Phipp's Bakery, (Toronto, On)

Sweet and Savoury.

In 1986, with little fanfare, a small bakery opened in Toronto's up and coming trendy neighbourhood, Cabbagetown. Already having outgrown owner Janet Schreiber's kitchen, it would be 4 short years before Phipps Bakery outgrew those digs. An upsize to include a cafe and relocation found their new home on Eglinton Ave. E.
 Such was the success of Phipps that 10 years later further expansion would occur. Another 5 years would pass before, too busy to run as one entity, they split their retail and wholesale operations and both have thrived.
The retail store (bakery) offers great options for both the sweet and the savoury along with espresso (coffee, etc.) and a quaint little dining area in which to enjoy. 
 As I've said before, sometimes it's just better to let the place speak for itself. "At Phipps we love everything about great desserts and food. We love to make it. We love to eat it. We love to savour it.   And we especially love the pleasure that it gives to all our customers. Selling good food is not just business for us—it’s our way of expressing what we stand for and our long time commitment to our customers." 
If you see a mission statement like this, you can pretty much take comfort in the knowledge that you'll leave satisfied if not smiling like the cat that just swallowed the canary.
 
Phipps is a bit of a community anchor in the high rent, Forest Hill neighbourhood of Toronto. It's location is at once on the fringe of Forest Hill and right in the heart of the "Upper Village." Occupying a store front among the likes of pilates studios, clothing stores and other food purveryors.
 
The front of the bakery is simply that. A bakery. As far as the offerings anyway. There's, as I call it, a Trophy Case with cakes and pies and all those great goodies. The coffee bar is up here as well. It's almost it's own, separate place. You can come in, get a coffee and sweet, walk out and never know there was a tea room in back.


Back there is the hot table and salad bar. You can also find breads and sundry items. In an interesting decor plan, there's almost no transition. The dividing line between sweets and savouries is more or less marked by the Babka's.
This is also where the seating is. The small area of about 10 mismatched tables and chairs is set up like a European street cafe. Up to and including (faux) store fronts.
 
In the very back where the kitchen is and all the magic happens. So let's get a look.

There are a handful of  items on the hot bar that are supported with a salad bar and some soups. There is also Chili daily. Entree's can include Ratatouille and Vegetable Chow Mein. These dishes as with the soups are subject to change daily but from what I can tell, pretty much anything you choose won't disappoint.
The Mac n Cheese served at Phipp's is good though not spectacular. It's got good cheese flavour and it pretty creamy. For those who like their pasta al dente then you'll be somewhat disappointed. This is not the be all and end all in mac n cheese however it's a solid offering that'll get ya where you want to go.

The Lentil Stew is absolutely fantastic. My only exposure to lentils (in stew form) is the Indian dish, dal. Which is curried lentils.
Here we basically have a beef stew with a minimal amount of beef and loads of lentils. The gravy is definitely tomato based with some beefiness to it. There's not a lot of heat and make no mistake, this is not at all "Indian like." Which I suspected. I felt it benefited from some pepper on top. Enough to up the heat level just a bit and thoroughly round out the flavour.
So after saying all that I get a message from the "Twitterverse" telling me it it's vegetarian. Leaving me, thoroughly, completely, with egg on my face.

Phipps uses Mountainview coffee in their shop and I can honestly say, it’s some of the best I’ve had.

My usual order, Americano, is smooth, rich and comes with a nice crema. While I like the slight hint of bitterness some coffee delivers I find that I don’t miss it here and even prefer it.

The Espresso delivers that bitterness. They serve up a nice, chewy, creamy strong cup of Italian coffee here. It has beautiful crema, so thick it left a hefty foam on the sides of the cup when I was finished.

The a fore mentioned  Cinnamon Babka is excellent. As you know I'm a huge chocolate lover but if it's not chocolate, it better be cinnamon in my books. Oddly enough, I'd never had babka. I'm quite familiar with it's smaller sibling, the cinnamon roll so it's not like this is a new food for me. The biggest difference is cinnamon rolls are thin (ish) disks often covered with an icing, babka is the same type of yeast dough in loaf form with a streusel topping. Absolutely, thoroughly enjoyable. It would be nice to see them sell this by the slice in the cafe to drink with your coffee. It comes in chocolate as well.

The Apple Rugelah is simply fantastic. It's almost like a small apple pie. Big apple flavour complemented nicely with cinnamon. The pastry is not to be confused with pie dough but is good none the less. It's not quite as buttery or flaky as you'd find and texture wise it's maybe more like shortbread.

The cookies for the most part are very good. My lone exception to this is the Peanut Butter cookie. I should’ve known to begin with since I’ve had a hard time finding PB cookies I like. Their offering, while tasty, had a very dry, crumbly texture that I just didn’t care for. Much better is the Double Chocolate Chip which had good chocolate flavour and some really nice chew. Better still was the Cranberry, Oatmeal. Nicely chewy without a displeasing oatmeal taste but oatey none the less. The cranberries and golden raisins provide a nice amount of sweetness. My favourite though is the Chocolate Chip. A nice balance of chew and crispiness and with plenty of chocolate chips but not overly sweet. It’s just a good solid cookie.

One of the things on which non Canadian residents miss out is Butter tarts. These tarts are somewhat similar to pecan pie with it’s sugary custard. There is a base way to make them and then some will introduce pecans or raisins to the party. Phipps takes them further. Adding caramel or chocolate drizzle. They mix and match pastry and pecans to come up with 4 different varieties. First and foremost, I’d skip the chocolate ones. Chocolate and buttertart don’t mix IMHO.
The best I think is the Caramel Buttertart. They use shortbread as pastry and top it with caramel. What’s neat is you get a bite and think, mmm shortbread. Oh, there’s that filling. Then finally you get the caramel left since it’s a bit chewy. A terrific butter tart.

So there you go folks. Whether it's a just a coffee, a peace offering to your sweet tooth or a full meal. The home cooked offerings at Phipp's won't disappoint.
You can find Phipp's Bakery Cafe at 420 Eglinton Ave. E. in Toronto, On.

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You can also find them on the web, facebook and Twitter.


Well that's all for now folks, see ya next time in the food court.

Rotiers Restaurant (Nashville, Tn)

The Old Carriage House

In the early 40’s John and Evelyn Rotier (Ro-Tear) were operating a gas station in the Belmont neighbourhood of Nashville. After returning from the war, John, wanting to be in the restaurant business, took over a small space that was once the carriage house for the Elliston Mansion. With that, Rotier's Restaurant, a Nashville, if not American legend was born.
If nothing else, Rotier's is a family business. The odd twist here is, it’s in many ways, a two family business. There’s the Rotier/Crouse family that are children and grand children of Evelyn and John. However, if you head into the kitchen you’ll see a fleet of workers that, more or less are all related.  These young men and women are brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, etc. Though not related to the owners they treat the kitchen like they do own the place.
Students from the local university round out the staff.


Location, location, location. When the restaurant opened and for many years after Rotier's was, more or less, the only game in town. In that part of Nashville there were only 2 other restaurants and neither of those served beer. John had the market cornered. If that wasn’t enough to keep ‘em coming back the hamburger would. Those two things and gambling were the lifeblood of Rotier's in the early days. The restaurant went more “Full service” after the abolition of gambling in the state of Tennessee.

It was the book Hamburger America by George Motz (Moat-s) that put Rotier's on my radar. He’s since featured it in the Tennessee episode of his new show, Burger Land. It consistently wins “Best burger” in the local Nashville magazines. It’s ranked as one of the 10 best cheeseburgers in Jimmy Buffett’s Parrot Head Handbook and the French Bread version is #27 on the list of 40 Things Every Tennesseean Should Try.

The cut stone building sits right at the road on the edge of Vanderbilt University. The original doors have been replaced and now serve as the entrance and windows.
The interior is pretty tight. There isn’t a lot of space or tables and business is usually brisk. Maximizing space is paramount and it has the feel of an old saloon. There is, as is the case with many legendary places, news article after magazine article after award lining the dining room walls that “horseshoes” around the bar and kitchen.

So let’s get a look at what’s coming out of that kitchen.



I opened with a bowl of Chili. While not the greatest bowl of Red I've ever had, this is one solid dish none the less. Tasting mostly of chili powder and very mildly like cumin it was just tasty. As you could see by the picture it came piping hot but not however spicy hot. Not to worry, there's a bottle of hot sauce on the table. A few drops to add a bit of heat really rounded this out for me. The acid in the hot sauce also brightened up the flavours. Quite meaty with very few beans in a broth somewhere in between rich and delicate.

We had decided to split a Pimento Cheese Sandwich but Mrs. Sippi needed to make a few modifications. It comes toasted with mayo, lettuce and tomato. All those modifiers needed to go and we got it straight up on plain white bread. I took a few bites and thought it was excellent. Mrs. Sippi loved, loved, loved it. Proclaimed it the best PC sandwich she'd ever had. I gave her the other half of my half.

She could not resist the Gizzard Dinner. It comes with Fries (frozen but very good) and a salad (it's salad) with home made dressing. I'm no gizzard expert and as such, didn't get much out of them. Mrs. Sippi thought they were good. She then put some hot sauce on a plate and started dipping. That was the "Ah ha" moment for her. She gobbled them down and thoroughly enjoyed them. One of the kitchen staff came out and was talking with her and said that with gravy is the best way. Sean suggested his favourite was was with their home made Blue Cheese dressing. Next time she says she'll try both ways.

Now, the legendary burger. Lemmie tell ya, it's "All that." Simple in nature in that it's just ground beef (not some special blend of cuts), brought in fresh every morning, simply seasoned and done on a flat top. It comes on a simple bun and I added cheese of course. It's just delicious. The classic American cheeseburger completely done to perfection. I skipped the house specialty served on French bread. I dislike sandwich innards squishing out the back when you bite in and suspected this would be the case. Our waitress confirmed my suspicions. There’s also an option to have it on “Grill bread” which means the patty is jammed into a grilled cheese sandwich. I wanted to try the classic preparation on this trip.

For dessert they have a number of options but being the chocolate fiend I am, I couldn't resist the Hershey's Chocolate Cake. Not really what I was expecting, however it was great. First of all, I love the decadent, uber rich cakes you get sometimes. This isn't it. This is the cake equivalent of taking a mouthful of Hershey's chocolate chips and eating them. Very choclately but not sweet and with a nice, ever so slight bitterness. It was nicely frosted and the chocolate sauce on top was just a bonus.

So there you have it folks. One of America's great burgers (not to mention other fantastic options) in a Nashville institution.

You can find Rotier's at 2413 Elliston Pl, Nashville, Tn.

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You can also find them on the web, facebook and Twitter.



Well that's all for now folks, catch ya later in the food court.

Home of the Juicy Lucy

In 1954 a customer at Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis walked in and asked owner Matt Bristol to sandwich a piece of cheese between two burger patties before cooking it. After taking his first bite and having cheese ooze out, the customer is said to exclaim, “That’s one juicy lucy.” With that, a Minneapolis tradition was born. It should however be noted that long time rival for the best JL, The 5 – 8 Club also lays claim to the invention. Not only do they not agree on who invented it, they can’t agree on what cheese to use (Matt’s is American ONLY whereas 5 – 8 has options). Heck, they can’t even agree on the spelling. With Matt’s spelling it “Jucy Lucy.” 5 – 8 will tell you that “If it’s spelled right, it’s made right.”

The Lucy has spread it’s tentacles out from the Twin Cities over the last decade or so. It’s made its way over seas and caught the attention of gym teacher by day and burger guru by night, Mohammed “Big Moe” Saleh. Together with his sister, Naticia, they are faces of the 2 burger shops in Toronto’s east end that clain to be the “Home of the Juicy Lucy.”

Big Moe’s has brought a bit of a fair flare to the business. Carnival treats like Funnel Cakes and Tornado Dogs (available on the summer menu) round out the menu and add to the fun. They’re also experimenting with Waffle Fries for the upcoming season. 
They're grinding their own beef in house that is brought in fresh daily from a Halal butcher. Being Halal also means there are no pork products. So don't go asking for bacon. They are experimenting with cow bacon though. 

In an area that’s got it’s (and a few other city’s) share of shawarma places having a burger joint is a nice change of pace. The mid Scarborough restaurant occupies a corner unit in a small plaza and the bold sky blue colour really attracts attention from the road.

The inside is somewhat spartan and bathed in natural light. Those large windows allow the place to be flooded during the day time. There’s seating enough for about a couple dozen and there’s both and open kitchen where the final cooking is done and a back kitchen where all the prep work happens. Including freshly grinding their own beef.

So let’s get a look at what Big Moe has coming out of his kitchen.

When you claim to be the home of the Juicy Lucy (in TO anyway) you'd better make a good one. Moe's does. This incarnation uses American cheese and it works well. There's a good amount that counters the beef without being lost or dominating. The crust created by the flat top adds a nice bit of crunch. The only real drawback with this burger is the beef on either side of the cheese is thin and tends to get over cooked. This one was fine but if the cook doesn’t know what they’re doing, you end up with a patty just this side of descicated. One other small defect was the bun was just slightly too big. Said bun is terrific though. Very light and mild in flavour that’s buttered and grilled on the flat top.

While the Lucy is nice to have once in a while the Cheeseburger is really where it's at. This double is pretty close to everything you could want in a burger. The meat is very beefy and as I said above, the bun is perfect. The choice of American cheese is nice as it's the default cheese for these types of burgers. Where this becomes more than just a good, homemade burger is the cooking. The flattop adds the crust for added flavour and texture. The edges in particular were very crispy and it all adds up to one fantastic sandwich. One of the better ones the city has to offer. As you can see by the picture, the bun is a better fit here.

The Tornado Potato is excellent. A spiral cut tater skewered and deep fried. Being a real potato it of course has good tuber flavour and deep frying it like they do it gets nice crisp edges and a soft middle. It comes with S & P which I though could've been heavier handed but you can always add more at the table. One of the great things is they offer a cayenne pepper shaker as well and that really took this to another level. I just thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not to be outdone, the fresh cut fries are fantastic as well. Not quite as crispy (but crispy enough) as some of the other fresh cut speciemens I've had at the new burger places but no less tasty. First off you need a good potato. Secondly, cook them properly. Lastly, but certainly not leastly (huh??) season them properly. On that last part in particular, they nailed it. Exactly the right amount of salt for my tastes.

If you have room for dessert they offer up some tasty Funnel Cakes. Something similar to pancake batter deep fried, topped with icing sugar and other, assorted condiments. I opted to keep it simple and went with just plain strawberry syrup and it was great. The syrup had a nice taste from the berries and while sweet, I didn't think it was cloyingly so. These come in 2 sizes with the smaller 6" variety more than enough for a single person. I barely got through half.

So there you have it folks, another great burger joint in a city that’s come a long way in the hamburger department over the last few years.

You can find Big Moe’s at 1961 Lawrence, Ave. E in Scarborough, On.

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You can also find them at 3517 Kennedy Rd, Scarborough, On. as well as on facebook.

Well that’s all for now folks, see ya next time in the food court.

Revenge is a Dish best Served Cold

Thornton Prince of Nashville, Tennessee was a noted womanizer. Back in the 40’s and 50’s he was known to stay out all hours of the night philandering. After one particular night out gallivanting around town he returned home to his girlfriend. Fed up, she figured she’d fix his little red wagon. She whipped up a breakfast consisting of his favourite dish, fried chicken. There was however a little surprise. She’d laced it with cayenne pepper. Unfortunately the joke ended up on her. Prince loved it so much he tinkered with it and started selling it in his restaurant. A local legend was born. Everyone has now heard of Prince Thornton and no one knows his girlfriend’s name.
While there is no way to verify this anecdote the simple fact is, it’s way too good a story and as far as I’m concerned, can now be considered the genesis of Nashville Hot Chicken. A subsection of fried chicken. Though they say the current incarnation only dates back to the 70’s, Thornton's idea of incinerating peoples mouths with fried chicken still remains.

There are no less than a half dozen places that serve only hot chicken and a number of others who have it as a menu option. Of course, every restaurant will make it a bit different but the basics are pretty much the same. As you can well imagine, recipes are guarded like state secrets. A couple things you can be sure of are that the chicken is marinated in a molten liquid and finished with a fiery paste. It’s served on white bread and topped with pickles. The word is that Prince’s puts cayenne in just about every step of the process. From the dredges right down to the cooking oil. The specimens at Prince’s are fried up in a cast iron skillet.

Stories of this fiery chicken are the stuff of legend. "Some guy came in here once and ordered the extra hot chicken. He said it filled him up, cleared his sinuses, and killed his Athlete's Foot." Another story sees one man not showing up for work for 2 days after consuming the Extra Hot version. Supposedly there's no shortage of people who, um, bite off more than they can chew as it were and have to make a mad dash outside to, shall we say, divest themselves of their meal. I read that one customer brings a half gallon of chocolate milk with him. Ya, it's freakin' hot.

Prince’s is located in a strip mall about a mile off I 65 in the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood. Their hours are mostly geared towards the late night, after the bars close crowd. Word is, it can get pretty crazy by the time they wind things down around 4am. Thornton himself is long gone but his great niece, Andre Prince Jefferies now runs it. Soon, it’ll be passed along to her daughter.

There’s seating for about two dozen and a number of chairs for those who are taking away to wait. You go up to the window behind the Cake Lady and place your order. Then you wait. And wait. It’s so busy they just crank it out piece after piece after piece. Every piece of chicken they serve is fresh cooked. Mostly because it’s all they can do to keep up with demand.
When I first started this little blog I began searching for places to visit. Prince’s immediately turned up and went to the top of the list. Sadly, it took me almost 4 years to finally make it. Well, let me tell ya, I’m sorry I didn’t make it sooner. It was well worth the wait. Let’s have a look.

There are a few different sides from which to choose. Mrs. Sippi decided she wanted beans. Pretty much your standard pork and beans done very nicely. We can’t decide if they were doctored, canned beans or made from scratch. I asked and just got a smile. Whatever their pedigree, they were very good. The gravy was a little thinner than usual and a little sweeter.

The chicken comes in 4 different heat levels. Mild, Medium, Hot and Extra Hot. It also comes in quarters, halves or whole. We ordered 3 hind quarters in the mild, medium and hot heat levels. Each comes pinned, with some pickles, to some white bread by a tooth pick. The pickles were quite good and I didn’t bother with the bread. (cw from bottom right: mild, medium, hot)
The chicken is rather salty but definitely in a good way. The heat isn’t just in that crispy coating but all the way through. If you could eat the bones I’m sure you’d find them spicy too. Honestly, this stuff really isn’t for the timid. It’s all about fire so caveat emptor.
What most wing places would parade out as medium, Prince’s calls mild. Easily hot enough to discourage those not into the spicy stuff. At this level the saltiness in the spice blend really stood out. All in all, really good but this chicken was too mild.
The hot was absolutely Blazing. While I’ve eaten hotter things, this was close. Way hotter than what you might expect. At this heat level I found the spicing and chicken flavour were overpowered by the heat. This chicken was too hot.
The medium was the perfect balance of heat, spice and chicken. This chicken was juuuuust right.

I suggest making sure there’s room for dessert. The Cake Lady (Irene. That’s her daughter in the picture) makes several varieties and if the two samples we had were any indication, they’re all good. The thing is, I dove into a piece of cake and by the time I surfaced the raging inferno in my mouth was gone. The cake had put the fire out. So let’s have a look at what we had.
The Cream Cheese Chess Square is basically a chess pie made into a sheet cake and cut into squares. The cream cheese added a bit of flavour and some structure. It wasn’t as custardy as the Chess Pie I make but it was mighty tasty.
The Mississippi Mud Cake was phenomenal. A nice chocolate, almost brownie like, cake topped with fluff and covered in a rich chocolate icing. There were a few pecans on top that I let Mrs. Sippi have. Being a chocoholic I absolutely loved it.

Well there you have it folks. The dish that put Nashville on the fired chicken map.

You can find Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack at 123 Ewing Dr in Nashville, Tn.

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You can also find them on facebook.



Well that’s all for now folks, see ya next time in the food court. Now where’s that Alka-Seltzer?? 

Davwud

Authentic Mexican

It’s a known fact. The Greater Toronto Area has no good Mexican restaurants. Or is it?? Long the opinion of locals the tide does seem to be turning. Mexican places that are opening in the city these days are getting better and better. There are also some top notch places just outside the city as well. Mostly to the north although I'm given to understand the epicenter of Mexican food in Ontario is Leamington. But that isn't really close to the GTA. In any case in small towns, far enough away from the urbanization of Toronto yet close enough to farms (and the abundantly fertile land of the Holland Marsh), good Mexican is starting to pop up as well. With the Mexican population growing rather generously in these areas due to the need for farm hands, entrepreneurial ex pat Mexicans are opening businesses to serve their fellow countrymen.

One such place can be found on the newly redesignated Main Street in Newmarket. Made in Mexico is quite simply that. Owned and operated by a Mexican family serving authentic Mexican food. While it is a family affair, it can sometimes seem like Fernando is really in charge. You'll see mom or dad hovering around in the back ground, ensuring everything is running smoothly. You'll see Romena in the kitchen toiling away. But walk in and most likely you'll be greeted by Fernando and his effervescent personality.

On the outside MIM looks like it's tucked in to an old furnature store. There's lots of display windows which can make for nice people watching but also has you in a bit of a fish bowl.
The inside is pretty much straight up restaurant. Tables, chairs a bar, you know, a restaurant. Decorating the walls are carachatures of Mexican celebrities as well as Mexican themed posters. The old building lends a certain charm to the place as well.
In the kitchen they're doing everything from old Mexican favourites to Tex-Mex that people enjoy. Having lived on both Mexican coasts the menu is a little more diverse. As is the cuisine in the country as a whole.

So let's have a look at these goodies shall we??
 
Frijoles Charros is the Mexican version of the old soup, bean with bacon. (And chorizo.) A hearty chicken broth filled with bacon, chorizo and pinto beans. It’s just simply awesome. Although the cumin flavour does slightly come through, really, this soup is so well balanced it more or less has one flavour. Comes as an appetizer or a side.  
 
The Flautas, to me, were good but nothing more. Keep in mind that I’m not really a flauta person. I wouldn’t have ordered them but a nice couple were leaving as I went in. They recommended them so I bit. Don’t get me wrong, they really were good. Stuffed with chicken, smothered in mole and topped with a drizzle of crema. Everything about them was top notch. They just aren’t my thing. If you like ‘em, I’m sure you’ll like these.

The Beef Tamales (which aren’t on the menu) are simply great. Very corny and beefy. It was a fairly typical size and came with a traditional salsa which was totally unnecessary.
The Chicken Tamales are even better. Same great corn flavour with great chicken taste. While it was great on its own, the salsa verde made for a nice complement.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Shrimp Tacos but think they could’ve been even better. First off, they were nice and light. A tempura like batter nicely encased plump shrimp. They were stuffed into a tender corn tortilla. Here’s the thing though. They were garnished with a “Mexican slaw.” A very creamy slaw that you’d find in a BBQ joint more likely. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good either. It was just odd. I’d have liked to see some onion, cabbage, cilantro and lime juice instead. I’d certainly order them again with no problem.

The Queso Fundido topped with Chorizo was phenomenal. Baked cheese topped with a nice oily (home made) chorizo. It came with a half dozen warm, corn tortillas. I just scooped up some of the ooey, gooey goodness, put it in a tortilla, rolled it up and thoroughly enjoyed. Absolutely fabulous.

If you still have room after your meal check out the Chocoflan. Their spin on the Mexican favourite, flan. Here we have a Devilsfood cake married with flan. It’s ridiculous. If you like chocolate cake and flan then this is for you. It has all the best aspects of the two in one convenient package.

So there you have it folks, some really terrific Mexican a short drive from TO.

You can find Made in Mexico at 196 Main St. S, Newmarket, Ontario.

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You can also find them on facebook and Twitter.


Well that's all for now folks, see ya next time in the food court.

DAVWUD