English Breakfast

BRUNCH BLUES in North York

I haven't been blogging in a couple of weeks because I have been busy working 2 jobs for the past month. I just finished a temp job so I will have a bit more time now but I am moving on to working for a Film Festival.

While I was doing my temp job I was working on what is known as Hospital Row on University Ave, north of Dundas. It's not a great area for a foodie to spend time in. A lot of mediocre lunch or hospital food in the are. The bright spot was the weekly farmer's market at Sick Kids Hospital.

I woke up this morning with a free day but after a few weeks of crazy weather / transit and working a couple of jobs I am tired. I woke up feeling hungry and in the mood for a decent breakfast but not in the mood to spend an hour in the kitchen whipping up a great breakfast and then another hour cleaning it all up. I felt like having a saturday brunch meal but didn't want to have to go all the way downtown just to get breakfast/brunch but it seems as though North York/ Willowdale isn't big on being creative with their breakfast menus. I had a copy of the current Issue of Now magazine with their Brunch restaurant list. Nothing in North York. After searching online I realized that there really weren't very many great brunch places in this whole area.

This is what we have:

1. Moxie's Grill
2. Milestone's
3. Cafe Mirage (has now closed)
4. Eggsmart
5. Wimpy's Diner

Not much for condo land is it? And they are all either chains or very generic or average.

Since I was tired and hungry I chose (now closed) in the mall beside where I live. As you can see from this photo that I took when I walked in at 10:30am, it's not exactly a happening place on a saturday morning. As I sat there in the restaurant by myself I thought what would it take to pack this place on a consistent basis. What I thought immediately is to brighten it up. It looks like a night club lounge so it's not really a wake up and have some brunch kind of environment. I don't think it would take a whole lot to convert this place to a place people from north of 7 and south of Bloor might consider coming to.