Living It Up in Toronto- Part 1

Decided to hit up one of the cities on my bucket list for vacation: Toronto. Unless it happened when I was a kid, I'm fairly certain I never visited Canada before. I think one of the main reasons I wanted to visit Toronto was because of my love for the Scott Pilgrim comics. The other thoughts were that its close enough to drive to (8 hours from here). Funny enough we ended up flying cause I didn't think road tripping was the way to go- border patrol and all those excuses. Interestingly enough the customs into Canada is automated/self checkout.

Nerd me is one of those research types who pretty much just scopes out places to eat more than places to see. That being said one of the spots I wanted to check out was St. Lawrence Market . It consists of two spots: The South Hall which is a 2 floor building with over a hundred different vendors (food and merchandise) and then a farmer's market across the street. Fairly certain this market hit just about every continent with food options.  

After perusing around for a bit ended up going with Karen's pick and going to Manotas Organics & Fine Latin Foods. They had a woman out front cooking arepas and empanadas. I'm not one to turn down Hispanic cuisine so they were picked up. Once again I'm a sucker for freshness when it comes to food. I think outside of having paid for something, I don't care much for leftovers. Thus if you're ever at my place I usually try to hand off food. All that being said these were a hit.

Chicken Empanada

Arepa in case you've never had one, it is pretty much a dough made from maize (aka corn). In this instance the lady was frying them up.  Really can't go wrong with an arepa...unless of course it's super dry then you might. In this instance it was pretty good.

Cheese Arepa

So after the St. Lawrence Market- opted to check into the hotel and rest up before heading over to Niagara Falls. In case you're wondering (or too lazy to check a map) it is only 1 1/2 hours east of Toronto. Niagara Falls itself is pretty beautiful. One observation which surprised me was that the majority of the visitors (not sure if tourists or locals) were of Indian/Pakistani origin.  That being said I don't think we came across any Indian restaurants in Niagara Falls at all (driving wise). I'm sure there are a bunch if you googled it.

Food wise decided to go cheap eats and themed diner route and went with The Flying Saucer Restaurant . As you most likely guessed- I saw flying saucer in the name and was like need to check it out. Place was pretty busy as Niagara Falls had a comic convention going on at the time, which is kind of funny walking into a U.F.O themed diner and seeing folks in cosplay. It was like Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars. #NerdAlert.

So first day in Canada, need to try at least one of the things they are known for poutine. Poutine for the less informed- no worries I was a part of that group- are French fries, cheese curds, and gravy.  I mean cheap eats from a diner probably wasn't the obvious place to try a national treasure but turned out to be a good decision. Not sure if their fries were freshly made or just the oil they use to cook them, but they were fantastic on their own. Add the other unhealthy stuff and you got a winner. Definitely an item to try if you're in the area.

Flying Saucer's Poutine

Food wise they kind of have the standard flair but then under their sandwich section they just had the name Western. So ended up asking the waitress what that entailed. Not sure if its a common Canadian sandwich as no description was under it. Basically a ham, egg, and cheese melt. It was okay at best. I'm not sure what I was thinking it was going to turn out. The star of the meal were the fries. Also interesting- on the table they had ketchup and vinegar. Not malt vinegar, just plain old vinegar. Never seen that before but was like well why not give it a shot. It was surprisingly addictive.

Western Sandwich, coleslaw, and fries

The Western Sandwich side view

Karen ended up going with a burger. She picked the Jupiter burger as that was the smallest burger they had. Now I'm not sure if its all Canada or what- someone can let me know- but they make their burger patties more like meatloaf. That being said- someone did not enjoy the burger. I gave it a try and it was just weird as it was kind of softer than meatloaf/almost paste like. I might be exaggerating but if you're use to burgers a certain way that just throws off your mental game.

Jupiter Burger with coleslaw and fries

Jupiter Burger side view

Overall The Flying Saucer Restaurant was a let down outside of Poutine and adding vinegar to fries. You would think they'd have a gift shop or something to go along with their theme but they didn't. So I'd say if you're on a budget and don't mind poor truck stop grade food, this might be the place for you.  Highly doubt I'd go back to this joint again.

I think day one in Toronto was 50/50 start to the trip food wise as the Hispanic food and venture around St. Lawrence Market was a good first impression. Niagara Falls I'm sure has plenty of other options food wise so won't let that mediocre experience dissuade me from going back.

#CanadianFoodieAdventure,

Reef