Wheat Thicks

Our omnivorous nature let us eat wheat (or its ancestors). Though some of us have problems like gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, we have developed so many tasty food based on it. On Friday, I ate two such items.

Around 12 pm, I headed to a stretch of stores a block from North York Centre. These holdouts are slowly being consumed by newer commercial buildings and condos. It is also happening to some downtown streets like Yonge or King so I wonder when it will spread throughout older neighbourhoods like Bloorcourt beyond just the intersections. I was looking for General An Potsticker, located inside a modest "food hall" (think food court without the mall). I saw a post about it having better Xi'an noodles than in Xi'an China itself due to the quality of Canadian wheat. The video only had a few thousand views when it came across my feed but it has since garnered several million across social media. So despite 15-minutes from opening, a line-up formed behind me. Some of the other curious seekers included a student from Earl Haig skipping school and a lady with luggage in tow. Apparently, they had sold out yesterday by 1:30 pm (only 35 portions for lunch) and she was determined to get her noodles this time round.

 I don't usually chase trends, but yes, I did pick An for the claims. However, it was also a closer commute for a co-worker. She limped in about 5 minutes before opening hours so I asked her to just grab us some seats at a Formica table. She had just come back from vacation in China. It turned out that she wasn't the only person laid-off in September after the company take-over; 3 others were let go even the founder's nepo-baby. The China trip was partly for fun (a tour in Shanghai) but also for serious reasons. Her husband had misaligned vertebral discs which improved after receiving traditional adjustment techniques. She herself had back and sciatica pains, hence the limp. I asked her since she was in her early 60s, why not retire back in China for the cheaper living and health care? She wasn't in the retirement mindset yet and they were also worried about their adult children who were struggling to get financial and employment stability.

As for the food, I ordered beef and chives potstickers ($7.99), a regular Youpo Mian bowl ($11.99) and a three-topping Youpo Mian ($14.99). The toppings and chili oil were alright but not memorable. But the hand-made noodles and dumplings were wonderfully toothsome with excellent chew. As Chinese noodles were usually a miss for me, this was a definite win.

Since I was still full from those lasagna-sized noodles, dinner was a slice of pizza from Acute Pizza at Dundas and Lansdowne. This shop took over from Yummy Pizza which was there for a decade. I admit I've passed by Yummy many times without going in because for cheap, modest pizzerias, I already had Fresca and a few others. But for Acute, it looks like taking a (NY style) page from Badiali has made it a success with the neighbourhood. The joint was hopping with lots of delivery and pick-up. Unfortunately, that meant they were too busy to keep their per-slice offerings topped up except for a solitary Margherita piece. Using sourdough gave it a slight tangy base and lots of chew. But the $5.25 slice was not even half the portion from Fresca or 241 pizza. So I'm sticking to the OG places until they close up shop.