The Drinks Show 2011.

booze!... I've been invited to check out The Drinks Show this year, which is an alcoholic beverage event where guests can try out lots of different types of mixed cocktails and alcoholic drinks (admission fee + drink prices below).  It's being held on June 3 and 4th at 99 Sudbury, a venue that has 2 bars and an outdoor patio too. The party is supposed to be a club-like atmosphere with djs, will also offer contests (there is even a pole dance contest!)  and even food sampling to go along with all the drinking. If you like to drink or party, this might be worth checking out. With all this alcohol, obviously a 19+ event as well. lol
Tickets are $23 ($25.99 after tax) and drinks come in sample size ($2) or full size ($7)... use promo code: "SOCIAL" for $5 off online tickets

I will report back after I attend this event! ... if i'm able to type after all the drinking lol


The Drinks Show
June 3rd and 4th    (6 pm-1 am)
99 Sudbury Street 
Toronto, Ontario
http://www.drinksshow.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/thedrinksshow

McDonald's Salads: Review + 50% off coupon.

mcd's!... good old McDonald's is holding another promotion, this time for their entree salads.  Click on the picture above, print off the coupon above (expires June 13, 2001) and grab one of their entree salads for 50% off (comes out to about $3.50 after taxes, regular price is about $6.79 + tax each). You can print as many off as you want.  They are running this promo for almost a month so its a great chance to grab a quick "healthy" meal (use less dressing for extra healthiness haha). When getting the salads make sure they give you all the extras that are supposed to come with each salad (ie dressing, extra packets of stuff) because they mess this up all the time or give you the wrong dressing for the salad you choose.


How do these salads taste/look?
Don't worry, I'm a big fan of Mickey D's, so once I heard the promo I went ahead and tried all 4 types of their salads yesterday.  All of the salad are quite small, I wouldn't call them entree size, but they are a good deal for $3.50 (regular price not worth it) considering each salad comes with a respectable sized piece of chicken (either crispy or grilled chicken).  Here's a quick review of each one...
1. Southwest Salad (Top Left)
The southwest salad is quite tasty as it is kinda like a mexican salad, with mixed greens, red onions and I also got quite bit of beans in mine as well.  They also give you a pack of nacho chips mix in along with the shredded nacho cheese and spicy southwest dressing (the typical minimally spicy chipotle flavour sauce available at most fast food places). + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken!
2. Spicy Thai Salad (Top Right)
The spicy thai is McD's asian style salad as they use wonton style chips and an asian sesame dressing.  When mixed together it tastes kinda sweet (not spicy at all). They also include the usual mixed greens along with some red peppers and carrots from what I remember. Not bad, especially if you like sweeter, honey garlic type asian flavours.  + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken!
3. Mighty Caeser Salad (Bottom Left)
 WTF McDonald's, there is nothing mighty about this salad at all.  It is your typical ceaser salad  that comes with caeser dressing and a pack of croutons.  Nothing wrong with this salad, just that it's not mighty at all. It also comes with some small bacon pieces (not the bacon bits from street meat), cheese and your choice of crispy or grilled chicken.  However, this salad is the most unoriginal and least satisfying of the 4.  "WEAKSAUCE!" ..no pun intended lol
4. Tuscan Salad (Bottom Right)
The tuscan salad is in my opinion the best tasting salad that McD's has to offer.  I was quite impressed by the salad that came with mixed greens, grape tomatoes and cheese.  They also give you a pack of dried cranberries (aka craisins!) and pine nuts.  All of this mixed together with the Yogurt creamy garlic dressing is bommmmb! + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken


McDonald's has done quite well with this salad promotion, so go get them before the coupon expires on June 13, cause regular price at $6.79 + tax is not worth getting ever for a fast food salad. In addition, until first week of September 2011, Mcdonald's also has $1 any size soft drinks (XL largest) and $1 any size Iced Coffees (L largest,flavours: regular, caramel, vanilla-best one!).  The iced coffees are good for this price (don't waste your money at timmy's or starbucks if you just wanna get an iced coffee).
BONUS: how to eat a FAST FOOD SALAD the proper way!

The Burger's Priest.

burgers!... I recently tried a burger place that has the tastiest burger that I have tried in Toronto.  My friend Peter raved about this burger for weeks before convincing me to go and try it for myself.  We made the drive down to the Queen East where Burger Priest is located and there was already a lineup of about 4-5 people on a Wednesday at 11:35 (5 mins after they open!).  
Aside from the fresh beef they use daily for their patties, what makes the burger really tasty is what they call "The Option." The Option is a deep fried portabello mushroom that is stuffed with cheese.  I tried their signature burger: "The Priest" ($9.99 + tax) which is a cheese burger with all the regular toppings + this giant deep fried cheese stuff portabello mushroom.  Every single bite is delicious and the cheese just melts out of the deep fried mushroom. It's quite expensive at 10 bucks just for a burger, but if you're gonna come here and get a burger, you gotta get "The Priest." They also sell the Option by itself for $7.99 + tax. They are also cash only and closed on Sundays.

The Burger's Priest
1636 Queen Street East
Toronto M4L 1G3
647-346-0617

Saigon Star.

beer crab... My friend Florence recently got into a design school in San Francisco called FIDM (congrats!), so of course we had to go out and celebrate with some good food. She decided on going to a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Star, mainly to get the Beer Crab dish that they serve. I had never tried this beer crab previously and was looking forward to a trying a crab cooked inside a broth/ soup made of beer. There were 4 of us (my friends Jess and Dave also), and we ordered about 3 dishes to share.
We ordered a Beer Crab Hot Pot dish ($39.95 + tax/tip for large), which was the definite highlight of the meal. It was literally a giant crab cooked in a large pot with a soup made with beer. The soup itself tasted awesome with lots of crab flavour mixed with a slight taste of beer. There was plenty of flavour in the soup, which was also loaded with vermicelli (which soaked up all the flavour too). Florence taught us how to eat this dish and here's the instructions:

1. Split the Crab up and using the tools they give you (ie. crab cracker..lol.i dunno if that's what it's called), take out as much meat as you can.
2. Pour out bowls of the soup (including everything in it, vermicelli, veggies, etc.)
3. Place lots of crab meat pieces (from step 1) into each individual bowl and enjoy!

This type of dish is perfect when it is colder outside, as the meal is really hearty and even with the beer in it, it make's you feel nice and warm inside after you eat it.haha. In addition to the beer crab we also wanted some variety and ordered a Vegetable Hot Pot ($9.50 + tax/tip), Curry Beef Brisket ($10.50 + tax/tip) and french bread ($1.50/each + tax/tip) to go with the curry. The vegetable hot pot was a pretty big portion of mixed vegetables (including broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, bok choi, etc) and vermicelli cooked with lots of flavour, tasted kind of like some satay type sauce. The dish was a little oily, but very good anyways. The beef brisket was also really good and it came in a pretty big portion. They warm the french bread up before they serve it so it is nice, soft and goes awesome with the curry. Unfortunately we were all pretty full from the beer crab, haha, so we didn't eat too much of the curry.
Since we came here to get beer crab, we also had to get some beer to drink along with the meal. We had to stick with Viet beer at a Viet restaurant, so we ordered 4 Tiger beers ($4.50/each + tax/tip). Florence also ordered a Vietnamese Ice Coffee ($3.50 + tax/tip). Saigon Star is located in Richmond Hill in a plaza on Highway 7 between Bayview and Leslie (there is also a HSBC in the plaza and it's across the street just West of Commerce Gate). The unique beer crab dish is definitely worth checking out.

Saigon Star Restaurant
113-330 Highway 7 East
Richmond Hill, ON
905-731-7221