Canyon Creek Chop House

Canyon Creek at Scarborough Town Center
430 Progress Avenue
(416) 296 - 1400
www.canyoncreekchophouse.com

My friend took me out for a belated birthday dinner today : ) and I thought the birthday festivities were over.. hahaha I think I can celebrate the entire year if it gives me an excuse to eat good food :)

The steaks were pretty good here ! And the waiter was very nice too : ) he gave us a free brownie with ice cream for my birthday... too bad we were so full by that time that we couldn't enjoy it ! It satisfied my week-long craving of wanting to devour an entire chocolate cake baked from the pre-mixed boxes from betty crocker... I suddenly do not want chocolate cake for a long time.. TOO FULL !!! It is 2:23am and I am still full from my dinner at 7:30pm... Thanks Loretta! :)


Crusted Sushi Grade Tuna

Her Chophouse Salad - blue cheese.......... yuck ! I didn't know cheese can be blue... it tasted moldy... sorry if I offended any blue cheese lovers but I hate goat cheese blue cheese... all cheese which is not melted & stringy... my friend loves this salad though.. says the raspberry vinegrette pulls everything together

Filet mignon wrapped in bacon (I still prefer it without the bacon! Preserves the natural taste of the meat much better but this was good too! The flavour of the bacon seeped throughout the steak)

Prime rib with sour cream & chives mashed potatoes. MmmMMMmmm this tasted amazing with the au jus... I recommend the mashed potatoes over the loaded baked potato.

Brownie with vanilla ice cream and cream anglais. Very delicious.. too bad I was way too full to eat this enjoyably...

Gal's Sushi

Gal's Sushi
3621 Hwy7 East (corner of Warden & Hwy7)
(905) 305 - 7753
www.galsushi.com

I eat at Gal's all the time.. so this isn't really a special post for me.. but I am making this post to warn you... that Gal's sushi at hwy7 and warden is NOT the same as Gal's sushi at hwy7 and chalmers! From this point on I will refer to the hwy7 & warden one as Gal's 1 and the other as Gal's 2.

My purpose of making this post is not that I have a vendetta against Gal's 2 but I do NOT want anyone who ate at Gal's 2 to mistakenly believe that Gal's 1 has food just as bad! Gal's 1 offers a variety of Japanese and Korean cuisine while the other does not... Gal's 1 has fresh ingredients and actually tastes good while the other does not.... My friends & I were just at Gal's 2 the other day and we were SO dissappointed that none of us finished our food.. the sashimi was not fresh at all.. when I tried to pick up my tuna with my chop sticks the piece of meat broke into 2........... And the food looked so unappetizing that I did not take pictures... The udon that my friends got looked like it was boiled in hot water with random fish balls and 1 broken shrimp thrown into it... yup.. that's what Gal's 2 considers a "seafood udon"... their deep fryer was also broken so they couldn't make tempura but for a free appetizer we were given a plate of cold deep fried scallops... I am curious as to how long those have been sitting around... by the way.. I could barely tell that it was scallops inside all that over-cooked batter.......

Anyways.. below are some pictures of Gal's 1 on one of my prior visits... I would definately recommend the Gal's on Highway 7 and Warden... I go there often because of their economical but filling & fresh lunch bento boxes and sashimi/sushi sets... yummm....

Beware of Gal's sushi on highway 7 and chalmers! The best part of our meal was the orange they served at the end... UGHH !!!

Holt's Cafe

Holt's Cafe
Bay & Bloor (located in the underground mall area)

I stumbled upon this place while shopping in the mezzanine near Bay & Bloor in the Holt Renfrew Center... they serve a variety of hot dishes and such but I wasn't too hungry so I wandered over to the dessert area.. This place has an open concept where you order your food .. pick up what you want and pay at the cash register before you eat.. sort of like RichTree. I couldn't resist.. all the desserts looked great ! Me and my friend chose 3 cakes... at the cash register the lady giggled... well.. it's not my fault I have a sweet tooth >=(

I asked her if we made good choices and she began to tell us that there are customers who come by and will ONLY eat the raspberry cheese cake and mango tarte which we chose... off to a great start I see ! They were both really good actually... I like the mango tarte better.. not as filling.. or it could be because by the time I got to the cheesecake I was stuffed...

Pistacio & strawberry tarte... I wasn't such a fan of.. neither was my friend.. I ate all the strawberries though : )

I want to try their food next time.. It was pretty busy even at 4pm so I assume it should be good! Cakes weren't overly expensive either for their size.. they were pretty big... I think it was about $7 each? No idea...

MANGO TARTE :)




Mango Tarte

Raspberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Pistachio Tarte

Acqua Ristorante

Acqua Ristorante
10 Front Street (located in Brookfield Place)
(416) 368 - 7171
www.acqua.ca

So.... me and my boyfriend were VERY disappointed at this restaurant to say the least.... First off, I ordered their 16oz veal which they are famous for and my boyfriend orders the lamb rack... they return to tell me both were sold out. So I ordered the oysters 6 ways to start off so we can decide what to get... they return to tell me the oysters are sold out..... My boyfriend suggests we start with the escargots instead and I decided I wanted the seared Ahi tuna for my main. 2 minutes later they return to tell me there is no more tuna but they still have the escargots... A bit flustered at this point we just asked them what they STILL had and they suggested the new york steak and the beef tenderloin with foie gras.

The waiter apologetically explains that because they are so close to the Air Canada Center and that there was a game prior to this... the rush of people lead to everything being sold out. I understand the concept that they don't want to order too much to keep their ingredients fresh but we had a reservation... shouldn't they be expecting guests to order their most famous dishes?

That wasn't it.. when the escargots came the sauce quickly cooled off and formed a disgusting layer of "skin" on the top... it tasted okay but that sauce was a bit of a turn off... Our mains came and the sauce did the same thing again... another layer of skin formed on BOTH our sauces... to be honest... the sauce on all 3 dishes tasted exactly the same. The butter on my boyfriend's steak was cold and did not melt.. and the foie gras that topped mine seemed cold and undercooked and tasted... weird.........

You can tell the cuts of meat weren't the greatest... a fresh and juicy medium rare steak should be a brightly coloured red in the center but our steaks were a dull pink/purple....... Needless to say we were very disappointed.... the only good things were my mashed potatos and my glass of wine.... To be fair.. these weren't the dishes they are known for... and I am sure their veal, lamb, and oysters are much better as they sold out... I do want to try them but I am undecided if I want to take that risk at the restaurant....

If you ever want to go here do NOT go after a game night and if there is something you want specifically... reserve ahead and let them know....

After our meal they did not offer us desserts... I left wondering if they were sold out of that too?


Good bread selection

Escargots with cremini mushrooms

New York steak

Tenderloin and foie gras

Inatei Japanese Cuisine

Inatei Japanese Cuisine
9021 Leslie Street Unit# 7 & 8
(905) 881 - 9500

This was birthday dinner #3. I am sure the pictures speak for themselves. They offer omakase at 3 different price points. Our meal was at the lowest price point ($60/person) but we were very full and all their ingredients were very fresh. Everyone got 1 portion of the photos I posted below except the sashimi & uni which was shared.

The chef decides to make whatever he wants with the freshest ingredients that they have in that day so if you book it twice you will get different food the 2nd time. If you want oysters for your omakase they only import them in on the weekends so go on the weekend. Their sashimi is from wild catch fish (not farmed) that was quickly frozen and shipped over! I don't think it can get more fresh than that and it really shows. I think this is my new favourite Japanese restaurant.

I will go back to try their a la carte and make a second post for this restaurant. I am sure it will be no less than amazing as I am craving a second round already!

Kumamoto & Virginica

Tuna sashimi with freshly ground coral reef

Fish liver in vinegrette

Cucumber roll - I envy the chef's knife skills

Handmade shrimp meat ball rolled in tobiko

Clam in ginger and wine soup

Wild catch Hobou fish, hamachi, botan shrimp

Deep fried botan shrimp heads

Foie gras sushi

Tempura tofy sushi with eel

Egg roll? I don't know... it was an extremely thin omelete wrapped around the same ingredients as in a California roll... but I don't know how they got the egg SO THIN! amazing...

Chilled spinach in a sweet sesame/soy sauce I believe

*drool... melt in your mouth beef tataki... my problem with alot of places that serve beef tataki is their beef quality / cut... this was so tender & free of hard to chew tendons

Mixed mushrooms udon

Almond cheesecake

A very smooth tofu dessert... I don't know what they call it but it was accompanied by red beans and a cute little pot of black sugar syrup? It didn't need the syrup... it was too sweet after with it... tasted really good with the red beans.

The Roosevelt Room

The Roosevelt Room
2 Drummond Place
M5v 0A5
www.therooseveltroom.ca

I don't even know where to start with this place! The decor was very beautiful and luxe. Especially the women's washroom. If you go there make sure you visit their bathrooms. The walls are beautifully painted and each stall is an individual room. There is a tv??? in each stall playing movies from the 1920s... yes that's right... EACH INDIVIDUAL STALL! I heard the men's washroom does not but I wouldn't know personally....

Anyways, back to the food! This was birthday dinner #2 and it was with a large group so we had to set up a prix fixe menu ( see below ). It wasn't overly expensive... $49 for an appetizer, main, and dessert and everyone was full!

Highlights: seared sea scallop cassoulet, crispy duck breast! Make sure you try them : )

Turns out Trevor Wilkinson of Trevor Kitchen & Bar designed their menu too and I loved his other restaurant! Both have filling portions of delicious food... and what I found in common was that the duck is GREAT at both.

Sea Scallop Cassoulet -- duck confit, toulouse sausage, ham hock & navy beans

Waldorf salad - salt cured duck, black walnut & black truffles

Coq au vin - crispy chicken, honey mushrooms, bacon, cipollini onions & riesling sauce

Smoked crispy duck breast - coucroute, juniper duck reduction & mustard croquettes... if ANYONE has any delicious duck recipes similar to these ingredients please share with me! I really want to learn to make duck like this.... I am going back for sure for more of this.

Linguine & clams -- little neck clams & prawns in white wine sauce -- some guests complained the sauce was a little light but I thought mine was pretty good and I tasted the wine !

Baked Alaska - alcohol drenched... flambeed raspberry & vanilla ice cream with cashew cake. I did not enjoy this at all because all I tasted was the alcohol....but it looked cool when it was on fire!

Venezuelan Dark Chocolate Mousse - brandied cherries & szechuan peppercorn ice cream.

I don't have a picture but out of the desserts, the apple tart tatin was the best of the 3.

Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge
230 Commerce Valley Drive East
(905) 764 - 6959
www.batonrougerestaurants.com

Now I know Baton Rouge is a restaurant chain but usually I find that when it comes to restaurant chains, often some are better than others. I haven't been to the other Baton Rouge but I can tell you that this one is amazing. It wasn't my first time there but my boyfriend took me there for Birthday dinner #1.

I tried something new that day: filet mignon and spring mix. I hate salad... I am really really picky with salad... before I would only eat the medium green parts of lettuce....yes I pick out the dark parts and the white parts -- there is a difference in taste! But slowly I am learning to appreciate salads after having the arugula salad at Trevor....

I can't believe I have never tried a filet mignon before... I never knew the differences between the cuts of meat but the filet mignon was very tender and juicy. I tried a bit of my boyfriend's prime rib and it was delicious also!

Yay! New favourite steak place close to home for a decent price.


Spring mix which I drizzled over with olive oil and balsamic vinegar


Jumbo shrimp cocktail - nothing spectacular but when they say jumbo they aren't lying. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad at all, it just didntt make me jump out of my chair.


Grilled prime rib

Grilled filet mignon with mMMmmmmm buttery bacon mashed potatoes

seriously... I am salivating looking at this photo again.... I loveeee steak ! I know some people prefer this with bacon wrapped around it but I rather enjoyed the taste of the meat on it's own : )