Jessica Eats: desserts

My friend Andrea moved to Toronto 3 months ago and we never found time to see each other (boo!!!! READ MY BLOG lol) so it was totally awesome to see her today! We went for lunch in the super elite neighbourhood of Yorkville (Yonge & Bloor), stopping first at the patio section of:

Hemingway's

142 Cumberland Street
Toronto, ON M5R 1A8
(416) 968-2828

OH. it's a new zealand joint??? that totally explains the kiwi pictures everywhere.... i am so slow.

ALSO this makes me happy that i chose their lamb burger (cause im totally getting into lamb now... slow to start but it's growing on me!) cause there are more sheep in NZ than people right!

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH BRIE AND APPLE - $10.89

Tender chicken breast with slices of granny smith apple and brie cheese served on a fresh twelve grain bun with mango mayonnaise

Andrea got this, she said it was really good! and loved the fries

KIWI LAMB BURGER - $12.89

New Zealand ground spring lamb, grilled and served on a lightly toasted bun with goat cheese and mint

sauce, garnished with a slice of onion, tomato and lettuce

To curb new new lamb fixation i got this lamb burger, it was SUPER juicy, in fact it juiced all over my fries the first bite. I woulda been pissed that i sogged my crispy fries in the first 2 seconds, but then again we were willingly sitting under the plant mist to cool ourselves down from the INSANE INTENSE HEATED SUMMER WEATHER.

After lunch, we were super stuffed. and just wanted to get ourselves in an A/C environment ASAP. Did a little, well window shopping around (couldnt find anything :( but with the intent to get some gelato or frozen yogurt after. She brought me to Moroco Chocolate:

Moroco Chocolat

99 Yorkville Avenue

Toronto, ON M5R 1C1

(416) 961-2202

this place is sooo pretty! Intent: Frozen Yogurt...

You step into their chocolate boutique area, i swear if i didnt know better (which i dont) i would have thought this was some fancy jewelry store. Everything is delicately displayed, with a touch of decorum and class, fancy schmancy.

Beyond the chocolate boutique is a dining area. Black white and purple. Crystal studded plush black couches, and crystal chandeliers, zebra printed pillows.... basically if Lisa Frank had a back room for grown up parties, this is what it would look like.

Case and point (from the star)

Well, we couldnt get our frozen yogurt :( Apparently, too many people came into the dining room area to order the frozen yogurt that it crammed up the dining room space. They only let you order if you have a big party and somebody wants it, or if its a private party or something other reason where there's a lot of money involved and not some schmutz who wants a measly froyo when they could be serving big spenders.

They actually serve food, (but we were full). We noticed they do a high tea service here too! Would be nice to check out one day.

Well. these were my dessert options.

I REALLY wanted a frozen desert type, cause it was soooooo hot.

The only option that carried anything frozen that we saw was The Melteaser - $18.00

If i would have paid attention to the menu instead of seeing FROZEN... GET THAT. i would have read:

"Watch the Chocolate Sauce melt the Cocoa Shell to unveil three sweep scopes of Frozen Yougurt and Fresh Seasonal Berries"

If i saw that i woulda had my camera preparred! instead of just gawking at the waiter as he brought me a plate of chocolate globe. and poured a stream of chocolate over it, melting the chocolate globe away revealing the OVERSTATED scopes of FroYo. more like melon ball scoops. and a pinch of berries.

But HELLS was it AWESOME!!!!! those little malteaser balls added an awesome crunch! I gotta say, it was totally impressive to eat, and felt a lot healthier than using my 18 bucks to buy a DQ chocolate log. The chocolate sauce was not too sweet, so it wasnt overbearing to consume such a large amount of chocolate.

I ordered a glass of milk..... um... apparently nobody has ever ordered a glass of milk.... um.... except for children..... she gave me a straw.

Andrea got the Kiss Me Kate

Moist Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. - $14.00

I think the presentation was very nice. Although i think Andrea (and myself) were a lil disappointed with the cake... it was less red velvet than super chocolate. I much rather have a nice traditional red velvet with lots of perfect cream cheese frosting!

It was a gorgeous place. I kept saying, I FEEL LIKE A PRINCESS!!! it's a really nice place for girls to get their brunch and desserts on, you can fondue too, and the service was really good. I would go for special occasions.... I would also go there if i didnt have to pay..... but next time i have a frozen yogurt craving.... i'm going to Yogen Fruz... um that's more my budget....(unless someone wants to pay for my food!)

Dear 1 Reader, and my Mom!

This long weekend i went to NYC!!!! for a whirlwind 72 hour trip. 19 of those were in a car... was it worth it? HELLS to the YES. after one bite into my long awaited long lost love, Shake Shack's Double Stack (i do not normally bite my loves..) mannnnn. Why can't they open one on EVERY BLOCK!!!

I promised to do all of my NYC trips, and i will!!! I'll start with this, like, Star Wars style, going backwards, plus, this is the shorter trip, so im tired/lazy right now!

DAY 1: 8 AM after 3 hours of driving.

Man. exit and exit, couldnt get the coveted mcmuffin, and our stomachs were eating themselves so we settled for something american. Roy Rogers. ever had it! tried it out!

Their breakfast fries are like baked in oil think slices of potatoes.

Got their sour dough ham, egg and cheese sandwich

What i realized after. was that they put 2 kinds of cheese at both ends of the bread. kinda awesome.

3PM: made it to manhattan! Love the hotel, situated at 54th and Broadway, right by the Letterman show!

SHAKE SHACK

I walked my ass to the closest shake shack:

691 8th Avenue, SE of 8th and 44th

I was THISCLOSE to getting the MONU-MINT Concrete, the last time i was around, i got the um.. the museum of natural history one with balls... and that itself was a meal, and i really wanted to savour my burger. I probably shoulda got it anyway. haha.

Got my usual of the double stack, which i first mentioned on my blog back then, if i could i would talk about it every day! And this time i got the fries too!

If only these were both for me...lemme break it down to you again, the Shack Stack: Shroom patty (Crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted munster and cheddar cheese), plus juicy burger topped with cheddar, topped with lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce. Holy Crap it is by far the best burger i have ever had. Even though my stomach was see-thru after, cause of the oil. i would do it again.

And that shake. was amazing.

Here's a scene outside a pizzeria that i did not visit :(

8:00PM

Unrelated to food, but related to awesome, we caught the 8 o clock to the new musical, Catch Me If You Can. And can I say, i thought it was great! I can go into a whole thing so i will stop, but it's a great show go see it! And I love Aaron Tveit!

11-11:30PM

One of my food scavenger goals from NYer DC, was to send me to find this Chicken and Rice street cart on 53rd and 6th, so we went to check it out after the show. And saw this cupcake cart! did not stop :(

Shietz! this line is only like 1/4th that my camera could capture.... I mean how could any chicken and rice dish for $6 bucks be THAT good.... and i was starving, so we werent gonna wait for however long... so we started looking for something else..

And found an unlined cart like half a block away, we were like. HA HA. arent we smart!!! suckas! but it turns out, i think this is a fake cart, or at least that's what DC said... But they wear the same yellow polos! I guess NYC is infamous for fakes... awww scammed ...

Well! here's the dish! I loaded up on white sauce as per DC's comments, and also some of that hot stuff... I went on my assumption that it was the normal kinda hot sauce... boy was I WRONG. that shit must have been like habenero and ghost chilli extract cause after one bite my entire throat closed out and my taste buds left home for the night. they were like. FUCK YOU asshole we're out of here.... ended up tossing the rest of it away :(

DAY 2

I wanted to have a nice brunch, and since our wait time was 30-40 mins, decided to take a walk up Amsterdam Ave., as it was Sunday, and the street was a roaring.. with kinda the same stuff on every block, (gyros and corn), and the occasional specialties.

MMM some ROASTED pork

Amazing looking cupcakes... i was saving myself for brunch... i shoulda just bought some!

Coils of street meat! I was seduced the first time i came to New York, if you check out my profile pic, that's what i'm eating! More on this on my next posts!!!!

I tried taking so many pics of this gorgeous husky, he was wagging his tail at me at first, but after the 10th shot, he was like, "Lady, just take the FREAKING picture". hey. side-eye doesn't become of you pretty dog!

Lost the battle to hunger and caved to the $3.00 corn on the cob. totally worth it.

Sarabeth's

423 Amsterdam Avenue # 1, New York - (212) 496-6280

Made it finally to Sarabeth's. Damn. well apparently we got a table 15 mins in and they gave it away so another 30 mins of waiting and wondering is this the best damned brunch i will experience? Why are so many people waiting for this!!!???

Classic Eggs Benedict - $17.00

After minutes of mulling, and i always mull over the brunch menu, even though i always always ALWAYS end up ordering the eggs benny everywhere i go, i went with it. Man, for $17.00 this better be the best damned... and actually.. it was really good... but not $17.00 good. But the hollandaise were perfect perfect. The eggs were perfect, i coulda ate 2 plates and asked for more.

Fluffy French Toast - $15.00

The French toast looked amazing. And it was really good... thought i eat my by dipping each individual bite in the butter... so the butter was really good.

Ferrara Bakery and Cafe

195 Grand Street, New York - (212) 226-6150

After a long day of shopping, we found our way into Little Italy, supposing to meet my friend but got kinda lost and needed a pick me up in a major way... and found ourselves here!

The foamiest Cappuccino EVER

We were suppose to go for dinner, so we got this little sampler to settle me down. and oh-mi-goodness were the cannoli's amazing! Got a chocolate covered cannoli, this shortbread thing with cannoli custard, and this blueberry tart. fantastic!... but expensive... but good! but $$$. what do you want?

Momofuku Ssam Bar

251 E 13th St, New York - (212) 254-3500

I keep hearing that i have to go visit this momofuku, which is funny, cause now that i do, i found out there's one coming to Toronto in 2012

steamed buns – pork belly, hoisin, cucumbers, scallions

Their famed steamed pork buns, which you know, the next chance i get, im gonna try to make these, cause besides the steamed pac-man buns, i think i can make everything else! plus the yumness, besides the super fatty pork belly, is the hoisin sauce! But they were pretty amazing....

My GF got this Geoduck appy, it was a special of the night, and in some cilantro or herby sauce, it was super fresh and tasty.

For her main, she got this rhubarb concoction that i am not to interested in, cause it's all veggies. damn you vegetarians.

grilled trout – artichokes, sicilian pistachio, sunchokes

She originally wanted to get the trout, but we ended up getting it, and it was really really really good.

roasted duck and duck sausage

And this was mine, super tasty, the sausage was amazing. i would also like to use my money and buy a full duck in chinatown and eat it on the sidewalk. but this was nice as well.

16 Handles

after dinner, and foregoing more expensive desserts, we were brought to this cool lil place called 16 Handles, where there were 16 handles of low fat, and non fat, different flavoured yogurt to choose from. You pull it yourself in 2 different sizes of cups provided, load up whatever you want in the toppings bar, weigh it, and eat!

See what combos we came up with! it came to around 6 bucks for each. and multitude of toppings to choose from as you can see. as for the yogurt, i think between us, we got cheese cake, vanilla, red velvet, chocolate, etc etc etc

Day 3

Carnegie Deli

I wasnt gonna leave without having my deli fill, and lucky, this place was a block away from our hotel. score!

I was feeling under the weather, as the weather was CRAP. and i was under it. and got some sniffles, and since i never had Matzo ball soup, i gave it a go. HOLY CRAP those are huge balls. it was very homey, and the chicken stock was super good. Its kinda just like dough in soup. or a giant pasty ball. someone pls expain to me. but it was good.

Obligated plate of pickles! I like how there were different flavours, i wish there were more.

This was a special on the table.... hmmmm... tempting

So, the first time i went to NYC, i went to Katz Deli, and ordered a Reuben and fell in love. And wanted to recreate it here at Carnegie, their menu is crazily extensive, and when i saw Reuben, i stopped looking, and did not realize the $23.00 Open Face Reuben, was THIS MONSTER (btw extra $3.00 for sharing! WHAT?)

Where is the bread?

We worked our hardest but this conquered us... this was what was left over... this mountain of corned beef and swiss cheese... defeated...

You're situated in long tables so it gets really cozy, my neighbour had this monster BLT. Where it really should be called BBBBBBBBBBBBBBLT. cause really all i see is the BBBBBBBB.

Before leaving, i caught a look of their dessert display. and damn it if i wasnt so full of meat (no jokes), i took some pics. this is for you Kristine! Shout out! xxx