Tag Archives: Mother's Day

65-dollar, 66% buffet brunch on Mother’s Day

Now, we may have been raised by wolves in the wilds of Alberta, but that doesn’t mean we don’t celebrate Mother’s Day on Triple B — especially when there’s a buffet involved. We’re hanging out at Dia, this funky joint on the second floor of the new Canopy by Hilton at Bloor and Sherbourne, where they’re serving up a $65 Mother’s Day brunch that’s not quite a full buffet, but pretty close.

Y’see, while they have a buffet-style spread for starters and desserts, you order your entrees a la carte from their Mother’s Day menu… which means you only get to pick just one. But there is plenty of food to go around for starters, though:

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What we’ve got here is garden breakfast pizza, bacon breakfast pizza, a bacon & marscapone shooter, marble cheddar, hummus + goat cheese, Greek pasta salad, Virginia ham, sopressata and some bread for hummus dipping. I deliberately avoided adding any veggies to this plate, but there are some onions, peppers and mushrooms on the pizza, so that counts. The bacon breakfast pizza was TheBomb.ca, but the hummus on fresh bread was actually the best thing on this plate, bro!!!!!

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Now, there were six main courses to choose from, but you KNOW I went with the prime rib roast — dude, this is body by prime rib roast! But while I was expecting some freshly carved prime rib, Toronto Beach Club style, this piece of meat clearly came out of the kitchen. It wasn’t bad, but it was only the third best prime rib I’ve had in the past six weeks. At least the carrots and asparagus helped me not die of scurvy this week, so there’s that…

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But you KNOW we’ve still got room for dessert — and I grabbed one of almost everything on the dessert table, bro! We’re talkin’ strawberry chocolate truffles, strawberry trifle, vanilla crème brûlée, chocolate explosion brownie AND pecan pie… oh my! Now, we don’t normally trifle with trifle on Triple B, but I gotta say, this trifle was quite tasty. You’ve got strawberry jam topped with whipped cream, topped with shortcake, more whipped cream, and a couple strawberry slices on top. It’s like a festival of funk in Flavourtown!!!!!!!

3-course Mother’s Day brunch @ Gallery Grill

We may have been raised by wolves on Triple B, but that doesn’t stop us from going to Mother’s Day Brunch, bro! We’re hanging out at the Gallery Grill, this funky joint inside Hart House on the U of T campus, where they’re serving up a three-course Mother’s Day brunch for 50 bucks. Mama, Mama, I’m coming hooooome!!!!

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Now, the starters were all salad, except for this one soup. So I went with the cheesiest salad available, with Buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes and arugula. I think this would go pretty good on top of a burger, bro!!!

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For the main course, we’re doing steak and eggs, son! Steak is a nice medium rare, with two sunny-side up eggs, a couple pieces of toasted baguette bread and some bland, unseasoned homefries. Oh, and there’s also a side salad. Dude, this has gotta be the most salad I’ve ate all year!!!!

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For dessert, we’re crushing a 70% chocolate sorbet, with crunchy chunks of aquafaba meringue. Apparently, aquafaba is the liquid left over from a can of chickpeas. #TheMoreYouKnow, bro!!!!!

TORONTO’S TOP TAKEOUT: Smoked brisket and smoked salmon Mother’s Day brunch

A few days back, I got an email from Tock saying it’s your last chance to order your Mother’s Day specials. Up until that point, I wasn’t planning on doing anything for Mother’s Day, since we’re still in Lockdown Number 3, and I can’t eat dinner for four by myself. But as I scrolled down the list of Mother’s Day meals, I came across this funky little joint in Parkdale called Noble House that was offering up a Mother’s Day brunch for two with a few of my favourite things — beef brisket, pickles and cake. Oh, and smoked salmon, fruit and veggies, too. Here’s what it looks like with everything unpacked and put together:

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Werd to ya mutha! This smorgasbord board of flavour was meant to feed two comfortably, but it’s more like a light lunch in Flavourtown. We’ve got two beef brisket sammies, with plenty of mustard, four giant pickle spears, a fruit tray, container of coleslaw, apple cinnamon coffee cake and some fully loaded lox. You KNOW I think they’re jiggy, bro!!!!

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But first, we’re getting frisky with the brisky. Seeing the smoked brisket on the menu is what made me buy this brunch to begin with. They give you two handfuls of brisket, four slices of bread and more than enough mustard — along with the super-thick pickles and slaw — to make this a decent deli meal by itself. The instructions were to heat the brisket on a low simmer, and while I eventually figured out what a low simmer was, I probably didn’t leave the meat in the pot long enough. Plus, by the time I put everything else together, it wasn’t really warm anymore…but that didn’t make it any less delicious!

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This brunch kit also came with everything you needed for some fully loaded lox. You’ve got two sesame seed bagels, plenty of cream cheese, smoked salmon, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, dill sprigs and capers. And I used up pretty much everything, except for some of the cream cheese and dill. Only thing I’d say is that the Montreal-style bagels with the bigger hole in the middle made it harder to put everything together without a bunch of it falling off. Maybe I shouldda tried to make a sandwich? And I still dunno what I’m gonna do with all that extra dill, dough…

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Around here, it wouldn’t be brunch without ice cold beer. This Live Transmission milkshake IPA from the righteous bros at Flying Monkeys is brewed with orange peel, grapefruit and coconut tea, so it’s practically fruit juice…although a lot hoppier, and heavier, at 6.3%.

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Now the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad, so I had coffee cake for dessert. This rich, dense cake tastes like apples and cinnamon, with some icing on top. It was probably enough for two people, but you KNOW calories don’t count on Sundays, bro!!!

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And while that was probably the most fruit I’ve ever ate in my life, and I barely even had room for dessert, I gotta say, it wasn’t a bad way to spend Mother’s Day. Mama, I’m Coming Home, Ozzy Os-bro-ne!!!

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