Hey there. American here heading up to the great white north for a few days (specifically Toronto), and I was wondering if you or any of the Canadian blog folks might have any suggestions as to any Canadian food I HAVE to eat or any Canadian beer I HAVE to drink.
PS - Why in the blue fuck does the WWE think "yeah, people who love wrestling love Donald Trump"?
I wonder more how this “story” is actually getting play as a legitimate news item on sites like TVGuide.com.
Anyway, beer-wise I’m not much help because I don’t drink beer. Shocking for a Canadian, I know, but I saw Big Lebowski and as a result pretty much never stray from White Russians or Paralyzers as my drinks of choice since then. Plus I live in Saskatchewan, where Pilsner is considered the beer of choice. Generally though Canadian beer has a much higher alcohol content than American stuff, so it’s hard to go wrong.
I don’t really know what “Canadian food” would entail, aside from the obvious poutine, since most of our fast food restaurants are US franchises anyway. Plus Toronto is LOT different than the western provinces so I don’t even know what’s there, food-wise. Canada is very regionalized, so it would be like asking someone from California what they should eat when they go to Louisiana.
So I’m not much help today, sorry.
Eat Moose.. Drink Moose piss.
Molson Canadian is different in Ontario than it is in America. Enjoy!
Also, LaBatt’s!
Don’t forget to hit Tim Horton’s afterwards! Coffee and donuts!
I spent a fairly recent family vacation in Vancouver (up from San Diego). Get the goddam Lay’s Ketchup chips. Although, I’ve since been told you can get ketchup chips in the states, I’ve been all over America on assorted business trips and never seen any. The Lay’s version are gloriously tangy and could probably cure cancer.
I also bumped into Ice Cube while he was filming a movie, during my stay up there. A new junk food find AND washed-up rappers? Best vacation ever.
in terms of beer:
cremore lager
steamwhistle brewery (do the tour = free beer)
moosehead
and check out c’est what for some nice local stuff
food:
go to smokes poutinery
alans on the danforth (best burger in toronto)
messini on the danforth (best gyro anywhere)
patio
hemmingways
blackbull
hope this helps.
Well Sleeman has some good beers but they’re Japanese owned now. You can tour the brewery in Toronto though, I’ve never done it but I’ve heard it’s a good one
If you want truly Canadian try a Moosehead I guess, they’re Canada’s oldest independant brewery. Brick out of Waterloo is Canadian but I haven’t had any of their stuff in years. They used to market beer in a stubby bottle and if they still do you should have one of those, stubby’s are as Canadian as it gets. Personally I drink Rickards Red, a Molson product and again, foreign owned.
If you want to try beer in Toronto go to The Bier Markt. There’s locations on The Esplanade and on King West and they have hundreds of beers from all over the world including many Canadian ones from across the country. The food’s not great and the atmosphere is trendy/phoney but they do have beer. There’s also a place called The Beer Bistro at Yonge & King and I’ve never been in there but I’ve heard very good things about the food and the beer selection. You should also try the Mill Street brew pub in the distillery district.
Besides poutine, maple syrup and Saskatoon berries I’m not aware of any particularly Canadian cuisine.
I had a Saskatchewaan for a room mate once, he drank Pil. That was pretty much all the Saskatchewan culture I got out of him. That, and for some reason they call hooded sweatshirts “bunnyhugs”.
The tour that I was talking about is actually Steam Whistle, not Sleemans.
If you’re up in July they’ve got a “Summerlicious” prix fixe promo running around town – take a look at http://www.toronto.ca/special_events/summerlicious/index.htm
Toronto doesn’t really have a distinct cuisine per se, but there’s tons of ethnically diverse menus that you can try.
Drinking-wise, I’d second the Steam Whistle tour (the brewery is in the same area as the CN Tower/Skydome) and Mill St. brewery is a micropub that might interest you.
Since you’re in Toronto you might want to head to the Niagara region and hit the wine route. The wine area is pretty nice and wine tasting can get you pretty tanked.
Wikipedia to the rescue!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine
Of course, his visit could be an “aromatic” experience now that the city workers in Toronto have gone on strike, including the garbage workers. Fun times.
And as someone who grew up in Manitoba & Alberta, lived 8 years in the Maritimes, and now lives in Ottawa, and has spent a fair amount of time in BC, Quebec, & southern Ontario, I feel that the regional differences thing has been overblown. Although the differences are there, I’d say they are fairly subtle. Although I admittedly haven’t been to Newfoundland.
I certainly wouldn’t consider it as big a difference as going from California to Louisiana, which I’ve also done. That is a much larger culture shock (going either way).