P'Burgh, Niagara, Toronto, Ann Arbor

We'll be taking a little circle drive around the lakes next week, forgoing another frequent flier trip to distant shores for a taste of North Americana. I see stops in the Allegheny Nat'l forest (Oil City's cool), Erie wine country (Chautauqua, Fredonia, etc.), maybe Buffalo (never liked it when I had to be there, but Anchor bar or similar might be worth a shot), and, The Falls.

I'm pretty well versed in P'Burgh and Michigan, but I'm clueless about the rest, particularly Toronto. I looked at the CH board, and found it to be even more obsessive than most about what the city lacks. Leff just published a run-down in the Toronto paper, but it didn't get me very excited: Indian, a few jerk places, one Ethiopian and a Korean bakery. Could it be that Toronto is so much like Chicago (an oft-made comparison) that the food strengths are the same? (Well, no. They have poor Mexican and Thai according to locals.) Let me in on the dim sum secrets; or Trinidad stuff. There must be a former colony that is well represented in Toronto that has nobody here.


I'm also particularly interested to know if any of the wineries on NY's west coast are worth visiting. I know there are some good producers, and it's lovely country that I've visited previously, but I don't know the wine details.

I welcome any and all advice, from roadside pies to 4-stars, museums, ballparks, whatever. We're wide open.

Thanks.

The little I do know about that area I will share with you. My parents live outside of Buffalo now, and when I visit I usually stay home with them, which is why my knowledge is limited. But, there are some things worth looking into.
-The Frank Lloyd Wright houses - I think there are 2. One may still be under renovation, but they often do tours even while this is going on. These are in the nice suburbs of Buffalo, which have some beautiful old houses. Unfortunately the downtown is quite empty(even though the architecture is great) because the school system there is awful, the taxes are high, and no one wants to stay.
-The Albright-Knox Museum. Quite good and doable in a few hours.
-Anchor Bar: I have heard their wings have become quite soggy, but I haven't been there myself.
-If you go to Niagara, go to the CANADIAN side. It is much prettier and cleaner. A nice area to walk around is Niagara on the Lake. Also near there, if you have kids, or if you would just enjoy it, is a Butterfly Greenhouse, filled with spectacular plants and beautiful butterflies. Again the houses around this area are very nice.
-I don't have more tips about where to eat unfortunately, but one place we ate (which is in Amherst) was called Siena, and it had good, rustic, provence-style food. But that's if you're near there, and things are quite spread out in that area.
-Good luck!

Well, for Toronto, how about Tibetan?

Little Tibet Restaurant
712 Queen W
Toronto, ON M6J1E8
(416) 306-1896

Antonius and I ate there several years ago and liked it; I can't now remember the specific dishes except the dumplings (momo).

I have a Lebanese recommendation for London, Ontario, which will be on your way as you head to Michigan:

Barakat Restaurant
551 Richmond St.
London, Ont
(519) 850-8080

I got this recommendation last October from a wonderful cab driver who was Venezuelan of Lebanese descent. I had just arrived at the London airport where I discovered that the SINGLE ATM was out of cash (!!) and since Canada is, technically, a different country, I had no money on me. This guy cheerfully took me to a bank and waited while I used a real ATM. I can't imagine a cabbie at O'Hare doing this, somehow. Anyway, we had a great conversation about food, starting with arepas and continuing on to that Lebanese upside-down lamb with rice dish. He laughed when I asked if there were any Venezuelan restaurants in town, but gave me the Barakat recommendation instead. Barakat is right in the main part of downtown but a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place. (The hotel concierge had never even heard of it, for example.)

JeffB wrote:Could it be that Toronto is so much like Chicago (an oft-made comparison) that the food strengths are the same? (Well, no. They have poor Mexican and Thai according to locals.) Let me in on the dim sum secrets; or Trinidad stuff. There must be a former colony that is well represented in Toronto that has nobody here.

This is perhaps an utterly unhelpful comment but I've heard so much about how large the recent immigrant population of Italians in Toronto is that it seems highly likely that there must be some -- perhaps not exotic but nevertheless -- really worthwhile Italian place.

I'm also particularly interested to know if any of the wineries on NY's west coast are worth visiting. I know there are some good producers, and it's lovely country that I've visited previously, but I don't know the wine details.

Again, this might not be of any use whatsoever, since it sounds like you're not intending to venture too far east into New York, but I went to grad school high above Lake Cayuga and so spent quite a few years exploring the Finger Lakes region. My favourite vineyard to visit was Heron Hill on Keuka (which I would reckon isn't too far from the Allegheny National Forest). Some of their wines, especially with the higher grade label (I think it's "Otter Spring") I liked well enough and that western part of the Finger Lakes is really wild and very beautiful... At least it was way back when... There are several state parks in the FingerLakes region with spectacular gorges... Oh, now I'm feeling nostalgic... I have to stop...

A

We are headed to TO next week and have been quite a few times. From experience I would suggest Sauvignon (a locals spot in the beaches with AMAZING food). Additionally - I don't know what budget you are looking at, but for some nicer places: Rain, The Fifth, and Canoe all come to mind. Canoe is "Canadian" cuisine and we are actually going this trip for the first time (though my friends have been previously and raved). Rain is a nice fusion spot though pricey. There is a fair amount of good Indian - I can get names from my friend if you want.

Also - a fun fun place to go is the Bier Markt. They actually do a mussle bar for happy hour (or they used to) and it really a fun place. There are some wine bars around as well.

Let me know if you have any specific requests - I can ask my friends. BTW - I seriously would be surprised if you locate good Mexican in TO.

http://www.toronto.com

Sauvignon
1862 Queen Street East
Toronto
416.686.1998

Rain
19 Mercer Street
416.599.7246

Canoe
66 Wellington Street W. (54th floor, TD Bank Tower)
416.364.0054

Bier Markt
58 The Esplanade
416.862.7575[/url]

BTW - they are doing Summerlicious right now so if that coincides with your trip you should check it out.

Jeff,

I don't know if you've been following JiminLoganSquare's adventures on the Toronto Chowhound board, but I've found them entertaining, and they may be of some use to you.

In this thread, JiLS seeks a blowout birthday bash.

And, here, he broadens his request.

Cheers,

Aaron

JeffB, I'm headed toward Toronto in September with Mrs. JiLS; we hope you will post your Toronto findings here, good or ill. If you followed the links in Aaron's post over to my saga on the Toronto CH board, you've learned what an outpouring of advice I have received (well-intentioned, generous and seemingly well-informed -- but ultimately overwhelming). In the end, I resorted to simply counting how many times a particular place got mentioned in a favorable way and picking the one that got the most "votes" (that would be Perigee, at least for the "big bash" dinner). Anyway, I know the guy who turned me onto grits at Harry's Hotdogs couldn't steer me wrong in Toronto, either. Good luck!

(spa_girl, I'm going to do my best to try some of your rec's, too.)

Thanks all for your tips so far. I am, for once, going to try to document my food experiences fairly closely on this trip, maybe even with a camera.

Spa-Girl, just to be clear, I am not going to be joining the chorus of Canadians in confirming what Toronto lacks (like Mexican). I'm looking for their stong points, especially those that Chicago is not known for (so I'm not too intersted in Indian, unless there's something really unique). The Belgian or Dutch sounding place you mention seems interesting.

What's a mussel bar?

PS, thanks for all the links. Very nice of you.

PPS: Wow, reading in the footsteps of Jim's great exchanges on CH earlier this year -- Chiado, probably the finest Portuguese restaurant in North America. That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Great.

Jeff - at the Bier Markt they actually have a serve yourself bar with tons of different mussles. They USED to do this - you should call to confirm b/c it was nearly 2 years ago I was there.

The other mussel restaurant I mentioned is:

Cafe Brussel
124 Danforth Ave
Toronto, ON
(416) 465-7363

Thanks for the Chiado tip - we may check it out. Have fun.

I travel to Toronto and then to Montreal every June, and I love both cities, different as they are. My travelling companion is a vegetarian which somewhat (!) limits our dining. We usually eat Indian in Toronto, at a really great restaurant built in what looks like a former gas station, where you sit outside at a picnic table and eat some of the most delicious food I've had in a long time. Ummm...drifting away from my topic here...okay I'm back: is Chiado at all vegetarian friendly? My friend is very tolerant and will happily eat nothing but fries if there is a restaurant I'm dying to try, but it would be nice if there was something else that he could eat, too.

Also if the fries are cooked in meat-fat he wouldn't be able to eat them either...

Geli,

It's been a long time since I was here, but I have a very warm fuzzy feeling about Citron in Toronto, which has a vegeterian focus. Outside patio and prix fixe menu.

Your friend may have a hard time at Chiado if fish is off the table, but if it isn't, I'd also recommend Latitude Wine Bar and Grill (Latin influenced, and home of the best tres leches to cross my lips) and Monsoon (pan-Asian, I think with some full-on vegetarian dishes).

Citron
813 Queen W

Latitude
89 Harbord St

Monsoon
100 Simcoe St

And you've probably been here, but if it's you're open for a picnic, you gotta head to the St. Lawrence Market.

My wife and I are big fans of Toronto. Even looked into moving there permanently, but alas...

Zee

For wings in Buffalo, we prefer Duff's to Anchor Bar...
We lived in TO several years ago, and visit at least 1x a year.
Last time we enjoyed lunch at Rodney's Oyster Bar.
Biermarkt is pretty cool, like everyone said, the beer selection is very good and service is friendly. We didn't eat there though.
We also liked a Portugese place, there are a few in TO, I think we went to Cataplana Restaurant but I could be wrong, it was years ago. It was very very good, excellent seafood.
Phebe's Zee grill, on Mt. Pleasant between Eglinton and Davisville is also great seafood and nice atmosphere.
I also agree the rec on St. Lawrence market.
Our fave lunch spot is Butler's Pantry on Roncessvales, I definitely recommend it. Hubby loves the Jambalaya, I love the zucchini pancakes.
There are several Chinatowns in TO and Mississauga, again, sadly I can't remember the name, but awesome dim sum somewhere in Mississauga, not real helpful, sorry, but ask around.
LO

A recent issue of Saveur (perhaps even the April one, can't seem to lay hands on it now) had a nice article about the area just around Niagara on the Canadian side. Food, wine, restaurants.

Here's the rather long report on the trip that was the topic of my request for advice above.

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=728

I'd go the Chiado again in a heartbeat, even if I were suddenly vegan. It is a fine restaurant, and I would assume they can adjust to whatever dietary restraints. The potatoes were probably done in olive oil IIRC. If the vegetarian eats fish, well, there is no restriction.

There's a little town north of Pittsburgh called Saxonburg. About all that's there is the Saxonburg Inn (the architect of the Brooklyn Bridge was from here). The SI is a great old place, best lobster bisque I have ever had, and the other food is awesome as well.