Crispy's Corner

I don’t know what I got myself into, telling folks that I could tell them where to go when they come to Toronto. I’m not even from Toronto! But I’ve been here 5 years so I guess I qualify as a Torontonian, right??

Shopping:

1. Eaton Centre – regular mall stuff. Over 250 stores.
   I like to go to Bebe, H&M, Aldo, Transit, Zara, La Senza, American Eagle, Jacob, Mango, etc etc.
2. Guess – There are several Guess stores in Toronto but my absolute favorite is located on Yonge and Dundas, across the street from Eaton Center. On the second floor, there are Guess and Guess by Marciano for 50-70% off the sale price. I’ve bought shirts that were originall $98 for $12, jeans for $30 and so on. One of my top bargain-hunting places.
3. Yorkdale Mall – more regular mall stuff but they have a lot of stores and I generally go to this one the most often because it’s the closest to me. I also like going to Casey’s Restaurant (in the mall) after a long day of shopping. Their rotisserie chicken is sooo good!
4. Queen Street – outdoor shopping in downtown Toronto. Great in the summer, you can walk between shops instead of being cooped up in an overly-air-conditioned mall. Some great boutique style shops mixed with stores you can find in a mall.
5. Orfus Road – outlet mall shopping. Only go here if you’re prepared to do a lot of digging. Many stores don’t allow you to try stuff on. The upside is you can get stuff for under $10.I always say, just because I buy cheap, doesn’t mean I want to look cheap. So choose carefully!!

Clubbing:
I don’t know if I’m the best person to ask about this. I do go to clubs but I’m a not much of a club hopper. There is no one club that I go to. I usually go depending on what event or DJ is at the club. I always check out TorontoLime.com to see what’s going on. There are other sites that list nightlife info but if you’re looking for a more…shall I say… “URBAN” crowd, then Toronto Lime is the best place to get info from. These parties play hip-hop, r&b, reggae and soca.

Since SOMEONE told me I was getting a little “long of tooth” (read: old) I have to admit, the club events I enjoy the most are the 90s themed parties like Amnesia, Nostalgia (shout out to D’Enforcas) and Soul Kitchen . OOPS, I just realized, I haven’t done my Throwback Thursdays in awhile…. Anyway, since legal drinking age is 19 here, these “old school” jams tend to bring a more mature crowd and I don’t end up feeling like a chaperone. People come to party and there seems to be less sleazy dudes looking to “chop” at these parties.  I’m not interested in getting another note….

Last time I went to Soul Kitchen, Dwele came to perform. I got a picture with him which I would put up but I’m still paranoid that my boss might try to google me and I don’t want co-workers to see this blog!

Restaurants:

If you do decide to spend the day bargain hunting on Orfus, a great place to eat is Seoul House right at the beginning of the street at Orfus and Dufferin. It’s a Korean/Japenese Restaurant. I usually get the Bi Bim Bap (Korean- comes in a sizzling stone bowl of white rice with sauteed veggies, beef, fried egg and chile pepper sauce and mix before eating – pictured above) or the Shrimp Tempura Udon soup (Japanese – white flour noodle in broth with veggies including battered & deep fried shrimp & veggies on the side). One of two times that I eat shrimp! The broth is so good I usually slurp up the whole thing. The best part is you get a selection of about 4/5 little starter dishes before your meals arrive. I love variety in my foods as much as I love a good bargain! Prices are pretty decent here too. You can easily get a full meal $20 or under.

Speaking of variety in foods, if that’s your thing you must, must, must check out Mezzetta! There are 50+ dishes you can order from instead on one entree. Each dish is a small appetizer size so you can test out all they have to offer. Each dish is $2.95 or 10 selections for $28.00, 15 for $40.00, etc. I went with 3 friends and we got 20 dishes which would have normally been $52.00 but since it was a Monday, we got to take advantage of their Loonie Mondays and got every second dish for $1.22. So of course we had to splurge and got all 3 of their desserts of Baklava, Apricots and Creme, and Creme Bavaria. The only sounds you could hear from our table was ooooHHH….mmmmm….yumm…. We had inhaled the dessert in about 5 minutes. I recommend the Baby Gannoush (eggplant), fried yams (get two of those!), Spinach and/or Cheese Boureka, lamb and chicken shish and all of the desserts! Of the 20 plates we had there was only one we didn’t like. The Vine Leaves which were minced beef and basmati rice wrapped in vine leaves. I think that one needs an “aquired taste.” But one out of 20 ain’t bad and the service was so friendly, I can’t wait to go back.

My favorite after-club spot is Wah Toos Chinese restaurant. I don’t know why I like it so much, the service is rarely friendly, it’s very busy between 2am and 4am on the prime club nights, the cleanliness is questionable but they serve a mean plate of spicy noodles and spicy shrimp (two of two times that I eat shrimp).

Favorite pizza place: Amato’s, hands down! Gourmet pizza, you get 2 nice sized slices for around $4/5. My favorite is Primavera for when I want veggie (eggplant, zuchinni, red peppers, tomatoes, olive oil and parmesan) and the Canadian when I want meat (bacon and mushrooms).

Well I guess that’s it for now. I hope that was informative for those who plan on visiting Toronto or even those who live here!

I swear, after I turned 25, everything began moving in fast forward. It’s funny how I wake up Monday morning, dreading the work week only to turn around and realize that yet another week has passed me by.

Anyway, I went out with the girls last night. Had a friend coming in from out of town so that was the only reason I decided to go out and party on a snowy Toronto night.

When I first moved to Toronto, I remember I had a friend complain to me that it always seems to snow on her birthday. I remember looking at her incredulously and said, “But your birthday is in APRIL!!!” I can’t remember it snowing in April since then but I do remember a nasty ice storm a couple years back that prevented me from seeing my husband (Common) in concert, because my ride didn’t want to brave the treacherous driving conditions. But I’m getting off topic. Back to last night.

We went to this great restaurant called 5 Doors North (www.fivedoorsnorth.com) Judging by their sparse website, my guess was their food was so good that they only had to put the essentials on the site. And was it ever! I got the ribs with matchstick fries (kind of like hickory sticks). It was so good my friend threatened to steal my last piece and had the nerve to offer me SALAD for another piece. You cannot trade salad for succulent ribs, my friend. However, she had ordered the lamp chops with roasted garlic which I got a taste of and it was quite fantastic! The garlic was so well cooked that it literally melted in my mouth with the juicy lamp chops. In case you can’t already tell…. I love to eat!!!

The rest of the girls had order some shrimp, calamari and chicken dishes. I didn’t get a taste but everyone was satisfied. For dessert we had creme brulee and tiramisu. The tiramisu was good but the creme brulee won hands down. I tell ya, it was a little piece of heaven. Pretty reasonable prices too. I got a main dish, side dish and dessert with tip for $35. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the tasty starter bread.   Yum Yum Yum.

The place had a nice vibe, the guy in charge of the music had a slight thing for Whitney Houston so we were treated to the sounds of Whitney as well as a little Fugees and Michael Jackson. Athough we felt slightly jilted when we heard the sounds of Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones” only to find out it was Keisha Chante’s version, aptly titled “Shook”. I’ll forgive them for that one since the food was so tasty and the staff was quite friendly.

We attempted to check out Musicology’s tribute to Prince afterwards but long lineups (party people in Toronto don’t care about the snow apparently), cover charge suspiciously going from $10 to $15 and finally $20 led us to go elsewhere to find a party. We ended up going to some louge in the Continental hotel ( I forgot what it was called) to some Fashion week party. (Am I the only one that didn’t know we had fashion week in Toronto?) We wasted too much time over at Musicology so by the time we arrived the party was pretty much over but at least it was free. The place was really nice so we got a couple drinks, took some pictures and made it look like we had a wild night

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a good bargin, and I love to show off when I find a good bargin. So those in the Toronto area who are interested in where to find great bargins, check this out:

Guess Jeans – $30 Guess store at Yonge and Dundas, beside Eaton Center. Everything on the second floor is 60% off the sale price. The jeans look better on me because I actually have hips!

www.guess.ca

First I was being snooty and didn’t want to go into Payless, but they revamped the store and everything looked snazzy so I decided to take a look and lo and behold, I found these! I couldn’t find a picture on the Payless website but I found a picture on Ebay of the same shoe. But anyway, I got them at the Payless in Fairview mall for $30!!

Oh how I love a good bargain!