Karon Liu’s List in the Star [Toronto]

Regional Dining Discussions Ontario
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Darn paywall.

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For those without a Star subscription, here’s the list:

  1. Aoyama - 2766 Victoria Park Ave
  2. Avling - 1042 Queen St E
  3. Bong Lua - 2572 Birchmount Rd
  4. Chris Jerk - 2570 Birchmount Rd
  5. Curryish - 783 Queen St W
  6. Emma’s Country Kitchen - 810 St Clair Ave W
  7. Island Foods - 1310 Don Mills Rd
  8. Istar - 235 Dixon Rd
  9. Jerusalem - 4777 Leslie St
  10. Johnny’s Hamburgers - 2595 Victoria Park Ave
  11. Mineral - 1027 Yonge St
  12. The Momo House - 1240 Bay St
  13. Northern Smokes - 371 Old Kingston Rd
  14. Plaza Latina - 9 Milvan Dr
  15. Very Fair Seafood Cuisine - 17 Milliken Blvd
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I made my own current 15 restaurant list:

My top 15 list:

  1. @rustleandstill for banh mi & Vietnamese coffee

  2. Parallel for Middle Eastern food

  3. Omai for Japanese bar food

  4. Emma’s Country Kitchen for brunch

  5. @Union_Resto for bistro on a heated year round back patio

  6. Noctua Bakery for slices, pastries, breads

  7. Emmer Bakery for everything: breakfast sandwich, patty melt, bread (they sell half loaves!), pastries

  8. O Mei for Lobster 4 ways, lobster in Maggi sauce

  9. Descendant pizza, esp the Jaffna pizza

  10. Tabule: fried eggplant & garlic tomatoes

  11. @fikakensington: the buns, the cardamom latte, the open-faced smoked salmon sandwiches

  12. When The Pig Came Home: the jerk chicken sandwich, the patties

  13. Silk Road Kabob House

  14. Enoteca Sociale : the amatriciana

  15. Pearl Harbourfront- dim sum

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We have not tried most of these. We liked the food (and beer) at Avling when Suzanne Barr was the executive chef, but haven’t been since they changed chefs. Island Foods is quite good, although we only tried the former King West location. We’ve loved Jerusalem for decades, particularly the garlic tomatoes.

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Jerusalem (the Eglinton W location) was my introduction to Middle Eastern food, back in 1989, when I was in Grade 11.

I really liked their feast set menu. I think I remember hearing that the people who opened Tabule had worked at Jerusalem previously.

I don’t visit Eglinton West regularly anymore, and my last visit was take-out, 13 years ago. I went to the Leslie location for the lunch buffet once, maybe 16 years ago.

I think the garlic tomatoes at Jerusalem and Tabule are both excellent. The cauliflower at Tabule is good, too.

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Yes, my understanding is that the people who started Tabule previously worked at Jerusalem, hence some overlap in the dishes.

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