eh "Bizzy" B.'s Profile

The food, the staff - it's a big ole WOW!  the only downside : the hours.

5 - 10 p.m.  

Their takeout menu notes lunch specials - Fridays from 11 am - 2 pm

I'd like to be able to go there for lunch on a weekend.

Biggest hits lately - the walnut chicken, pork rolls and fried bean cakes.  The fried bean cakes - 'organic tofu served with our home-made peanut sauce'.   Killer.  The pork rolls aren't those nasty smooth cigarillo-shaped things with minced pork.  They've got chunks of identifiable pork in nice, crispy, lumpy rolls made in the back.  

In season, there is sticky mango rice available.

Our waitress (she was really wonderful), recommended fried bananas with green tea ice cream for dessert.  Great idea!

The takeout business seems to be its mainstay  (about 10 men arrived in SUVs in a 30 minute period to pick up on our last visit), though by the time we left on Friday night, there were about five tables in use.

Washrooms are the Toronto resto standard, downstairs down a long corridor.  Clean - with more air fresheners and pot pourri than I've ever seen in a tiny washroom.

nah, not an employee.  I am, however, a very happy customer from the neighbourhood.

I would suggest that if you're unhappy with the colour, you should go back and get them to fix it for you.  I once had trouble getting the right shade of apricot, and they re-did it (free, of course)  a couple of days later.

The colours are mixed in back - and put into the squeeze bottles (you can see them do it if you're in the seat near the coat rack in the back).  A couple of the techs use the bottles, a couple prefer to use bowls - it's a personal preference thing.

edit: and now it's gone

I hope they're making those great slaws somewhere else.

~~~~

The sides the sides the sides.

Love the different slaws  (get the tropical slaw!), the green pea hummus, the sweet potato fries.

The fish is always good and fresh, the batters can be heavy - but you can just pick it off and enjoy the fish and the sides sides sides.

It's comparatively new to the Riverdale diner landscape (like less than a decade - brand-new in Riverdale language), but feels like it's been there forever and belongs there.

Staffing can be a bit weird sometimes.  I think they're all somehow related, and they can get into somewhat personal squabbles on occasion - and no one's ever in a rush.

It's about the fresh fish and the sides sides sides  (go with enough people to order them all - but not so many people that you can't sample all the sides)

The food is respectable.  The burgers are very good - we've never had a problem getting them cooked the way we like (I'm a blue burger fan, he's not) - friends love the various combo platters - neighbours always order the pizza and rave about it.

A good neighbourhood joint.  I've been going there off and on since about 1982  (used to be the place to go after disco and bowling on the Danforth back in the day).    

You're not going for a "fine dining experience".  You're going for a meal that will fill most folks up at a a good price.   There's a group of 5 of us that goes 2 or 3 times a year before a concert.   Our total bill for meals/coffee/sodas is usually just under $80.  Really good value - especially when some of the coffees are refilled 4 or 5 times (and they only charge for refills very intermittently).

The serving staff is consistently pleasant, though there's one lovely lady who does seem to have left a few brain cells in the 1970's and can be easily flustered.  

The bar customers can occasionally be a little raucous, but the atmosphere is nice.   Kids are welcome and often present in the early evenings.

I've been going to Futures (yikes) for something like 25 years.   Started when I was just out of uni, needed a homey kind of place to have beer and mashed potatoes, visit with friends, have some cake.  Found it.

It's still a great place to order something (I love that I can have mashed while one friend is having cake, another is having soup, and still another is having beer and toast), relax and talk with friends.  

It's pretty dang casual, though sometimes you can see some fairly important politico types huddled over some paperwork (in their civvies, not suits).  

The mashed potatoes are still fantastic, the patio is a great place to have a beer whether you're 20 or 60+, breakfasts really are quite good (a friend from Philadelphia always has to go there for pancakes on every visit).  

Nothing wrong with the place except for the bathroom, and I don't think there's a good resto restroom within blocks.

Sort of a two and half/three star place.   The food is all right.  Basic Canadian-Indian stuff, if a bit greasier than most of the Indian restos we go to (which is saying something, as Indian food's not noted for its dryness).  The naan's quite good, the curries are small for the money.

Tables are a bit squished together, so you get to know a bit too much about folks at the next couple of tables.  

Definitely not a date resto, unless you're into sharing intimate moments.

It makes it to a three from a two and half because it's clean.  

Not a place to avoid, but not someplace you'd take someone who wants to learn about Indian food.   There are better places accessible by TTC.

Good food and the best-looking waiters in Toronto.

Gotta go there at least once a year.

The only Nepalese resto in town (used to be, haven't heard of any others opening) - so it's interesting to compare the flavours to some of the north Indian tastes in Little India.

Stay away from the stinky traditional Nepalese thing in the veggie combo - even some of the waiters say they can't stand the taste/smell - kinda like you imagine sweaty sneakers would taste.

Overall, a really nice addition to the Annex when it opened.  Still a reliable place for a pleasant meal in a clean resto.

If you've never had Nepalese food, it is a bit of a must do.

Chicken liver.  Seriously.  I go to a Syrian shawarma/falafel joint to have what is probably Toronto's best chicken liver (probably Toronto's only chicken liver pita sandwich).

I used to just go here for the falafel.  Occasionally wandered over to the veggie plate.  Tried the shawarma a couple of times.  enh.  And then one day they actually had the chicken liver, and I ordered it and it was perfect.  Tender, not hard, tasty with all of the regular pita sandwich toppings.

Whenever they have the chicken liver I order it.  When they don't have it, I'm very sad.

If the place was just a bit cleaner, I'd be going for the full five stars here.

The Toronto Consort is Canada's leading chamber ensemble specializing in the music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and early Baroque.

ok - so that's from their website, and it doesn't really tell you anything about the amazing things you'll hear and learn about if you go to one of their concerts.

David Fallis and his group put together really interesting collections of music and performers that give you an opportunity to stretch your brain - and often to want to stretch it further by researching more after the concert.

Amazing performers, exposure to music that you won't likely find elsewhere, guest performers that are occasionally heart-stopping.  Toronto is so lucky to have this group here.

Each season I think "this is the last one" - then the next concert schedule comes out and I realize I can't bear to miss out on what's coming.   The tempter for the 2009-2010 season? lutefest - oud/pipa/lute.    It's not for nine months and I'm already giddy about the concept.

The written programs are a bit chewy, in a good and bad way.   Too academic for people who aren't really into period music (and are here because someone dragged them in), perfect starters for people who are interested in learning about the history of music (usually Western, but not exclusively so).  If you're already a U of T music professor, you won't care much about the program, so don't worry about it - unless you want to know who the guest performers are.

What makes this a five-star book store?  The staff.

The Annex location probably explains the incredible staff, but I've never been able to stump them.   If they don't have what I'm looking for (which they've had to pick out from an occasionally babbly description of what I think the book I'm thinking about might be about), they'll help me try to source it.

Love the staff.  

Love the crazy remainders (which tend to arrive in themes, so you can put together great themed gift packages without having to think too hard).