O&B Canteen NOW OPEN + O&B Cafe, Oakville

Locations:

O&B Canteen: 330 King St. West, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto

O&B Cafe & Grill: 240 Leighland Avenue #235, Oakville

The new TIFF building's restaurant is now open - here's their menu online. It seems to always be packed in there and one day I will try it.

Not too long ago, we dined at the O&B cafe & grill at Oakville Place. Here, some shots.

The bread was delicious! So cutely packaged in a little metal box with little covered butter pots (reminded me of the packaging we used to get on airplanes back in the day).

This location of O&B has a really nice, quiet patio, designed in sleek woods and metals and clean lines.

Okay, but back to the bread. MMM MM mmm....warm, soft, and with a dab of butter...melted right in the mouth.

Did I mention the bread? It was soooooooooooo good!

To start us off we got the popcorn shrimp, which was AMAZING!  Very greasy though, but they'd already thought of that, placing the deep fried shrimp on a bed of crunchy filler crispy noddles which soaked up all the excess oil avoiding making the plate look slick.

Didn't really need the miso mayo it arrived with, the shrimp was just perfect on it's own.

We enjoyed a glass of Lillypilly Shiraz and a local beer.

Okay, so now, after quite some time had passed (and much bread had been consumed) another server arrived at our table with someone elses order: a plate of mac and cheese and a beef burger.  We noted to ourselves that our own server was too busy chatting it up with the couple (who appeared to be regulars) next to our table to notice this mistake on their part.

We send the food back and finally our server comes over and to compensate asks us if we want soup or salad...we chose salad and received a delicious spinach salad with sugar-coated pecans and thinly sliced pears...mMMmmmm MMM! Not exactly a healthy salad, I  assure you, but welcomed nonetheless!

Finally our meal arrives:  a chicken burger with fries and a margarita pizza. Boy, was the burger ever tasty! Usually when one orders a chicken burger, one gets a bland hunk of chicken breast with sorry looking grill marks on either side. Am I right? This, however was actual ground chicken, like we make at home. Very moist and juicy; I'd get it again in a heartbeat. Did I mention it came with bacon? Yesssssss!

The pizza had a super thin crust and was very light and non-greasy. Great tasting and a nice change from the burger.

The food was fantastic, our server was not.  Even by the time we were ready for the bill, he was still chatting it up with the regulars.  We didn't even get water refills once or asked how our food was.  When he finally did bring us our bill, it was the wrong one!  Yay!

Still, I'd go back for that shrimp.

Frugal Fare #5: The Bellwoods Bar & Grill

Location:
756 Queen St W., Toronto

Cost: Under $10 for breakfast

It's almost refreshing to find a place in TO that doesn't cater to all your dietary concerns (ie. lactose-free and/or soy milk, gluten-free what-have-you).
It's plain white or brown bread.

Milk or cream.

Sausages or bacon.
That's what was so perfect about spotting the "ALL-DAY BREAKFAST" sign while driving around the Queen/King street area at 9am on Sunday in the search for breakfast.

ALL DAY BREAKFAST!

Peter Pan was closed, Brant Street Cafe was closed, Fusaro's was closed. Everything was either closed or only opened at 10:30am for brunch.  The key was to find a place that served coffee.

So the "ALL-DAY BREAKFAST" sign was that much better.

The interior

Bellwood owner Tom Koulias has been in business for 40 years!

The first thing on the menu was simply: FOUR eggs with toast, bacon and potatoes.

DONE!

I believe French toast might have been the second thing on the menu.

"I am so happy right now."

FOUR eggs with bacon!

Ma French Toast!

BUTTER! Awesome.

Heavily buttered goodness!

COFFEE

We like to mix it up

There's a "Help Wanted" sign....any takers?

Stoney's

Location:

323 Kerr Street, Oakville

Cost: Sunday Brunch approx $9 per entree

After all the hoopla and hype over Stoney's; we finally made it for brunch on Sunday and I have to tell you...I am a little bit disappointed.

Okay, so you stand in line, make your order, get a number, pick up your own drinks, seat yourself and your food is brought to you. I get it guys, I get it. But I have to ask why.



Why must you make your own tea/coffee and gingerly navigate your way to a table through the throngs of seated patrons? Perhaps even spilling some hot tea on the way to the outdoor patio? I feel that if I have to make my own tea standing at the milk/sugar counter in a restaurant on a Sunday morning, I might as well have stayed at home and done the same. Likewise, having to clear dirty utensils from the table shouldn't be on my morning list of things to do...at a restaurant. And if you're already getting the food brought to your table; why don't they just take orders at the table?

Also, running out of soy milk/lactose free-milk is not really acceptable when you're only open from 9am to 3pm on Sunday.

Our meals took a very long time to arrive (and we came after the breakfast crowd) that by the time they did arrive our hot drinks were cold and there were no offers made for refills. And while the service is friendly, we still had to call out for clean utensils to our server as she walked away after plunking our plates down (without even a glance) and also requested salt and pepper which was forgotten until we asked a second time. We also had to return to the front counter to remind them about the forgotten banana bread we'd ordered (more on the taste of the banana bread later).

So, before you get your underpants in a knot, let me just say that I don't consider myself a brunch snob although I am somewhat of a French toast connoisseur having cooked variations of it myself since I was, maybe twelve, and with it usually being my sole order at breakfast/brunch places all over, I can confidently say this:

The French Toast at Stoney's is just...okay.

On the positive (or maybe for some, negative) side, it is massive. The presentation is nice and the price is good for that much French toast. The plate was literally stacked with three huge slabs of bread. I say bread because it was literally too thick for the eggy-ness to fully penetrate the bready centre.



I dislike cutting into French toast only to find dry bread staring back at me. Admittedly the coating of brown sugar and cinnamon was tasty, but it wasn't enough coating and the too few fruits (although I did like the surprise of star fruit) on top of the mountainous "slabic" toast and teeny cup of maple syrup on the side was simply unjustly proportioned to the bread. However, I will happily admit that the side of bacon I got was perfection, although it's hard to screw up strips of fried pork.



The frittata was good...I'm hugely into artichokes so that part was great. Ordering egg whites didn't make it any less greasy...(this coming from someone who ordered bacon on the side, I know) and the mixed greens salad might have been better with the dressing on the side, but I suppose we should have ordered it that way.



Lastly, having to brush away the wasps and flies at our table (even before the food came, likely because the table hadn't been cleaned before we sat down) we had to eat quickly when our food finally did arrive. Argh, certainly not very relaxing the way a Sunday brunch should be.

And that home-made banana bread ($2.50) I told you about earlier? Don't do it. Absolutely no banana taste and oily to the core. No nuts even! Possibly the worst banana bread ever (best banana bread is still the one from the road-side stall in Maui).



There you have it guys...Foodhogger's Stoney's experience.

Undoubtedly some people's favourite joint to brunch, but overall, I'm not a fan of the system they have there...too much work involved for a lazy Sunday morning. Perhaps I'd go again for a sandwich or pizza at lunch where their cafeteria system would work. It's a good thing it's in the 'burbs...a place like Stoney's wouldn't survive in the city on that sort of system. Fusaro's in Toronto also has a cafeteria style system, but it's during the week and for lunch...they know better for brunch on the weekend...it's full table service; just how people want to eat on a Sunday, otherwise what's different than cooking up some french toast at home?

Truscott Italian Bakery and Deli

Location:

2425 Truscott Dr, Mississauga ON

I'm sure you will agree, there's nothing quite like freshly baked bread; the smell, the taste, the warmth, it's all so very good! 

I definitely heart bakeries. When I was growing up there was a lovely little bakery called Hot n' Crusty where the breads were baked fresh every morning; it was always such a treat to go there.

Recently we discovered Truscott Italian Bakery & Deli - a quaint little bakery right in the middle of a parking lot on the border of Oakville/Mississauga. It's been there only eight years yet it appears as though the parking lot was built around it.



I imagine though, that the past eight years have been enormously successful judging from the steady stream of customers at 8 in the morning! 



The cappuccino on the patio sounded like a great idea!



The breads! Rows of crusty, floured, multigrained loaves.  I wanted to try them all...and in due time I will, but to begin....we got some fresh buns, croissants, and this:



Spacatelli....which I've never had before, but which was undeniably fresh (and still warm!!!).

The trays of muffins, pies, cookies and pastries were astounding!

 



I've yet to try their hot-table items, but I got their mini cakes/tarts for a tea party recently and they not only looked pretty they were pretty delectable, too.



Then there's their deli meat counter which boasts a variety of European meats, the huge selection of pastas (I recently purchased some corn pasta [gluten free] and added to it the all natural Mediterranean Garden's "fiery hot arrabiata" pasta sauce, which was fantastic), fancy imported drinks (lemonades and juices), farmed fresh eggs, and of course a massive collection of olives and olive oils!  Heaven!

With our morning breakfast made complete with the addition of a divine "elephant ear" - stuffed full of chocolate - we were ready to start the weekend!



I'm sure many start their weekends this way and I for one can't wait to do it again!

Bijan Bakery and Cafe, San Jose, CA

Location:

170 S. Market St. Suite 110,
San Jose, CA

Cost: ranges from $1.50 +

www.bijanbakery.com

After a much needed breakfast at Il Fornaio, we remembered (from having passed by it the night before), that Bijan Bakery had a magnificent array of desserts and pastries and both agreed we had only enough room to share a small treat.



I don't think I have ever seen so many pastries in my life! We got there when there was hardly a line-up but we took so long to decide what we wanted (read: overwhelmed with choices) that by the time we were ready to order a line had grown.



There were chocolate chip, almond, raisin, and various other cookies, baklava, marzipan, cinnamon buns, twists, strudels, biscotti, cookies with fruit centres, mousse pastries in a variety of flavours, cream puffs, fruits tarts, cheesecakes, eclairs, chocolate covered strawberries, napoleans, tiramisu, black forest...and....so much more!



We decided upon an apple tart (boring, I know, given all the selection! But anything else would have gone to waste since we were short on time and had already over-eaten at breakfast!)



Warmed, the apple tart wasn't bad, but it didn't blow my socks off. I should have tried their specialty Princess Cake (alas, if I had been plugged to trusty ol' Chowhound I would have known to do so!) They also serve soups, salads and sandwiches!



Bijan Bakery and Cafe certainly leaves MUCH to be desired....

Walking.

Location: Fisherman's Wharf



The sea-lions were an eye-ful (and an ear-ful) at Pier 39.



Apparently there's a "bush man" who hides behind these bushes and jumps out at tourists. He wasn't there when we walked by..but his beer was chillin'.



There's another Boudin Sourdough bakery! This time with a baker in the window and a bready croc on display....quite fitting when you think about how tough skinned sourdough is.



"Hot clam chowder" - now, that's what I should have had!



Or these bloated crab sandwiches. Wait, is that sourdough bread?