Black Camel
4 Crescent Rd., Toronto, 416-929-7518
Burrito Boyz
120 Peter St., Toronto, 416-593-9191
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Mi Mi Restaurant
688 Gerrard St. E., 416-778-5948
Hot town, summer in the city. . . . The very idea of standing over a stove is enough to make even people not living with hot flashes break out in a sweat. I love to cook -- but not when rivers pour down my back and bead on my upper lip. Apparently I am not alone, because takeout sales soar when the mercury climbs. For example, eating in one's garden, minus the sweaty prep of cooking the food, is a splendid summer pleasure.
My criteria for takeout are threefold: 1) It tastes good, 2) it's easy to get and 3) it's inexpensive. Which leads us to gourmet sandwiches, burritos/quesadillas and Vietnamese noodles.
Many are the shops that tout their gourmet sandwiches, but few are those that deliver. Most are purveyors of the likes of "smoke injected" water-plumped ham and pallid beef on cotton-wool buns (more on that later). Hence my delight to discover Black Camel on Crescent Road at Yonge Street. This shop's Rosedale location is hardly a surprise: When a multimillionaire wants a sandwich, isn't it likely that a very good sandwich will be required? (Although at $7 or $8 a pop, you don't need to be rich to enjoy.)
Black Camel's apparently simple offerings hit the brass ring, my favourite being the brisket, which is happily married to caramelized onions and a hint of barbecue sauce. They do a marvellous pulled-pork sandwich in the manner of Southern barbecue: tender, moist and sweet/hot in a veil of sauce. Their veggie thing is grilled eggplant and plump red peppers with hummus. Juicy marinated salmon is grand with horseradish crème fraîche, crispy spouts and more onions.
Heading downtown, Burrito Boyz is what happened when Tex-Mex found religion in a tiny basement. All over the core, the idea of high-quality fast food is taking root, thanks to smart operators who figured out that office workers are happy to pay an extra buck or two to be liberated from the gastro-nightmare of food courts. One look at the lunchtime lineup at Burrito Boyz confirms the wisdom of this business idea: Expect to wait at least half an hour if you show up between noon and 2 p.m. It's best to phone before 11:30 a.m. and place your order for pickup after noon.
All the fuss is over a mere two menu choices: burrito ($4.50 for small, $5.50 for large) or quesadilla ($3.99 or $5.25). For burrito, they put your filling of choice in a tortilla shell, wrap 'n' roll it with a grand array of garnishes, and grill to toast. Quesadilla is similar fillings between two crisp toasted tortillas.
Their burrito filled with halibut deep-fried in gossamer batter, good fresh guacamole, peppers, tomato, fresh jalapenos, refried beans, Monterey Jack cheese and burrito sauce (Thousand Island dressing with attitude) is divine. Ditto the crispy quesadilla (the crisp texture of which miraculously survives travel). Other fine fillings are sweet, juicy chicken and veg (green peppers and tomatoes with high-quality melted cheddar). The only inferior filling is the steak, whose quality would be easier to assess were it not toughened by overcooking.
Which is something that Vietnamese cooks almost never to do their beef. I am fond of Vietnamese takeout for its clean flavours -- and you can't beat the price. All over town, $6.50 buys a big enough bowl of pho for dinner and then some. But Vietnamese noodle-based cooking is more than pho. Think bun (vermicelli with toppings), and at Mi Mi's think banh hoi (do-it-yourself rice-paper roll-ups). Neither will set you back more than $10.
I like Mi Mi's for its accessibility (it's easy to place phone orders) and for the kitchen's care not to overcook the vermicelli in the bun. Their beef pho is as good as it gets, with delicate beef broth fragrant with star anise. They do several dozen different bun platters, all of which are composed of good rice vermicelli, lightly pickled carrots in sweet vinaigrette, lettuce and one's chosen garnish.
Among these, the most charming are minced shrimps on sugar cane, a Vietnamese cliché that seldom rises above the mundane. Mi Mi remakes this old tired tourist item by barbecuing it so that the outer layer of minced shrimp crisps up nicely. Ditto their take on barbecued pork and beef with vermicelli. Note: Bun is basically bland food that needs the sweet/hot sauce supplied. Use liberally.
Banh hoi is similarly composed: Ordered as takeout, it comprises several thin rice pancakes (which you dip in water briefly to rehydrate), raw vegetables, more of that sweet/hot sauce and one's chosen garnish, of which there are 20 choices. The best are the aforementioned minced shrimp and the barbecued pork. Avoid the spring rolls, which a) do not travel well and b) have almost no taste.
More bun business: Burgers are the essence of summer, but one is only as good as its bun. These have too often been a great burger's weakest link, but no longer, thanks to Ace Bakery. They're now making hamburger buns (both white and whole wheat) that have both good taste and a great crumb texture.
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