Starving Artist: where waffles take the place of bread!

With summer on its way, I was reminded that there's something I wanted to share with you all from last summer: Mark and I decided to check out Starving Artist, an awesome place on Lansdowne known for using waffles in place of bread products.

Yes, you heard me right: You can get some great classic dishes and sandwiches here where they put their own twist on them: waffles in place of bread products!

We had the Waffle Benny (two poached eggs, two mini potato waffles, caramelized bacon, hollandaise sauce) and the Monte Cristo (roasted ham and mozzarella sandwiched in between French toast waffles). Both were served with a bed of greens and a fruit salad but you also have the choice of getting the bed of greens with baked beans or potato salad instead of fruit salad if you wish.

Oh, and of course they have dessert waffles served on a "waffle boat" too - we split a S'mores waffle (graham crumb waffle, roasted marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips & chocolate sauce).

They have a cute little patio area, so we sat outside and enjoyed the nice sunny weather. We recommend you all pick a nice day this summer and make your way over there at least once. It's tasty and affordable, and what's not to love about changing up bread for waffles once in a while?!

See mouth-watering pictures below!



Yours in food,
-Stacey

Froyo Cust-yum-ization at Menchies!

There's something inherently awesome about customization, especially when it comes to dessert. I mean, there is just something so sinfully appealing about the idea of choosing as many frozen yogurt flavours, toppings and sauces as I'd like, and arranging them in whatever fashion I feel like.

That's one of the reasons I love Menchies. We attended the store opening in The Annex at 511 Bloor St. W. (just west of Brunswick Ave.) and were not disappointed. The chain, which is popular in the U.S. (especially among celebrities) only has a few Canadian stores, but I'm glad to see one downtown.



The possibilities seriously are endless - they rotate different types of frozen yogurt (they have over 100 different flavours in rotation, and if I remember correctly, something like 10-12 at a time are available) and you can also mix and match flavours as you please. Each set of two machines also has a lever in the middle so you can swirl those two flavours together if you wish.

In fact, when we competed in their blogger competition to make the most inventive froyo concoction, we smushed cheesecakes pieces into the bottom of the cup as a bit of a "crust" - seriously, you could, like, make a moat of sauce. Or swirl froyo only around the outside of the cup to make a trench down the middle and drop all your toppings in along with sauce - A FROYO VOLCANO OF SORTS! Maybe I'm weird but, again, I think that's awesome!

You pay by weight, so it's up to you how little or how much you want to have.

Try it for yourself - we would love to know what you created!

P.S. Mark and I fell in love with the mochi, give it a try - glutinous Japanese rice pounded into little cubes - you can add them to your concoction, they are delicious!

Yours in food,
-Stacey

Meet Baker Street: You've probably enjoyed their treats and not even known it!

The fine folks at Baker Street recently invited us to taste some of their pies, tortes and cakes, many of them geared toward holiday entertaining. Now although Baker Street might not sound familiar to you because they do not have a retail storefront, nor are most of their products branded as Baker Street, it's highly probable you've enjoyed some of their treats - the 30-year-old company bakes for grocery store private labels. While some items are branded as Baker Street, namely their apple pies which you've probably seen in the grocery store, most of them are not.

Of everything we tasted, I think my favourite dessert was the pralines and cream cheesecake (pictured below) - the crunchy sweet pralines made a delicious contrast to the smooth, creamy cheesecake. And while I could envision in my mind's eye some of my friends crying "It's too sweet!" I was in heaven - I have a sweet tooth like no one I've ever met! But I could see how someone with less of a sweet tooth might go into sugar shock just looking at it. But whatever. I like sugar shock, thank you very much ;)



The most unique dessert, which was probably my runner-up to the pralines and cream cheesecake, was the gingerbread torte with cream cheese icing. Now I usually don't jump at the chance to have cream cheese icing, I like buttercreams, ganaches and other frostings much better typically, but it was so well-suited to the gingerbread torte that I couldn't imagine it being iced with anything else. You also don't see a lot of desserts using gingerbread, so this was a welcome change from the typical desserts we get offered at grocery stores.

The apple pie was the closest thing to homemade I've had (nothing will ever top my Mom's, but this was pretty close). In addition to a typical full-size pie, you can get individual mini ones at Loblaws ($4.99 for two). Baker Street has a big emphasis on natural ingredients, which I noticed when reading the pie ingredients. You could tell the apples were nice and fresh, as in most pies they use bleached apples which tend, on my palate anyway, to taste more bland. I know, I know, some may argue it's like a very cool oldschool thing to try to bleach your own apples, but the truth is fresh granny smiths make for a better pie.

We also tried a few chocolate cakes which were also all moist and delicious. And although I usually run for the chocolate desserts first, I was impressed enough by all the others that the chocolate desserts were almost just an afterthought. Weird, I know - I'm sorry, chocolate - I still love you!



(For more photos, go here.)

Yours in food,
-Stacey