Author: thestampsinmypassport

A professional serving the travel industry for 25 years. Expertise and knowledge in sales, customer care and knowledge of the world. Sharing my knowledge, travel stories and tales from around the world in an engaging way.

Dining out in the six – Uncle Betty’s Diner

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If you have been a regular reader of this blog the past several weeks you know that my friends and I have kicked up our brunch game to trying some of the restaurants in and around Toronto that have been on different websites, food shows or recommendations from friends.

This weekend took us to Uncle Betty’s Diner. I had been there once before and didn’t have the best food experience but thought I would give it one more shot. I went for the recommendation that was on John Catucci’s “You’ve gotta eat here” and it did not impress me the way it impressed him.

My friends ordered two verisons of Eggs Benedict – one on top of sweet potato hash and the other more traditional but with regular bacon not pemeal bacon.

Funny thing about my menu choices. I almost always have two options I am choosing from when I go out to eat. Both times I had on my list the stuffed french toast, stuffed with ricotta cheese and blueberries. Both times I had a savoury item on my list and ended up choosing that option.

The item that was featured on You’ve gotta eat here was the ultimate grilled cheese. I know that it will NOT appeal to some people that read my blog (my mother), but it had potential. Until it didn’t. The option on the menu said, white and yellow cheddar cheese. I told our server NOT yellow but white cheddar only.

Like any restaurant experience, you wait while your food is being prepared. After watching as much food tv as I do I know what a chef or line cook does back of house to make the food look good for their patrons. This presentation did not disappoint. It was a good looking plate, of course with the wrong type of cheese in the sandwich.

One of my friends said, right you said white cheddar. Called the server over and she was very apologetic that she made the error. She would have it corrected right away. A very few minute later she brought out a pathetic looking plate of food. Half the portion of potatoes and basically the same sandwich but with a new top and melted white cheddar on it. (I found bits of the other while I was eating).

She asked me if there was anything else she could bring me and to be honest at that point my friends were more than half way through their meals and it was just past the point. She took the meal off my bill and brought us doughnuts to share. I appreciated her effort to correct her error and I know that she felt badly about it.

What I will say that made up for the less than five star food experience was the conversation and the company of the people at the table. Food is not a passion for everyone, but for many of my friends it is, and it is what brings us together.

Check this one off the list and move on!

Bon Appetite

Lisa

Urban landscape – Underpass Park

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While driving into the city for dinner the other night I drove passed an underpass that looked like it was covered in street art. I had seen it on a website and if I had enough time I would have stopped. After dinner I asked my friend if we could go and take a look at what it was.

Parked the car by this underpass to discover this urban escape of activity and creativity. This space is called Underpass Park. The sign at the edge of park reads: “It is the first park built under an overpass into Toronto. The park was opened in 2012 and transformed previously underused and derelict space into an urban neighbourhood amenity. The park features a number of spaces designed to encourage both active and passive recreation. The public artwork “Mirage” was created for the unique space and is comprised of mirrored octagonal stainless steel panels attached to the overpass to reflect light and movement”.

The space was quite expansive as it carries through the length of the highway above. It was quiet, yet you can see how it is busy during the day and I am sure into the evening. There are basketball courts, skateboard and bike ramps, benches and areas for people to congregate. There was something happening in each of the spaces.

What was the most impressive to me was the Street Art. I know from my Graffiti tour that was offered by the Tour Guys in Toronto that there are areas of the city where creating art is not ‘illegal’ but artists are able to create with freedom and expression. This is one of those spaces. I am not sure if the artists are commissioned in this area or just free to paint, but the art was amazing.

I will go back and explore this area again at some point. If you want to find it, it is Lower River street south of King Street. It stretches for a few city blocks and there are places to park if you can find them. From someone who lives in the ‘burbs, I am happy to always discovering new places in our city.

Dining out in the six – White Lily Diner

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I am a foodie and always in search of new and interesting places to eat, in Toronto and on my travels. I like to follow people who also enjoy food. One person I follow was having brunch at a place I had never heard of before in the city called White Lily Diner. The food looked good, I checked out the menu and website.

I was meeting a friend who I worked with at WE and here is what our conversation went:

Me: I saw that a friend went to a place on Queen Street called White Lily Diner, check it out and let me know what you think.

Friend: haha….I love that place. It’s at Queen and Broadview, works for me.

The first thing I noticed as I walked up to the restaurant was the chalkboard sign saying the doughnut of the day was butter tart doughnut. Um, hello…butter tart doughnut? We will come back to that.

The menu isn’t very large which I think is a good thing. I think it means they do a limited number of items very well. I was right about that.

We started off with their homemade pickles, bread and butter and dill. We both looked at the menu and agreed on the same item to share – Sourdough Toast – Strawberry-rhubarb preserve. Ricotta. Fresh strawberry. Toasted hemp seed. Basil is what the menu said, although it wasn’t basil, it was dill which didn’t quite fit, but everything else was divine. See for yourself below:

We looked at the menu and there were a few items that looked interesting to share and it came down to two – the meatloaf dinner or a hot smoked turkey dinner. We opted for the hot turkey dinner which consisted of – Smoked turkey. “Stuffing” french toast. Cranberry chutney. Gravy. 

Four years ago when Wahlburgers opened in Toronto I had heard about their Thanksgiving burger which is basically the whole turkey meal in one bite. I would say that this dinner was almost the same. It was the taste of the hot smoked turkey that added such a depth of flavour in every bite. Each bite was a bit of the stuffing french toast, the chutney and the smoked turkey. All I can say to this is winner winner turkey dinner.

I mentioned at the start of the piece that the sign coming into the diner said the doughnut of the day was Butter Tart. When the server told me it was a ‘filled’ doughnut, with a vanilla glaze topped with raisins it sounded great, a doughnut and a butter tart have a baby. This was not the case. It was filled, but with custard, which really didn’t give it any comparison to a butter tart with the exception of the raisins on top.

It was a It was a great experience overall, quiet for the time of the day and no line. I am sure that the weekend brunch crowd or even the weekday lunch crowd would have had us waiting in line. It is a fantastic local spot that I would return to anytime.

Always in search of the next place to try in our fabulous city!