Milestone's

In the Entertainment District, for a long-delayed lunch. I've never actually been to this chain. The one downtown clearly is done up for the tourist bunch, or, at least the bunch that thinks it's well-to-do. The bathroom actually had bottles of mousse, hairspray, body mist and hand lotion... I thought, what is this, Tundra or something? (No, I agree; Tundra wouldn't do that either)
Now, I was desperately hungry by the time we got there. I have to admit; everybody's meal was very nicely plated. I had a foccacia sandwich with a regular mixed green salad. The salad was less than inspired; it was clearly a hand in the spring mix bag and dumped on the plate. However, the sandwich was very good: pesto, smoked mozarella (though not fresh) with (fresh) tomatoes, though the foccacia was a titch on the dry side. Not bad for tourist fare...

Crabby Joe's

I must say, eating in the various counties is a bit of a hit and miss. Here in Hanover, this is the Jack Astor's equivalent. There are some nicer restos, but my dining companion wanted to eat here. Same deal: paper tablecloths, with crayons to write with, loud, overly happy servers, etc etc. Had the chicken fajitas which came with (gasp!) no guac. No option for whole wheat tortillas either. Oh well, I suppose I don't expect much from Jack Astor's, so I guess I shouldn't from these guys either...

Cleopatra Restaurant

One of the original Middle Eastern restos in the city, on that unlikely stretch on Bloor that's between Lansdowne and Dovercourt... a hole in the wall, really. The host/cook was a lovely woman who took the time to chat with us! It's nice that they were so lovely, considering we wandered in for a bite to eat at almost midnight! Shared a lovely combo veg platter with tabbouleh (which my dining companion noted that he actually liked b/c of the 'bite' in the salad that's usually lacking in most tabboulehs), falafels, hummus and various other yummy delicacies. Hit the spot in the middle of the night...

Mr Greek

One of the original Greek restos on the Danforth; one of my friends noted, "wow! There are a lot of restaurants in this section! We should come out here more often!", though it was then duly pointed out how the vast majority of them are still souvlaki houses, and how much souvlaki, honestly, can one eat? (That being said, Taste of the Danforth is next weekend, so I suppose one could find out then, if they really wanted to)
So, had the small chicken souvlaki dinner, which was quite sufficient, and, like most souvlaki houses, had pretty good souvlaki. On the other hand, I'm not a bit souvlaki conoisseur, so who knows what I'm missing?
That being said, the rice rocked (what can I say? I'm a rice girl)... one of my friends finished of the bowl of rice another one had not been able to eat....

Biryani House

A second floor open space resto that overlooks... a parking lot and Wellesley subway station.... well, I guess it still has a 'view' technically...
We ordered the prix fixe menu after our persuasive waitress suggested it would be a better deal... I sputtered, telling her that I wasn't a bit fan of pakora, nor of gulab jamun, for that matter, but said that I would be in for a treat nonetheless... did in fact, order a mango lassi, which was sweet but also spicy with just the right amount of cardamom... the pakoras were actually GOOD! I was surprised... presentation was also a plus, as it came with pappadum (also, not one of my favorite foods). Ate chola with garlic naan, which just made you go Mmmmmm, nummy nummy in my tummy, and served a pistachio and cardamom infused cheesecake for dessert, which also was quite tasty...
Quite a good deal for the prix fixe... our waitress was right after all.... quite impressive, as it's the first Indian resto I've been in since returning from the land itself (and temporarily swearing off paneer for the rest of my life...) and I actually enjoyed eating, a lot!

Congee Wong

I have really got to stop it with the Chinese restaurants... however, this was in Markham, so I suppose the options are limited... the famous Congee Wong... where we didn't eat any congee, but had some other stuff to eat. I quite enjoyed their turnip toss, that was quite good, though I think they could've made it spicier and that would've been just excellent...