Golden Star Restaurant: "Burgers are amazing my dad used to go there in high school, its so old" - Mark Barbetta

Golden Star Restaurant

7123 Yonge St., Thornhill, 905-889-6891

When I drive up to Golden Star, I feel like I've been transported back into time, when gas was cheaper, and the ozone hole was smaller, and asian people hadn't taken oven all the communities.

I constantly see "Golden Star" on all these "BEST BURGER IN TORONTO" lists, and I've always passed by on my way home from work when I used to take the Viva bus down Yonge.

I would think. This place looks old. and its stayed around this long, must be good, gotta check it out!

I asked my coworker Mark, who grew up in Thornhill, this is what he had to say:

"Rich history, quality product, pillar of the community"

"Burgers are amazing, my dad used to go there in high school, its so old"

I may not known the history, having grown up in Vancouver, but its true the burgers are pretty awesome!

Check out my vintagy looking photo of the Golden Star sign! 

If you can read it (click to enlarge), here's the Golden Star menu board.

heehee, greeted by this sexiness when we arrived.  I showed this to my coworker and he's like, "oh! this guy!" he's famous!

here's our burgers being gussied up! Everything please! (Eveything on my face)

2 home burgers and a side of onion rings

"can i have some pickles on the side" = THIS. AWESOME!!!!! 

Burger says =P . I say i'm going to eat you for your cheekyness.

omg my burger was a huge mess. i used up 20 napkins just to wipe burger off my face and hands. but it was sooooo worth it.  

cash total. BTW, CASH ONLY but they have an ATM on site. but let's not waste your hard earned money on ATM fees ok, just bring the cash.

Bone Sucking Delicious Jamaican OxTail Stew

I was GONNA stay home today, cause for the 2nd time, the A/C guys were gonna come fix the leak in the A/C. and for the 2nd time, that fell through.  So what a bitch, coming in to work for a few hours, (we have summer hours), and then going back home. I wasn't even going to go… But!!! Thank the food-gods that I did! Cause my awesome friend and coworker, Maria, left me a container of her home made jamaican oxtail stew on my desk.

Marvel at the glistening gelatinous supple meat.  If you're a fan of sucking meat off the bone (like I am, myself, thank you very much!), then you'll love oxtail!  Which I think is really just cow tail.

I've only had Oxtail soup, like the chinese kind, so this was a first for me!

Maria's end result was delicious!!!! I say was cause I ate it all up in 5 minutes. Its now just bones at my desk. 

Here's her recipe for Jamaican Oxtail Stew:

"Before preparing everything I washed the oxtail in lemon juice (you can do either lemon (bottled juice) or vinegar)

Everything was cut is small to medium pieces….

2 pounds of Oxtail 

6 cloves of garlic

2 large onions

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 spoon of pepper

1/2 spoon of salt

Soya (this is to make it dark, you do this but don't put too much salt)

1 scotch bennet pepper

1 sprig fresh thyme

Carrots

In order for it to be tender I cooked it for 5 hours. The first 1.5 hour I cooked it in a pressure pot with 2 cups of water the rest of 3.5 hours I put on a crock pot in threw it in the oven and added 3 cups of water)

I pretty much follow this recipe, but I didn't follow everything.

http://www.negril-tour-guide.com/jamaican-oxtail-recipe-stew-in-a-crockpot.html"

Wow! Fall off the bone deliciousness! 

Thank you so much Maria!!!! xxx

Aimee Eats!: MIHO Gastrotruck, San Diego California

One of my bestest friends, Aimee lives across the country, in another country... from me :(

It's no surprise that friends of Jessica (hahaha i could have easily said my friends! Third person is way more creepy!), ANYWAY, friends of Jessica LOVE to eat too!  

MIHO Gastrotruck

The gourmet food truck craze has hit San Diego and I've become a regular food truck seeker (http://sdfoodtrucks.com/). Lucky for me they always show up near my work so I never have to travel far. 

Today's nearby truck was http://mihogastrotruck.com Their slogan is farm to street, and you can really tell from their fresh ingredients that this is all true! Their menu changes weekly depending on what is in season. 

I got the Grilled Peach Burger: grass fed beef, grilled local peach, local arugula, chipotle aioli, gruyere, local brioche bun* with a side of Mixed bean salad: local mixed beans, local wild mushroom, local cherry tomato, local arugula, roasted garlic vinaigrette, hard boiled free range egg. 

YUM. the beef was tender, flavorful, and juicy. The peach added a sweet flavor and the chipotle aioli was spicy and tangy. What a delicious combo! Green bean salad was fresh and crispy, made me feel less guilty because I was getting my greens. 

My coworker got the BLAT: brown sugar & black pepper glazed all natural Vande Rose duroc bacon, local lettuce, local avocado, local heirloom tomato, roasted garlic aioli, local multigrain bread with Belgian style fries on the side: hand cut kennebec potato, hand made moroccan spice catsup. 

He is not a fan of avocado or tomato (not sure why he got the BLAT) so I got to eat them..hehe. Fresh heirloom tomatoes were sweet and juicy. The avocado was smooth and creamy, but I must admit I've been pretty spoiled by good avo here.  I had a nibble on some leftover bacon which was everything I dreamed it would be. Brown sugar on fat. also YUM. The french fries were delicious, just the right crispiness and just enough beef oil flavor without being too overpowering

All in all one of my fave food trucks so far. I also got a HOMI stamp card, 10th meal is free! which is great, because these meals are kind of expensive ($8 for burger, $4 for salad or fries). I think it's better than restaurant food though and I would gladly pay that plus tip, so it's still a good deal.

Friend of jessica eats too!

Fresh mango tart from an authentic Italian bakery in San Diego called
Pasta Pronto. Sweet and refreshing slices of mango on a bed of light
cream in a tart shell. Beautiful, subtle and tasty! It was our good
friend's birthday and I wanted to get something special since he is an
amazing chef that always feeds us. Everyone thought I made the tart
myself with my nimble asian fingers but alas I paid $30 for the tart.
It was so worth it though since every slice has at least half a fresh
mango in it, and every bite was delicious!

T&T 2nd Annual Waterfront Night Market - Toronto Impresses!

Yesterday I attended the last night of T&T's 2nd annual Waterfront Night Market. in the T&T parking lot and general grounds @ 222 Cherry St, downtown Toronto.

If you read my Vancouver/Richmond Night Market Review, it was that i wish Toronto had its own longstanding summer night market like Vancouver/Richmond in B.C.

Maybe because I've gone so many times to the Richmond Night Markets, but i thought this Toronto version was AWESOME!!!!  The food was way more inspired, more unique, food was CHEAPER, it was great!!!!  I attended last year,  the size was half it was this year.  The line ups were insane, 20-30+ mins per stall, i gave up (I probably turned off a few friends with that tidbit! sorry!), but this year, it was seamless, lines were quick, I hope this Night Market keeps expanding.  It's more food oriented than the Vancouver/Richmond one, where it's probably a 30 %Food, 70% Random Crap Vendors, (tho the van food itself = this whole market).  There is so much potential for this to grow, I look forward to next years!

This was our first stop.  WHO are the Bahn Mi Boys and WHERE can i find them????? I didn't have much to eat that day, since my girls brunch meal turned out to be a glorious pile of inedible crap. I was HUNNNGORRY.

Look at how cheap the prices are!!! Who needs a 12 dollar momofuku steam bun (i forget, how much is it?).  

Got a HUGE pulled pork steamed bun for 3 bucks, with fixings of arugula, cucumbers, and jalapenos

And $1 - $2 dollar meats/spring rolls on sticks. OMG today is going to be a good day. 

Up next, a stall i remembered from last year for being deliciously awesome.  Again with my new fixation on lamb, we got 5 LAMB SKEWERS FOR 5 DOLLARS! (take that

Amazingly juicy and great spicy kick! $5.00 DOLLARS!

tentacles resting before going into my mouth

That sauce they put on, was so amazing, it was juicy and tender and damn it it was gonna be a GREAT DAY! (2 for $5.00)a

This is Susar Lee's Cheeseburger Spring Rolls.  I had this last year, i think it was $5.00 each (total premium if you check out my spring rolls super buy).  It was pretty interesting for sure! beefy crunch spring roll surrounded with all the applicable cheeseburger ingredients.

Tonnes of refreshment stalls were available, no doubt! with these kinda weathers, you could drink outta coconuts (2 for $5!), freshly squeezed sugar cane juice, drink outta a whole huge watermelon (they sold out in this pic).  Tropical drinks for tropical weather!

I got myself this $6.00 pineapple (FREE REFILL) with spring roll. the spring roll was a throw away. bleuch!

I think this was a free ice cream stand cause the line up was huge. free + asian people = long lines.

I got some of this last year too!  Really awesome jerky, not like anything i've ever had, and i'm super happy i got their name in this too! Bagahon Singapore Bak Kwa, they have a store in Pacific Mall (largest indoor Chinese Mall in North America!!!???!!)  if you're in the mood for piping hot delicious jerky!

Takoyaki! I'm not even a huge fan of these, but i can't resist buying them. balls. cant resist them.

close up shot of balls.

We saw people walking around with paper baskets of lobsters and I as like. I want to go to there. And as soon as we spotted it. B-line. 

Crates and crates of lobsters were being dropped off while I was in line.  Fresh lobster :)

And lots of sea snail.  I keep calling it conch.  I think to mess with my head. cause yeah, as i was pulling these suckers out, its 2 eye/tentacles popped out. and all i could think of was the Never Ending Story Racing Snail....

another gratuitous shot

my 6 for $5.00 snails! 

My $10.00 lobster!!!!!! FREAKING AWESOME!

I saw another seafood vendor, with much larger snails. (along with mussels and oysters), that would be a giant bite of chew.

I gave this a go last year (cause of the insane lines, looks like there were none this year again...), but churros are churros! yum! next time!

Up next, i was swayed into trying this, kinda glammed up version of condense milk toast that you'd get at any BBT shop.  With gourmet flavour combinations:

The lady who was hawking it said they were all professionals who had this dream, i guess and vision, and got together with a chef to put these out.  Which is totally good for them, follow your dreams!  I hope it works out for them! It's an interesting and intriguing concept.

With 2 for $5.00 I checked out the bacon cheeseburger... (SOMEBODY dropped the gherkin.. :(

and then the best selling Caramel Coffee Crunch.

It was super interesting! The concept is very BBT snack house with a touch of gourmet, i think. My complaint is that it's more like a teaser! a 3 bite Amuse Bouche! the caramel coffee crunch was pretty good, i wish i tried more!

The next stall over was this super cute ice cream stand.  I really wished I gave this a try, with amusing menu options such as: Death by Bacon, The Kevin Bacon (can he sue?), Ninja Panda.  The combinations, though hardly adventurous now with this whole Bacon+Chocolate trend, would have still loved to given it a try at $4.00 each. Also, i love the pictures!

Across the aisle i spotted these Fusia Dogs. My first instinct was: japadogs? japadogs? Close but no cigar.

Looks like there's a lot going on here. And i'm not talking about the table cloth.

If you're interested, you can read up on it here, i just thought there was way too much to put in my mouth (thats what... she... said?)

Something I didnt try, that i saw a lot of stalls for, was Oyster Omlette. Actually, lots of oysters everywhere.

Like raw oysters from Diana's Seafood,  I tried a dozen of these at the Taste of Lawrence last year,  I passed today, they were pretty big and juicy, too big and juicy (is there such thing?).

crowd shot!

Another little interesting gem, actually i saw a girl with this, and almost chased her down to find out where she got this... hehe.  Hey Meatball! They got a store coming up soon on College Street, 5 bucks says they're selling meatballs.  It's a 50% Pork 50% Beef blend lil Meatball Slider, and the guy said everything was from within 100 miles. Pretty cool.  The meatball was super juicy and they put this sweet tangy spicy sauce. I think it was asian inspired? cause asian people are sweet tangy and spicy??? I know I am!

I really like taiwanese chicken wings so I went for these $3.00 popcorn chicken bites

I ordered 2 orders of spring rolls. SEEN HERE is 1 order. 5 spring rolls for $1.00. Are you kidding me!?!?!?! I foolishly ordered 2 orders.  Yeah. we couldnt finish it. Shame :(

I had to take a picture of these old people doing Tai Chi.  Cause my  mom is one of these old people now, and if she was here, she would SO be on that stage.... er I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!

I still havent tried smelly tofu.  I got yelled at a few times for walking by the tofu aisles! I can't help it! the smell travels!!!  Can anyone tell me what it tastes like and why i should eat it?

Dolled Up Cupcake Inc.

$1.00 cookies! 

Lovely Cupcake bouquet

I got myself a red velvet for $3.00.  The frosting was really yummy, however i think that the cupcake was refrigerated so the texture was like the cold, fridge dense-like.  i wish i could have had it fresh. 

There were a lot of these Tornado fries stands too! I still havent had one yet, i feel like its such a waste of stomach space to eat a whole potato while there's endless stalls of meats on stick.

Some freshly fried something or other! MMMM!!!!

This pic is for Kristine! I told you Chinese zombies do this!!!! hahha "GERN SEE!"

Aside from the Lobster + Sea Snail, I didnt partake in the T&T stands, mainly cause, i can just go to a T&T and get it. Though they had lots to offer!

Like Szechaun hot pot

more sticks to boil

and their skewers

and tofuyaki 

More BBQ

I'm used to the fishies waffle maker in a different shape, so it was interesting to see these little guys.  I can get an unlimited supply a few blocks from my place so i passed! But love these!

There were so many stands i couldnt try everything, but here are some pics to show the variety of some of the other stalls i was able to get pics of.  Oh. did not take a picture of the Corn Stand. 

Call out in action!

I wish i checked Titaflips out!!!!! their website looks AWESOME!

Finally! A night market with live animals for sale! Now this is a night market!

And no street festival is complete without a random shot of a dog! New York had side eye husky, and Desifest had shy lab. Waterfront Night Market has...this... Mogwai? 

All in all. it was a wonderful experience.  I spent about 2.5 hours there gorging my face fat.  I coukd hardly move at the end of the night!  It was a lot of fun, a lot of good food!  Good job organizers!!!  I can't wait for more food festivals! Bring it all on!