan of extremely rare beef, but it worked well here.

Salmon sushi: salmon sashimi with rice. Nothing special. Not much salmon though.

Red dragon: cucumber, avocado and tuna sashimi roll. (Far right in picture below.) Pretty good, but not as good as... 

Green dragon: eel, avocado, shrimp tempura and cucumber roll. (Middle roll in picture below.) Pretty good. I think this was my favourite today. Avocado makes everything taste great!

Spicy salmon roll: salmon sashimi with spicy sauce. (Far left in picture below.) Nothing special. 

Spicy scallop trim ramen: Because I had no idea what 'scallop trim' was and the waitress had such a hard time explaining what this was, my curiosity was piqued and I just had to order this! I found out it is the thin membrane surrounding scallop - you'll know what I'm talking about if you have ever prepared live scallops. Anyway, the texture was similar to onion skins to me, but slightly crunchier. And I'm well aware this isn't a noodle restaurant, but I was a bit disappointed that the ramen wasn't chewy (which, to people of my culture, is an indicator of freshness). The fried crab was amazing!

I noticed as I was writing this blog that there was a back page on the menu, which is unfortunate because everything on this page looked really good. I think I’ll come back just to try these things out so that I can fairly judge Fushimi against Maison du Japon across the street. We were short on time; otherwise, we would have ordered more. 

My verdict: For $13.99 (Fri-Sun, or $12.99 Mon-Thurs), this was not bad for an AYCE restaurant with typical AYCE-quality food. I definitely like A Taste of Japan better, but to be fair, it isn't AYCE, so I'm not comparing apples with apples here. Also, from what I had today, I also like Maison du Japon - I find their quality and offerings much better than Fushimi's, but I'd be willing to give this a second shot.