#5: Lady Marmalade

#5 on blogTO’s 50 Best Brunches: Lady Marmalade

The Location: Lady Marmalade (everyone lives west of here, right? Then take the Queen Street car all the way east of Broadview)

The Time: Friday afternoon

The Company: Fellow brunch-enthusiast and regular blog guest star Wendy, and husband Chris

Our vegetarian dishes are friends

Veggie Menu: Standard eggs with toast and potatoes, A.M. poutine (vegetarian!), Huevos Rancheritos and Huevos Migas (variations on a theme), organic tofu scramble, roasted vegetable or fresh tomato and pesto Eggs Benedict, a fruit parfait, porridge, and buckwheat crepes filled with fruit

Veggie Specials: Roasted garlic and navy bean soup

Going for brunch involves paying your dues. Usually this involves standing in line in a drafty doorway, or hungrily waiting for a text from the hostess while at a nearby coffee shop.  Our good brunch friend Wendy paid these dues for us today as we cleaned up an unappetizing doggy accident and made an emergency trip to the dry cleaners. Thank you Wendy, for making this brunch possible.

Lady Marmalade is all business, so it’s no wonder they’re number 5 on blogTO’s list. The service was friendly and the food delivery was fast. They’re clearly old pros and know how this brunch thing works. Because of this, they decided to stop serving their breakfast poutine because it was slowing them down. It makes sense for efficiency, but was a huge disappointment. Poutine for breakfast needs to be a part of my life. Take it off your menu, Lady Marmalade, if you can’t serve it when you’re busy – it’s my understanding that you’re ALWAYS busy.

Brunching buddies

Our waitress recommended a vegetarian version of their Huevos Migas. I enjoyed the process of eating it, as I like dipping tortilla chips in anything and everything. The food tasted good too, but I remember the event more than the flavours. Chris’ roasted veggie Benedict was a decent benedict, but I wouldn’t travel out of my way to have it.

Lady Marmalade thrives in Leslieville because their residents also take brunch very seriously. In my opinion, it pales in comparison to the nearby Bonjour Brioche, which is more chaotic, less organized, but more delicious.

Lady Marmalade had a chance to win my love, commitment, and loyalty, as Bonjour Brioche doesn’t have a vegetarian breakfast poutine. But you withheld from me, Lady Marmalade, and for now, my Leslieville heart belongs to someone else.

#1: Aunties and Uncles

Aunties and Uncles

#1 on blogTO’s 50 Best Brunches: Aunties and Uncles

The Location: Aunties and Uncles (slightly north of College and East of Bathurst)

The Time: Friday Afternoon, mid November

The Company: My husband, who loved brunch before he loved me.

Veggie Menu:  Breakfast Pocket or Breakfast Taco (ask for it without meat!), grilled cheese on chala bread (with or without a fried egg), banana oatmeal pancakes, cinnamon french toast, yogurt and granola, scrambled eggs with three sides of your choice, toasted bagel

Veggie Specials: Soup (tomato, garlic and kale) omelette (butternut squash, mushroom, spinach and provolone), cinnamon apple crisp pancakes

Before I begin, I must say that my journey to discover the best vegetarian brunch in Toronto would not have been possible without my husband Chris, for he introduced me to what brunch can be. It’s more than the buffet at the Golden Griddle, or a drawn-out lunch after church at the local hotel. It’s the meal that you start thinking about Saturday night while doing tequila shots at the university pub. It’s the best time of day to pig-out, because, after all, you have the rest of the day to burn off all the cheese. It’s the only meal where sweet and savoury are expected to exist on the same plate.

Tacos for breakfast definitely wouldn’t be found at the Golden Griddle!

Chris brought me to Epicure in Kingston early in our courtship. I did not see the appeal of going out for brunch if we weren’t going to the aforementioned Griddle (side note: after searching for one for the past eight years, I went to a Griddle recently, an all-night one, and it was not the magical place I thought it was when I was 19. It was dusty and somehow still smokey, nine years after the smoke ban).

Epicure became my favourite place in Kingston, and I learned the glories of showing up to brunch wearing some combination of sweat suit and pyjama. Aunties and Uncles is far too hipster to show up in pyjamas un-ironically, but it has always reminded me of Epicure in its timeless diner vibe. Aunties and Uncles has deliberately achieved this vibe, while Epicure, I believe, was simply out-of-date, and has perhaps also aged in my mind since my last visit in 2005. I can’t verify the validity of the 1950’s images of Epicure that I have in my head, as it closed shortly after we moved to Toronto.

There are no pickles in these, but I’m still as excited over tacos as I was in 1989!

The casual, relaxed atmosphere that Aunties and Uncles achieves inside is quite a feat, since every visit is accompanied by a wait outside. However, once you get in, the staff is friendly, fast, and accommodating.

On these brunch visits, I haven’t been straying too much from the menu and have been choosing strictly vegetarian options, but this time I asked for an alteration and got a vegetarian version of the Breakfast Tacos, while Chris had the omelette of the day (which included big fat mushrooms…. Good thing he’s cute).

The tacos were quite tasty, and I love dishes with pinto beans, but could have done with a little less cilantro. Chris loved his omelette and said you could really taste all of the ingredients (who’d want to taste mushrooms? yuck). He went with a side of home fries (a combination of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes) while I chose the potato salad, which I always choose because it has dill in it, but which I always regret because it’s not as good as the home fries. The chala bread that came with Chris’ meal was delicious, especially paired with their homemade strawberry jam.

While they will never replace my first love, Epicure, Aunties and Uncles is a close second and pretty much defines what a good brunch should be: delicious, relaxing, casual, and worth the wait. There is much for vegetarians to enjoy.

And really, my first love wasn’t Epicure, it was Chris. Thanks for continuing to brunch with me. 🙂

2003: Our first brunch together at Epicure!

#47: The Queen and Beaver

Peanut butter + buttermilk = my dream come true

#47 on blogTO’s 50 Best Brunches: The Queen and Beaver Public House

The Location: The Queen and Beaver Public House

The Time: Saturday afternoon, mid-November

The Company: My mother, who is blasé about brunch (not so anymore!)

Veggie Menu: Baked egg and goats cheese with soldiers (thin slices of toasted bread, apparently), 3yr old cheddar and smoked tomatoes on toast, and buttermilk pancakes and peanut butter ice cream

My mom and I have many things in common, but our love of brunch is not one of them. To me, it’s the meal of the day most worthy of a visit to a restaurant. My mom loves dinner and would rather shop during the day. Because of this blog, she consented to this meal, and we delayed our trip to the Eaton Centre by 40 minutes to go to the Queen and Beaver.

I learned a new word today: ramekin!

I’ll cut to the chase: I’m not a fan of pancakes, but luckily the peanut butter ice cream lured me in, and they were the best pancakes I’d ever had. My mom agreed. We also had the baked egg and goat cheese with spinach (in a ramekin, my new word for the day). It was reminiscent of eggs benedict, but goat cheese is less calories than hollandaise sauce. Seriously, I got Siri to look it up for me.

Combined with fast service, an amazing price, and a nice relaxed atmosphere, it was a very enjoyable meal. Even though there are only three veggie options on the menu, they are amazing options, and I will definitely go back.

One of my favourite brunches so far!

#48: School

#48 on blogTO’s Best 50 Brunches: School

The Location: School (King and Dufferin area)

My visit to School coincided with me bringing the poncho back.

The Time: Saturday afternoon, early November

The Company: My regular brunch entourage: Chris, Natalie, and Wendy!

Veggie Menu: Vegetarian chili omelette with pico de gallo, two pancake options and one waffle dish

Every time I go to Liberty Village, I feel like I’m missing the action; this so-called “up and coming” neighbourhood always feels empty. On this visit, I discovered where the action is: School! Then after eating there, I wondered if people only flock here due to the lack of other brunch options.

Even at 2 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, there was a lineup, and we could only get seats at the bar. Getting to know the bartender is becoming part of my brunching routine.

On their website, School promotes that their brunch lasts from 8 ’til 4. Great news! ….until they started running out of food, and kept removing things from the menu as the carnivores at my table ordered them.

C’mon, School, that strawberry needs more friends.

I am not a fan of having only pancakes or waffles as my meal, so I ordered the omelette. “It’s a dish reminiscent of huevos rancheros with the added bonus of chili on your plate!” …at least, these are the optimistic thoughts I had before it arrived: the chili was not flavourful, and the side salad was terribly bland. Thank goodness for the pico de gallo and two lonely tortilla chips.

It turns out I was right to order the omelette instead of the other options: hungry Wendy got three tiny pancakes with a small side of whipped cream and a solitary strawberry. No vegetables, no side salad, for $13.

I learned to tell time at School.

I’m not focussing much on the decor of my brunch places, but going to a place called School, I wrongly anticipated that we would be eating at desks and looking at the menus on blackboards. The wall of clocks and the test papers hanging from the lights were the only references to their creative name. Similarly, I expected the dishes to take a cue from the name of the place, and feature school-day dishes, like a gourmet PB and J sandwich. I guess I’m spoiled from Camp Restaurant, where the chefs always take their theme to heart, and feature S’mores, grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, and other camp mainstays.

We exited School and returned to the abyss of Liberty Village, hungry and disappointed. As a vegetarian, the omelette dish is not memorable enough to warrant a return to this restaurant.

An unmemorable omelette. #firstworldproblems

#14: Little Fish

The lettering is not photoshopped – this place is THAT whimsical!

#14 on blogTO’s Best 50 Brunches: Little Fish

The Location: Little Fish (in the Junction, near Dundas and High Park)

The Time: Sunday Morning

The Company: My best good friend, Liz

Veggie Menu: Oatmeal and yoghurt with many yummy toppings, buttermilk pancakes with a side of fruit, french toast, poached eggs with with avocado and tomato with a side of cottage cheese and toast, huevos rancheros in a wrap, a scrambled eggs special that may be vegetarian depending on the day, and poached eggs served on perogies and topped with lemon hollandaise sauce.

I hate watermelon because it smells bad.

Little Fish certainly has many vegetarian options, and I had trouble choosing! I’m a sucker for perogies, so I went for the “Junction 40”, while Liz chose another vegetarian dish, the French toast.

I was drawn to the idea of having perogies for breakfast, and thought it would be delicious set with hollandaise sauce, fried onions, and poached eggs. While there was nothing amiss in the combination of these foods, the dish did not blow me away. I had a bite of Liz’s french toast, and was unmoved.

Liz loves her French toast!

This was my second visit to Little Fish, and while I appreciate how much they cater to vegetarians, and love the vibe, I always leave feeling underwhelmed. Many of my friends, including Liz, LOVE this place, and so I’ll likely return.

Accidental artsy-fartsy photo in the Junction