Fun in Toronto – Magic Oven (again), Sneaky Dee’s (again!), More TIFF stuff, and Kale Restaurant.

It’s been an amazing few days. I had the opportunity to be an event scavenger for a few TIFF screenings after some friends were either too burnt out, or just not able to attend films. I saw Tamara Drewe the new one from Stephen Fears (which I didn’t like) and Jucy from Australia (which I loved.)

Before I went and saw Jucy with an old friend, I dropped in to Magic Oven for a pizza. Last time I tried the “vegan magic” because well… why not. This time around I tried the “tropical magic” and I’m so glad I did. The pizza came out with a decent helping of Daiya cheese and big juicy chunks of pineapple. I even inspired someone else to order that one. Yum.

Tropical Magic Pizza from Magic Oven

One thing I’ve always wanted to do is be a member of a live studio audience (don’t judge :D ) So I signed up to go on The Hour through the CBC website. It seems like a great thing to take an out of town visitor, so I know I’ll keep an eye out for future shows if/when my family visits me.

CBC Studio

I have a long standing love of the CBC, ever since I little and called in to the Radioactive radio show for their quizzes (which by the way… I won stuff from them several times. Thanks redial button!) So it was thrilling to be in the building, where some of the magic happens. The audience on that day was lucky (and maybe unlucky) because we got to see 8 different interviews, but that also meant we had to stay for all of them (as in 6 hours.) I saw Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Edward Norton, Jason Priestly, Zach Braff, Errol Morris, Gene Simmons (with Shannon Tweed, complete with the film crew from Family Jewels) & Jill Hennessy.

After the show, I was walking down the street, and right next to the BellLightbox,there was Jill Hennessy and her sister “busking” for a few cameras. It’s funny because Jilly Hennesy had said during her interview that she used to busk on Queen street in Toronto when she was younger, before her career on TV had started. Just a random day during TIFF in Toronto I suppose. Haha.

Jill Hennesy

That same evening I went over to Sneaky Dee’s again, and ordered a giant plate of vegan nachos. I need to remember… I will never finish that plate of food by myself. I’ll have to bring someone with a big appetite that likes guacamole with me next time. It seems to stay really good for a

Vegan Nachos from Sneaky Dees

Sometime last week I went to Kale (2366 Yonge St) near the Eglington Subway Station, and while I loved the location, and the ambiance, I didn’t think the food was exciting or filling. While I know some people love the place and everything about it, I’m not one of them. If you do order from the pay-by-weight, keep in mind, it can get quite expensive very quickly. I was joking with my friend that it would be a great place to go if I was on a diet.

This is what 10$ worth of food looks like

I’d recommend ordering one of their daily specials, because that was actually a good portion of food for a decent price. When I was still hungry after I had a plate from their pay-by-weight buffet bar, I had a soup and a veggie burger and it was actually decent. I was impressed that they made their own veggie patty, and it had a tofu/poached egg texture rather then the “meat” texture with most veggie burgers. The bread was fresh, warm and layered with veggies.

The Burger from Kale Restaurant Toronto

In vegan baking related news… I’m thinking about participating in the 3rd Annual Vegan Bakeoff on October 2nd, 2010, from 2 to 4:30 pm at the Harbourfront Community Centre. I have until the 20th to register, so I’m still debating on whether I’ll have enough time to do it. Even if I don’t bake anything, I’m still hoping to attend the event in any capacity (maybe even volunteering there.) I’m sure it would be an amazing experience.

Royal Ontario Museum, Fresh on Bloor and Sneaky Dee’s

the ROM


I went to the Royal Ontario Museum on Tuesday, a wonderfully huge museum which at the moment holds a special exhibit with Terracotta Warriors from China. I spent around three hours lost in the history, snapping photos here and there. The Museum has a special deal for students on Tuesday’s; free admission to the regular collection with student ID (the special exhibit was only 7$ more).

Totem Art from Africa


All that wandering got me hungry and I went down to the Museums cafe, there was a tofu wrap but otherwise they had minimal vegan options, so I went upstairs to C5 (their very beautiful restaurant.) Much like the Cafe, there were limited/no vegan options, but there was one item that had some potential of being veganizable (though it was made with a butter sauce, so who knows how well that would go over). I didn’t bother staying. But it was nice up there.

I started out by searching for “vegetarian restaraunts near Royal Ontario Museum” but didn’t find anything useful. So I walked down Bloor Street and saw Fresh. The name sounded familiar and I looked it up. Fresh is a primarily vegan restaurant, with dairy options and some honey/bee pollen products on the side if you’re into that sort of thing. They have three locations (so far) and have a great selection of smoothies and juices as well as some interesting menu items. I went to the one at 326 Bloor Street West (so Bloor Street at Spadina)

Fresh


I went with the Quinoa Onion Rings as an appetizer, because the idea of quinoa being involved in a deep fried onion ring was novel enough, and I’m basically just a sucker for anything involving quinoa a the moment. These were genuinely delicious. Crispy, salty and did not taste good for me at all (since they probably weren’t.) My only regret is that I didn’t order a dipping sauce of some sort. Ketchup just wasn’t enough.

Qunioa Breaded Onion Rings


A friend had recommended the Dragon Bowl, so I ordered it against my better judgement, and I was right. I didn’t like it. I’m sure other people do, because I saw a whole bunch of bowls on the tables, I just found it really bland and boring. Even hot sauce didn’t save it. At least it looked nice. Some of the burgers on the menu looked quite appealing, if I go back to Fresh before I leave Toronto (if I leave Toronto) that’ll be my next choice.

Dragon Bowl


I also ordered a chocolate vanilla cream filled cupcake, it wasn’t what I had my eye on, but it was decent. I imagine that’s what a Little Debbie Chocolate Cupcake tastes like. I’ve never had one, but it seemed about right.

Cupcake from Fresh on Bloor

Later that evening I went to Sneaky Dee’s (431 College Street, so on the corner of College Street and Bathurst St,) for some giant portions of nachos. They have a vegan nacho plate, which consists of a huge portion of tortilla chips covered in fresh veggies, salsa, guacamole. I ended up with much more food than I needed. Sneaky Dee’s is such a weird combination of sports bar, punk bar, and it looks like a total dive. But it’t one of my favourite places to visit, and I’m always amazed at how good the food is (albeit simple food.) Next time I think I’ll just keep it simple with a helping of pico de gallo and corn tortilla chips.

Vegan Nacho Plate


They also have vegan cupcakes! That are actually pretty good, they are on the dense side, this time there was a carrot cake one with a great icing on it. My favourite one in the past was the chocolate, it tasted very much like a McCain deep and delicious cake (in a good way).

Cupcake from Sneaky Dee's