Bacon Makes things taste better....FACT!

I love the flavor combination of sweet and salty. So when I heard about a fudge, salt, bacon milkshake - I HAD to give it a try. Where do I get such a Frankenstein of a creation? Holy Chuck Burgers - a new gourmet burger joint located right at Yonge and St. Clair.

They specialize in burgers - crazy burgers, multiple patties, an insane amount of bacon and cheese - we skipped on the burgers and went right for the milkshake.

The taste was a bit weird at first sip, but then I couldn't stop after. There was an initial sweetness from the milkshake, and then the crunchy bacon hits you, the smokiness and the salt is an aftertaste that lingers in your mouth. It's odd because there's real bits of bacon that requires a bit of chewing. The base of the milkshake was PERFECT! Not too thick or runny - it carried the flavors very well! It comes in the equivalent of probably a small drink at Mcdonalds, and as you can see - they give you a bubble tea straw! All places that serve milkshakes should do this (regular straws just don't hold up!) It's a tad pricier than most milkshakes coming in at $6.50...but most milkshakes don't have bacon in it. I couldn't finish mine - but I was close - the bacon aftertaste lingers and leaves the taste of sodium in your mouth. Rating: 4/5

I don't think I'd ever get this again - but not because of taste, but because I would want to try the other flavors they offer as well, like strawberry cheesecake, or peanut butter and jelly, and they even have a wasabi, green onion and ginger milkshake. And like I mentioned before - they do burgers - and I think I'll be coming back to check out their burgers at one point.

Holy Chuck Burgers
http://www.holychuckburgers.com/
1450 Yonge St, Toronto, ON

Big Bone BBQ - Newmarket

Fat Fridays again!! My co-workers and I decided to have some good old Memphis style BBQ. My co-workers were worried that this bbq joint was not going to be good. I've been there a few times and told them they would not be dissapointed. We each order ribs and wings. It came with fries, coleslaw, brown beans and corn bread on the side. Also you have have to have some brew with that. We each had a Keith's except for the one fellow who liked drinking water-down Coors Light. I told all my co-workers in advance that they need to just stick with the smoked wings and ignore all the others and they were sure glad to listen to my advice. So lets get down to the verdict. I must say overall my co-workers and I had some mighty fine bbq which was very satisfactory. The smokey flavour and the tangy bbq sauce made for an enjoyable meal. We are thinking of getting it for lunch this coming Monday ebcause it was that good. The score I give is 4.5/5.

            Good old Memphis bbq

Smoked wings

Big Bone BBQ
207 Eagle St.
Newmarket Ontario, L3Y 1J8

Food Truck- Gorilla Cheese

Food trucks seem to be the food trend of 2011! So when I saw Gorilla Cheese parked in yonge and dundas square for a public kareoke event, I had to give a truck a try!

There were a couple of menu items- including a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich, bacon maple grilled cheese sandwich and others ranging from 5-7$. And then they offered homemade tomato soup that was about 2$.

I went with the original on multi-grain which used Aged Ontario Cheddar - which came up to $5.50. It was super grease-y but it was fully loaded with gooey cheddar and it came with a sliver of a dill pickle. Taste-wise - it tasted like something I could make myself, nothing special. The cheese wasn't especially sharp, and was a little too grilled (dare I say burnt) - and a bit too grease-y for my liking due to the amount of cheese in the sandwich. It did the job and satisfied my hunger at the time.

Maybe if I chose a more gourmet sandwich with additional toppings - or different cheeses I might have enjoyed it more, but I wanted to try their claim to fame! And5 dollars for a basic grilled cheese was a little steep (It is just bread butter and cheese, mind you). And there was no offer of the most important condiment of all for grilled cheeses - KETCHUP! I think they would benefit if they made homemade ketchup or at least offer ketchup for their sandwiches. Overall rating: 2/5 - i had to deduct 0.5 for the lack of ketchup!

Catering By Mario - Paninoteca

Fat Fridays again! This time my co-workers and I decide to hit up a local place that servers Italian food to the many businesses in the area. My co-worker tried the meatball sub before and told me that I had to try out this place. So I decdied to try the roast chicken sandwich that had prvolone, sun-dried tomatoes and arugula in it. For $8.95 it comes with your choice of mixed or cesar salad. I opted for the cesar salad. So overall the sandwich was kind of small but the bun they served in it was real fresh. It was a tasty sandwich and the cesar salad was good. If you can't make a simple cesar salad then I don't know what to say. I give this place a 3/5.

Catering By Mario - Paninoteca

95 East Beaver Creek Road,

THORNHILL L4B 1L4, ON

Belly Buster Submarines

Belly Buster Submarines - finally decide to try this place that all my friends said was real good due to the real bacon strips. So I decide to order the infamous bacon turkey. When I saw them making my sub, I had my doubts. They were nuking the strips of bacon. They must had like 4 microwaves there. The sub was real good with the shredded lettuce, olives and hot peppers in a nice soft bread. I like to give it a 3/5. Supposeldy they have the belly buster sub there that has gravy in it. Gravy on a sub! Interesting.

Located at

3447 Yonge St
North York, ON M4N 2N3

Allencourt Restaurant - Halibut Fish N Chips

Fat fridays as we like to call it at work is a time for eating greasy food. My lunchmate decided that we have some fish n chips from this mom n pops fish n chips joint in Richmond Hill. The place is called Allencourt and the Halibut Fish and Chips was good but greasy. Price wise, it's fairly expensive as they have jacked up the price. It's about $12 for a big piece of deep fried halibut and fries. Overal I'll give it 2.5/5.

Located at

614 Major MacKenzie Drive E
Richmond Hill, ON L4C 1J9

Uno Mustachio Eggplant Parm - The Sandwich the size of my head

Once in awhile, we need a change of pace when it comes to lunch options, so my co-workers and I head a bit further out of our lunch comfort zone and head on over to the St. Lawrence market for some tasty Italian sandwiches. While my co-workers go for the meat varieties (chicken parm, or veal parm) I stick with the most bang for your buck eggplant parm.

THIS SANDWICH IS STACKED... There's count them, 8 pieces of breaded eggplant - peppers and mozerella cheese (cheese and peppers are extra) with a thin tangy layer of tomato sauce between a soft kasier rolls that can stand up to all the toppings stuffed inside. It's about the same height of about 10 CDs! It's not too oily, or greasy, which makes it a tad bit easier to digest the massive sandwich. In total it comes out to about $8 for lunch with a c-plus... which isn't bad considering I can't even finish half for lunch and I usually save the rest for dinner and I'm STUFFED!

I'd give this sandwich a solid 4.5/5!

Uno Mustachio (lower level)

St. Lawrence Market

92 Front St E
Toronto, ON M5E 1C4