PC Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge Crackle Ice Cream.

ice cream!... It's holiday time atm, so here's a quick post on a tasty seasonal product. One of my favourite store bought desserts is the "Presidents Choice Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge Crackle" Ice Cream.   It's vanilla ice cream with pieces of candy cane and these thin strips of crunchy, crackly chocolate pieces.  It's different than mint chocolate chip ice cream as the ice cream itself isn't too minty, just the candy cane pieces.  It is delicious! but make sure you don't leave the box out long (+ bring it home quicktimes from the supermarket), because the candy cane pieces kind of melt sometimes and it's just not the same without those hard minty candy cane pieces. Picked it up for $4.99 + tax on sale (regularly ~$7) at the new giant Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens and you can probably grab it from other President's Choice stores like No Frills or Fortinos, but it is only around during the holidays.

Mickey's Pizza.

amazing pizza!...  Last night I trekked out to Mississauga to check out Mickey's Pizza and have been excited to write this post since!  The owner, Sandi had invited me to Mickey Pizza's very own "For the Love of Food" event because she had seen on my site that I love food! LOL . This was an opportunity for bloggers, journalists and friends to get together, discuss and eat some awesome pizza.  You will want to continue reading this article because of the Killer King Dragon Pizza, which I can honestly say this is the BEST pizza I've had in Toronto, hands down.

Me and Jess (aka jKong!) arrived at Mickey's Pizza last night, and felt right at home as Sandi greeted me with a hug and within a minute of stepping inside the restaurant, Sandi had the two us behind the counter, shaping the dough to prepare a Pizza that we were each going to make (it was mad fun!).  I decided to make a Killer King Dragon Pizza, which is their signature Chicago Deep Dish Pizza.  I was given a pizza pan about 2-3'' thick with some their freshly made dough in it. The dough here is made fresh everyday and because they don't use preservatives, Sandi explained that it makes the dough a bit harder to work with but tastier after baking). After hollowing out the dough, I stuffed the 8 inch pan (Small size) with a giant handfuls of cheese, followed by a lot of steak (proud to say I grilled the steak on their flat top)- probably like 8-10 oz I'd estimate.  Sandi warned that it was only physically possible to fit 4 toppings, because it can't go past the height of the deep dish- and that includes a final layer more giant handfuls of cheese. On top of the steak I stuffed chunks of mango into it, followed by caramelized onions bacon! Squeezed on some tomato sauce and very sweet BBQ sauce to finish it off! (I'm literally drooling as I type this haha).  The pizza pan was then thrown into the deep dish oven by none other than Mickey himself (Mickey is not only the namesake of this restaurant but also Sandi's husband).
The pics directly above show the before and afters of the Killer King Dragon pizza that I made.  The Killer King Dragon was soooo bombb! It's literally unlike any other pizza in Toronto! It's like a giant pie, with each bite providing lots of gooey tasty mozzarella cheese in addition to the giant mouthfuls of steak.  What is super impressive about this pizza is that the dough is crispy and fluffy, making each bite effortless and no chewing necessary (not that chewy Pizza Pizza crap at all!).  The sweetness of the mangoes went really good with the steak btw! I highly recommend the Killer King Dragon Pizza that comes in either Small (8") for $8 + toppings ($1.50 each or Large (10") for $15 + toppings ($2 each) or you can choose one of their signature topping combos ($11 + tax Small, $19 + tax Large... any 2 for $16 each!). No slices are served here.

jKong made a thin crust, with tomato sauce (can also choose sweet BBQ sauce), chicken, bacon, caramelized onions, mozzarella cheese, spinach (so tasty!).  The coolest part about making the thin crust or regular pizzas is that they use a special "Hickory Barbecue Oven," apparently the only one in Canada.  It's cool because the pizza(s) are thrown on and the entire oven rotates as you watch your Pizza cook. This allowed the pizza to come out with a fresh crispy crust and no signs of sogginess anywhere!  The thin and regular crust pizzas are excellent in their own right, with the thin crust costing $7 for a Small + $1 toppings  and the regular crust costing $7 for a Small + $1 toppings, $10 for a Medium + $1.50 toppings and $13 for a Large + $2 toppings.  You can also choose the original dragon (aka regular crust) pizza with unlimited toppings for $15 (small), $20 (medium) and $24 (large).

On one of their signs, they state that their goal is "to make you the best pizza you've ever had in your life. Period." and they are successfully winning the hearts and stomachs of many people all over Toronto. If you don't believe me, go out to Mississauga just to try their deep dish pizza yourself!  

The event was really fun and I was able meet lots of friendly people who all share the love of tastttyyyy food! I'd like to thank Sandi and Mickey for hosting this super fun event and even allowing me to make one of their famous pizzas!  Everybody had a great time.... a very filling time as well!  I also included a picture of myself with Sandi + Mickey below, 2 of the friendliest people I've met.  Sandi also writes her own blog, documenting her journey of starting a restaurant from scratch and running Mickey's Pizza.  This place also has free delivery ($20 minimum, only after 5 pm), probably just in the Mississauga Area, not sure.

Mickey's Pizza
1900 Lakeshore Road West 
Mississauga, ON
 L5J 1J7
(905) 822-1411
www.feedyourdragon.com

Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine.

shawarma!... I wrote a post last week about a very disappointing shawarma place, and its good to know you can still grab some tasty middle eastern food without getting blatantly ripped off.  After a study session for our PT exams, we headed out to grab a quick bite at a Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine at Dundas and University.  Most people have probably seen one one of these Ali Baba's around Toronto as they have a ton of locations around Toronto, so this review is specifically for the one on Dundas near University.  I've walked by this place many times in the recent months and it has always seemed packed at lunch, where they have a different special every day of the week. We went on a saturday and grabbed the Friday/Saturday special, which was 2 Shawarma Plate Dinners for $13.99 + tax. We chose 2 Chicken dinner plates (you can get beef instead), and for $7 each, it was a lot of food.  The plate was loaded with a yellow buttery rice, pickled turnips and some different salads.  They freshly shaved and grilled the chicken for us which was nice to see as some places just give you cold/ old pieces of meat. You can also ask them for a pita on the side, which they toast for you although they didn't seem to give this out unless you actually asked.  It wasn't the best shawarma but tasted better than I expected for the price.

This place seems to have 10+ locations around Toronto, so I would expect some differences in food/ service/ deals. For this location specifically, the best deals appear to be on $8.29/ 2 Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches (Mondays) and $8.29/ 2 Beef Shawarma Sandwiches (Wednesdays).  The service is what you'd expect at a fast food type place, but this place is a pretty decent spot for a quick bite- expect it to be busy during weekday lunches. It's also open pretty late, not exactly sure but I've seen it open around 2 am before.

Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine

197 Dundas St W

Toronto, ON

M5G 1C8

(416) 538-7001

Windfield's Restaurant.

all day breakfast!... I've passed by Windfield's Restaurant in North York a million times in the past 10 + years and the all day breakfast sign always catches my eye. Windfields is a family restaurant sitting at the South East corner of Leslie and Yorkmills. My friend Everett suggested that we try Windfields for a late breakfast/ lunch, knowing that they serve all day breakfast. We went on a Sunday afternoon (Around 2 pm), and the place seemed half full, with most people finishing up their meals and paying their bills.  To satisfy his breakfast cravings, Everett went straight for the All Day Breakfast combo (pictured below) that comes with 3 Eggs any style, choice of bacon/ sausage/ ham, toast and french fries ($8.75 + tax/tip). Not the cheapest, but not bad if your too lazy to cook and are craving breakfast- allday. They have quite an extensive menu including different pastas, seafood, breakfast items and sandwiches among other things.  
I ordered the Chicken Pita Hoagie ($10.75 + tax/tip), which was grilled chicken breast on a pita with grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese melted on top. This also came with fries, and actually looked more like a pizza than a sandwich. I found this to be a little bland though-  could use some additional seasoning or flavour. I was quite full as this was  a pretty large dish loaded with cheese.  My friend Chris ordered the Halibut Fish and Chips ($13.95 + tax/tip).  This came with 2 large pieces of fish along with fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce. Chris said the fish was pretty good- what he expected, and that the french fries were especially good/crispy.


Overall, Windfields is a good convenient spot where you can get anything from fish and chips to breakfast all day.  The food is decent, the dishes are simple but the prices are definitely not cheap (too be expected in the area).  They also have a couple morning specials (7 am - 11 am) including an Eggs Benedict for under $10.


Windfield's Restaurant
801 York Mills Road
North York, ON
M3B 1X7
(416) 445-1630 ‎