What are your favourite restaurants in your city?

[niwell]

Great list!! Patois is amazing - worth going with a couple other people so you can get the entire menu option.

Few on there I need to check out for sure.

[SignalHillHiker]

J. and I went to Bonavista today. We skipped the three award-winning restaurants there and went for the drunken Irish pub.



• Video Link









And then, voila!







Lamb stew on poutine caught our attention...



And jumpin' Jesus was she ever good. Neither of us could finish it, not even J. who can usually out-eat me despite being thin.



About halfway through we had to stop and eat the most expensive ingredients first.

[urbandreamer]

That looks good. Do Newfies eat mushy peas? I think they'd go well with poutine.

[SignalHillHiker]

No, unfortunately. If you get peas here they sometimes come like that, but it's not a conscious thing, never served without asking with fish and chips, etc. If you said mushy peas, 9/10 would've even know what you were talking about. We do have pease pudding as a staple that every single one of us knows, but that's completely different.

[Marty_Mcfly]

What on earth are mushy peas

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

What on earth are mushy peas

Mashed peas, basically.

[Marty_Mcfly]

You monsters. The best part about peas is that pop when you bite into them and they explode in your mouth.

[MonkeyRonin]

In celebration of summer I've together a list of some of my favourite patios in Toronto - ones with good food, good drinks, and chill vibes:



Julie's Cuban


http://patios.blogto.com/patio/juliescuban/



Chula Taberna Mexicana


https://www.blogto.com/restaurants/c...icana-toronto/



3 Speed


https://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2...os_in_toronto/



Reposado


https://torontolife.com/food/top-10-...-toronto-2014/



Tequila Bookworm


https://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2...os_in_toronto/



Tennessee Tavern


https://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2...os_in_toronto/



Cafe Pamenar





Bellwoods Brewery


https://centurion-magazine.com/trave...lwoods-brewery



Superpoint (well, it's an almost-patio)


https://www.toronto.com/whatson-stor...rench-capital/



Ronnie's Local


http://viewthevibe.com/torontos-best...ington-market/



Cold Tea


https://patios.blogto.com/patio/cold-tea-toronto/



Cocktail Bar


https://www.blogto.com/bars/cocktail-bar-toronto/



Some more that I didn't bother to get photos of: Loveless, the Walton, Lucky Shrike, Té, Union, Maison Close 1888, Grand Electric...I dunno, there's too many and I've lost interest in this list.

[samne]

Thanks for the list...

3 things Toronto excels at:

Ethnic eats
Brunch
Patios

[suburbanite]

Ton of good Mexican places that I need to try. One of my favorites is Wilbur. They don't really make an attempt to be authentic, and it's probably overpriced, but it is damn good. It's become an alarmingly frequent destination before the bar on a Friday night.


from: https://jacknifedesign.com/sneak-peek-wilbur-mexicana/

My go-to is definitely the fajita, which is brought out on a sizzling skillet. Usually end up turning into multiple tacos with plenty of good guac instead.



from: https://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/wilbu...cana-toronto-2

[SignalHillHiker]

So, Moxie's has had a soft opening in St. John's. I remember it from Winnipeg, I was there several times - it's like a slutty Keg. Anyhow, when they opened here they flew in staff from Ontario to train the locals. jeddy1989's BF's friend B. (yep lol) went and thought it was OK but she was surprised how easy it was to tell the CFAs apart from the locals. She said they all had outdated clothes (like guys wearing jeans with white stitching on the pockets and tight muscle shirts, etc.) and were a foot taller than the locals. "They had some sour faces. You could just SMELL their disdain at having to leave Brampton or wherever to come to Newfoundland." Some of the girls already had the skimpy black outfits they wear on the mainland. I'm curious to see how this plays out. Denny's recently opened, and that will do fine with all the bay people coming into the city all the time. But Moxie's is a little pricier and will need an urban clientelle, and I don't think they're going to go for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it fails here. Unless it gets a little friendlier, etc., once the locals are trained.

Anyhow, got Sumac delivered tonight. It's a Middle Eastern restaurant out in the middle of nowhere so I never get to go. But Skip The Dishes for the win. Anyhow, it's amazing. Everything is so flavourful. Went with beef shwarma and a kibbeh and a falafel and some hummus and I don't know how to spell any of those words so there it is.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

So, Moxie's has had a soft opening in St. John's. I remember it from Winnipeg, I was there several times - it's like a slutty Keg. Anyhow, when they opened here they flew in staff from Ontario to train the locals. jeddy1989's BF's friend B. (yep lol) went and thought it was OK but she was surprised how easy it was to tell the CFAs apart from the locals. She said they all had outdated clothes (like guys wearing jeans with white stitching on the pockets and tight muscle shirts, etc.) and were a foot taller than the locals. "They had some sour faces. You could just SMELL their disdain at having to leave Brampton or wherever to come to Newfoundland." Some of the girls already had the skimpy black outfits they wear on the mainland. I'm curious to see how this plays out. Denny's recently opened, and that will do fine with all the bay people coming into the city all the time. But Moxie's is a little pricier and will need an urban clientelle, and I don't think they're going to go for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it fails here. Unless it gets a little friendlier, etc., once the locals are trained.

You'd be surprised. Denny's has and will resonate with everyone, despite it being trash. Plenty of townies seem to be excited about it, for whatever reason. Maybe it reminds people of being on vacation in the United States and getting greasy breakfast in a feeble attempt to cure the Las Vegas hangover.

Moxies isn't my cup of tea because it's essentially high prices for mid-range food. They're just jacking prices they try to give the illusion of sophistication. Whether people will fall for it, depends on how stupid the "urban clientelle" are That being said, they're completely booked up until July 15th so....

I'd say both restaurants will do fine just because they're attached to a national chain hotel. Even if people don't want to leave their houses to eat at these places, there will be enough people who are staying at the hotel who don't want to, or can't, leave for other food options.

[SignalHillHiker]

I just don't see Ches and Lil from Rushoon going to Moxie's. And for townies - it's practically in Mount Pearl. No one is going all that way for food.

[giallo]

3am, drunk and Denny's works sometimes.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I just don't see Ches and Lil from Rushoon going to Moxie's. And for townies - it's practically in Mount Pearl. No one is going all that way for food.

You'd be surprised how well word of mouth works for restaurant recommendations. One person says Moxies is good, and everyone will flock to it. As Newfoundlanders, we all have absolute trash for restaurant preferences, so all it takes is a few people telling others how good Moxies is, and it'll be all she wrote. Same thing happened with the Keg, and Milestones.

As for townies, they're lazy pieces of shit. Everyone drives to everything so distance is no issue. If you think no one will drive to Moxies for food, you have to explain how Kelseys, Swiss Chalet, and Boston Pizza on Kenmount and Kelsey are both further away than Moxies, and absolutely packed pretty much every night of the week. And the answer isn't "baymen in visiting town", because half the provincial population isn't visiting St. John's on any random Wednesday of the year Truth is, if someone says Moxies is good, and people will flock there like sheep. Truth is, these people would be better served spending their 50+ dollars at Merchant Tavern, Adelaide Oister House, etc.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by giallo

3am, drunk and Denny's works sometimes.

The 7 am post-dance-all-nighter hub for emergency pancakes.

[giallo]

^ End-of-the-night spliff and a breakfast skillet would have me sleeping like a baby.

[kwoldtimer]

I've never bothered with Moxies, but now that I know they're a "slutty Keg" I feel I must check it out!

[SignalHillHiker]

Yesterday I went to the Stone Jug in Carbonear, an hour or so outside the city.



It's a popular place, I couldn't take a ground-level picture because it was too awkward, the tables are very close together. Lots of languages as well - two tables were something like Dutch/German/whatever, and another was definitely Macedonian or Bulgarian.





I was a little disappointed when my food first showed up - it looks so much like regular pub food. But it was exceptionally, extraordinarily, strikingly different and delicious. I had the lamb burger - I went with lamb at the next place too. It's not a normal thing here, so I usually try it when I can get it.



Today I went to Afghan Restaurant, which hilariously and earnestly bills itself as the first Afghan restaurant in St. John's (it's the only, of course). The family that owns it is postcard perfect - veiled older woman who is exceptionally friendly, distractingly hot early-30s man presumably her son, and a shy, blushing but modernly-dressed young lady who I guess is his daughter. It's at the top of the George Street stairs, and adjacent to my favourite pizzeria and pub (The Republic is an institution for separatists, our Terms of Union are even printed on the walls, all the old stamps, currency, nationalist images, posters, songs, etc. It tends to attract a very hot university crowd, so I stand out in all the most embarrassing ways. I'm waiting to eventually be asked how I voted).



It's the same general style of food that stretches from Asia to the Gates of Vienna. It's interesting to compare the Bosnian and Afghani restaurants - you can see the evolution in the food as it moved west. I had the lamb kebab.

Portion sizes were ENORMOUS, I could hardly walk home, but everything was rich with flavour. And they bring you bottles so you can apply your own sauces - it's not a choose your own adventure, each sauce goes with one particular thing, but you control the amount.

[yaletown_fella]

Thats really cool that Newfoundland has a little bosnian community. Im craving some spinach and feta burek with hot peppers.