#FoodPornFriday featuring breakfast poutine from TOAST

#FoodPornFriday is back. At least this week since I'm off work. I'm hoping to try to keep it up in 2017. I'm aiming for every week but will be happy with myself if I get something up at least once a month.

My wife has a new favourite breakfast place here in Windsor: TOAST. This year there was one thing my wife asked that we make sure to do during the holiday time off for work: go to TOAST for breakfast. She got some money from an Aunt and that's what she wanted to spend it on.

TOAST is located at 653 Erie St. East. Right across the street from Spago. They only serve breakfast and lunch and are open from 7am to 3pm every day of the week. 

What you see pictured above is the amazing Breakfast Poutine. Potatoes covered in beef gravy, scallions, chunks of bacon and cheese curds, topped with two eggs cooked to your liking (over medium for me). This was fantastic. I was a bit leery of beef gravy with eggs, it just didn't sound right but man it all went together really well. I hate to say it but this beats out the breakfast poutine at both Twisted Apron and The St. Joachim Diner. 

In addition to amazing breakfast TOAST has an amazing selection of coffee, espresso and lattes. Which is probably a given due to their location in Little Italy. My wife has said that their cappuccino is the best in the city. TOAST is still pretty new, they just opened in August 2016. If you haven't had a chance to check them out I strongly recommend heading in some time. 

You've got to get to Motor Burger on a Tuesday and try a Mozza'rati

This intriguing beauty is a Mozza'rati. A new 'burger' only available at Motor Burger and only available on Tuesdays.  Even on a Tuesday they are in limited supply and it may be worth contacting them to make sure they have some left before you go (though if you do go and they don't have any Mozza'rotti left there's tons of other awesome burgers to choose from, so it wouldn't really be much of a loss). Yesterday I finally got a chance to try one of these beauties for myself. 

So what exactly is it? It's an all beef burger with pepperoni wrapped in mozzarella cheese wrapped in pizza dough and baked. Served in a sea of tangy tomato sauce. 

It's just as good as it sounds. This burger combines two of my favourite things; Motor's amazing burgers and pizza. It's like someone read my mind and told them to make this just for me. The meat patty was perfectly cooked and spiced. The pepperoni wasn't too spicy. The sauce was a good tangy sweet. I guess the only thing I would have changed was to add more cheese and that shouldn't surprise anyone :D

Along with the Mozza'rati I feel the need to mention Motor Craft Ales. This local brewery is part of Motor Burger and includes a significant number of beers. Way more than I remember them serving last time we were there. Many are available to go as well as with your meal. Overall it feels like they stepped it up a notch. We tried four different beers while we were there and they were all excellent and each very distinct. 

A special mention goes out to the BMW 2.0 which is by far the best beer I've had from Motor Craft Ales and one of the best beers I've had from a Windsor brewery. The BMW is a Dunkelweizen, 7.4% ABV, 23.5 IBU. I found it very easy to drink, with a great balance of sweet fruit tastes and hoppy bitterness. It has some notes of banana and apple, but you couldn't really taste any booziness despite the high ABV. It went great with the Mozza'rati.

Toothsome is the coolest place I've ever eaten

Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen is part of City Walk Orlando just outside the gates of the Universal Orlando theme parks. It's also the coolest place I've ever eaten. 

Just look at that picture at the top. Isn't that sweet looking? What you can't see from this picture are the gears and wind turbines spinning and the steam coming out of the top. Toothsome (sorry I'm not typing that full name more than once) is a steampunk themed restaurant, gift shop, chocolatiere and malt shop.

The inside of the place is just as amazing as the outside. It's full of very cool steampunk decor, awesome knickknacks, themed candies, chocolates and staff all dressed in steampunk cosplay. Most of the bottom floor is the gift store and malt shop. The various shakes are so good that the wait time to get one can easily be over an hour. The gift store is filled with a huge assortment of candies and chocolates all with the steampunk theme. In addition they have a cool selection of steampunk themed household decorations. 

The back half of the first floor and the entire second floor is a huge restaurant that has to seat at least 200 people if not closer to 500. Everything sticks to the steampunk theme. There are even giant 3D video walls that make the place look even bigger on the inside by showing the rest of the Emporium at work. With automatons whizzing about and crates of chocolate being made to be shipped out and consumed. There are copper pipes everywhere. Everything is metallic and shiny. The theme is everywhere and the detail is wondrous.

The most amazing part of all of this is that the food was just as good as the decor and theme. Nearly every dish is made with chocolate. They even have a fantastic chocolate stout (named Too Chocolate Stout) that is brewed exclusively for Toothsome. This was the 2nd best chocolate beer I've ever had, beat only by BNL from Flying Monkeys (which you can never get again, sadly). Our meal at Toothsome was the best meal of our entire trip to Orlando, by far.

The menus themselves are beautiful leather bound books that contain a good variety of items. Most of the menu was signature sandwiches and burgers but there were also larger entrees. The appetizer list alone is enough to get anyone drooling. 

Before we even finished reading the menu they brought us a loaf of this incredible chocolate bread with our drinks. This alone set the tone for the meal. It was so good! Chocolaty but still savory. Not in any way a dessert. I could have probably sat there and just had chocolate stout and chocolate bread all night.

Our family started the meal with pork belly sliders with chocolate coated bacon as an appetizer and that, again, had us saying we had to come back. I also ordered some French Onion Soup that turned out to be better than the soup from Windsor's own Ye Olde Steak House (man I miss that place). For a main I got a Croque-Monsieur, my wife got the Forest Mushroom Pizza, my mother in law tried the Chicken Bercy and the kids got some pasta with red sauce I can't remember the name of. We were also treated to a Rice Krispies Shake. Everything was fantastic and I'm not just saying that because Universal Orlando picked up the bill. Seriously, this was damn fine food. 

At some point during your meal at Toothsome you can expect to meet Professor Doctor Penelope Tibeaux-Tinker Toothsome with her robot Jacques. The pair that, at least as far as the theme and story of the place goes, opened the Chocolate Emporium. Jacques was one of the most well done automaton cosplays I've ever seen, complete with remotely broadcast slightly robotic voice. The pair explained the story behind Toothsome and stopped for photo ops with the kids. In addition to this personal touch, the service overall was top notch. The staff were jumping out of their pants to help us and take care of our every need. To be honest this was true of every place we checked out in Universal Orlando.

One thing that I think is well worth noting: because Toothsome is part of the Orlando City Walk and not actually located inside one of the Universal theme parks, you don't need a park entry ticket to eat there. It's open to the public and anyone can just walk up and check the place out. You can check out the gift shop, order a shake or sit down to a fantastic meal. Though if you are going for a meal reservations are very strongly recommended. 

For me, the Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen (okay, I typed it out twice, happy now?) was the highlight of our family trip to Orlando. The entire trip was great but my favourite part was checking this place out the first day and eating dinner there the next. If you are ever in the area you really have to check this place out. Unless maybe you don't like chocolate. But who doesn't like chocolate?

P.S. Even if you don't like chocolate or have some form of chocolate allergy (I am so sorry for you) there are plenty of things on the menu that don't actually have chocolate in them. Like this Rice Krispies Shake:

The biggest, best sandwich in Windsor #FoodPornFriday

I think there are plenty of Windsorites that can identify this #FoodPornFriday post. Even if they don't know that it's Bill's Big Boy with a side of Dillon Fries, they probably know it comes from Bubi's Awesome Eats.

Bubi's is one of those places you bring your out of town friends when they come to Windsor. They have been featured on You've Gotta Eat Here and for good reason. They have unique fantastic food that's "Garlicky Good!"

This massive sandwich has bacon, ham, turkey, gyro meat, lettuce, tons of cheese and Bubi's Sauce speared between Bubi' fresh made Garlick'd Rye bread. It's one of the best sandwiches in the area and one of the best I've had, ever. 

One of my favourite things to do in the summer is sit on Bubi's patio with a pint of Barking Squirrel and one of these massive sandwiches. 

The best thing I've ever eaten at Jack's Gastropub #FoodPornFriday

This isn't the first time I've featured Jack's Gastropub for #FoodPornFriday and I'm sure it won't be the last. Jack's is our favourite place to eat. The only thing that stops us from going there more often is the fact it's out in Kingsville and not here in Windsor.

I had to share this particular meal this week because it was the best thing I've ever eaten at Jack's. If you follow me on social media you must realize that is saying a lot. We love Jack's, I don't think I've ever had a bad meal and I've had many amazing ones. This dish topped all of them. 

What you see here is Fried Chicken Scaloppine: Cornflake breaded chicken cutlet, summer potato salad, grilled marinated tomato, warm biscuit and sausage gravy. 

Now Jack's changes their menu every season, so I suggest you head out there before this deslish dish disappears. Personally we've already booked a table for next Saturday.

European Market has awesome pre-made food at a great price. #FoodPornFriday

The European Market on Walker has been one of our favourite places to go for years. They have an amazing deli counter, sell a wide variety of imported foodstuffs that you can't get anywhere else and they have a great hot food counter.  This is why I was very happy to see they were opening a new, larger location that's closer to home (and to my work). 

The new place is huge and is located at 6415 Tecumseh Rd. East (was a rather terrible all you can eat sushi place before). What I really like at the new place is that the hot food counter is even bigger and has more items. There are now three kinds of pirogi, rice balls, a couple different stews, crepes. turkey and pork schnitzel, three different types of sausage, vegetables, roast potatoes and a whole lot more.

What really made me want to talk about the European Market for #FoodPornFriday is the price. Look at that picture up there: in it you can see eight dumplings, a medium sausage and cabbage, two spinach and ricotta crepes, eighteen cheddar cheese pierogi, four mushroom and sauerkraut pirogi, a medium bacon noodle thing (it's awesome and one of our favourites but I can't remember exactly what it's called), and finally three rice balls. How much do you think that cost me? 

$36.50

Yes $36.50, for everything you see here. It was too much food for us and still cheaper than pretty much every other take-out meal we've had recently. This provided dinner for two adults and two kids and then lunch for all four of us the next day. Even more impressive is the fact that the food is great. The European Market has some of the best pirogi in the city. The sausage and cabbage is perfect for us as I love the sausage and my wife loves the cabbage. The rice balls were amazing (first time trying those). The only thing we weren't impressed by were the crepes.

So if you are looking for something different for lunch or dinner, I strongly recommend checking out either of the European Market's locations.

 

The most appetizing French Toast ever! #FoodPornFriday

No clue what happened last weekend. I totally missed Friday. It was like it didn't happen. I guess working 6-7 days a week does that. Of course that also meant that I missed #FoodPornFriday. Sorry about that.

To make up for my mistake here is some of the most appetizing French Toast you will ever see.

For my oldest's birthday we let her pick somewhere to eat. The problem was that I was working afternoon shift at the time, so it had to be somewhere for breakfast or lunch. She picked The Twisted Apron (my kid has good taste). This beauty was the special of the day: Apple, Bacon & Brie Stuffed French Toast.

I wish I could tell you tasted as good as it looks, but I can't. That's because it wasn't my meal. I got my usual Breakfast Poutine (which was awesome). This french toast was what my wife ordered and the fact she wouldn't even give me a bite to try it should be a good indicator on how much she liked it.

Twisted Apron has been a favourite of ours since they opened. The food is always amazing, the service great, the atmosphere relaxed and the prices reasonable. It has the added bonus of a great craft beer selection though that didn't matter much for this particular trip.

Mi Casita redemption for #FoodPornFriday

Enchiladas from Mi Casita are the highlight of today's #FoodPornFriday post.

I have to admit that our first experience with Mi Casita wasn't a pleasant one. The food was decent but the meal ended with us in an argument with the staff over a coupon. They refused to honour a Groupon we had purchased that day before going to the restaurant. Groupon is where we learned about this new Mexican place and what made us decide to try it out. I think Groupon was less than a month old at the time and they made us feel like we were trying to rip them off with some wierd thing we found on the internet. It was not a fun experience. 

Due to this experience it was a long time before we gave Mi Casita a second chance. The closing of El Dorado and the hours at Palenque had us craving Mexican when we couldn't get it. Eventually we decided to try Mi Casita again, but for take out. The food was good. I was treated fine when I picked up the food. Everything seemed alright. We got take out a few more times and each time the food was good to excellent. Each of us found favourite dishes and Mi Casita ended up in the regular take out rotation. It wasn't until tonight that we tried to eat in again, and it was a great experience.

The place looks great (they remodelled relatively recently), the food was even better dine in than take out and, most importantly, the staff was friendly and attentive. I don't know if  there was a change in staff or even management, but I will now happily recommend Mi Casita if you are craving Mexican.

I personally recommend the Enchiladas pictured here. My wife recommends the Chiles Rellenos and the kids say everything on the kids menu is awesome (Kids menus for the win!). Personally I say every mean needs to start with an order of Queso Flamedo, but then again I wish every meal started with flaming cheese and spicy sausage.

My dessert is purple! #FoodPornFriday

Today's #FoodPornFriday post is a follow up to last week's post. This very cool looking dessert also comes from Tropical Hut Philippine Cuisine and was my final course from our WindsorEats WinterBites meal.

According to the menu this is called Sapin-Sapin and is a Filipino rice cake made from glutinous rice and coconut milk. What I know is that it tasted as good as it looked cool. I can't think of anything else I've eaten that was purple and yellow like this.

Pork Belly from Tropical Hut Philippine Cuisine for #FoodPornFriday

This mouth watering #FoodPornFriday picture comes from Tropical Hut Philippine Cuisine.

Tropical Hut is hidden away downtown. The address is technically 618 Goyeau but you can't actually see it form Goyeau. You can see it from Wyandotte, and it's right across from the Detroit Windsor Tunnel entrance. Tucked in behind Cash Converters and Capri Pizza.

We first tried Tropical Hut as part of one of WindsorEats events. I think it was Winter Bites, It was one of those deals where you pay one price and pick three courses off a limited menu. What you see here is my entree which was fried Pork Belly. To be honest, I'm not sure it's even on the regular menu. 

What I thought was very cool about Tropical Hut is that it wasn't like any other Asian restaurants. It wasn't trying to be all of Asia on one menu and didn't include those same menu items it seems you find at every Asian restaurant no matter what style of food they claim to be serving. Everything here is home cooked Filipino food.

Today's #FoodPornFriday is A Dog's Breakfast

If you follow me on Instagram you've already seen a cropped version of this #FoodPornFriday picture. This amazing breakfast is the Sausage Wrap from A Dog's Breakfast.

A Dog's Breakfast is a new place that only recently opened up on Maiden Lane downtown at the previous location of Matryoshka which I reviewed back in 2014. It's a breakfast brunch place that looks like it may also sell hot dogs. I say may because every time we've been there they only have a partial menu.

My new favourite thing to do on a Saturday is to go downtown and hit the Downtown Windsor Farmer's Market and then after browsing the stalls at the Market hit up A Dog's Breakfast with my wife and kids. Every single time I order the same thing, what you see here: The Sausage Wrap.

This is a Robbie's Sausage (the best in the city) wrapped in puffed pastry with candied apples and some form of salad that even I liked. Along with it (and all other breakfasts) you get some amazing chorizo hash. My only complaint is that I wish you got a lot more hash. Though I have to admit seeing portions that aren't so big even I can't finish them is a nice change of pace. 

So next time you are downtown, especially if you are hitting up the market on Saturday stop in to A Dog's Breakfast. You won't be disappointed. 

Lamb Shank from Rino's Kitchen #FoodPornFriday

This lamb shank tasted way better than it looks and that's saying something. Welcome to #FoodPornFriday 

 This comes from Rino's Kitchen & Ale House one of my favourite spots in the city, though we don't go there that often. My wife and I have been visiting their location at 131 Elliot Street downtown for many years. We used to frequent The Nesbit Inn back in our University days and it's great to see this classic building still serving great food.

In addition to awesome food Rino's also offers a great selection of Ontario and Quebec craft beers. Their back yard and patio is fantastic and it's worth going this time of year just to sit outside and have a few pints.

The one problem with a place this good is that everyone knows it's this good, so make sure you call ahead if you want to be sure to get seats.

#FoodPornFriday If you live in Windsor you've probably eaten one of these

I wonder how many people from Windsor can tell me where this #FoodPornFriday picture is from?

Did you guess Malic's? Then you would be right. Malic's is a Windsor staple. This small Delicatessen has been in Windsor longer than I have, and I've lived here my whole life. I would guess way longer than I have. I also have a feeling that very little has changed at Malic's in all that time. The place just looks and feels like an old school deli and that's exactly what it is.

Malic's is known for their Corned Beef sandwiches and for a good reason. They have amazing Corned Beef. In addition they do an amazing Montreal Smoked Meat. Actually I doubt they do anything bad. You don't get to stay around in this town for that long serving bad food. In addition to fresh made food they also have a traditional deli counter where you can get some of their awesome meats to go.

If you live in Windsor and haven't been to Malic's, you have got to check it out at some point. If you have been there, don't you think it's time you went back?

Route 42 has us coming back for more

It was a rough week. Rough enough that I just realized Sunday morning that I missed #FoodPornFriday. Sorry about that. To make up for it have this amazing Shepherd's Pie from Route 42 Diner.

I did up a full review of Route 42 back in 2013. You can check it out here. Back then it was my first time there and we loved it. I'm happy to report we have been back many times and we still love it. I also find it amusing that my wife and I still order pretty much the same thing. I'm still loving the Shepherd's Pie and my wife still gets The Yellow Burger every time we go. The one addition is that my wife always gets some of their Pineapple Jam to go.

The one thing I do see that seems to have changed is free desert with every meal. I noted last time that I got to get piece of spice cake or rice pudding. It looks like those are no longer included. A bit of a shame but I have to admit I didn't even notice this change and would have totally forgotten about it if it wasn't for re-reading my old review for this post.

My parents love this place. The kids love it. We love it. Route 42 has become a local favourite of ours. Lastly: don't forget that order of mini donuts to go!

Have you tried Gyro Pizza from Roma's? #FoodPornFriday

This Friday's #FoodPornFriday post isn't being shared for the awesome picture, I'm sharing it because I think more people need to know this exists:

This is Gyro Pizza from Roma's Pizza in LaSalle. It is one of the most amazing tasting things out there that I think everyone needs to try it at least once. Take a Windsor style pizza but swap up the sauce and toppings for gyro ingredients. Instead of tomato based sauce, they use Taziki. The cheese is your standard awesome Galati cheese. On top of that, they toss gyro meat, onion and tomato for a really unique pie. 

I used to work out on that end of town, out by the race track, and delivered gyro pizza from Roma's was a Saturday shift lunch favourite. Out of town guests, time to order some Roma's. Work has since re-located and I live in Riverside, but I'm still willing to take the long(ish) drive out to LaSalle just to get Roma's every couple of weeks.

You can try one of these unique pizza pies for $13 for a baby or go all out and throw a party with a King for $43. Roma's is located at 221 Front Road in LaSalle Ontario. They do dine in and delivery but, if you are in Windsor, they don't reach too far into the city. 

#FoodPornFriday featuring Yami Sushi

Today's #FoodPornFriday is also a #FishFriday post, sorta. #FishFriday is not my thing at all. In general I can't stand fish. You can convince me to eat a tuna sandwich now and then but that's about it. For some reason though I love sushi. I don't get it. There's quite a bit in most sushi I don't like and it's not just the fish. I don't like cucumber, avocado or crab. But for some reason when you put that all together with some sticky rice I'm in heaven.

This fantastic looking Sushi boat comes from Yami Sushi located at 1459 Ottawa St. We've only gone the one time and the food was decent. All of their sushi is ala carte, no all you can eat for $20, which personally I think is a good thing. In addition to sushi you can also get a variety of Korean dishes. 

The Big Dude is back for #FoodPornFriday featuring Etta's Greeklish Eatery

The Big Dude is back! Just in time for #FoodPornFriday

For the past year (plus a few months) my day job went a bit nuts. I was working an insane number of hours and just didn't find time to update this blog (as well as my other gaming related one The Windsor Gaming Resource). Well things are finally starting to slow down and that means more time for the things I love. Like gaming and great food.

In celebration of my return on #FoodPornFriday I give you The Meat Lovers Casserole from Etta's Greeklish Eatery. Homefries covered with ham, bacon, prosciutto, sausage, 3 scrambled eggs and enough cheese to make this a very happy Big Dude.

Not the cheapest breakfast at $12.50 but so good, it's worth it. To be honest I think there's probably more than enough food here to split this between two people, which makes this a very reasonable meal for two.

You can find Etta's in Olde Riverside at 5975 Wyandotte St. E.