Las Vegan

I don’t have much to say about Live Food Bar. The food is good but it’s pricey. $14 for a small sandwich on a gluten free bun that comes with a couple of pickles and vegetable chips is pricey.

The BBQ Tofu and Burdock

BBQ Tofu and Burdock, $14

I finished it in about 7 bites.

A table and a tree

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Urban, Urban, URBAN!

Herbivore’s menu offering at the new Eaton Centre food court is simple. Sandwiches, salads, bowls and fresh juices.

Herbivore: The Board

I went with a grain bowl and a fresh grapefruit juice.

Grain Bowl, $8.40

Let’s see. I got tempeh, kim chi, beet salad, artichoke hearts, black beans and cucumber salad on quinoa with a tahini dressing. You can get nuts on it too if you like crunchy whatever sprinkled all over your food.

Overall, everything was good. The tempeh was a little oily. And next time I will ask for the sauce on the side or on the bottom with the quinoa since it made everything taste like sauce.

For me, Herbivore’s appeal is it’s ability to balance healthy and flavourful food. I like that.

It’s great to have another option in that area where your friends or business associates can eat their meal choice next to you. There are also plenty of stools available for when you’re alone and want to grab something quick.

The food court feels like nicer version of an airport food court. The food is served on real plates and bowls. You still have to bus your own table, there are reminder signs everywhere.

Fresh Grapefruit Juice, expensive.

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The Windsor Arms is now offering a vegan brunch menu created by Doug McNish.

The Wynn hotel’s vegan menu immediately came to mind when I read the news on Twitter.

The second thing that came to my mind is my uncle Pierre. I dragged him to a popular vegetarian brunch last year when he was visiting Toronto. He complained about everything: there was no A/C, the server didn’t care, the place looked dirty and the food was just ok. I called him to tell him that we would be brunching in style the next time he visits.

I knew the food was going to be good. Doug has a solid reputation. But would I want to pay a premium to eat at a boutique hotel’s restaurant? And would it be pretentious?

Stay tuned to find out.

The vegan brunch takes place at Prime restaurant at the Windsor Arms. A cozy room located on the south side of the building.

The Room. Who wouldn't want to eat here?

After eating here, I don’t expect this room to be empty again. This was the soft launch and the word was not quite out yet.

I ordered The Works as did my refined hip hop aficionado friend.

The Works, $15

Scrambled Tofu with greens and seared mushrooms, home fries, tempeh bacon, black bean chili, sprouted grain toast and housemade sunflower miso butter. Wow. I probably would’ve been happy with just the tempeh bacon and sunflower miso butter but it was all good. In fact, it was great. But…

Gluten Free Vegan Benedict, $15

I was a little jealous of the Tofu Benedict that my capitalist friend ordered. I got to try a bite and it was amazing. He enjoyed it as well even though he’s not vegan.

So was it pricey and pretentious? Not at all. All the entrees on the menu are $15 which is comparable to the other brunch offerings in Toronto. And everything we ordered was satisfying. The serivce is amazing as well.

As far as vegan brunch goes in Toronto, this is the place. You are not going to find this level of service and food quality at this price anywhere. And you’ll be comfortable in plush chairs and warm surroundings.

Doug McNish and the Windsor Arms got it right. I look forward to making this my new brunch spot. My goal is to have a table here. I know, I watch too many mafia movies.

This is the kind of place you can bring your non-vegan friends whether they are ruthless capitalists or refined hip hop aficionados. I would even bring snobby uncles and other family members. I’m sure they’d enjoy themselves.

See the rest of the vegan brunch menu with gluten free options.

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Xococava (pronounced chococava but I say zokocava because I have a French accent) at Yonge and Heath is a dessert shop that has a few vegan options.

Xococava at night

On this cool autumn evening I had a traditional Mexican hot chocolate .

Hot Chocolate, straight up, $3.75

This is the perfect amount of chocolate to me. It wasn’t sweet but you could add sugar if you’d like. It had a bit of a kick to it. Traditional Mexican hot chocolate usually has cayenne and cinnamon.

Close up.

The space is funky too.

Broken plate wall

Xococava is easy to miss if you don’t know where to find it. It’s in behind the second cup south of Heath. Take a date or go alone and read from the pile of newspapers in the corner.

Xococava
1560 Yonge St.
(416) 979-9916
Daily 10am-10pm

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Subway is trying again to do a vegetable patty. The last one they did years ago had cheese in it so the new vegan version is already an improvement.

According to Compassion Over Killing the new vegetable patty is only available at a few locations across Canada. I visited the Yonge and St. Clair Subway location eager to try the new offering. I get excited when a large food chain offers a solid vegan option that doesn’t sound ridiculously exclusionary. “I’ll have the bacon cheese burger without the bacon, cheese or burger. Oh, and does the bun have eggs in it?”

The poster

I haven’t ate at Subway in a while. It used to be a better option near my old job. I would even hack the sub with mock deli meats.

Subway vegetable patty side view, $9.58 after taxes

So how is the veggie patty? Boring.

It has a decent texture, like a typical gluten-based Chinese mock meat. If you view it as a filler and dress it up with some mustard it might taste better. I had it with the Italian dressing and that wasn’t enough.

I tried a bite of the patty alone and it wasn’t good. Maybe the top view will give you a better idea of how it tasted:

Subway vegetable patty top view

The bits  of vegetables didn’t do anything for the flavor. After trying this latest attempt, I still believe that Subway should partner with an already established mock meat company like Tofurkey. Collabo!

Also, I don’t know when Subway started putting the “meat” on top of the vegetables like that or if this was a fluke but I didn’t like it. Am I supposed to eat it upside down?

If the vegetable patty will be available at all locations it will make for a good option in those parts of the world where there aren’t many satisfying vegan options. But at almost $10 I can get better food. I would probably choose Taco Bell over the Vegetable Patty. $10 will get you a lot of food at Taco Bell.

Subway. Eat Fresh.Or have a bland microwaved vegetable patty.

UPDATE Nov. 7, 2011: I have since gone back and got really bizarre service. I’d say bad but that’s not accurate, although it was bad. Give them a shot if they’re still open, but I’m un-recommending this place. 

“You gotta check out Cuisine of India in North York.”

I’ve been hearing that for a while. So when I saw the sign on my way home one night I had to check it out.

A new Indian restaurant in the hood.

The North York Cuisine of India closed because the building was being demolished to make way for shiny condos. They reopened on Yonge street, just north of Davisville at Belsize.

This is fast Indian food with combination plates starting at $6.95. It’s about fucking time this happened. We have a few Canadian-priced Indian restaurants in the area. This has caused me pain for some time since I have had to travel far in search of Indian-priced Indian food. Well, I’ll still make occasional trips to far away places like Brampton and Scarborough (not close Scarborough, 45 mins deep into Scarborough). Cuisine of India will make staying local a badly-needed option. And they deliver.

While Cuisine of India is not vegetarian, they do have a decent amount of vegan options. Here’s what I got on my first visit:

Fenugreek leaves mush, Chickpea curry, Basmati rice and salad. $8.99

For the descriptive foodie types (the rest of you are probably not reading anyways): the Fenugreek leaves curry had a smokey flavour reminiscent of campfire marshmallows steeped in curry. The chickpeas were well-seasoned with a slight donkey kick to the mouth. Who am I kidding I can’t describe it. It tasted good and it was cheap. What else do you need to know? Go there.

They have a giant peacock on the wall too.

Pretty bird, she's going to think you took her somewhere fancy.

Cuisine of India
1992 Yonge Street
Toronto ON
M4S 1Z7
416.440.1220

Open 7 days a week 11am-9pm

Making dumplings in the kitchen.

Once in a while, Toronto still surprises me. There’s always an old place that I haven’t discovered yet, or something I’ve overlooked. As soon as we walked in I realised that I was really late to the party. The restaurant was packed. I found Mother’s Dumpling while searching for a Toronto version of Sha Lin in Vancouver.

Mother’s Dumpings makes hand-pulled noodles and fresh dumplings. The style of cooking is from North Eastern China where the food is more hearty and the flavours are different than the usual Cantonese or Schezuan style restaurants. They have clearly-marked vegetarian options. You have to ask to remove the eggs from a few dishes to make them vegan. The staff was very helpful and we had no problems ordering.

Green onion pancake. $3.99

Steamed melon, tofu, vegetable and noodle dumpling made with corn. $6.89 flour.

Solo dumpling.

Da lu noodles vegetarian option with mushrooms, tofu and cilantro, minus eggs. $7.79

Now that I know I will be visiting this restaurant often. Oh ya, check out the cheque.

And the price means I will be eating here often.

Mother’s Dumplings
421 Spadina Ave
Hours: 11 am-10 pm or so