A Taste of Belgium: Le Petit Dejeuner

There is a restaurant in my neighbourhood that I always assumed was French.  By chance this week I discovered that it was actually Belgian.  Le Petit Dejeuner is a popular brunch spot on Sundays.  It seems like there is always a line waiting to get whenever I walk by after 10AM on a Sunday.  I didn’t want to get caught in that crowd so I got over there just after they opened at 9:00AM. 

There were already a number of tables taken when I arrived and since I was there on my own this morning I took a seat at the bar.  There was a Belgian flag hanging on the wall and one of the waitresses was wearing a Belgian jersey.  I could see two TVs in the space, one at the back and one behind the bar both of which were showing the formula one race as the soccer games were still a few hours away.

My decision on what to eat was pretty easy.  There were a few options for Belgian waffles on the menu but I stuck with the "Brussels’ Strawberries".  I can’t remember the last time I ordered waffles but it has definitely been years.  I was picturing my waffles coming out with a generous serving of strawberry syrup, the kind I remember from my youth.  What I got was much better; waffles with fresh cut strawberries and julienned apple. 

Even though I don’t eat a lot of pancakes or waffles as an adult I still like to have a lot of maple syrup on them.  These waffles came with a small serving of syrup on the side.  I think I could have used two or three of them for the amount of syrup I typically like to have.  That’s about the only thing I would have changed with this but everyone has their own tastes for that sort of thing.  Plus with the amount it came with it meant that I could actually taste the waffle instead of just syrup. ;)

A Taste of France: Le Neuf Cafe

Today I went out for a French breakfast near Spadina and Wellington.  There is a small park at the intersection that is lined with some townhouses that I never paid much attention to.  Turns out there are some businesses in them including a French café named Le Neuf Café.  Doing some research on the place I got a little excited and I have to say it did not disappoint.

The interior of the place was decorated with a lot of French art, some classic French photos including one of Edith Piaf, books on French stuff, small statues of things like the Eiffel tower and even boxes from French businesses like Laduree.  No opportunity to incorporate French culture was lost.  From the high ceilings to the coasters and napkin dispensers, it all said France to me.  The napkin dispenser on my table in particular had the Little Prince decorating it.

I don’t eat a lot of almond croissants but I occasionally have one as a treat and today was going to be treat day.  Le Neuf’s almond croissant may have been the best one I’ve had. I’m used to them being filled with a line of almond paste just in the center but this one had almond paste throughout, a healthy sprinkling of almonds on top and a dusting of icing sugar.  Yummy!

For my main dish I ordered the montagnarde crepe.  I loved the presentation with the egg yolk centered and peeking out from the crepe.  There seemed to be more cheese than egg in the crepe but I think that’s how the French like it.

I like how quaint the place feels.  If it was closer to my neighbourhood I think I would be in there often.  I do highly recommend others check it out with one catch.  There were two people serving the customers.  The waiter I had was good and friendly.  As I left I decided to take a picture of the exterior with my larger camera.  I took one picture just as the waiter that was serving the customers on the patio was coming out.  As I snapped a second picture for good measure, he appeared to wag his finger at me as if to say “no, no”. (The finger turned out to be a spoon on closer examination of the picture.)  So I’m not sure if you may get some stereotypical French attitude from some of the staff if you “step out of line”.  I hope not.  If any of you should happen to go, please let me know.

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 Brunch: Origin

It always seemed to me that there weren't a lot of breakfast places in Toronto but the problem was that I was never really looking for them. In April there was a feature in Now magazine reviewing around 100 places in the city. I then started to pay more attention to weekend brunch spots. There were little signs decorating the windows of restaurants advertising brunch and food displays that passersby would pause to salivate over.

Origin is a restaurant I regularly pass by and they have often had brunch advertized on the weekends. I've read a number of reviews on Origin and each of them mentioned the deviled eggs. This piqued my curiosity.

I'd say they lived up to expectations. The presentation was fantastic, the bacon was crisp and the little crispy rice balls were intriguing.

I also ordered the Ranchero eggs. It was love at first bite. My initial fork full had plantain, salsa and egg on it. I didn't initially realize that the ingredients between the plantain and the eggs were not layered but sectioned off and almost finished the salsa before I had dug into the beans. The entire thing was delicious. I've never had this type of dish before.

I enjoyed the brunch so much that when it came time for dinner my lack of desire to cook resulted in me returning to Origin for my second meal of the day.

I had already decided to order the duck wrap and was placing the menu back on the table when the woman at the table next to me leaned over and suggested, I order the duck wrap. She pointed to her empty plate and said it was delicious.

The woman was right. It was delicious. There was a bit of crunch in the dish and I'm not sure if it was coming from the meat or from a crumb mixture that was sprinkled on it. There was also a bit of heat but only someone that barely eats spicy food would be apt to notice. I love cilantro and enjoy hoisin sauce and could taste those ingredients as well.

I watched some of the dishes be served at the other tables. One of the dishes that caught my attention was a beet salad. The greens were nicely arranged on the plate with a large perfectly round beet perched in the center.

I love the creativity in presentation at this place and I love the flavour and textures the food has. This place is now on my favourites list. I'm not sure why it wasn't on it sooner.