Hakuna Matata, I Had a Frittata

You know, I was thinking – Hakuna Matata.  What a wonderful phrase.  Hakuna Matata.  It definitely is not a passing craze.  You know, in some translations of Swahili, it means no worries. And why not apply that slogan to the rest of your days?  It is truly a problem-free philosophy!  It takes a well-fed philosopher to come up with such an intricate motto.  And most philosophers eat breakfast because they spend the majority of the night contemplating by placing their elbows on bended knee and resting their chins between their thumbs and sides-of-their-pointer-fingers.  It is for this logical reason that I found myself in Avenue Diner on Stephen Avenue one weekday morning before classes started with a good friend.  (Nice segway, Jer!)  

Now, regardless if you are completely confused as to how I managed to mashup the Lion King with flawed deductive logic, we can all agree that breakfast is one of the best meals of the day (along with Brunch, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, and Dessert).  In addition, we had a hankering for breakfast-y foods.  But not just ANY breakfast-y foods.  Breakfast-y foods with a contemporary-y twist!  Enter the Avenue Diner.  A trendy, slightly upscale diner nestled along Stephen Ave, Avenue Diner undoubtedly caters to the business brunch crowd, as there were many tables occupied by suits, but is also a great place for foodies and youngin’s alike.  While the words “upscale diner” may seem contradictory, the menu and decor allow for the juxtaposition.  Upon entering the restaurant, I noticed that it was a lot more long that it was wide (that’s what she said).  But with clean pastel blue, exposed brick, well placed photographs and clean, retro tables, it managed the diner feel with restaurant comfort. 

 

Egg White Frittata at Avenue Diner.

 

The menu was very interesting, with contemporary twists on old diner favorites.  I had the Egg White Frittata, with blue cheese, bacon, carmelized onion and yukon gold potatoes.  This was served in a small cast-iron skillet with some multi-grain toast slathered with melting butter.  The Frittata was quite good, if not a little too rich.  Sensory-wise, it was a very balanced dish.  The bacon provided the usual smokey, saltiness, which was complemented by the deep sweetness of the carmelized onions and soft potatoes.  Providing the tart-richness was the blue cheese, and all this was bound together by the creamy egg.  The flavours went very well together but there was just a bit too much blue cheese, which overpowered the dish and provided too much richness.  However, the dish was still excellent.  

Other menu items include granola’s, parfait’s, griddle items and even sandwhiches and macaroni & cheese – all with a little sophistication thrown in.  I still want to try their Corned Beef Hash – braised brisket, poached eggs and a citrus-basil hollandaise will live to see another day!  The service was prompt, friendly and helpful, and if not for the stress associated with finding semi-affordable parking nearby, I would be there more often.  The only downside?  The price – my frittata was $14.49 (without tax).  But I suppose that’s what you get at Avenue Diner – high quality ingredients put together in more complex versions of old brunch favorites.  It’d be nice to have more ‘upscale diner’s’ around!

 

BONUS QUESTION – how many times did I bold Avenue Diner?

Word of mouth

So it’s been a while since I have written so this may blow, but I’ll try my best to make this post …dope.

 

So this post was originally going to be about an eating experience I just had that I thought was fantastic. But then I didn’t want to sound like a douchebag who didn’t know what he was talking about so it lead to this post. Often times, especially when it comes to food, people are lead to places according to wha

t the word on the street is. Recently I went to a restaurant near my house that had a semi-bad rep. If you follow online resources such as chowhounds, you would never go to the place that I ate at. Chowhounds states that it is overpriced, appetizers come cold, bland pastas etc. 

I was fortunate enough to sample a bunch of foods because whenever I go with a large group of people I can’t help but snack on everyone’s dishes. This (in my mind) gives me the ability to give a more accurate review of the resto. Soups were overpriced. If it weren’t for the price tag the mushroom taragon soup would have been a home run. I also sampled a bunch of the appetizers and found them to be quite decent.

I mean again, could be a bit overpriced but the potstickers were amazing. I don’t know where the name potstickers came from, but I mean, these were the first ones I’ve had that were actually kinda sticky! AMAZING!

My main was essentially a surf and turf. I asked for medium rare…and I was SHOCKED to find my steak was…..*gasp* medium rare! LOL it was probably the first time in a long time that my order was correct. The steak was topped off with lobster meat in a rich…..and THICK hollandaise sauce. Anyways, it was good. The veggies that came with it was a bit lacklustre but a good compliment. Dessert was a molten cake, that was bombin’. The theme throughout the day seemed to be details. The appies had nice garnishes. The desserts had wicked little things that fancified the experience.

Overall I’d say that it was pricey but not overpriced. I’d rather pay a little extra for a good experience instead of bombin’ out 25+ bucks for a charbucks steak at the keg. 

To sum up, sometimes other people don’t know jack shiz. You need to find some foodies that you know personally and trust. Maybe not trust but have similar tastes as you. My brother ended up ordering the duck at this place because it was suggested by a friend. It was by far the dish the blew the most that night. Word of mouth? Could be a whole whack of shiz. Depends who’s mouth it comes out of. 

Anyways. Don’t be scared to try something new, I’d hate to stick to the same restos ALL the time. But that been said, be careful of where you venture off to, you may get burned like a steak from the keg.