Lisa Marie

I went for walk along Queen West since it was such a beautiful day on Saturday and made my way over to Lisa Marie.  I was hoping to try something from a lunch menu but when I got there they were only serving brunch.  I wasn’t in the mood for brunch but I had my mind set on trying something there so I went in to give it a try.  When I walked in I noticed everyone was sitting in the front half of the restaurant.  The back half was strangely empty.  I can only assume that everyone wanted to be close to the open facade facing the street to feel like they were outside or enjoying a patio.  I took a seat near the back at the bar.

The bartender gave me a menu and went back to making various brunch cocktails while I perused the menu.  I noticed an item called “The Peameal, EH?”.  It was braised peameal bacon, American cheese, fried green tomatoes (which I’ve always wanted to try) caramelized onions and a fried egg with a choice of salad, duck fat home fries or pad thai fries.  That sounded good to me and I had heard good things about the pad thai fries served from the original food truck, Fidel Gastro’s, so I went with that.

After ordering I took a minute or two to look around the place, observing the patrons packed at the front, the Elvis Presley bust behind the bar, the one staff member glued to the computer behind the bar and the cooks in the kitchen at the back.  Then I turned my attention to my phone and started reading the news while I waited.  At some point Matt Basile, the owner, came out from the back and started having a conversation with staff member at the computer about rearranging the space at the back.  I didn’t catch much of the conversation but it gave me a chance to see that she was on some restaurant site called Restaurant Center.  I later noticed that she was entering information from their menu into the site.  It looks like it all appears on Open Table.

My food eventually came and I wasn’t initially sure how to eat it.  I was just about to cut into the egg and peameal piled on a bun when I noticed the greens were also sitting on a bun.  It was actually a sandwich so I put it together giving it a bit of a squeeze.  I figured it was going to be messy with that egg yolk.  I bit in and it was delicious, and messy!  It’s the type of food where the less you put it down the better, otherwise you’ll just be spending a lot of time wiping your hands and face.  I really liked the braised peameal in the sandwich.  The fried green tomato blended in with the overall flavour of the sandwich.  The pad thai fries were good too with a little bit of bite.

For not wanting to have brunch I feel like going back to have this again.  Since this was the first time I had been to the restaurant I don’t know if they regularly change their menus.  Given that the staff was entering them into the website I’m going to assume they do.  I just hope this stays on the menu for a while or at least if there is something with braised peameal and fried green tomatoes, I’d be happy.

The finishing touch came with the bill.  The bill was presented in an old tape cassette case with the original cover.  It was Shadowfax, Shadowdance.  I had never heard of it but it gave me something else to look up when I got home. :)

A Taste of Greece: Olympos Crow-bar

There is a Greek place in my neighbourhood called Olympos Crow-bar that I’ve known of for years but just never went too, mostly because of their short hours.  They are only open Monday to Friday for breakfast and lunch which is generally when I am away from the neighbourhood but not today.  So I took a walk over to check it out.

It’s a small mom and pop place that seems to be run by some older Greek gentlemen or at least I assume they are Greek.  The place has a Greek name and one of the guys was named Jimmy so it seems a safe bet.  Both of them are quite friendly but in what I would call an old man friendly kind of way.  Like if you ask for something they will initially say no but then hand you what you asked for with a half-smile.

I got there at the end of the lunch hour so there were only a couple of tables taken and a few people sitting at the counter on the bar stools.  The menus are all on the wall behind the counter with a few additional items printed on smaller posters on the walls.  I ordered the gyro platter.  It was exactly what I expected it to be and was quite satisfying. 

I’m not sure if it is a regular menu item or a special of the day since it was on one of the small posters that can easily be removed.

Two women sitting at the counter ordered a milkshake.  It looked really big and even they commented on the size.  They seemed to enjoy it.  I’d say if you have a thing for milkshakes it might be worth checking theirs out.

I don’t know how long the place has been there but they clearly have a number of regulars which is always a good sign.  If you like mom and pop restaurants or a greasy spoon then this is definitely worth checking out.  Make sure you bring cash or your debit card.  They don’t take credit cards.

Market Street Catch

We are less than three weeks away from the start of the world cup so it’s time I got back into the swing of things on this blog.

This past weekend I decided to try out a relatively new location in the neighbourhood called Market Street Catch.   It’s located beside St. Lawrence market on the recently revamped Market Street.  There are a number of new restaurants on the street, all with patios.  It will be a great strip this summer for enjoying a meal outside and Market Street generally isn’t that busy unless it’s Saturday.

At this restaurant you are meant to order at the counter from the menu that is posted on the wall.  You then pay for your food and grab a seat.  The thing that always bothers me with this sort of set up is the tipping part.  I’ve always understood the tip to be based on the level of service received.  Here, at the point of paying I would not have received any more service than I would have from a cashier at the grocery store or McDonald's and I don’t tip the cashier at the grocery store or McDonald's so should I really tip here?  After ordering my food and with the credit card machine in my hand, I decided to make a decision on the tip later.

I grabbed a seat and noticed two girls sitting a couple of tables over from me.  They were both busy doing things on their cell phones.  My initial thought was that if they were going to have dinner “alone” they should have just come by themselves.  I then noticed one girl was flipping through a bunch of pictures on her phone.  I assumed they too must be blogging about their food or at least tweeting about it.  They eventually both put their phones down and starting eating.

When my food was ready they called my name but came directly to my table and delivered it.  I had decided to go all out and ordered their grilled seafood platter for one with salad.  There was grilled shrimp, calamari, octopus and swordfish.  It also came with some coleslaw and two sauces.

The first thing I tried was the swordfish.  I don’t know if I have ever had swordfish before but I liked it.  I then tried the octopus.  I definitely don’t eat much octopus so at this point I’m not sure if I’d know the difference between good and bad octopus but this one tasted great to me!  I then tried the shrimp and calamari.  They both tasted a little too much like the grill for my liking so I tried them with the sauces.  One sauce was a chipotle sauce, the other seemed to be a tzatziki sauce.  They were both to my liking and made the shrimp and calamari more enjoyable.  I don’t know what kind of dressing they used on the salad but I really liked it too.

I was about three quarters the way through my meal and starting to feel full when one of the wait staff came by with a fresh plate of food asking if I was Bernice.  I guess the food in front of me wasn’t a good enough sign to indicate that I wasn’t.  The other wait staff that was now clearing the table vacated by the two girls on the cell phones directed her to the correct table.

I finished my meal and dropped a tip in their tip jar before leaving.  I’m hoping to go back again this summer and perhaps have the grilled octopus with salad and just sit and relax on their patio.