The Yum Yum Factor

my beloved Habanero Squid at La Cubana on Roncesvalles It's Good Friday so I am going to make this brief. I had a few great meals this week so I will share that with you and maybe give you some ideas about where you can go and get a great snack over the long weekend.

Meet Craig Wong. If you have been living under a rock you may not have heard of   Patois , his Jamaican Chinese restaurant here in the fine city of Toronto. There isn't a "best of" list that he hasn't made since opening under one year ago and one of the things he is becoming increasingly renowned for is his brunch. I know, I know, Anthony Bourdin claims that brunch is only a way for the kitchen to use up the weeks leftovers to serve to hung over hipsters before it all goes bad but at Patois, this couldn't be further from the truth. His brunch menu relies on creative twists on classic dishes with everything made fresh for a menu that is truly a stand alone affair, with nary a repurposed leftover to be found.

Okay, so, for me, the two reasons for owning a sous vide are the ability to make the perfect steak and also the perfect egg. With a couple of weeks under my belt, I kind of feel like I have a handle on those two things and I am ready to move on.

my rare beef pho was every bit as delicious as I remembered and it will not be 10 years before I return Pho Hung I have to say just one thing before I get started: One of the things I love most about The Kid is the fact that he will go rogue when we eat out and order something off the menu that none of us have ever heard of and doesn't really even care what might or might not be in it. It was haircut time so we made our way to Kensington Market an hour or so before the scheduled appointment so we could whip in to Tap Phong for some espresso cups and grab lunch. Even though I know that neither of my boys feels the same about Vietnamese as I do, I asked if he would mind if we went to Pho Hung. I started going to Pho Hung 30 years ago, when I first moved to Toronto. It used to be at a location a bit farther north on Spadina and although I miss the open kitchen and the big, wrap around bar that you could slurp your soup at, the current location is nice and bright and cheer...

A fine rendition of our favourite cocktail, The Pimm's Cup @Patois Okay, okay, I guess my two week break from eating out has come to an end. Either that or my jeans have shrunk. Anyway, here is the week that was: On Saturday we had to drop off our cosplaying nerd off at the Convention Centre for FanExpo so that he could commune with his tribe and that left us downtown with nothing to do. Nothing to do except drive to Bathurst and Dundas and loiter around the front door of Patois until Chef Craig spied us and ushered us in ten minutes before the official opening hour of 11am. Patois This was our first brunch at Patois even though they have been serving it for weeks and we were very excited. Shack had spied the Loco Moco on Instagram and already knew that was what he was having on the drive over. The Hawaiian breakfast dish consists of rice, a hamburger patty and brown gravy. Reinterpreted at Patois, their Loco Moco includes the addition of spam, fried planta...

brunch at The County Cocktail Saturday was the first day of the Pan American Food Festival so I didn't want to eat anything heavy for breakfast or lunch. I had a night of eating tamales ahead of me and I had to keep my game stomach on so I passed on going to The Wren. I love the Wren, as you all know, but all of the dishes are pretty heavy and I generally make that my meal of the day when I brunch there so I talked the boys into trying someplace new.

I ate nothing but I took The Kid to see Queen and that was THE highlight of my week, so there  Busy, busy week again starting with Queen at the ACC on Monday. Shack surprised The Kid and I with amazing seats for the concert because he knows that my son and I share a deep and abiding love for Queen. Let's face it, although they both still play with the energy and stamina of 25 year olds, Brian May and Roger Taylor are closer to 70 than 60 and this could be the last time they play together like this.  Adam Lambert was born to sing this music and did a fine job of standing in for Freddie Mercury but the thrill, for me, was to breathe the same airspace as Brian May, one of the most important guitarists in rock history, in my humble opinion. We laughed, I cried, we sang and all was right with the world.

It feels like I have missed a year in yum when, in reality, it has only been a couple of weeks. I mean, I had plenty of yum going on but I just wasn't sharing it here, on the blog. If you follow me on instagram, facebook or twitter, I was certainly sharing... HEY, I GAVE FAIR WARNING TO EVERYONE THAT I WAS GOING TO BE POSTING A SHIT TON OF PHOTOS FROM MY TRIP SO YOU CAN JUST SHUT IT. Anyhoo, our trip to Portugal was absolutely amazing and we certainly ate lots of delicious things that I will be sharing over the coming weeks but for now, we will just start with the homecoming. Our good friends, The Hoffelby's, are a mixed couple. Yes, the husband is Canadian and the wife is American. Since we came home on July 4th and we a trio of zombies all day, we went over to their house for a July 5th belated fourth of July dinner. I made these clams to go with their feast of smoked and bbq'd things, beautiful salads, an amazing ice cream cake and lots and lots of vihn...

see how my garden grows?