What are your favourite restaurants in your city?

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by lio45

You'll find as a correlation (at least in the Western world) that the later people have dinner in a given culture, the more likely people are to, for example, jaywalk all over, drive like maniacs, arrive late to appointments/meetings even after committing to a fixed hour for showing up, etc. All traits that I would consider culturally to be slightly barbaric, not refined.

I don't think you'll find that correlation either.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

I don't think you'll find that correlation either.

In North America, Latin America, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Scandinavia, you kinda will. Or maybe it's changed lately, but I find it doubtful.

Anyway, the point remains, no one has said that dining as late as possible is somehow "better"...?

[GreaterMontréal]

we love our 5 à 7(8).

[Delirium]

of all places i've come to know, the templeton is still my favourite. a simple diner with awesome food, great staff and you can still play a tune on the jukebox.

Photo http://thetempleton.ca/wp-content/ga...tos/image1.jpg

[giallo]

The Templeton!

I love their smoked salmon omelette. I'm not sure what they do to it, but it tastes so much better than any other salmon omelette I've ever had.

I'm such a sucker for an all day breakfast diner. There could be a dozen good choices within a block, but if I see a diner serving all day breakfast, I'm going there.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Being haughty about what time people sit down to eat dinner is about as petty as it gets.

I'm sure Andalucians eat dinner at 10pm because, historically, it was too damn hot before air conditioning and not because they are at the apex of human cultural development.

Perhaps, but the sort of puritan, early-to-bed, early-to-rise implication of it all fits in pretty neatly with the usual Acajack narrative of the stodgy, uptight, conservative Anglo Canada. This, as always, in opposition to groovy, free wheelin' Quebec of course.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

Who said that there was a correlation between how late a given culture eats dinner and how "culturally developed" it is?

If anything, it's actually the opposite. You'll find as a correlation (at least in the Western world) that the later people have dinner in a given culture, the more likely people are to, for example, jaywalk all over, drive like maniacs, arrive late to appointments/meetings even after committing to a fixed hour for showing up, etc. All traits that I would consider culturally to be slightly barbaric, not refined.

Jaywalking sure isn't "the apex of human cultural development"...

At least you get it. But you're from Quebec so I guess you don't count.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Perhaps, but the sort of puritan, early-to-bed, early-to-rise implication of it all fits in pretty neatly with the usual Acajack narrative of the stodgy, uptight, conservative Anglo Canada. This, as always, in opposition to groovy, free wheelin' Quebec of course.

And Quebec can also be irresponsible, nihilistic, hedonistic and even a bit corrupt compared to Anglo-Canada. It is what it is.

I am not into calling one place better than another. I call 'em as I see 'em. Witness how I often defend the U.S. when Canadians make unfairly ignorant comments about them.

[Gerrard]

But you have to admit, the whole people dine in the rest of north america meme around 5-6 is just dumb.

No one does that. Maybe in Ottawa they do but really no where else.

[ehlow]

I haven't been to many of what most consider the best restaurants in Toronto, but I'll offer my 2c anyways:

Caplansky's: Jewish Deli near Kensington Market

Wvrst: Bavarian sausage beerhouse with great duck fat fries near King & Bathurst

Black Camel: Sandwiches near Rosedale subway station. Get brisket with charamoula mayo

Bamiyan Kebab: really good Afghani kebab in Thorncliffe Park, the largest Muslim neighbourhood in Canada.

Diana's seafood: I like getting oysters from this place in Scarborough at Lawrence east where Ford's campaign HQ was.

Churrasco's at Mt Pleasant and Eglinton: good Portugese chicken.

Tokyo Sushi near Bay & Wellesley, hidden small sushi shop I like.

All the ramen places are great. I like the ubiquitous Kenzo even though it's everywhere, but it's fast & good.

The amount of quality Chinese & Asian restaurants in Markham and Scarborough is amazing. Huge Chinese populations there, tons of restaurants.

For example Finch & Midland in Scarborough, there's like 4 plazas full of Asian restaurants. Highway 7 has tons.

I honestly love living here discovering the endless supply of restaurants in Toronto due to multicultural demographics of the city.

One of the things I like is that it's not all downtown, Toronto and the GTA are huge geographically, and all parts of the city have amazing gems waiting to be found, downtown, suburbs, or areas outside of the city. You go to Brampton an suburban city pretty far to the NW, try a random Indian restaurant and it's amazing.

[The_Architect]

Add the Fifth Pubhouse Gastro Pub to the list. Especially in the summer the rooftop patio is great, and it has a good beer selection (if slightly expensive).

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by The_Architect

Add the Fifth Pubhouse Gastro Pub to the list. Especially in the summer the rooftop patio is great, and it has a good beer selection (if slightly expensive).

I'm looking forward to checking out the rooftop patio of McCabe's Irish Pub in Downtown Kitchener next summer. It's a popular spot already. with better than average pub food, but the patio, on the roof of a new Beer Store going up next door, should be a great addition.

[SignalHillHiker]

We always ate by 5 unless we had guests (in which case they'd arrive around 5 and the food would actually be on the table for 6:30-7). Mom was a teacher (off at 3 p.m.), so that's probably why. Never realized that was freakishly early until this thread. Explains how many hundreds of times I've had to respond to dinner invites with, "Already ate, sorry."

*****

For Winnipeg:

Mitzi's - excellent chicken fingers and sauce. Cheap fare, of course, but exceptionally well done for a fast food outlet. Easily and by far the best I've ever had.

Ichiban - proper Japanese, you sit beside the stove/skillet/whatever thing and the works. And it's delicious.

VJ's - quick and dirty fries, but delicious.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Gerrard

But you have to admit, the whole people dine in the rest of north america meme around 5-6 is just dumb.

No one does that. Maybe in Ottawa they do but really no where else.

I may have been off-base with the exact time(s) but I still have the distinct impression that overall people tend to dine later in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada/U.S.

And regardless of whether people on this forum think this comment detracts from their city's hipness (not that it should*, but hey... knock yourself out), I am definitely not the only who has noticed.

*People in London and Berlin generally dine earlier than people in Madrid and Buenos Aires. Does that make London and Berlin less cool cities?

[TorontoDrew]

I would say the bigger and busier a city is the later people tend to dine. Except for maybe Saturday and Sunday nights I'd say the average dinning time in T.O for most would be around 7-8pm. Heck most restaurants in my area (Riverside) don't open there doors until 6pm. The only way somebody would have an earlier dinner would be if they actually get to leave work at and live right by there work, if they don't work and can cook early, or have a home cook. A 5-6 dine time is for most people very unfeasible.

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I may have been off-base with the exact time(s) but I still have the distinct impression that overall people tend to dine later in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada/U.S.

And regardless of whether people on this forum think this comment detracts from their city's hipness (not that it should*, but hey... knock yourself out), I am definitely not the only who has noticed.

*People in London and Berlin generally dine earlier than people in Madrid and Buenos Aires. Does that make London and Berlin less cool cities?

Not at all. I mean try finding a restaurant open after 11 in Paris. It's pretty tough.

Most people in North America, at least in its big cities tend to eat later. At the very least logistically, it's almost impossible to eat earlier.

People go out for drinks post work, 5-7. At least where I'm from. They don't dine then.

The outliers are really Spain, Argentina etc. Most places are fairly consistently 7-9+

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Gerrard

Not at all. I mean try finding a restaurant open after 11 in Paris. It's pretty tough.

Most people in North America, at least in its big cities tend to eat later. At the very least logistically, it's almost impossible to eat earlier.

People go out for drinks post work, 5-7. At least where I'm from. They don't dine then.

Do you wanna cover the topic of nudity on TV now, Gerrard?

[1overcosc]

Personally, most days I end up eating dinner around 9pm or so. I have Monday-Friday peak period hours but they're flexible and being a night owl I like to push those hours as late as possible, so I usually get to work around a quarter to ten and leave around six. I get home at six-thirty and often spend an hour or two 'cooling off' from work before getting started on supper.

As a kid I ate supper around 7-8 most days, my parents were workaholics who often did 60+ hour workweeks so we didn't get to eat until late. I'm just used to it.

[kwoldtimer]

Well we're no longer trudging in from the fields looking for our "tea", so it makes sense that city folk are dining later than was once the norm.

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Do you wanna cover the topic of nudity on TV now, Gerrard?

Not sure what it has to do with dining out.