We made too much of a Southern-style tomato salad for Sunday dinner, so we decided to get some takeout BBQ to accompany the leftovers. Beach Hill is closed on Tuesdays so we decided to try Breakwall in the Beach. This place has been around for about 10 years and we have only previously eaten the fries, which were only OK at the time.
Being lazy, we went for the Indecisive Sample: 1/4 lb brisket, 1/4 lb pulled pork, cheddar jalapeño sausage, pork back ribs, one side (we picked baked beans), cornbread muffin, slider bun, pickles, horseradish aioli, and BBQ sauce. I added a smoked 6 oz tenderloin from the catering menu.
Our expectations were fairly low - hadn’t heard anything about this place and we have mainly had OK but not great BBQ in Toronto. The brisket was the surprise hit - quite smokey, nicely flavoured charred edge, pretty moist. It’s as good a brisket as we’ve had in Toronto in years. The sausage was also very good, with melting process cheese bits inside. The ribs were tasty and fairly smokey, though a bit dry on the edges and not as fall-apart as I like. Pulled pork was decent, somewhat smokey and not oversauced. The tenderloin wasn’t smokey at all, but was otherwise a nice medium rare steak that went well with the horseradish aioli.
Beans were fine, if unremarkable. Slider bun made for a good pulled pork sandwich. Cornbread muffin was quite good, made from only medium grind cornmeal, not particularly sweet. BBQ sauce was OK and went fine on the less sauced bits of pork.
So, good enough for a return trip at some point. We’ll have to do a side-by-side comparison with Beach Hill to further evaluate.
Today’s cafe landwer dinner was delivered by door dash (they need to really improve their service as food was waiting to get picked up for a bit)
I had the following
Arais burger decent
Haloomi sandwich decent as well
Mezes platter hummus was good other stuff was middling to meh
Fries are forgettable
With proper promos and better delivery service I will try again
Had the delivery for impact kitchen as their brunch menu is decent. I added my own smoked salmon otherwise rest is their super food benny (extra egg added)
I suggest a pickup as someone walked this order so the Huevos Rancheros for the friend didn’t fare well
Had the Malaysian curry bowl today from local public eatery. Smaller portion but it’s meant to be that way. Good stuff and not the heartburn and heavy feel I have been getting from the local fav Thai food spots
Takeout spinach croque from Nadège today. (Cappuccino at Nadège wasn’t quite right, I like Wild Headts for coffee near Bloor between Spadina and Bathurst lately)
No photo of my croque, here are some sandwiches.
And pastries
I’m attending a conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. For lunch I went to the Forno Cultura mini-outlet in Union Station. I had a delicious mortadella, capicola, provolone, giardiniera sandwich on focaccia. For dessert I had a slice of moist, orange flavoured bread pudding.
Another conference lunch from the food court under Union Station: Roywoods. Very tasty BBQ chicken with peas and rice and some steamed veggies. I should have asked for gravy on the rice, but otherwise very enjoyable.
And the next day I had the currywurst with salad from Steamwhistle Biergarten. Very good, but the best thing was the fresh hot pretzel with cheese sauce and mustard.
… and tried Illstyl3 Sammies today. I went for a cheesesteak. It was a tasty sandwich, enhanced by hot sauce, with thinly sliced sirloin and nicely fried onions. I asked for American cheese, expecting the usual Cheez Whiz you get in Philly but got fairly mild cheddar. It wasn’t the traditional Philly cheesesteak, but it was a good sandwich.
I haven’t tried many in Toronto. It would also be nice to know if there are any places that make those roast pork and rapini sandwiches that we’ve enjoyed in Philly.
Sweet roasted eggplant with crispy onions, walnuts, a bit of pomegranate, and some other secret sauce over rice. Nice flavour blend. Plus they used my container, so no extra waste generated.
Aleppo Kebab: This is a pleasant find and luckily they were on a promo to boot when ordered a delivery. They are a bit of a distance from downtown so the food took a bit of time to arrive which is expected. had the mix platter with a side of fries. All the food was seasoned very well and even a real hot pepper included on the side. I enjoyed the bread, garlic sauce and seasoned hummus as well. Meat was again well seasoned and the chicken wasn’t overcooked big plus IMO. The side of fries are worth a special mention as done and seasoned well. At this price point forget fast food and order from them if you can manage the wait (or reheat the food).
Finally made it to Famiglia Baldassarre. Tried some of the fresh pastas (they filled the containers we brought) and took other stuff home to try later. All pastas had great texture and the sauces and fillings were delicious.
Freshly made:
Tortelli di zucca mantovani - sweet pumpkin filled pasta with butter, parm, and almonds - great simple combo of flavours
Tagliolini alle trombette dei morti - wild black trumpet mushrooms, butter, parm - also wonderful
Fior di latte - we took this home and had it with garden tomatoes (still have some growing) and focaccia - creamy and luscious
Fresh/frozen stuff to take home:
Tagliatelle and pork ragu - rich, hearty ragu with more great pasta
