$9 breakfast sandwich at Hamers Coffee on Dundas W at Manning. They call this their Classic Western.
Not really a Western aka a Denver, but an excellent breakfast sandwich with Manchego omelette and prosciutto.
Some rotisserie birds any Sanagan’s Meat Locker cost less than $15. They are sold by weight. My chicken yesterday cost $13.98.
I’ve only been to eat at Eataly in Italy (Torino - three locations) and was never seriously impressed. I’ve window shopped in the London Eataly, but I have a gift certificate for the Toronto one. What’s most reliable there?
I mostly get the pizza slices, the foccaccia, the pastries, pesto, pasta sauce, packaged imported goods, the panini from the Gran Caffe on the ground floor, pastries, tortes and the ready-to-eat salads and thebheat-at-home refrigerated meals (eggplant parm, pastas, chicken valdostana, gnocchis).
The salads from the pizza and pasta restaurant aren’t that great. I liked one dine-in seafood pasta in 2020, but found one take-out pasta from the pizza and pasta restaurant mediocre last year.
In the Gran Caffe, I also get coffee, and this time of year they have crema di caffe, which is a frozen sweet coffee cream, which is nice (Sud Forno also has a Crema di Caffe now). I also enjoyed the cherry granita from the Gran Caffe last month.
I have often posted some photos of my Eataly take-out on the takeout thread.
I have been to the Eataly in New York near 23rd St.
I didn’t bother visiting the Eataly in Munich, Rome or London pre-pandemic.
It is essentially a grocery store for me. I don’t got there for the dine-in restaurants.
It also was 3 blocks from where I lived, and open until 10 pm, so it has been the place for a healthier takeout meal over the last 3 1/2 years. Most restaurants in Yorkville and the Annex don’t offer take-out after 9 pm.
Now that I don’t live close to Eataly, I will be getting more upscale Italian take-out from Barocco x Nino, which is a venture by Barocco coffee and Nino D’Aversa Bakery, and Alimentari on Roncesvalles.
The heat at home lasagna from Barocco x Nino was very good (Tavola on the label, prob the same at the other Nino D’Aversa locations) was a little less rich than Eataly’s refrigerated lasagna. Very good. Barocco x Nino have around 5 Roman pizzas by the slice during the day. I tried the Calabrese slice and Artichoke slice last week.
Alimentari has good meatballs and good eggplant parm. I haven’t tried other food from their hot table yet.
Sadly, Centro Formaggio e Trattoria closed on St Clair W. In terms of hot tables, it looks like Eataly, Alimentari and Barocco x Nino, along with the old school bakeries like Tre Mari, San Remo, various other bakeries in Scarborough and Mississauga, are the main places for Italian hot tables now.
I’ve always found Nino D’Aversa breads to have too many chemicals and not enough flavour. When I’m shopping at Highland Farms, I buy anything Trigo Bakery. Great depth of flavour and texture. It’s perfect on its own or as a platform.
Perhaps one of your grocers carries it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Chn1D7Fr777
I haven’t tried their breads, just the Roman pizza al taglio, and it might be different at the relatively bougie Barocco X Nino. I’m not sure. I haven’t been inside a Nino D’Aversa bakery in a decade.
Thanks for the tip! I haven’t seen Trigo Bakery at Fiesta Farms (my go-to) or the Little Italy Metro, but I will keep my eyes peeled.
I am closer to Little Italy now, so the crusty French bread local source is Bakery Pompette. I haven’t tried the Italian bread at Riviera or Golden Wheat yet.
A couple Portuguese bakeries on College Street have closed over the last 5 years, and I haven’t tried any breads at the Portuguese bakeries still operating on Dundas St.
Annex Espresso Bar is a newish coffee shop that opened in April, that sells 4 different sandwiches made with Brodflour bread, as well as bigne (Italian for beignet- it looks like an Krapfen or Paçzki) and croissants. I’m not sure if there’s a difference in Italy between bigne and bombolone donuts. I will say this bigne had more filling, and the dough was nicer than the Bombolone I have ordered at Bar Centrale at Yonge & Price, or Eataly.
The Sfilatino prosciutto sandwich was $9.99. I like less bread : more fillings than this, but it was good.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CtuXwJ8OlPB/?igshid=YzcxN2Q2NzY0OA==
On Bathurst south of the new Mirvish condos, north of Harbord, west side. The owner had worked at Sud Forno before opening Annex Espresso Bar. 4 seats available on the sidewalk.
The $6 raspberry bigne, a raspberry jam donut coated in superfine or granulated sugar, with a generous very seedy raspberry jam filling, was very good. Better than most Paçzki. It tasted more like a European donut than the fancy type $4 donuts found at Glory Hole. Annex Espresso Bar also has bigne that are coated in sugar, but not filled with jelly or jam.
@Phoenikia we must be fairly close to each other. I have noticed Mannat. I’m not able to manage the fiery spices I used to but I long for a good curry, and dhal makhani, the baigan, and if they have bindhi, I’m in! The other day, when the streetcar was taking its sweet time, a lovely bakery smell wafted over and I’d skipped breakfast. The smell was coming from Janelle’s and I was intrigued to see ‘And Southern Accent’ (used to LOVE going there) so I went in and got some blackening spices and asked for a scone. Janelle was very friendly and the whole place felt so cosy and home-like that I’d love to go back. I asked Janelle why Southern Accent,. She explained that they used to be next door (I’d missed that era!) and befriended her but hadn’t survived Covid. Anyway, the scone was warm and delicious and I have to use those spices soon. Has anyone eaten at Janelle’s?
My first ever veal sandwich has a story. I was working temp in a tailors upstairs on Spadina back when it was all Jewish and lots of garment workers. Someone gave me a taste of a sandwich that for the next several years I dreamed about. By then I was in California for two years. When I came back I looked for the sandwich but couldn’t describe it so got a lot of puzzled looks. My sister moved into Little Italy and took me to San Francesco for lunch one day - OMG it was THE sandwich. Happy coincidence. It’s sad they’re not really good anymore.
Jumping to the present day, yesterday I went to Mr Moustache (or whatever) at St Lawrence Market. I got the Nonna’s veal and eggplant sandwich with extra sauce and jalapenos on the side, to share with my partner (it’s SO BIG). I was disappointed, to be honest. The veal was a bit chewy and I don’t mind that so much, but the sauce was boring, bland. I wouldn’t avoid it, but that sauce let me down. The Brio was good - that first time at San Francesco with my sis I got my first Brio and wasn’t sure what I thought of it. Today chinotto is my favourite soft drink. I snapped a shot after we’d had some bites!
I had Janelle’s on my radar for brunch but I haven’t been yet.
I noticed a new scone place on the south side of Dundas W near Dufferin on Tue, but I didn’t stop in.
Also, on the topic of nice scones, definitely check out Kitten & the Bear. Beautiful scones.
San Francesco is still pretty good, just not as good as the ones i like most. I liked Ciccio Sanwiccio which has closed.
I will try the California in Little Italy soon. I like the California Sandwiches location on Dufferin. I get the mini sandwich, which is plenty for 1 person.
Another good hot table is Alimentari on Roncy. More expensive. I will try their sandwiches and report back.
I also want to try the 2 Italian beef sandwiches in town.
I’ve been! Nice place, very low key. Limited menu because of the small size, but what we had was good…
Lapinou has some Cinq à Sept / Happy Hour $10 specials
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvxHorhMQRa/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I got The Alternative about a month ago. It was soooo delicious, but so incredibly small and definitely not worth what they were charging. Unfortunately, because of that, I won’t go back.
I was thinking I could eat 2 
I’m curious. Are you all tipping on take-out at inexpensive restaurants that are not fast food chains? How much tip would you typically give on a $12 sandwich, or a meal that comes to $15 before tax?
I had been tipping on take-out on principle, at 18- 20 percent from 2020 to 2022, since I no longer dine inside restaurants, and I wanted to help the servers and staff out…
I tip my regular rate on patios.
With most restaurants having full indoor service these days, I’ve started tipping a little less on my take-out, closer to 15-18 %, sometimes 10%.
I have started rounding up for coffee at coffee shops, rather than giving 15 % on a $6 iced latte.
No judgement here. I want to know what other people are doing.
Example?
Similar to you, I started tipping on takeout during the pandemic to help out servers and basically haven’t stopped. I tip closer to 20% if the person serving me is actually doing something (making the sandwich, making the beverage). I also tip 20% if they are willing to use our home containers for the order, thus reducing waste. I tip 15% if the server is just handing me something (e.g., a boxed pizza).
I don’t mind continuing to tip on takeout. I can afford it and most people serving could likely use the extra income.
I was tipping 15% on takeout during the pandemic, but have since reduced it to 10%. I actually hate tipping on takeout but I do it because I feel obligated to do so.
