Canyon Creek

Canyon Creek is a very popular family style restaurant located across the street from Scarborough Town Centre that offers great seafood and meaty dishes during the lunch and dinner hours.  The prices are reasonable, the staff is often quite courteous and the food is remarkably pretty good.  If one is looking for a great dining experience and an area where they can host a huge party, then Canyon Creek could be a good choice for you.  In the summer time, they also open up the patio so that one can enjoy a fantastic meal outdoors.

Being here many times in the past, I truly enjoy their full rack Baby Back Ribs ($29.95).  This very juicy full rack of ribs where the meat literally falls of the bone and is backed by their sensational barbeque sauce is one of the best dishes here at this restaurant.  Come to think of it, I think every time I come into this restaurant, it's practically the only thing I ever order from here.  The baby back ribs also comes with 2 sides of your choice which includes salads, french fries or mashed potatoes.  The meat was very tender and very well seasoned and what I liked the most was that it was uniformed from start to finish.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

The Prime Rib ($27.95) was huge to say the least.  I think we ordered a smaller prime rib and somehow got the biggest one in the kitchen.  The prime rib was asked to be made to medium rare however the edges of the prime rib were a tad well done.  Still the prime rib too was juicy and the combination of the gravy and black pepper sauce really enlightened the meat.  The potato was also something that was nothing to sneeze at.  It was fully loaded with cheese and bacon bits and again was gigantic.  The dish also came with a horseradish sour cream for one's potato or meat.  This meal was truly built for someone who has a huge appetite because once one was finished with this meal, one would not want to move another inch.

12 Ounce Prime Rib

For dessert, the Molten Chocolate Cake came highly recommended ($7.95).  This is supposedly a beautiful chocolate ganache filled cake with a scoop of ice cream on the outside.  Unfortunately somewhere along the way, the dessert although ordered later in the evening was somehow forgotten in the back.  It never arrived but luckily after we brought it to the attention of the waiter, the manager appeared and gave us two very hot Molten Chocolate Cakes for the price of one.  He apologized for the oversight and made everyone happy at the table.  The cake itself was very sweet and very rich in chocolate.  It was steaming hot when one sliced it open and it was quite delicious.  The vanilla ice cream on the side was actually not even as sweet as the chocolate cake.  The chocolate was quite creamy and thick on the inside but flowed very well when cut into two.  The chefs did not disappoint, that was for sure.

Molten Chocolate Cake

Overall, it was a good experience nonetheless.  I hadn't been back for quite some time and the food was still exceptionally well done.  The ribs were a treat and the atmosphere was pleasant.  The manager certainly got bonus points for delivering an extra dessert to us for lost dessert.  That is what one would call good customer service and that was something that everyone at the table will not forget.  Despite having so much competition all around them, they still deliver on good quality food.  Overall I give them a 4 out of 5.

Canyon Creek
430 Progress Avenue
Scarborough, Ontario

416-296-1400

Koi Gourmet - Toronto Food Trucks

The other day at the Stouffville Food Truck Frenzy Festival, I had the opportunity to try out some of the the food at my friend's brand new soft opening of their food truck.  Koi Gourmet Food Truck just opened very recently this past summer and garnered a lot of attention through creative and heavy marketing.  They serve a mixture of poutines, soft tacos and fish and chips at their truck and judging by their line-ups, their initial launch has so far been a complete success.  Now blogging about a good friend's food could be somewhat of a tricky proposition as one says however I told them I am going to be very honest and that was exactly what they wanted.

There were two items that I really wanted to try as I was standing and waiting in line.  The first thing I order was their Chuck Beef Poutine and the other was their signature Nee Nee Pork Belly Taco.  By the time I got there, their fish and chips were already sold out as many of the customers in front of me were buying them up in bulk.  Nevertheless, I was still very content with the purchases that I made that evening.

When it came out of the kitchen food truck, the Nee Nee Pork Belly Taco looked good and I could tell you it tasted very good.  I could see there were some mango slices and large amounts of hot steamy pork belly meat inside their taco.  There were also some green onions, parsley, tea leaves and carrot slices that gave the taco some color also a good vegetarian compliment to the rest of the meaty taco.  Draped with a special sauce, this taco was mouthwatering and tasted absolutely amazing.  Each bite had a bit of a tangy to it due to the presence of the sauce and mango slices inside the taco.  Each bite was full of flavor where one could taste all the sweetness, sourness and saltiness of the taco all at once.  What a particularly liked about it was that each bite had plenty of juices to it as well.  It was not a dry taco by any stretch which made the taco extra special.  The proportions were just perfect, not too many pieces of meat and not too many pieces of vegetable in it.  At $8.00 a taco, one may think it was expensive however I think it was a real steal.  Other food trucks had their sandwiches going for as high as $12 and I can guarantee you it did not have as much substance as this one.

The Chcuk Beef Poutine came out almost near sizzling on our paper bowl.  The one thing that separates these guys from the rest of the competition was that rather than use simple gravy on top of their fries as many of the other stalls that I could see would do, they actually had large chucks of beef and potatoes on top of their fries.  The fact that the plate was super hot allowed the cheese to slowly melt into the fries which made it extra tasty.  No extra salt and peppers were needed and to add a bit of extra color and healthy flavor to it, they added some parsley, carrot slices, green onions and a piece of seaweed to it as well.  This was very filling and at $8.00 per dish, it certainly was well worth the price.

In the end, the food was very, very good. We also tried out a couple of the other food trucks however this one, out of the twenty or so trucks there that evening, was the only one that had that bit of Asian fusion mixed in with their tacos and sandwiches.  Many of the other trucks offered meat sandwiches and poutine that were pretty common and looked pretty common to me. Koi Gourmet's unique brand really showed from the evidence of the long lineup at their food truck.  These guys wanted something different and they certainly put a lot of heart and soul into their food.  If you follow their website and/or their twitter feed you can go and try their food out and their next pit stop.  Friends or no friends, this was a no-doubter.  It was a definite 5 out of 5.

Koi Gourmet
http://torontofoodtrucks.ca/koi-food-truck-toronto

Steam House

Sometimes when a location has had many changes throughout the many years, it's very easy for people to just forget about the area and place no matter what newer restaurants go in and take over it.  The problem is the newer restaurant doesn't get a fair shake or people just associate it with the past too much and won't even bother walking in because of the past history.  This would possibly be the case for this newer restaurant named Steam House which is located in the heart of Scarborough in the north east corner of Finch Avenue and Kennedy Road.  Previously, a Daybreak restaurant, a Swiss Chalet and some other karaoke bar had occupied the space and now it has become the Steam House.  I drive by that area often but have never bothered to step in simply because it was a place I went frequently in the past but because of the multitude of changes in the restaurant owners and such, I had pretty much neglected the place.

This past weekend, a relative of mine who visited this restaurant often, invited us over for lunch.  We were able to get seats right away however as the lunch hour progressed, the place actually filled up to capacity. The first thing we ordered was the Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Beef and Bean Sprouts.  This was actually pretty good.  It wasn't very greasy and the beef was equally proportioned to the amount of noodles.  There were plenty of green onions and Brussels sprouts as well in the noodles.  I had no issues with it and a little hot sauce to go with the noodles certainly helps to enlightened the noodles.

Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Beef and Bean Sprouts

Next to arrive was Bei Fong Tong Chow Mei Fun.  We asked the waitress to ease up on the hot peppers in this dish as it could get quite spicy.  When it arrived one could see the many hot red peppers in the dish. However it smelled pretty good and the spicy aroma surely made one's nose tingle a bit.  There were also a bit of green and white onions in it as well.  The noodles were actually quite thin and well seasoned with the rest of the ingredients.  The dish was not overly greasy and despite the easing back of the hot peppers, this dish still delivered a pretty punch in the level of spiciness to it.  For someone who can't really eat super spicy foods anymore, the dish was just spiciness to one a good tingle but not bad enough that one had to constant reach for the water.

Bei Fong Tong Chow Mei Fun

A huge bowl of Zucchini and Shrimp Fried Rice was placed on our table.  The proportions were pretty massive and even the waitress was lamenting as to how big the dish was.  It seemed like the chef either really liked us or just accidentally gave us a super sized dish.  One could see many of the diced up zucchinis in the fried rice and the many small shrimps on the side of the fried rice.  Although the rice was pretty good, it actually didn't have a lot of taste to it.  For some, that might not have been a bad thing simply because for those who are watching their salt and other intakes, this dish was probably as healthy as it could get.  The dish was a little bland but one could simply add some soya sauce to it if they really want to have some added flavor to it.

Zucchini and Shrimp Fried Rice

Last to arrive was the Chinese Green Onion Pancakes.  They were all cut up into moderate triangle slices and despite being in the oven for as long as they were, it seemed they actually lacked that crispiness that is found with this type of food.  I prefer my Green Onion Pancakes to be more crispy and if there was one dish that I don't mind being a little greasy, it would be this one.  There was evidence of green onions in this dish however the dough was soft and it almost felt like one was eating roti instead of green onion pancakes. Again there wasn't a whole lot of taste to it and the lack of crispiness in it made it a little bit disappointing.

Chinese Green Onion Pancakes

It was a reasonable first visit for me at this restaurant.  The decor was pretty nice and the staff seemed to be knowledgeable in the foods that they served.  A nice milk tea was also a welcome addition to the rest of the meal.  It wasn't bad but the lack of season and blandness to some of their dishes made up for some of the disappointment and took away some of the wow factor in their dishes.  However, having said that the dishes were reasonably price.  Overall, I give it a 3 out of 5.

Steam House
4020 Finch Avenue East
Scarborough, Ontario

416-291-7977

Xiao Long Bao - Shanghai Dim Sum

Xiao Long Bao Shanghai Dim Sum has been opened for almost a couple of years now and it's one of the most frequented places I tend to go to for lunch and dinner.  Long known for its famous Xiao Long Bao, this restaurant is one of the newer ones that have opened up in Scarborough.  When one walks through the door, one gets a sense of cleanliness and grandness within the restaurant.  We went to this place a few months ago and our outing was a pretty decent one.  We usually do end up ordering the same stuff oddly because the food we order is the stuff we like and the foods we trust.

The 5 of us decided to order about 7 dishes from this restaurant.  Some of them were the restaurant's signature dishes while others were just something that we like to have every time we go.  First to start had to be their signature Xiao Long Baos.  6 rather large size Pork Dumplings were brought to our table.  Upon first impression, we could tell that the dumplings were a little greasy as the grease had soaked right through the paper already.  The skin was rather large as there was extra "skin" surrounding the meat dumplings.  As one took a bite inside, the pork meat was however quite juicy and tasty.  A tad greasy, plenty of juice but at the same time quite delightful.  For those who want the ultimate taste, some vinegar added to it will also help  enlighten the taste.

Pork Dumplings

Next to arrive was the Hot and Sour Noodle Soup and even though my stomach can't really stomach any spicy foods anymore as well as I would like, I still gave this soup a try to see if it was any different than some of the other places I had ever been to.  The soup was definitely pretty sour but despite this and there were plenty of ingredients inside this massive bowl of soup.  There were lots of tofu, bamboo shoots, shrimp and noodles inside of it and on a scale of 1 to 10 on the spicy scale, I probably would have given it a 8.

Hot and Sour Noodle Soup

One really can't walk into a Shanghai restaurant without ordering some Shanghai Noodles.  A small amount of onions mixed with a few pieces of shiitake mushroom blended with large amounts of shrimp made this Shanghai Noodles quite tasty and delicious.  The only thing I personally didn't like about it was once again the amount of oil within the dish itself.  It was tad bit greasy and one could feel more of that oily taste of it than anything else.  The noodles were perfectly cooked and each strand was pretty thick. It wasn't as colorful as I would have liked.  It didn't look like there was a whole lot of soya sauce added to the noodles which probably why the color was lacking as well.

Shanghai Noodles

We wanted some vegetables to complement some of the dishes we had so far that evening.  We went with a couple of them including the Stir Fry Pea Shoots Mixed with Shiitake Mushrooms.  Often we have the pea shoots mixed with garlic but tonight we decided to try something slightly different and I have to admit, having this alternative was no disappointment.  The dish was well seasoned and most of the tastes came directly  from the mushroom juices.  It was quite a pure dish and a nice alternative to many of the greasier dishes that we had to endure that evening. 

Stir Fried Pea Shoots mixed with Shiitake Mushrooms

Lion's Head Meatball  Soup is a combination of napa cabbage, large meatballs and mushrooms served in a beautiful broth and brought out and set on a portable hot stove.  This dish was absolutely perfect as once again the broth was rich with taste from the mushrooms and the meatballs.  The cabbage was nice and tender and the soup was not overly salty.  I had a few bowls of this dish that evening as the hot soup washed away the oil that was still in my mouth.  It was by far one of my favorite dishes of the evening.

Lion's Head Meatball  Soup

Overall, it was a standard evening to say the least.  As mentioned, I have eaten at this restaurant many times before and each time the amount of greasiness in its food is somewhat above average.  If they could reduce it by even 10%, I think the food would taste better.  Despite it, I still enjoy this place every time I go. The place is always packed and dinner time line ups are quite frequent at this restaurant.  If one is interested in tasting what Shanghai foods taste like, stop by and give them a try.  Also with plenty of parking outside, it certainly makes it easier for one to come by.  Overall I give it a 3.5 out of 5.


Xiao Long Bao -Shanghai Dim Sum
175 Commander Blvd Unit 1
Toronto, Ontario

416-291-0123

Smith Brothers Steakhouse Tavern

Smith Brothers is a fairly new restaurant that opened in the Scarborough area of Toronto that boasts having some of the steaks and prime ribs in town.  We were very interested as finding an amazing steakhouse in town can be pretty tough.  We have a pretty big crowd that evening so we decided to make reservations just in case it was busy and sure enough it was pretty busy.  Even with reservations we were made to wait for 20 minutes at the front.

Once we finally got our seats, we were led to a separate room where there were were two tables of 20 people each surrounding us.  We could see that one side had already their prime ribs while the other side was still getting comfortable into their seats.  When the waiter came by, we were told that the prime ribs were all sold out.  As disappointed as that sounded, we were a little stunned by the announcement since this was a steakhouse after all.  After our table completed our orders, thirty minutes later, we could see that the table beside us who ordered after us, had prime ribs rolling out left, right and centre. 

Prime Rib Sliders

We didn't know exactly what happened as to why they got prime ribs after we were told that they were sold out.  We all ended up ordering something for the evening however.  Since we could order any Prime Ribs themselves we went with the Prime Rib Sliders ($12.00).  With  horseradish on the side, the prime rib sliders were decent however it was certainly no Prime Rib platter meal.  The meat was sliced thinly and each slider contained about 5-6 pieces of meat.  It was almost the equivalent of eating a meat sandwich from Montreal minus the mustard. 

Mushroom Soup

My Mushroom Soup actually arrived after the sliders were already all eaten.  The mushroom soup although as tasty as it was, was pretty salty the further down one went.  One could definitely taste the mushrooms finely pureed into the soup but by the time one got to the bottom of the bowl, one was reaching for the water.  We were not sure if we were suppose to mix the whole soup prior to eating but it was quite a difference of tastes from start to finish. 

Double Chocolate Orange Mousse

I finished the meal with a Double Chocolate Orange Mousse.  It was decent but really didn't captivate me through with any wow factor to it.  If anything, it was probably a tad too sweet for me.  For the real chocolate lovers, this could be your cup of tea but for me it was probably fitting going from a real salty soup to a really sweet dessert.

Overall, it was a pretty disappointing evening. We asked the waitress afterwards as to why there was no Prime Rib Platters offered to us and were told that these items had to be ordered ahead of time.  It was too bad no one really made mention of that when we were making our reservations.  The problem with it was like a fellow retail store that went under, when a customer is there and they don't carry the stuff that one wants, then it's highly probable that the customer will never return to that place.  It certainly didn't leave a good taste in our mouths.  Like the saying goes, not too sure if we will ever make a return visit. One can't give high points if the food isn't there.  Overall I give it a 2.5 out of 5. 


Smith Brothers Steakhouse Tavern
880 Warden Avenue
Toronto Ontario

416-751-3100