Seven Lives Y Mariscos

Now this is a restaurant that has been on my radar for like FOREVER.  Everytime I’m downtown, I’m either not in the area, or if I’m in the area, they’re closed.  It almost felt like it just wasn’t meant to be.  And when I finally gave up hopes of eating there, an opportunity finally opened up!  Don’t plan to go with a big group.  There’s very limited seating, and some really high counter space.  For vertically challenged me, I couldn’t eat at the counter. So we ended up sitting on their bench outside. 

 The menu at Seven Lives Y Mariscos isn’t that big, but thats ok because I’d rather go to a place that has a few items to offer, but they do it well.  And they do it well here.  We ordered 4 tacos to split between the two of us, thinking that should be just enough, as I wanted to check out another place in Kensington Market too.  So we ordered the Gobernador, carnitas, pulpo en mole verde, and mushroom & cactus.  Even though I had done my research prior to coming, and I saw the pictures of the tacos, I didn’t know that they would actually be that big!  I guess I’m used to the super tiny tacos other places serve.  Holy flavourtown!  I’m not sure how authentic these tacos are, but they are sure delicious.  I’m imagining that there’s some sort of ‘fusion’ in these tacos.  The Gobernador has smoked marlin, shrimp and cheese.  I just took a bite of the shrimp.  Well cooked, not rubbery.  The carnitas were good too, the pork was really tender.  Really juicy.  Actually all the tacos were really juicy and messy to eat.  Pulpo en mole verde, super tender octopus.  I need to learn how they cook octopus like this.  The mole verde was a pumpkin seed mole sauce, I couldn’t taste the pumpkin seed, but still very good.  Last was the cactus and mushroom.  I ate a piece of cactus not knowing that it was cactus.  I thought it was pepper that may have been meant for another taco that fell into mine.  Then I realized it was cactus.  This one I liked the most, although it could have done with less salt. 

Tacos

I’m looking forward to the next time I get to eat here again.  I just need to remember that I can eat at most 1.5 tacos here so my stomach won’t feel like it wants to explode.

Seven Lives Y Mariscos

69 Kensington Ave., 

Toronto, ON

M5T 2K2

Phone:  (416) 393-4636

Hours:  Monday - Tuesday CLOSED

             Wednesday - Sunday 12:00p - 7:00p

https://www.facebook.com/SevenLivesTacosYMariscos

Taste of Lawrence 2015

There’s so many food festivals in Toronto.  So many and yet so crowded.  Are there that many foodies and foodiewannabies out there?  It’s not a great place to hang out with friends.  And the food isn’t particularly cheap either.  So why?  We decided to check out Taste of Lawrence because it’s uptown, and I assumed there would be more Caribbean and or Indian food options.

The food fest wasn’t crowded like the downtown ones.  The first thing I saw was a mini carnival going on, with rides and games.  Then as I walked, I noticed booths from sponsors, then there were booths selling trinkets.  Further down there was the main stage for acts and mini concerts.  Then finally….the food.  What I’ve been waiting for.  I really need to get rid of expectations, the food selection there was quite small.  I guess that explains the non-crowdedness of this event as well.  There were several booths selling Carribean food, ie jerk chicken, some Asian meat on a stick booths, Asian seafood both, shwarma booth, some taco trucks, potato on a stick truck, Filipino supermarket foods, but that was about it.  Overall it was disappointing.  We picked up a small jerk chicken on rice from Spice is Rite, tacos from La Loteria Taqueria (because the tacos from La Taquizza wasn’t satisfying enough), and a Filipino empanada.

Spice is Rite

They have a storefront.  The person in line in front of us was saying how much he loves the jerk chicken from Spice is Rite and he gets take out all the time.  The jerk chicken was pretty good, spicier than other places.  Best part is that it wasn’t dry.  A lot of the times when I want jerk, I order jerk pork over the chicken because with pork and the amount of fat, it’s less likely to be dry. 

Small Jerk Chicken

Spice is Rite

2179 Lawrence Ave. E.,

Scarborough, ON

M1P 2P5

Phone:  (647) 430-7732

https://www.facebook.com/SPICE-is-RITE-207876646018627/

La Loteria Taqueria

Mmmmm tacos.  I have been craving tacos, good tacos.  For some strange reason, it seems to be a never ending craving.  I’m still craving them as I write this blog post.  We ordered a chicken, pulled pork and shredded beef taco.  I was so excited when I got the plate, it looked delicious!  And tastes even better.  So much flavour, and the use of corn tortillas.  I’m so hungry now.  They apparently have a storefront in Kensington Market too.

La Loteria Tacos

La Loteria Taqueria

249 Augusta Ave.,

Toronto, ON

M5T 2L8

Phone:  (647) 210-3242

https://www.facebook.com/La-Loteria-Taqueria-813412878714412/

FV Foods

There were a lot of people eating in this parking lot.  I’m not sure if it was for the food, or for shade.  It was super hot that day.  They had a bunch of baked goods, deep fried goods, steamed buns, grilled meats for purchase.  Since we already ate jerk and tacos, we just grabbed an empanada.  I had no idea Filipinos had empanadas.  They’re very different than the other empanadas that I’ve had before.  The outside is similar to a tart or cookie crust (exactly like those Chinese chicken pies), it’s a little sweet.  The beef filling reminded me of a Jamaican patty.  Interesting, good, haven’t quite figured out if I like it enough to buy it again.

Filipino Empanada

FV Foods

2085 Lawrence Ave. E.,

Scarborough, ON 

M1R 2Z4

Phone:  (416) 751-7555 

http://fvfoods.ca

If you have too much time to kill, by all means check out the Taste of Lawrence.  I wouldn't make an out of the way trek to visit this food fest.  If you do decide to go, give yourself an hour.  Thats more than enough time.

La Taquizza

Real authentic Mexican food in Vaughan?  No way!!!!  Of course I’m there.  As the hubby was driving there after yoga class, I read the reviews on Yelp.  They have some pretty good reviews, got me pretty darn excited.  Tacos, delicious tacos……and I won’t have to drive downtown to get them!  Menu seemed pretty standard, nothing too out of the norm.  We ordered a horchata, chicken tinga tacos, and the fish tacos. The tacos come with a side, you can get their beans or rice.  We got one of each to try.   After ordering, we went to the salsa bar to grab some salsas to accompany the tacos.  They make their own in the restaurant.  There were 2 red salsas, both of different heat level, 1 green salsa, fresh cilantro, chopped onions and limes.

The horchata was pretty good, creamy, sweet, cinnamony taste.  

Horchata

The chicken tinga tacos were served ‘naked’ as they call them.  On corn tortillas!  So glad it’s not flour tortillas, bleh.  Serving them 'naked' gives you the flexibility of putting on the accompaniments of your choice.  I put green salsa, onions, cilantro and lime juice.  Still not enough flavour.  The chicken tinga tacos were so bland!  Also, there was more potato than chicken.  Is there supposed to be potato in the filing?  I don’t recall ever having any potato in tacos before.  I loaded the remainder of my tacos with other salsas to give it some sort of flavour.  The beans were also bland and watery.  So again I had to load the beans with salsa to give it flavour.  The rice had some flavour, tasted like MSG.  So not the greatest in my opinion.  The fish tacos looked a lot better.  The fish was grilled, not fried.  Topped with avocado and some sour cream based sauce.  The hubby liked the fish tacos.  I took one bite and found it a bit too fishy for my liking.

Chicken Tinga Tacos, Fish Tacos

Yes it’s better than Taco Bell, but no I wouldn’t return for tacos.  I’d rather drive the farther distance and go downtown for better Mexican.  Even with my dislike for the food, there were a steady stream of people coming in to do take out orders of burritos.  Maybe their burritos are better than their tacos?

La Taquizza

3175 Rutherford Rd., 

Concord, ON

L4K 0A3

Phone:  (905) 669-2277

Hours:  Monday Closed

             Tuesday - Thursday 11:30am - 9:00pm

             Friday - Saturday 11:30am - 10:00pm

             Sunday 11:30am - 9:00pm

http://www.lataquizza.com

Gourmet Gringos

There's something I find fun about food trucks.  I'm not sure what it is.  But whenever I get a chance to eat from a food truck, I make sure to go and give it a try.  When I was in Vancouver last year, I made sure to check out the food truck festival there.  I was in heaven!  And because it's a summer long event (it's on every weekend), there wasn't much of a lineup at each of the trucks.  In Toronto, it's quite unfortunate, but food trucks aren't nearly as accessible as in other cities mostly due to laws and bylaws in Toronto.  I'm happy to say though, that Toronto is slowly getting there.  There have been quite a few pilot projects, and now we have Food Truck Alley 1 and 2 for select days during the week with a few rotating food trucks that will park there during the lunch hours.

Because where I work, I don't have much of an opportunity to try out food trucks.  So when I heard that Gourmet Gringos opened a location in Aurora, I decided to pop in.  The other reason was my dog's groomer is close by, so I had an hour to kill.

I asked the server what she would suggest.  She said her favourite were the fish tacos.  I don't eat fish normally, so I chose the next most similar, shrimp tacos.  The hubby ordered the chimichanga.  Each of the mains come with 2 sides.  From what I remember, there were refried beans, salad, sopa de frijol, rice and beans, and some other stuff to choose from.  The food didn't take too long to arrive, which I expected since there weren't many in restaurant diners.  But there were many people who came in for take out.

Shrimp tacos, 3 in an order.  Looked good, tasted blah.  To be honest, I was expecting the shrimp to be grilled, not deep fried like popcorn shrimp.  Not only that, the shrimp were just very slightly warm, also overcooked.   The upside, they used corn tortillas.

Shrimp Tacos

The chimichanga was massive (I think it was almost a foot long) and super greasy looking.  I can't remember if an authentic chimichanga is deep fried and then broiled with cheese, if its just broiled with cheese.  In any case, this was a deep-fried cheesy mess.  Inside there was beef, lots of beans and rice, and more cheese.  Flavour was not bad, nothing to write home about.  I'm not sure how the hubby finished this dish and not feel sick.....

Chimichanga

From what we ordered, the best thing was the pineapple chilli sauce.  Super flavourful.  I wouldn't make a trip up to Aurora just to try Gourmet Gringos. But if you happen to pass by the food truck, then by all means give them a try.  Remember to ask for the chilli sauce!

Gourmet Gringos
15380 Bayview Ave.
Aurora, ON
L4G 0K7

905-713-9993

Hours:  Sunday - Thursday 11:00a - 9:00p
             Friday - Saturday 11:00a - 11:00p

http://gourmetgringos.com

La Tortilleria

I love Mexican food, and I don't mean Tex-Mex.  This means I don't like flour tortillas.  In Kensington Market there's a restaurant that sells corn tortillas by weight.  I thought about buying a bunch home, but my freezer was full at the time, so I was left to just trying their tacos.  I regret that I didn't write this blog post as soon as I tried the tacos, because right now I can't remember which fillings we got!  All I remember is that the corn tortillas were delicious, soft, but had a slightly chewy texture to them.  The fillings, even though there was sauce, I found the meats too dry.  Definitely will go back to pick up some corn tortilla shells, but I think I will make the fillings at home.

La Tortilleria

198 Augusta Ave.,

Toronto, ON

M5T 2L6

Hours:  Monday - Friday, Sunday 10:30am - 7:00pm

             Saturday 10:30am - 8:00pm

http://www.latortilleria.ca

Kings Taco

One word to describe.  OMG!!!  I don't know much about Mexican food, but I do know that Taco Bell is not real Mexican food and not to go there when i'm craving Mexican food.  I found this place through Chowhound, my favourite restaurant researching site.  Upon additional research through other sites such as Yelp and Restaurantica, I actually started to get a little worried, because of the pictures I saw.  The logo and restaurant frontage looked a bit, well, kiddy and not professional.  I decided to trust the gut instincts of my fellow Chowhounders and off we went.

The hubby and I met my very pregnant former coworker (now mommy) and her husband there for dinner.  Decor inside the restaurant was so-so.  But all you could hear in there was Spanish.  This was definitely a good sign.  I started off with a horchata, a rice based drink with some spices in it, and the boys ordered Mexican Coca-Cola.  I don't know what they put or don't put in the Coca-Cola in Canada and the USA, but it doesn't taste as good.

For a starter, we ordered a half order of guacamole, tasty!  But I wish we knew that we would be getting free chips!  Along with the chips were 3 hot sauces with 3 different levels of spiciness, an onion and cilantro mixture and limes.

Guacamole, Chips, Hot Sauces

For the mains, we ordered tacos asador (4), tacos barbacoa (4), ya vas and the last dish I can't remember.  Everything was super delicious!  Seasoned really well and portions were very big!  Pricing was very reasonable as well.  I was so stuffed!  The best part, CORN TORTILLAS!  I love them.  None of the flour tortilla junk.  I can't eat tasteless flour tortillas anymore.  I had no idea, but tacos are not usually served with salsa.  It's apparently a north american thing.  Same with cheese.  Who knew?

Tacos Barbacoa

Tacos Asador

Ya Vas

Dish I forgot.....

I can't wait to go back again!

Kings Taco
1216 St. Clair Ave. W.,
Toronto, ON
(647) 342-0262

Hours:
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday 12pm - 10pm
Friday, Saturday 12pm - 11pm

Tacos El Asador

My coworker loves breakfast foods, so do I.  One morning she had this crazy craving for beans and eggs.  To me, this sounded like the oddest combination ever.  But then again, the English have baked beans in their traditional English breakfasts, so I guess it might not be so strange after all?

So on the last day of my fall school term, we met up at one of her favourite Latin places for this Latin breakfast.  She says it's still not as good as her moms, but satisfies the craving.  Tacos El Asador is VERY small, and not a place to have a long chat.  The food must be good, it was completely PACKED!

The breakfast consists of eggs, which I was told to get them scrambled because they put in onions and peppers in for flavour, avocado, beans, fried plantains, queso fresco, and sour cream.  This whole fried bananas/plantains thing was kind of strange.  I'm used to eating bananas by themselves.  But these fried plantains were super yummy.  Just a little sweet with a tiny hint of tang (like green bananas which I love) and firm.  The combination of the eggs, beans, queso fresco, sour cream, and avocado was so good!

Breakfast

The hubby also ordered a chicken taco and a burrito.  After eating these corn tortillas, I can't go back to eating the flour ones from the supermarket.  They don't stick to the roof of your mouth!  And they actually taste like something!  The chicken in the taco was very tender, we felt like it was just missing some seasoning.  The chicken burrito in the back was very yummy!  Just the right amount of flavour.

Chicken Tacos

I need to come back and try some of the other things on the menu.  Now only if there was a way for me to figure out what the words on the menu mean.....

Tacos El Asador
690 Bloor St W.
Toronto, ON
M6G 1L2
416-538-9747

Hours:  Mon - Tues, Thurs - Sat 12pm - 9pm
             Wed 1pm - 9pm
             Sun 2pm - 9pm