holy chuck.

when i heard there was another burger place with a similar concept to burger’s priest (not to mention down the street from my office), i just had to give it a try. i ordered a cheeseburger (ie. double cheeseburger) with fries and a drink. quite pricey at $14…

was pretty tasty overall but I still prefer burger’s priest. Maybe “the option” just wins my heart. Although “holy chuck” does offer a similar cheese-stuffed portabello mushroom – i have yet to try theirs. my first impression was that the meat was a tad salty and a tad messy (dripped all over the place!) i would def return though – they’ve got poutine which burger’s priest doesnt!

 

wear it pink.

wear pink today in support of The Weekend to End Women’s Cancers <3.

for more info, visit: http://bit.ly/yDnOhv

burger’s priest pt. III

the burger’s priest moved closer to my area (on yonge between lawrence and yorkmills) – this is a very dangerous thing.

“the option” (cheese-stuffed portobello mushroom, panko-coated then deep-fried) is probably the best burger-topping ever invented. get it on your cheeseburger and you’ve ordered what’s called “the priest” (my recommendation).

buca.

for my 3 year anniversary, I went to BUCA (@bucatoronto) on King and Portland. In Italian, BUCA means “hole” and in this sense, “hole in the wall” – a kind of hidden gem if you may. “Hole in the wall” may not seem attractive one bit, but this place was just that, in the coolest way possible. We had to pass through an alleyway, where we pushed through a set of thick curtains to unveil what was BUCA. High ceilings, exposed brick, and an unrefined basement-type setting – I was immediately intrigued.

what makes this place so great though, (other than the unpolished and rustic feel that has Jamie Oliver written all over it or the huge hunks of meat hanging in clear view) was the fact that the menu changes daily based on the meats and cheeses that the chef dubbs” best served” on that particular day.

unfortunately, the lighting wasn’t ideal for food photography so these pictures don’t really do the dishes justice – I guess you will just have to experience it for yourself one day!

we started our meal off with a chef’s selection of meat and cheeses. It came on a rustic wooden board, paired with an assortment of spreads. (3 choices of meats and cheeses for $19 and $17 respectfully).

in the platter, we had Buffalo Ricotta infused with mint and lemon (super light), a hard goats cheese (crumbly texture) and a semi-soft Le Tour A La Ricotta (cheese with a slight bite). As for meats, we were given duck breast, coppa (comes from the front collar bone area) and sopressata. The spreads ranged from a sweet jam, to honey and pear marmalade, bitter kale and pickled beats – it was fun to experiment with all the different flavours. Along with this platter, we ordered roasted garlic and rosemary mini-buns – a perfect pairing.

see what I mean about the lighting? Anyway, it was quite a challenge to decide on wine because this place has such a large selection! What impressed me the most, though, was when our server brought over the in-house wine connoisseur. We informed him with the mains we planed to order and he helped us decide on this Italian 2008 red. It was easily one of the best wine’s I’ve ever had ($65).

here’s a clearer shot of the label.

for our mains, we decided to go with a pizza and pasta to split. For pizza, we went with the Fungi. It was an easy choice because I instantly become sold at “gorgonzola”. It was also a fun one to share because it came on yet another rustic wooden board, uncut and served with a pair of shears.

as for pasta, we decided on the oxtail ragu gnocci (again, gnocci is a selling point for me). At this point, we were quite full but managed to get through it regardless because the sauce was devine. I didn’t manage to snap a picture unfortunately 😦

overall, BUCA was a memorable experience and I will definitely return sometime in the near future 🙂

angry scotch ale.

this comes straight from Vancouver where my sister lives. she got it for my bf for christmas. we cracked it open and it was tasty. quite dark for a scotch ale, but not too overly intense at only 6.5%.

cartier is my other love.

today marks my 3 year anniversary with my boyfriend. Does time ever seem to fly by…

NAKED 2.

The highly anticipated NAKED 2 palette by Urban Decay has finally arrived (in an unnecessarily large box) 😀

I couldn’t be more excited!

fish hook.

this wine draws you in like a fish hook… haha lame but true.

night out during the holidays.

I’ve slowed down a bit on the blogging front… so to get back into it, how about a nice long post ?

I started the night with my friend Dominika. We went to a birthday party at a hidden “tapas” bar in the heart of Kensington by the name of  Torito Tapas (@ToritoTapas). We met at College station, where we stood out quite obviously in our blonde hair and heels. Taking the College streetcar west to Augusta, we quickly became lost in conversation as we missed our stop and eventually realized we had gone too far. Taking a short cab back in the right direction, we finally made it inside the dark and warming atmosphere of what was the Tapas bar.

This place was pretty cool. We sat at a long bench-like table that made us feel like one big family. Shortly after joining our “family”, we were  passed a jug of delicious sangria (the chunks of fresh peach were the highlight). Glancing at the Spanish-rich menu, I felt a little lost. Dominika and I eventually decided to order a few things to share – that’s the whole idea behind Tapas anyway, right?

Although I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with my surroundings, I managed to snap a pic of the Lamb Ravioli I ordered:

This was overall pretty tasty – although I was quite disappointed with the portion size (I only got four pieces in total for $16 :|).

We enjoyed ourselves nonetheless and eventually moved on to part 2 of the night – an alcohol rich holiday house party down the street…

Lots of wine was consumed.

By this point, I was over my Dubai-fail blues and was happy to be in good company 🙂