Eggspectations
220 Yonge Street
416-977-3380
Brunch for two with all taxes and tip plus coffee and juice: $40
Montrealers must really like their eggs. How else to explain the huge popularity of chains like Eggspectations with 7 locations in the Montreal area in addition to the 2 in Ontario, 4 in the US and 2 in India? The Toronto Eaton Centre location is constantly busy, at all times of the day, with a line-up and an average wait of about 10 minutes for a table.
Boulevard Café
161 Harbord Street
416-961-7676
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $50
I’m not much of a patio person. Mosquitoes, smokers, glaring sun, smokers, rain, and smokers all make dining al fresco a bit tedious for a curmudgeon like me, but I can genuinely say that I adore the patio at the Boulevard Café. Fully covered, and on the cold rainy Sunday we dined there, heated for our comfort, the pretty space surrounded by flower boxes and manicured trees and graced with linen tablecloths is the rare type of patio where nothing bothers me. It’s completely charming, right down to the small gang of hobo-like sparrows who scour the area for dropped crumbs.
Ultimate Café
293 King Street West
416-977-9690
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $30
Ultimate is a big claim when it comes to a restaurant. Working with the definition “not to be improved upon or surpassed”, calling yourself the ultimate anything sets the standard of quality pretty darn high. Higher than most places can achieve at Sunday brunch.
The Ultimate Café wasn’t even our ultimate destination – we simply headed out in the rain to the strip of King Street West cafes known as “tourist’s row” to see what was open. Looking like the standard late-90s “Italian restaurant from a kit”, the space boasts an exposed brick wall (check), a yellow-ochre sponge-painted wall (check), some vague prints of impressionist fruit (check), and a whole lot of patterned brocade on the seats (check).
Easy Restaurant
1645 Queen Street West
416-537-4893
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $42 (cash and debit only)
I was a big fan of Easy for the first few years after they opened back in 2000 or so. It was a favourite brunch spot for me until an unfortunate incident when a really stupid and obnoxious customer chose to change a baby’s shitty diaper on their table while people around them looked on in horror. Despite the fact that the food was always great, and the service was always friendly, the stupid obnoxious customer really ruined Easy for me, and on weekend visits after that, the restaurant always seemed to be full of kids, which really turned me off.
A recent visit reminded me that the food and service is still top-notch, but the stroller brigade continues to maintain a presence, although patrons with kids don’t seem to let their progeny run around like it’s a daycare centre, as is the case with other brunch places in the ‘hood. The childfree should be forewarned of screeching, but there is a considerably lower risk of coming in contact with jammy little hands. And a change table in the loo has hopefully thwarted any potential for a reenactment of “that fateful day”.
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas Street West
416-588-0307
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $34
“Hey, did you know Lula does brunch?” my husband asked, waving a colourful postcard that he had found on the sidewalk at me. “We should go!” And so we do, because we like brunch and because we’ve always wanted an excuse to go to Lula. As our musical tastes encompass jazz but tend more to west coast swing than salsa, and because we come more from the “unscrew the lightbulb” school of dance than anything so complicated as having to remember steps, there’s never been a really compelling reason to go there. Except – duh – the cooking of Chef Derek Crinson.
Dunn’s Famous
284A King Street West
416-599-5464
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $34
I’m still looking for a Jewish Grandma. Seriously, there must be some kind-hearted elderly lady out there hoping for someone to drop by and eat their homemade gefilte fish. Call me.
In the meantime, until someone adopts me, I’m forced to find my own latkes and blintzes and rugelach. Which is what led us to Dunn’s for brunch; seeing as they have the best latkes south of Bloor, they’re my go-to place when I get a craving.
Gayley’s Cafe
1424 Dundas Street West
416-538-3443
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $28 (cash only)
The choosing of this brunch review was left up to fate. We’d ride the Dufferin bus north in the drizzle than permeated the city on the Victoria Day Sunday, and if there was a streetcar coming at Dundas, we’d head as far as Ossington and try our luck at the communal table at the Dakota Tavern. If there was no streetcar in sight, we’d cross the street and head to Gayley’s. a local place that we had passed a hundred times but had never been to.
Fate saved me from communal table brunch with jam-handed toddlers (with music for the kids!), but I’m not sure we chose the less frustrating option.
Rustic Cosmo
1278 Queen Street West
416-531-4924
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $30
I am, admittedly, one of those people who go out for brunch specifically because I hate making eggs benedict at home. It’s not that I can’t, but the endeavour inevitably leaves me cranky, covered in hollandaise and left with piles of pots and pans to wash.
But the dish is a favourite of mine, especially from places like Rustic Cosmo where an order of eggs benny comes with options. For out of this tiny open kitchen, customers are offered eggs benny ($9.95) with 6 different toppings, and are allowed to mix and match. Along with the traditional peameal bacon, spinach or smoked salmon, café owner Nicole Crowe also offers mixed grilled vegetables with brie, portobello mushrooms or grilled asparagus. On our most recent visit, I opted for oozing brie atop grilled peppers, eggplant and broccoli, along with lovely green asparagus, grilled al dente.
Irish Embassy Pub & GrillThey call it the breakfast of champions, and there was a point when a glass of stout, such as Guinness, was touted as a healthy start to the day. I don’t know if I could do that every morning, but when settling in for brunch at the Irish Embassy, it seemed wrong not to be sipping a glass of Ireland’s favourite beer.
Normally the domain of Bay Street brokers and executives, on an early Sunday, the sun streams through the high south-facing windows of this former bank and the light bounces off the architectural details of the arched ceiling. Never having been to Ireland, I’m not sure if all the locals there are this impressive, but the Irish Embassy is surely one of the most ethereal places I’ve eaten brunch. That may be because it’s not especially busy. This is an odd state and apparently not the norm, but explains why the sharply-dressed and aproned servers outnumber the customers by about 2-to-1.
Oyster Boy
872 Queen Street West
416-534-3432
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $55
Walking along Queen West on a sunny morning heading to Oyster Boy, a car passed us blaring a tune that was predominantly accordion music. We couldn’t really tell if it was a Newfoundland jig or some “welcome to the swamp” zydeco music, but fittingly enough, it set the theme of our brunch visit.
Oyster Boy offers a Maritime Pub Lunch on Saturdays and Sundays with a selection of items that are available all day such as fish and chips ($14.95), fish cakes ($11.95), or chowder of the day ($6.95). They also have lunch-specific specials from noon – 4pm with the likes of little jig’s dinner ($14.95) – aka corned beef and cabbage, and omelettes ($10.50).
We started by sharing a serving of clams steamed in white wine with roasted garlic and tomatoes ($14.95). More typical of steamed mussels, this flavour combination actually worked quite well, despite the lack of seawater and a big stretch of beach. A basket of fresh bread came in handy for sopping up the broth left behind after we had devoured the sweet juicy clams.