On The Cusp

On Sunday, I visited The Junction at Keele and Dundas St. W., a neighbourhood I missed on Saturday. It has been 3 years since I dropped by. Starting from Bloor St. W. new buildings were going up along Dundas. Being an industrial stretch, there weren't too many landmarks being demolished. But it wasn't clear if the local businesses on the West side will benefit.

As Dundas curved toward Keele past Annette, the view improved dramatically. The Junction, stretching along Dundas from Annette to High Park, used to enforce a dry law even as late as the 1990s. It still retained something of that turn of the century feel. The streetscape was even prettier than famous roads like Queen St. W. Not only were the old buildings kept in good shape but grandiose anchors like Campbell Block has been beautifully restored. So the modern condo that housed a huge LCBO stood out like a sore thumb.

Just off Keele St. I stepped into a Vietnamese diner called Tâm. Looking over the short menu, I chose a green papaya salad ($5.50) and a fried noodle dish ($8.00). I then made my way past specialty grocery Sweet Potato and self-storage Public Storage on Vine St. to eat my lunch at the parkette. For the salad, instead of the traditional beef jerky I opted for dried mushroom jerky. This veggie substitute had a good chew with a hint of sweetness and went well with the crunchiness of the julienned papaya. But I think more chopped herbs would add variety and act as a palate cleanser. The noodle dish was typical of any Asian restaurant: nothing mind-blowing but it tasted great going down.

To work off some of that filling lunch, I made my way South to High Park Station through the side streets. The houses were generally upscale and well-maintained. Paradoxically, they became smaller and scruffier as I approached Bloor St. W.

Spring Free

With a bright and sunny first day of Spring, and a loosening of restrictions despite climbing COVID cases, it seems that all of Toronto was outside on Saturday. I had planned for a walk around several neighbourhoods but I ran into a friend with multiple shopping bags. She was filling up a literal barrel of goods to ship back to family in Eritria via an import/export business catering to the local Ethiopian diaspora. I helped her carry them home and we had a nice lunch of avocado sandwiches.

Afterwards, I continued my walk and saw workers building makeshift patios or just plopping out some chairs and tables. And people were eagerly waiting for a spot. Other stores from the record shop to the bakery had line-ups. Down a garage lane, a giant plushed cat basked in the crook of a tree. Later on, I decided to have a meat dish for dinner, a rarity for me. While waiting for my jollof rice from Afrobeat Kitchen, I noticed that the patios were still in full swing along Bloor St. W.

This dish was a great choice. I had eaten this dish a while back in the East End. That main was good but nothing like this fragrant, smoky version. Even the white, boneless chicken meat was savoury and rich. So I justified to myself that I had a light lunch and finished off the whole entrée.

With Spring already here, it seemed odd to watch the final Youtube stream of the arts festival Long Winter. But there wasn't much else to do at night. In any case, I have a soft spot for Laura Barrett, one of the first local musician I followed. Long Winter online was in numerous ways better than the live version. For one thing, it ends around 9:30 instead of just getting started at that time. Also, they have always hosted art installations along with the musical acts. But at a venue, these tend to be ignored. Finally, even if the crowd has dwindled since its hey-day, there was still enough chatter that most performances are drowned out.

Online, the chatter moves to text chats which you can participate in but can also easily tune out. The art pieces were all videos but you can watch them with less distraction. Even the musical performances were mostly video collaborations. So Barrett debuted a new video made with Jared Sales for Museum Tour Guide, a track from her upcoming album. After a 10 hiatus before releasing new material in 2019, this was a surprising announcement. Zinnia showcased a quirky pas-a-deux shot at Bloordale Beach during the winter. There were also more art-heavy videos from Maylee Todd and most striking of all, one called Molecular Meditation from Mexican-based artist Orly Anan, all undulating and fractal images, built around a shimmering soundscapes of Spanish poetry and Asian instruments (Brandon Miguel Valdivia). Local collective Uma Nota was also able to highlight several Brazilian acts. These additions were welcomed since I find past Long Winter shows, like many other indie shows I have attended, rarely included non-white artists.

Tapis Suprême

Tapioca Local Kitchen

On a bright, pleasant Saturday I took a stroll and decided to do another match-up: Brazilian tapioca crepe. A few weeks ago, I first found out that this was a thing. But it turns out there were actually two such crepe shops within about a 30 minute walk from each other. Tapi-Go! is a recent venture located at Bloor and Shaw. Either the location always had a raised platform or it was built by one of the previous businesses, but there wasn't much space inside due to this odd layout. The menu gave you sweet and savoury choices. I opted for the veggie mushi ($8.50). The tapioca flour was sprinkled onto a flat skillet. Then they added baby spinach, baba ganoush paste, and sautée mushrooms. A dash of truffle oil was added at the end before the crepe was folded into a giant taco.

I ate it at Christie Pits park but this new dish was a let-down. The flavours were muddled and dominated by an earthy sharpness (not sure from which ingredient) that was nasally unpleasant. I might come back here to try the tapioca "dice" but not the crepe. Disappointed, I wasn't sure I wanted to try the other place but on the other hand, with the warm temperature it was a nice walk.

Tapi-Go!

So I made it down to College and St. Clarens to Tapioca Local Kitchen. This tiny place didn't have space for me to linger inside during the current "grey zone" restriction. So I wasn't sure how they made their crepe ($10) here. But what was delivered to me outside was delicious (if a little blurry in the photo). The crust was crispy and so white it looked almost artificial. The inside was stuffed with fragrant baby greens, avocado, bits of mango, and chimmichurri. There was a fragrant note that seemed familiar. In retrospect, I realized this was reminiscent of Vietnamese Cassava Cake since both cassava and tapioca are from the same plant. This was actually a good snack. I'll add this to my food list instead of being a one-and-done.

Dog-Eat-Dog

I was walking through Koreatown on a sunny but blustery Friday and decided to finally try some Korean corn dogs for two reasons: there was a challenger on the block and both businesses were offering deals. The contender was KSeoul Hotdog, taking over from Japanhako near Christie. They had a 1+1 deal so I chose the "ugly potato" dog ($5.98) and a traditional one (regularly $3.98). Unlike North American corn dogs, k-dogs are coated with rice flour instead of corn batter. For the ugly pug, I got garlic mayo and spicy chili while the standard dog got hot mustard and spicy mayo. Both also had sprinkles of sugar as is typical with these Asian imports. They were both good delivery vehicles for messy fried batter though I don't think I'm onboard with the sugar. Unfortunately, the beef wieners didn't have much flavour so eating fried dough palled after awhile.

The top dog was Chungchun Rice Dog at Palmerston, one of several Toronto outposts of a large South Korean franchise. I often see people hanging outside its door, even pre-pandemic, and it was my first inkling that k-dogs have arrived. This week, their veggie dog ($5.99) was on sale for $2.99. It'd be nice to root for the newcomer but the sausage-on-a-stick was better here: crispier glutinous rice coating, and the (faux) meat had taste and even a hint of spiciness. So given their customer base, name brand, and convenient store-front (KSeoul is recessed and up a flight of stairs), Chungchun will likely win this fight.