World Cup of Dining in Toronto 19: Mexico

Forget the sombreros. Grand Electric on Queen Street in west-end Parkdale is not that kind of taqueria. There was nothing Mexican about its matte-black exterior that didn’t even feature a name sign, the red-painted picnic table that seated my party of six, the chalkboard menus, or the bare midriffed waitress. And the loud funk-fused-with-rap beats blasting from the speaker not two metres overhead had no mariachi in them. IMG_20140502_175257

But, hombre, consensus around the picnic table was that whoever was in the cocina knew what they were doing. Beef, chicken, pork, fish or cauliflower, the tacos were excellent. As were the stinging tequila, lime, jalapeño cocktails. If you’re going to do a Toronto-edgy-hipster version of Mexico, you’d better be sure the food is great. Grand Electric succeeded.


World Cup of Dining in Toronto 17-18: England, Australia

England: “Well I am swooning from this invitation” responded my friend sarcastically, but positively. I had asked a colleague from Cambridgeshire what IMG_20140424_191812he’d recommend to someone who had never sampled English cuisine. The joke practically writes itself….anyway…..my pal got a dreamy faraway look in his eyes and said “steak and kidney pie”.

Unfortunately, the Queen & Beaver did not serve this. So, washing it down with several pints of Fuller’s London Pride Ale, I had rabbit and potato pie. There will be a new Easter Bunny next year. It was tasty but fairly innocuous. There wasn’t anything particularly English about the patrons, watching a hockey game on the wide screen. On the walls, predictably, photos of the 1966 World Cup winning side.

 

Australia: today, during the deluge, I took a cab ride downtown with two Australians. I had pre-ordered meat pies from a bistro that sells an Aussie pie IMG_20140429_130621maker’s wares and we were on a lunchtime mission. My friends of the down under persuasion explained to me that in Australia, meat pies are about the same as hot dogs here; you get them at sports events and in the school cafeteria. And as I learned, you eat them with your hands and get ketchup on yourself. They pronounced the pie crusts authentic, but the filling good albeit a little too gourmet to be truly comfort food. All the same, it was yum served with a healthy helping of Aussie culture. No budgie smuggling was involved.