God, I love this neighbourhood. In the time since getting back from Lisbon, in the few minutes spent not working or unpacking, we’ve consumed a number of top-notch meals at new places:

• Bonjour Brioche: we’ve been here twice, actually. It’s such a packed brunch place, but so good. And the baked goods? Yeesh.
• Aft: I’ll always love Triple A, but this place is pretty cool too. We got a platter with brisket and ribs and pulled pork and fries and cole slaw and ate it for a couple more days.
• BQM: we’d been to the one on Ossington, but BQM seems to have taken over the old Burger Shoppe on Queen East. Not the best burgers — I’m spoiled working so close to Holy Chuck — but pretty solid.
• Skin+Bones: wow, did I love this place. Excellent wine (good Ontario selection too), delicious food, cool ambiance. I’m going to live here.
• Ascari Enoteca: I’d heard the wine selection here was stellar, so I was a little disappointed in the bottle we got (which needed another ten years of aging) but that was the only disappointment. This has already become our classic Italian option in the ‘hood.
• Prohibition: we needed brunch and nothing was open, so this — probably our fourth or fifth choice — was our fallback. We both got the gigantic breakfast burger. It was good, but it was too much, and with the weird bro-y ambiance I’m starting to dislike that place.
• Mean Bao: daaaaaaaaaaaaamn, this place was tasty. Great little bao variety…pulled pork, curry chicken, pork belly, and jerk chicken, all delicious.
• Eastbound Brewing Co: a brand new place, eventually planning to serve their own beer but for now serving guest taps, this place was even better than I’d hoped. Our octopus starter was excellent, and my short rib main (and Lindsay’s gnudi) were excellent. As soon as they open their bottle shop, this will become a regular stop.

.:.

Cover photo by Trina Brandon, used under Creative Commons license