Vacation Eats
First, it was nice to see that our driving vacation was timed so that we ended the same night that gas prices went through the roof. The night I got back, I paid $3.15 for premium and the next morning my wife paid $3.20 for regular. When we left a week earlier I think gas was around $2.60 or so.
Anyway, part of the vacation was eating out. I already mentioned the Mickey D free zone on most of the trip, so here's the restaurants we did make it to:
(Weds) Freighters - Sault Ste. Marie. MI - a pretty nice place on the first floor of the downtown Ramada. $20-30 for an entree. The tastes here were great. We had a bowl of gumbo that was surprisingly spicy and there was a basket of fresh rye buns, that had a clear rye flavor. My wife had broiled whitefish and I had a Italian style chicken/shrimp/vegetable dish. The only drawback here was that they were at half-staff (not flag, but help) that evening. It seemed half of their workforce called in "sick" and that made for some maddening (to me - I have no patience) waits.
(Thurs) Taroko Shabu-Shabu - Thornton, ON - A small Chinese style restaurant in one of ubiquitous Chinese malls on Highway 7. If you haven't eaten this before, it's interesting. Each seat has its own hot plate. You get a bowl of broth (assorted flavors and styles) and a plate of veggies and tofu and stuff (it includes a couple types of tofu, a bunch of assorted veggies, hardboiled egg, noodles and other stuff) and you can add a plate of thinly sliced meat - lamb, chicken or beef. The broth starts boiling and you dump in the assorted goodies and as they cook, you eat them. It's pretty good and my wife loves it.
(Fri) Real Thailand - Bloor St. downtown Toronto - We've eaten here several times. I proposed here. Very good food and nice service. Try the sticky rice with mango for dessert. BTW, the florist next door is the pits. They wouldn't deliver flowers when I proposed a couple years ago.
(Sat) Bombay Bhel (Thornton) - maybe the best of the trip. We had the veggie samosas for appetizers and I had aloo gobi and the wife had butter chicken. A lively place, bordering on noisy, but happy noisy. Great service to go with the food.
(Sun) Baton Rouge - Markham ON - This was a disappointment. It was pricey and the food was just OK. I had Cajun catfish - with a very mild seasoning and my wife had a somewhat fatty pork chop. Our side dishes were reversed, her plate had mine and vice-versa. The margarita was fair and served in a plain tumbler. Nice looking place, just not worth the money. My wife told me she has had great steaks there in the past tho' so maybe we just ordered the wrong thing.
(Mon) Assorted places (Markham) - Monday was a mix. My wife went with her friends to a Japanese restaurant run by a Korean located in a Chinese mall that she really enjoyed. I went to a RASOEE The Indian Kitchen. I had the Samosa plate with 2 veggie samosas, chick-pea curry, tamarind dip. Not a bad place for a quick meal. Later that evening we went to the T&T Supermarket which is a supermarket chain from Taiwan. There we picked up a couple of Japanese style sushi trays for $4 each and took them home to eat. Again, not bad food and there's no way to beat the price.
