- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
UYE: French Fry Crawl Part II, The Reckoning
Categories: Local Flavour Restaurants Fast Food Local Flavour, Fast Food [Edit]
249 Victoria StreetToronto, ON M5B 1T8
Neighbourhood: Downtown Core
(416) 364-1013
- Good for Kids:
- No
5 reviews for UYE: French Fry Crawl Part II, The Reckoning
5 reviews in English
-
Review from Mel D.
Toronto, ON
12/11/2009
I joined the party late since I refused to miss my Thursday night gym class for a French Fry Crawl. Don't get me wrong, I love fries - I would almost say that it's my weakness and I've been told to "Lay off the fries" MANY times by my friends. When I found out about this crawl, it put me in deep dilemma - could I handle it? I was quite confident that if I did the whole crawl, that I could easily finish a serving at each location - Truth (please don't challenge me...)
So I joined at Epicure, and fetched the Oh Boy! fries on my way over. The Epicure fries were excellent, and I also liked the Oh Boy! fries, but it's probably because I like onion rings and crispy (read: overcooked) fries. The company was excellent!
We ended up at Shanghai Cowgirl, which is a place I've been wanting to visit for YEARS! I had the grilled cheese with jalapeno and havarti cheese (omg....so good. soooo sooo good) and the sweet potato fries - I love sweet potato fries- with this mayo...it was spicy...I forget what it was but it was good.
Great event! This was my first crawl - Yelp is just getting better and better!! -
Review from Kat F.
12/11/2009 1 photo
5 stars for the crew of misfits (Randy G, Sarah L, Kate M, Nicole B, Dave O, Hana B, Mel D, Dale M and briefly Mike S) that accompanied me on part II of Yelp Toronto's quest to suss out the city's best fries in "Feels Like -21C" weather and 55km/h wind gusts. You guys are troupers!
6:30pm @ The Senator
Re-enactment of Joseph & Mary on Christmas Eve (or whenever Jesus was "born"). "WE HAVE NO ROOM FOR YOU!" said the Colonel Sanders lookalike. "You'll have to wait an hour." Note to hosts: this isn't a very nice way to welcome people - you could be a bit more compassionate. It's like when the dud server at Disgraceland told us "You can order food, but it's gonna take a very, very long time." Great, why don't I just leave? The place was crawling with theatre attendees for the 7pm show, so don't think of coming here for dinner. They wouldn't let us sit so we ordered a plate of fries and ate them in the waiting area, huddled around in a circle. No utensils or napkins were provided. When it came time to pay, no one wanted to get us the bill. The fries were OK (frites style) but too expensive for a diner. The perils of being located at Yonge/Dundas, I suppose.
COST: $4.20
7:20pm @ Jules Restaurant
Again, no room for us at The Inn, though the restaurant was practically empty. To the party of 25 that was almost 30 minutes late for their 7pm reservation: you're bad people. As for the rest: http://www.yelp.ca/biz.... The fries that we got to go were satisfactory, but then again, but I have no qualms with McDonald's fries and crave them often. However, the nearly identical fries at McDonald's (no word of a lie) cost $2.10. Our plans to eat the fries at the CIBC on the corner of Queen/Spadina were foiled (the ATM area was locked), so we hopped on a streetcar and cab to the next pitstop.
COST: $6.40
7:45pm @ Hero Burger
A nice change from the "service" we received at the first two stops. The counter dude was delightful - he seemed genuinely happy to be alive in a Roberto Benigni kinda way. I like the fries here - they're chip stand style and cheap. A taste of Randy G's poutine was also quite good! NOTE: Still the winner for "scariest basement washroom in Toronto."
COST: $2.81
8pm @ Epicure Cafe
These were the winning fries of the night. They were perfectly cooked and crisp, flavourful and authentic. We asked for some condiments and got a side of homemade mayo and ketchup served in ramekins with the cutest tiny spoons. Service was also great and there were decent beers on tap.
COST: $3.50
8:15pm Oh Boy Burger
A late addition to the French Fry Crawl, someone had the bright idea that we should forgo a visit to the restaurant itself and just get the fries to go. Mel D picked up two orders for us and we ate them at Epicure. They were all right, but a bit too oniony (clearly cooked in the same oil as the onion rings) and definitely overcooked.
COST: $3.25
8:45pm @ My Digestive Tract
HITTING THE WALL. Absolute fry coma.
9pm @ Shanghai Cowgirl
We had a reservation but we didn't need it. Why this place was nearly empty at 9pm on a Thursday remains a mystery. Food is great here, people! And you can drink! And the music (Kings Of Leon, The Killers, Travis) is also good! Our server was excellent - very attentive, polite and generally on the ball. She also had really good hair (bouncy, shiny and with lots of verve). 3/4 of us ordered the grilled cheese with jalapeno and havarti cheese, with Kate M thinking outside the box and getting perogies, and Sarah L ordering a chicken wrap. Impressively, all of our food came out at the same time. Not surprisingly, no one was in the mood for fries anymore, but the ones that we did eat were OK. Forgive me if my description is less than inspired...it's like trying to describe that last shot of tequila you had at 1:42am.
COST: $4.75Listed in: Yelpy Events!
-
Review from Dave O.
Toronto, ON
12/11/2009
A night of potatoey excess, and bitingly cold wind!
The chill was just beginning to take it's toll as I arrived at the Senator, the place was packed and our intrepid group was relegated to the front entrance with a plate of fries, they were decent shoestring fries, probably better than most, but we were questing for the best!
On we traveled, through the extreme cold to get on the Queen streetcar and over to Jules. We arrived and thought we would easily get seats, the place was half-empty! Unfortunately, the Sultan of Brunei had reserved 25 spots for the night, and we were directed to a small animal pen in the back with a manger in the middle. The fries were forgettable, they were reminiscent of McDonald's fries but without the fancy packaging.
From there we realized that Hero Burger was at least a 15 minute walk, so we split up into a cab and streetcar, there was no way we would have survived that walk! Hero, home to the scariest bathroom in the city and Guy Smiley, the burger-ista. We had their classic thick-cut fries and poutine, which were both fantastic, and the dill dipping sauce is formidable, it pales next to mm ruc, but quite tasty nonetheless.
Onward and upward, we shuffled over to Epicure and had the crowning fries, perfectly fried, gently seasoned and piping hot served with homemade mayo and ketchup, these were the apex of our starchy journey. One gripe for Epicure was the tap with Guinness on it, despite them only having Guinness in a can. So wrong, and a needless tease. We had some Oh Boy Burger fries when Mel showed up, but they were oniony and overcooked.
Having finally reached our final destination, Shanghai Cowgirl, we were growing ever more desperate for something not entirely potato. I hopped on the grilled cheese bandwagon and was entirely sated by the gooey, spicy three-layer wonder. The fries here were excellent as well, but I didn't finish my side. I will think carefully next time anyone asks me "You want fries with that?".
Shout outs to Kat, Randy, Sarah, Mel, Kate, Nicole, Dale, Hana and Mike. It was a grand, albeit frosty, adventure in starch! -
Review from Nicole B.
12/11/2009
I didn't go to all but I'll give a brief rundown of each:
Senator (2.5 stars)
- licorice in barbicide, standing in the doorway to consume the fries & watching the server turn away a woman who wanted take-out because "it might take awhile"; fries were okay but not amazing
Jules (0.5 stars)
- If I could've put 0 stars, I would've. Party of 25, my ass-ets! Read my Jules review to understand (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...)
Hero Burger (4.5 stars)
- Amazing service (love this location!), fries and poutine were excellent, bathrooms too scary for me to even venture in. Sarah I., I hope you post those pics!
Epicure Cafe (5 stars)
- loved the service, ambience & music, fries were great, special touch for ketchup/mayo with spoon
Oh Boy fries (3 stars)
- Okay, but overcooked
The crawl itself was great. Good people make even bad times hilarious. I wish I had been up to going to Shanghai Cowgirl but I was too tired. -
Review from Randy G.
Toronto, ON
12/11/2009
An awesome time was had by all, even though it was bitterly cold and the service at a few places was sub par to say the least.
The rundown:
-Senator: Packed, so we couldn't sit. Service was a touch rude, but the fries were good.
-Jules: Half the restaurant was empty for a party that was late. When ordering takeout, the receipt was thrown at Kat. The fries sucked. Moving on.
-Hero Burger: Tasty fries and poutine, good service, and we finally got to sit down. Hero dipping sauce is VERY strong.
-Epicure: Very tasty fries - probably the best of the bunch. Good selection of beer, and we once again got to sit. Confusing as to what part we were supposed to be in and how to get there, though.
-Oh Boy Burger: these fries were brought along to Epicure. Very similar to Epicure's, but very oniony - probably done in the same oil as rings.
-Shanghai Cowgirl - About average fries, above-average grilled cheese. At that point I'd had enough potato for a good long while though.
I'd say it's probably a good idea to wait a couple months before the next one - it might take that long for me to want starch again.Listed in: CMYEs and UYEs I've attended
