Food Adventure #5
Happy 2014 Osgoode! Having abandoned our New Year’s diet resolutions in favour of something more realistic (flossing?), we’re ready to re-engage with the city’s best (student budget-priced) lunch spots for the benefit of Canada’s legal community! This week features Luke facing down the terrifying dual-headed hydra of travelling to Toronto’s West End and (gasp!) shared food. Meanwhile, Dan struggles to contain his displeasure with a bland tuna steak.
Venue: Brock Sandwich – 1260 Bloor St West (just east of Lansdowne station)
Cuisine: Sandwiches
Luke & Dan: We went ‘sharesies’ on a seared tuna sandwich with avocado and bean sprouts ($13), a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with sautéed onions and house piri piri sauce ($9), an order of truffled poutine ($6.5), and a beet salad ($8)
LLBO Licensed? No. Brutal!
The Pick:
Dan: So I wanted Luke to really push the boundaries of his Toronto comfort zone today. This involved a foray into the West end, which for Luke is like a semester abroad. Toronto really is a city of neighbourhoods, and the Bloordale/Brockton Village area is a great mix of cultures. The area is in the midst of a revitalisation, with established businesses (such as the Toronto landmark “House of Lancaster” across the street) intermixed with a burgeoning art and food scene.
Luke: Nice work bringing an aspiring yuppie to this ‘hood.’ Readers should know that I was aggressively accosted on my way from Lansdowne Station to the sandwich shop. This pre-gentrified strip has an edgy charm, though. No doubt about it!
At the restaurant:
Dan: Okay, so Brock has 3 or 4 standard menu offerings and a few rotating daily specials. There is always a fish sandwich on the menu, but every day they invent a new one. I know that I’m always pushing you to try new things, Luke, but their flagship buttermilk fried chicken sandwich is a must.
Luke: I really appreciate the lean menu (in terms of selection, not calories!). It’s clear that the chefs have a stake in the business and take pride in preparing a few things really well.
Dan: Yeah, the place is small so I think keeping the offerings tight is a necessary business move. In warmer weather, this is a prime spot to pick up food to go eat outside in a nearby park.
Luke: Waiting for the food to arrive I was very worried about how we were going to share these choices hygienically. While I noticed that you did not wash your hands before man-handling my delicate chicken sandwich, I told myself that you must have done so before I arrived. Right, buddy? Right?
The Food:
Dan: Getting the sandwiches cut in half to share was a good call, because the tower that is the chicken sandwich (2 breaded thighs fried and stacked with sautéed onions, lettuce, and house made sauce, all on a Kaiser roll) would not be easily cut at the table with plastic cutlery.
Luke: Dan-hand-contaminated or not, the first bite of the piri piri chicken was worth it! Clearly it was made with hand-rolled fried chicken. The crunch of the batter played-off well against the tender dark meat beneath. I also loved the piri piri sauce. Most fried chicken sandwiches are paired with greasy sauces; here, the cleaner, more savoury Portuguese topping provided the perfect complement. On the down side, while I enjoyed the sautéed onions, the lettuce was mushy and — for me at least — an unnecessary addition. I also felt that the bun was stuck in the unpleasant zone between fully-toasted and freshly-baked.
Dan: Lettuce on a hot sandwich. Why? It makes no sense, and it’s gross. Luckily the chicken was so good though the sandwich recovered easily. Unlike you, I didn’t feel like the piri piri stood out so much, and if it hadn’t been listed on the menu I might not have picked up on it at all. Moving from the chicken to the fish sandwich was a bit of a disappointment. The tuna steak was overcooked and dry. I liked the green veggies on the fishwich and thought they gave it a nice boost of freshness, which the fish only took away from. With better execution this would have been a gem of a dish. The saving grace for me is that this is just a one-day special. In that light, creativity in food should be given a bit of leeway. It was just our bad luck to be the recipients of a failed experiment.
Luke: Let’s talk about something more positive! The poutine and the salad! The side dishes make Brock sandwich trek-worthy. I have consumed many versions of the cheese curd, gravy and fry combo and this was one of the best. The truffle oil made the gravy drinkable and the cheese was well-proportioned and perfectly-salted. If the fries were a bit crispier, this dish would have been perfect! As for the beet salad, it was a surprise favourite for me. Who knew beets could taste so good?
Dan: Okay, for the last time, enough with the “trek” stuff. I live further west than this! Stop acting like it’s across the DMZ. You’re right about the food, though. The sides were the stars of the show. While Luke guzzled super-rich gravy I was really digging into the salad. It was a great balance of sweet and savoury with apples, endive, walnuts, goat cheese, greens, and of course roasted beets. There was barely any dressing because it didn’t need it. This was my favourite of the whole meal.
Amenities and service:
Dan: I like this place. The staff is friendly and clearly cares that you have a good experience. I just want to say, being asked to allow a person to photograph you while you eat is (a) weird, and (b) not really that flattering. The restaurant was doing to website development and looking for some “action shots.” So if any of our readers look into this place and see a close up of someone gorging on a beet and arugula salad, you’ll find me. The only way the scenario could have been more awkward would have been for us to refuse the request. The offer of free coffee buried the hatchet somewhat, and a healthy sense of humor on our part was instrumental.
Luke: Dan, I don’t think any amount of food photography will be enough to push “Drunk Cases” of your first page of Google results. Sorry, bud. The free coffee was a nice touch though. That they care enough about the food to take art photos and post them on their website speaks volumes about Brock’s dedication and approach. The deep and narrow “hallway-style” layout, however, could be better organized to create more seating.
Dan: Wow. Bit of a low blow on the Google results. Ouch.
Score:
Dan: Food: 3, Service 4, Atmosphere 4
Luke: Food: 3.5, Service 4, Atmosphere 3.5
Overall: 3.5 sossbosses out of 5! #notenoughsossonmysandwich