Caffe Doria

South of Summerhill, on Yonge Street is a little cafe called Caffe Doria. Inside you will find not so amazing food or service for that matter. However, if you are a red velvet cupcake fan (something in that red dye is made of crack), they have them most of the time every week---but sometimes they don't. Like the time I went with my friend, Sydney a few weeks ago, mainly for those little red cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, they were not in the display. In any case, these red velvet cupcakes are out-sourced by some other bakery in town. At $3/cupcake, they are stiff, but they are worth it. The panini's and other food items leave something to be desired, but go over there and get a cupcake to go. You won't regret it.

Corean Chille

Imagine my surprise as a Korean, to find a little gem among many in Koreatown, aka: K-Town to us from SoCal otherwise known as Bloor Street between Bathurst and Christie. Last night, we had a feast for a mere $13/person. Started off with a hot soup, that was accompanied by toasted rice that was inserted into the soup at the table. It was a nice broth that had veggies and seafood. The next dish is a personal favorite---a sweet and sour deep fried coated chicken. I usually get it in pork, which is more traditional, but I was pleasantly suprised by the chicken being extremely tender with no gelatinous bits or tendons. Last but not least was a big bowl of black bean paste noodles that had veggies and seafood which was also good to the last bite. Highly recommend this place---it was awesome! Located at 681 Bloor Street West. If you see a lot of the Korean peeps sitting in there, you know it's good.

One of a Kind Show, Toronto 2008

The One of a Kind Show here in Toronto opened today, November 27, 2008 and I went with my 2 girlfriends, Miah and Sydney from 8 PM till closing at 10 PM. We were like the Korean mafia going up and down each aisle starting from the west and working our way back east. It was great! As it is not my first time there (it was Miah's, however) we all made out like bandits---from food stuffs, especially the chocolates and toffees (Sweet Truth and Brooke's), to boots for my nearly 1 year old daughter (Stonz), soy-wax candles (Muskoka Candle Company), smoked tuna (from Salt Spring Island, B.C.), etc., it is truly a mix of great vendors from all over Canada. Highly recommend it. You can find gifts for yourself and others---for $10/admission (if you bring in a $2/coupon or buy your ticket online directly), it's worth it. The parking is stiff---$12/anytime before 6 PM or $9/after 6 PM, but Miah's parking karma was definitely working tonight and we had "rock-star parking" in the garage right in front of the entrance. Ahhh...what a great evening.

Il Gelatiere: Best Gelato Outside of Italy

If you enjoy ice cream, sorbet, then gelato is the way to go---Il Gelatiere on Mt. Pleasant and Hillsdale is the best gelato in town. Not Paloma's on St. Clair Ave., not Hollywood Gelato on Bayview Ave., and certainly not anywhere else claiming to sell gelato. Il Gelatiere is the real deal. To be honest, it tastes better than most gelato stores in Italy. In our 13 day trip to Italy last year, we hit quite a few cities---started in Milan and winding up in Rome. In between was Venice, Bologna, Carpi, Fossoli, Assisi, Modena, Maranello, Sulmona, Terni, Florence, etc., and the best gelato we had was a place in Milan, on the main drag. But I digress. Il Gelatiere is great and the people running it are awesome---shout out to my girl, Madeline. She's fantastic!

Brick Street Bakery in the Distillery District

The whole Mill St. area called the Distillery is really picking up.

I'm talking about Brick Street Bakery that makes my day every time I go down there.

They make the best sandwiches in town. From the lamb sandwich to the post-Thanksgiving sandwich, they are just melt in your mouth amazing. They are reasonably priced in all regards. They also tout having the best banana bread in town and I have to say, it's pretty damn good.

The eccles cakes are good and so are their scones. I'm not even a huge scone fan, but I'll go only here if I have a scone craving. They're like buttermilk biscuits---guess you'd have to be a biscuit fan to truly appreciate Brick Street's scones.

Terroni: Best Thin Crust Pizza

If you want a truly thin crust pizza right from Italy, look no further than Terroni. They have the most amazing pizza in town. I get the "Capriccioso" pizza every time I go there---it's got olives, Italian ham, artichokes and mushrooms. It's awesome. I love spicy, so I always request the side of hot pepperoncini, which will make you sweat. The original one is on Queen St., but the one on Yonge St., south of St. Clair is closer and is just as good as any other Terroni in town. Somehow, after a little dinner for 2, it always costs $60.00 a meal with tip. That includes perhaps 2 pizzas, maybe 1 appetizer, and maybe 2 glasses of wine. Not cheap, but a good time indeed and worth it.

La Bamboche: Macaron

La Bamboche on Manor Road, off of Yonge Street, and south of Eglinton Ave., has the most amazing little treats called "macarons"---now, they're not your typical ghetto American macaroon coconut treat that looks like little haystacks. These are right out of a patisserie in Paris, where the little meringue cookies, encompass an amazing cream or ganache. If you can only afford one, (at I believe, $2.50 a pop, they're a bit rich in pricing for a single macaroon), the sea salt caramel flavor is the way to go. I've tried other flavors, but they're not as interesting to me. They also make a decent croissant here, but like I said before, Rahier is the place to go for a croissant.