Naina's Kitchen

I was looking for something close to the apartment we rented for a somewhat quick meal, but have it hearty enough because it was going to be a late lunch after driving from Canmore.  I found Naina's Kitchen after doing some Googling, and Yelping.  And no I didn't decide to come here because it was on an episode of You Gotta Eat Here.  To be honest, I have gone to some of the restaurants that have been on the show, but I found that it wasn't really worth it.  Makes me wonder if some of the restaurants just pay the show so they can be featured.

We arrived at Naina's kitchen on a Friday, while it wasn't filled, it was quite busy.  We ordered a mac and cheese grilled cheese and a ramen stuffed burger.  If you know my hubby, if there's fried chicken or any sort of ramen, he will order that.  I realized after we placed our order this was not going to be a quick meal.  Here, they specialize in stuffed burgers.  Stuffed anything takes longer to cook through.  Which made me wonder, do people in Calgary have really lax lunch breaks?  I saw many people dressed in business attire who stayed a very long time for lunch.

As expected, it took a while for the burger to cook. We were getting so hungry!  Finally the food arrive and we dug in.  My mac and cheese grilled cheese was exactly how you would imagine it.  A thick slab of mac and cheese put in between 2 slices of bread and put on the flat top.  Carb overload!  It was cheesy enough, but a bit bland (even for me!), so I dipped it in ketchup.  I chose a caesar salad as my side instead of fries because didn't want carbs, carbs, and more carbs!  Although I have to admit I ate some of the hubby's fries.  The salad was fresh romaine lettuce, with homemade croutons and real bacon pieces.  Dressing I think was bought and not made in house.

Mac and Cheese & Caesar Salad

Hubby's ramen burger was exactly what you would expect.  A burger patty stuff with ramen in it.  It had ramen flavour, I'm sure ramen powder packet was added into either the burger meat or the ramen noodles was tossed with it.  What was disappointing was that the burger meat was dry.  Most likely had to do with how long the burger had to be cooked for in order to make sure everything was cooked through.  Maybe they could freeze some ramen stock and stuff it inside with the noodles to keep some sort of moisture?  I have to say though, the fries were pretty good, good portion and were fresh cut.

Ramen Burger & Fries

Ramen Burger Insides

I'm not sure I would come back here again, tried it once, understand the novelty of these kinds of burgers, but it's just novelty.  I think I would prefer a regular good old fashioned burger any day.

Naina's Kitchen
121 17 Ave. SE,
Calgary, AB
T2G 1H3

Phone:  (403) 263-6355

Hours:  Monday - Saturday 1100a - 1100p
             Sunday 1100a - 800p

http://nainaskitchen.com

The Smokery Kitchen & Bar

I love burgers, and it’s hard to find good ones.  So when Yelp has their annual Burger Binge week, I try to make an effort to visit one of the restaurants that are participating.  Yes, I know that usually when there’s events like that, the quality of the food drops a bit.  And it really shouldn’t if they want to entice people to come back to try their regular menu, but it definitely happens.  $5 for a burger whats not to like?

Drink wise, they have some local brews on tap.  I got an Amsterdam radler, which had a minor blood orange flavour.  Friend got a Beau’s beer.  I can’t remember the name of it.  It was light, like a Heineken.

Beers

Food, we of course all ordered their $5 burger, which was a beef patty topped with pulled pork.  The beef patty (at least mine was), ok, but lacking much beef flavour.  The other burgers were dry.  Inconsistency in food cooking.  We also ordered a side of wings and pulled pork poutine.  The wings were good. Wing size was great, they were so big.  The poutine was disappointing.  The pulled pork was hot.  The fries were cold.  Cold fries means soggy fries.  So the combination of the pulled pork, gravy, and soggy fries, didn’t make for a good poutine.  Not a place I would go out of my way to visit again. 

$5 Burger

Wings

Pulled Pork Poutine

The Smokery Kitchen & Bar

6140 Main St., 

Stouffville, ON

L4A 4H8

Phone:  (905) 591-6140

Hours:  Monday - Saturday 11:30a - 9:00p

             Sunday Closed

http://thesmokery.ca

Catch Up #2: Burgers

Not sure if I should be naming this post burgers, or sandwiches, or meat between bread.  One place is actually a burger place.  The other place is an arepa place.  Same idea right?  Stuff between bread of some sort.

Liberty Burger & Wings
We decided to check this place out during the summer when Yelp had a promotion going on, I think it was $5 for a burger if you had the Yelp app on your phone, and you had to check in when you were at the burger joint.  With the friends that I went with, of course just a burger wouldn't be enough.  Aside from the burger, we ordered a side of fries and a pound of wings.  The burger itself was pretty good, very juicy and flavourful.  I wouldn't mind going back one of these days when I can eat 'real food' again.  The fries were, just regular fries, nothing special.  The wings were pretty good. Size of the wings were quite large.  Crispy on the outside, and juicy on the inside.

Fries

Burger

Wings

144 Main St. N.,
Markham, ON
L3P 5T3
http://libertyburgers.ca

Arepa Cafe
Awesome place for a quick dinner thats not super heavy.  We went before going to the Michael Buble concert.  Favourite singer and after going to the concert, love that guy even more!  Also, that afternoon there was also a World Cup game going on.  Arepa cafe had a projector setup and was showing the game on one of their walls.  Made dinner more entertaining.  We ordered reina pepiada, la llanera, and tequenos.  The reina pepiada was an arepa filled with roast chicken, avocado, red onion and coriander which was served cold like a chicken salad.  Good choice for hot scorching hot days. Adding their hot sauces made it even better.

Reina Pepiada

The hubby's la llanera was a piece of flank steak topped with queso fresco, avocado and tomato.  Flavours were really good, just not so good on a hot day.  

la llanera

We didn't realize how large the arepas were, so we also got the taquenos.  They're like mozzarella sticks but much more awesome.  I think I ate one...the hubby finished off the rest.

Taquenos

Can't wait till I can eat tomatoes and corn again.....i'm drooling thinking of the food here.

490 Queen St. W.,
Toronto, ON,
M5V 2B3
http://www.arepacafe.ca/#!

Big Boys Burgers

I think I need to cringe when I hear the words "best" of anything.  I'm not sure if I end up with higher expectations for a meal at a restaurant when I hear the words "best" to describe it, or I just have weirdly different tastebuds than other people.  On my Facebook feed, someone said Big Boys Burgers makes the best burger.  I was hoping that they were right because it would be nice to have an alternative to Fresh burger, even though I still love the burgers there.  Just a change of scenery is nice every once in a while.

The website says home made burger, I don't remember it tasting home made.  I honestly can't remember about the burger.  Nothing about the burger stood out.  It was just another burger.  I have to say that the fries were fresh cut and pretty good.  But that was the only thing good about the place.  Not worth the drive up north for a burger.  You might as well stop off at any of the fast food chains.

Giant Fry

Burger

Big Boys Burgers
10626 Bayview Ave,
Richmond Hill, ON

905-737-2441

Hours: Monday - Saturday 11a - 9p
            Sunday 12p - 8p

http://bigboysburgers.com/HOME.html

Fresh Burger

I was reading reviews about Fresh Burger and what really caught my eye/interest was the fact that one reviewer said that this place is better than The Burgers Priest.  Now this is one big claim.  So I knew I had to try Fresh Burger.  I wanted to go during Christmas, but they were closed during the Christmas holidays.  So we waited until 2 weeks ago to go.  Actually it was a friend who suggested to go, because of his black hole of a stomach, he wanted a second dinner.

Fresh burger is small with few options available.  They offer two types of burger patties, Fresh burger (sirloin) and Prime (USDA Prime).  All burgers served as cheese burgers.  We didn't ask, but I'm sure you can request no cheese if you don't like cheese. We arrived at 8:30pm, and were told they only had the 5 Prime patties left.  The prime burger was VERY good, a no frills burger.  Exactly how a burger should be.  Sizing wise, larger than The Burgers Priest.  The meat patty, cooked to a perfect medium, had a crunchy crust from the flat top grill, juicy and moist.  The meat didn't have to be cooked well done because they grind their own meat.  The bun was soft but enough to hold up to the large burger patty.  My friends were saying, it's just missing the portobello mushroom cap.  I disagree.  I prefer it without.

Prime Burger

Their poutine can be passed on.  They call it a poutine but cheese curds were not used, it looked more like mozzarella chunks.  I guess they really should be called disco fries.

Poutine

I'm so excited that there's a good burger place in York Region now!!!

Fresh Burger
9206 Leslie St, Unit#4
Richmond Hill, ON
L4B 2N8
905-597-7224

Hours: Monday - Saturday 11am - 9pm
            Sunday Closed

http://www.fresh-burger.com

Farmhouse Tavern

I have been so far behind on my posts that it's ridiculous.  This past Saturday, as I was blogging, I said to my husband, i'm only 5 behind!!!!  I always try to post in the order of which I visit the restaurants, which I think partly causes the delay.  I'm always eager to post when the restaurant is good, and then not so keen on posting when the restaurant is bad.

But i'm SUPER DUPER excited about today's post!  I couldn't wait to finish the 5 other posts first before I got to this one.  Farmhouse Tavern gets a bud in line and for good reason.  Do I really want to share the deliciousness of this restaurant and make it busier than it already is?  There's still many dishes on the brunch menu i'm looking forward to going back to try, and am trying to plan the return visit.  By the way, we got the best seat in the house!  And I apologize in advance for the bad pictures, I left my camera at home. :(

Farmhouse Tavern Kitchen

Ever since Goody's closed down, I have been on the hunt for the best burger place.  Burgers Priest was close, but no cigar. They were just too greasy for my stomach.  Farmhouse Tavern does an amazing burger.  The Barnyard Burger's patty was cooked to a medium rare to medium (seasoned well), and topped with a thick slice of smokey bacon, creamy goats cheese, iceberg lettuce and one giant fried duck egg.  It also came with a huge side of home made fries, with smokey ketchup.

Barnyard Burger

I ordered the Mother and Child Reunion.  Cute name, but kind of morbid.  The 'Mother' aspect refers to the slices of cured duck breast, and 'Child' refers to the deep fried duck eggs.  I had the option of adding foie gras for $12 and I took it.  When it arrived, I shouldn't have taken it.  The slice of foie was tiny.  it was VERY good though, melt in your mouth.  Presentation of this dish was almost like art.  The salad was beautiful.  What I thought was a piece of bacon in my salad was actually carrot.  This salad had heirloom carrots, purple and yellow.  There's a vegetable in it that I'm still not quite sure of.  Everything was so fresh and crunchy.  The duck breast was very delicious.  It was almost as if I was eating candied duck breast.  The duck eggs appeared to be soft boiled, then coated with panko and deep fried.  The yolks were still very runny.  I didn't realize but it appears that duck eggs have very large yolks!

Mother and Child Reunion

Who wants to come with me next?

Farmhouse Tavern
1627 Dupont St.
Toronto, ON
M6P 3S8

416-561-9114

Hours:  Thursday - Friday 6pm - not sure when the end time is
             Saturday & Sunday 11am - 3pm, 6pm - not sure when the end time is

http://farmhousetavern.tumblr.com

Dragon Bistro

Dragon Bistro is located in the heart of Unionville Main Street.  Right next to that cute little water wheel.   I love going to Unionville just to stroll around with the dog, do some window shopping and people watching.  Weekends are always packed with people, especially during the summer.  Makes me wonder if it's considered a tourist stop.  Fun little fact, the Gilmore Girls pilot was shot in Unionville, and I was told that Suits has filmed some episodes here too.

We decided to give this restaurant a try because:
1. I had a craving for wings, and my massage therapist told me they make the BEST wings.
2. I had a coupon.  This coupon is for a free appetizer if you order over a certain amount.

We popped into this super empty restaurant, which is usually a bad sign.  We ordered nachos (free with coupon), surf & turf burger, regular burger and wings.  Nachos weren't that great.  Too many dry ingredients.  There was cheese, but it was all clumped up in certain sections, so we ended up eating a lot of plain chips.  The burger was nothing special.  The burger patty was a bit dry.  My friend said that the surf and turf burger was really good.  He loved the sauce.  It looked disgusting to me.  The wings, which we came for, were large in size.  I prefer large wings because there's more meat.  Other than size, I didn't find their wings to be the BEST wings.

Not a place I would be coming back to again.  It is definitely NOT the best wings I have ever had.  I think I'm better off going to St. Louis Wings.

Nachos

Wings

Burger

Surf & Turf Burger

 


































Dragon Bistro
139 Main St.,
Unionville, ON,
905-604-4074
http://www.thedragonbistro.com/index.html

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

I'm still on the hunt for a new burger restaurant.  My beloved Goody's Diner closed a few months ago.  I finally got a chance to go check out Five Guys (since my friend keeps saying how good it is) one Friday during lunch.  From what I remember, prices started around $6.xx for a hamburger.  Pretty pricey in my opinion for JUST a burger, no drink or fries.  However, I was reminded how expensive fast food places are nowadays.  I ordered the burger, friend ordered the the cheeseburger and fries.  Good thing we shared the fries.  Seems like what they do is scoop a paper cup full of fries, put cup in bag, and scoop more fries into the bag.  Too much!

Burger wise, when you order you specify toppings you want.  Unlike most other fast food places, there's no additional cost for the toppings.  There's even sautéed mushrooms and onions!  It's not just the regular ketchup, mustard, lettuce and tomato!  When they called my number to pick up my burger, i grabbed the bag and thought......WHAT THE HECK?!  Did they put in 2 burgers?  I peered inside the bag and saw one.  I sat down and opened it up and it's double patties.  That explains the weight!  Taste of the beef was BLAND.  No seasoning, not much beef flavour.  I guess compared to other fast food places, it's not bad.  But it's just not the same as Goody's :(.

Burger

Cheese Burger

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

http://www.fiveguys.com/locations.aspx

Burger Hopping

Burger week was held from May 29, 2012 to June 2, 2012 with the grand finale on June 3, 2012.  For each of the 5 days, 18 restaurants crafted special $5 burgers, 6 restaurant with slightly pricier burgers and selected restaurants with $5 Muskoka beer that comes with a Burger Week mug that you get to take home.  I didn't go to the grand finale event because I didn't want to deal with crowds, it also had a $5 entry fee and $3 sliders.

On the night of June 1, a few of my friends and I decided to do some burger hopping.  I was greedy, I wanted to try more than 1 burger.  So the plan was to go to each restaurant on my list and order takeout and we would then split the burger to try.  On my original list was Keriwa Cafe, Gladstone Hotel, Barque Smokehouse, Drake Hotel and Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder.  But I read on a forum that some restaurants were not allowing takeout.  So I made some calls to make sure we can do the take out option.  Turns out Keriwa cafe was only doing the burger on a sitdown basis and Barque Smokehouse was only offering the burger at lunch.  My list got shortened to 3. 

First stop, Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder.  I have been here several times for their fried chicken, deep fried poached eggs, and sandwiches, but never their burgers.  So this was a great opportunity to try their burger for cheap!  Their $5 burger offering consisted of: Beef burger with house made smoked American style cheese, pickeled sweet onion and brown butter cornichon aioli.  The burger came with 2 beef patties cooked to medium (we asked for medium rare).  I was 100% sure that there was bacon in the burger, but it was no where to be found.  Turns out the smoke flavour came from the cheese.  It was so good, but slightly salty!  I wasn't a fan of the burger bun though, too soft, I prefer something a bit more dense.  The hubby couldn't help it and had to order some fried chicken as well.

Stockyards

Stockyards Fried Chicken

Gladstone Hotel.  The service here was atrocious!  I tried to call to place a take out order when we left Stockyards to minimize the wait time.  What I got was, we're really busy right now and can't take your order, so please come into order.  I thought fine, it shoudn't take long to cook a burger so the wait can't be that long.  We arrive and see that there were a few people seated at tables but this was far from being full.  While waiting for the hostess to greet us, and for us to ask for a takeout order to be placed, I noticed that there was no food on the table for the people that were seated and a bunch of wait staff were all standing in the back corner talking.  We waited a good 10-15 mins before the hostess came over, only then to direct us to the bartender to place our take out order.  We had to wait 5 mins for the bartender to walk over to talk to us, she wasn't making drinks but rather walking back and forth behind the bar.  We placed our order and waited....and waited and waited.  A good 20 mins later, we asked the bartender how much longer.  She responded with "I don't know.  You see that table over there, they placed their order before yours and they haven't recieved their food yet."  Shouldn't she have checked with the kitchen for us?  Another 10 mins later we got our food and we headed out to try the burgers.  It was a rainy night, so the bunch of us hudled in a TTC bus shelter to try out the burgers.  Not sure if the bad service had an effect on what I tasted, but I did not enjoy this burger.  Gladstone Hotel's burger offering: Beef short rib burger with house cured bacon, tomato marmalade, sheep's milk cheddar, and pickeled red onions.  The part of the burger that I got did not have any short rib in it.  My friends showed me chunks of it.  The beef patty I found to be flavorless, not much beef flavor and over seasoned with salt.  Worst is that it was overcooked.  Beyond well done.

Gladstone Hotel

Gladstone Hotel Burger with Chunk of Short Rib

Drake Hotel.  I was looking forward to this burger.  This was the most expensive burger offered during Burger Week.  A hefty 1 pounder, meant to be shared, for $27.95.  The One Pounder: Naturally raised chuck and short rib with Grand Chevalier, arugula, red onion, and tomatoes, served with house made onion rings.  Two of us ordered the Muskoka beer which came in the Burger Week mug.  I was expecting the burger to be big, but not as big as what arrived on the table.  The size of the burger was probably the size of the span of my hand.  The thickness of the beef patty was a good 1 inch thick.  We asked for the burgers to be cooked medium rare and they were.  So juicy, good beef flavor and seasoned perfectly.  My only complaint about my part of the burger (1/4 of it), was that it didn't have enough arugula.  My friends all said theirs was ok though.  The onion rings were a bit greasy for my liking, but the onion inside was super sweet.  The rings were massive.  Most of them were larger than the bangles that we would wear on our wrists!  One of the photos I put my Blackberrry next to it for size reference.  This burger was definitely my favorite of the night.  To finish off the night, we ordered a Malt Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich.  So good, the cookies had a great peanut butter flavor, and best part is that it was light tasting.  After that heavy burger, we didn't need anything else to make our stomachs heavy.

Burger Week Beer Mug

Drake Hotel One Pounder

Drake Hotel One Pounder halved



Malted IceCream Sandwich

Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder
699 St. Clair W.
Toronto, ON
416-658-9666

Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON
416-531-4635

Drake Hotel
1150 Queen St W.
Toronto, ON
416-531-5042

Goody's Diner: Visit 2

I had to make another trip here after I found out at the end of my last meal that their burger patties were made in house.  Just like a steak, I find there's a big difference in terms of the juiciness of a burger patty depending on how well done it is cooked.  Not all of your favorite burger joints in Canada are allowed to cook your burger other than well done because they buy the burger patties frozen.  I believe the rule is, if you grind your own meats, because you know whats going into the burger, you can allow the customer to choose how well done they want their burger.

On this trip, the hubby ordered the Farmer John burger, cooked to medium rare with a side order of fries.  For some reason the hubby loves to order burgers topped with fried eggs.  He always complains about how messy it is to eat, but yet, if it's on the menu, he will order it.  So this burger came topped with an onion ring, fried egg and bacon along with the normal, lettuce, tomato, and cheese.  I guess you can call this a breakfast burger.  Although I can't imagine anyone eating this first thing in the morning.  We cut into this burger, and was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and super juicy......DELICIOUS!

Farmer John

I know, each time I come here, I end up ordering anything but a burger.  Last time's excuse was I was on my detox, unable to eat beef.  This time, it was 1pm on a Saturday, and I haven't eaten breakfast yet.  I needed breakfast.  That and I love breakfast meals.  I could eat a breakfast type meal anytime of the day.  So I ordered their Huevos Rancheros topped with poached eggs.  It was so good!  The chorizo sausage was really spicy, making the rest of the dish spicy.  Good thing I can handle my spices!  The combination of the golden yellow/orange egg yolks, with sausage and the salsa was like a flavor explosion in my mouth each time I had a bite!

Huevos Rancheros

I'm so glad Goody's decided to open on Saturdays now.  This means I can continue to try the rest of their menu!  I promise on the next visit I will order a burger!

Goody's Diner 17-133 Manville Rd.
Hours: Monday - Saturday 9am-7pm
Phone: 647-348-9338

W Burger Bar

Starting the 4th week of our Detox Diet, hubby and I decided we needed a treat.  A while back I got a deal/coupon from FabFind for 'Free beef burger with purchase of side and drink from W Burger Bar'.  This would be our second visit to W Burger Bar, previous visit from what I remember was delicious and worth a visit again.  Having this coupon makes it even more worth it!  But since the coupon expires before our detox diet is over, we again had to order burgers that were allowed to eat.

My order was a Turkey Burger with a side of half sweet potato fries and regular fries.  DRY!  I couldn't figure out the flavor in the turkey burger, all I tasted was a bit of spice.  For my toppings I had alfalfa sprouts, mixed greens, carmelized onions and cilantro mayo.  The cilantro mayo was delicious and with the spice from the turkey meat, it kinda made it taste a bit like an Indian burger.  Fries were good.  Nothing too special.

The hubby's order was a Salmon Burger with a side of onion rings.  I was very surprised to see it came out as a piece of fish, and not mashed up fish to make it look like a burger.  Hubby thought that the fish was cooked perfectly and juicy.  And I was happy not not smell a fishy smell, meaning fresh fish and not frozen? Onion rings looked delicious, reminded me of the Joe's Stonecrab onion rings.  But too bad when you bite into them, it was super greasy.

This time around, nothing special, not sure if I would make another visit to W Burger Bar now that there's so many other good burger joints around.

Turkey Burger with Sweet Potato & Regular Fries

Salmon Burger with Onion Rings

W Burger Bar
10 College Street Toronto, ON M5B 1L2
(416) 961-2227
Monday - Wednesday 11:30AM-11:00PM
Thursday - Friday 11:30AM - 2:00AM
Saturday 12:00PM - 2:00AM
Sunday 12:00PM - 11:00PM

Grindhouse Burger Bar

This visit to Grindhouse Burger Bar was in the midst of my detox diet.  So I had very limited options as to what I could and could not eat.  However, thank goodness that we had just started the second week in our detox which allows for 1 serving of gluten free grain or potato each day.  So as long as I made some wise choices, I was able to convince myself that this meal was a treat, but also allowed.  The reason also for going to a burger place for dinner downtown was because we had signed up for a Partner Yoga Class and Grindhouse Burger Bar was within walking distance from the yoga studio.

Walking into this burger place, I was a little skeptical as it was pretty quiet.  There was only 1 couple seated in there eating when we walked in.  So I was a little worried that we walked into a crappy fast food burger type place. I have to admit though, it was a little early for dinner, it was around 5:30pm.  But even as we left after, there were only 2 other tables being occupied.  We were starving and ready to order.  Me of course, was ready to order before we even walked into the restaurant.  I have a really bad habit of studying the menu at home if it's online on the restaurants website and chosing what I want ahead of time.  The menu seems pretty ecclectic.  There's burger patty options that you won't see at just any burger joint.  The best part of the menu, all the meats are naturally raised, grass fed, antibiotic and hormone free, sourced from local ontario farms.  Well to me, it's not a HUGE deal since I don't only eat organic foods, but for one of my friends it's a big deal.  She trys to eat oganic foods if possible and she ONLY eats beef if it's organic.  So she was SUPER happy to be able to eat a beef burger!  This is the only time i've ever seen her eat a beef burger ever!

The orders were put in:

Turkey Burger

Turkey Burger minus cranberry on a gluten free bun.  My turkey burger I thought was delicious.  Very juicy.  I've actually never had a turkey burger before, closest would be a chicken burger.  But usually the chicken burger is a whole grilled chicken breast or processed deep fried ones from fast food chains.  This turkey burger was made like a beef burger would be.  Ground up turkey.  Somehow they managed to cook it all the way through and maintain all the juices! The bun I thought was dry, maybe it's a gluten free thing?  One other thing to note is that their burger buns are are beer infused buns.  The whole wheat is infused with Steamwhistle and the white is infused with MillStreet.  Any noticable difference in taste?  I don't think it was noticed at all.

Kangaroo Burger + Sweet Potato Fries

The Aussie on whole wheat bun: The ultimate free range burger, kangaroo, pickled beets, fried egg and house aioli.  The hubby wanted a beef burger so badly, but since beef is offlimits for the duration of the detox, he decided that he would follow what was allowed.  Although I would personally consider kangaroo red meat, the hubby claimed that the book did not say specifically that kanagroo was offlimits, only beef and pork were.  So based on technicality, he won and was able to order kanagroo.  When he saw his burger he was super happy.  It came as a open faced burger.  The lettuce, kangaroo, egg on one half. Tomato and beets on the other half.  This made for great presentation.  And for some reason, nothing makes me happier to see a beautifully cooked sunny side up egg.  The hubby enjoyed this kangaroo burger, he said that it tastes like beef but firmer. I vaguely remember thinking that as well when I tried kangaroo in Australia several years back.  I guess that's because of the lower fat content of a kangroo versus a cow.  The hubby greatly enjoyed his burger and said he would order it again.  The only downside is that he found it really messy to eat because of the runny yolk.

Signature Beef Burger (6oz) on white bun.  Because the patties are made in house, both the beef burgers were ordered medium rare.  And they came this way!  So yummy, delcious, and juicy!  My friend also made a comment that it's better than most other burger places out there! And then she was silent the rest of the meal as my friend was too busy enjoying her beef burger.  So tempting to give it a try......but good thing I have good willpower!

The Big Grind + Extra Patty + Poutine

The Big Grind (8oz) + additional patty (8oz)  on white bun: Our own all beef patty, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, onion and pickle.  This was a big one, reminded me of a higher quality version of the Big Mac minus the middle bun layer.  Cooked to a perfect medium rare, and super juicy.  The only complaint was that it was too salty.  I guess the chef over seasoned the patties on that one.

Side of sweet potato fries with black truffle aioli and side of poutine was added to the Kangaroo Burger and Big Grind.  Both the sweet potato and the regular potato fries looked overcooked to me.  They were pretty dark.  But the hubby claims that he likes well done fries so he had no complaints.  My friend that ordered the poutine agreed with me that the fries were overdone, but he said that the poutine is promising, but still doesn't compare to the Blue Chip Truck.

Overall a good burger place.  And will definitely make a trip down to Grindhouse if i'm in the area.

Grindhouse Burger Bar
365 King St. W, Toronto, ON
416-977-3010

Goody's Diner - CLOSED

This was the longest lunch I think I've ever had.  Goody's Diner is located at 17-133 Manville Rd (major intersection Warden & Eglinton) which is quite a drive from where I live.  The fact that they are only open on weekdays 9am-7pm makes it extremely difficult for us to go and try.  But we managed to find a day where my husband and friends had a big enough break in their work schedules to join me for lunch there. 

When we got there, the place was full from the lunchtime crowd from people around the area.  We waited a few minutes before we were seated.  Once we were seated and glanced over the menu, we placed our order and waited.  And waited, and waited, and waited.  We waited for a good 40 minutes for our food.  My husband couldn't wait any longer and had to leave and rush back for a meeting.  Good thing my friends were willing to drive me back home after!  About 5 minutes afer my husband left, our food finally came!

I ordered the Goody's Turkey Club which came with a side of poutine.  Turkey club was good, had real turkey breast, not the sliced deli kind.  Inside it also came with peameal bacon, avocado, lettuce tomato, cranberry sauce and a bit of gravy.  It was a bit heavy on the cranberry sauce, in my opinion, but otherwise good.  The poutine was delicious!  The fries were skinny fries, super crispy on the outside but still meaty enough on the inside.  Gravy unfortunately was too salty for my liking.  And I would have prefered a little more cheese curds.  But definitely one of the better poutines i've had in the area.

My husband ordered their weekly burger special: The Montreal (which he ate once I brought it home).  The Montreal burger was topped with smoked meat and poutine along with the normal burger toppings.  He liked the taste of it, but would have prefered eating it fresh obviously.  I took a bite out of it when I was at Goody's and thought it was a bit overcooked and salty (that was the gravy agian!) for my liking.  Texture was not like the standard burgers that i've had before.  This beef patty had a chunkier texture to it.  This prompted us to ask the server if the patties were made in house.  And to our delight, they are!  Next time we know to ask for it to be cooked medium rare!  This gives us a great excuse to find the time to go back and try Goody's again! 

One of my friends ordered a Vegetarian Burger which on the menu states that it is an 8oz prime grilled vegetable burger with garlic mayo, zuchinni relish, lettuce, tomato and onion.  To our surprise when it arrived, it was TWO veggie patties.  We've never seen that before!  And as she was eating the veggie burger, juices were dripping out!  Again, that's something we've never seen, juices dripping out of a veggie burger! 

My other friend ordered the Goody's Burger which is an 8oz sirloin burger that comes with grilled peameal bacon, mushrooms, jalapeno havarti, caramelized onion, lettuce and tomato.  Again he loved the taste and flavour of his beef patty but also thought that it was overcooked. 

Goody's Diner is definitely one of the places I will be heading back to try again when our schedules allow.  Hopefully they will consider opening on the weekend which allow us to try their burgers again sooner rather than later.  We'll just have to make sure to ask for our burgers medium or medium rare next time.

Goody's Diner 17-133 Manville Rd.
Hours: Monday - Friday 9am-7pm
Phone: 647-348-9338