This trip I ended up hitting up the following restaurants:
Clinton Street Baking Company
Shake Shack
Amy Ruth’s
Dos Caminos Soho
Carnegie Deli

Clinton Street Baking Company

This one falls into the category of places I’ve been meaning to visit for a while.  Literally what stopped me was the long wait times.  Sometimes you can wait TWO HOURS for a table for brunch.  Seriously.  NYC has too many restaurants to wait two hours for some pancakes.  This visit I was getting into the city super early (6:30AM) so I figured it would be a good time to go right when the place opened at 10AM.  I was warned by Anne at The City Sage that it was imperative that I arrive by 9:15ish in order to secure a spot in the first seating.  Now, if you were ANYWHERE in the US last weekend you know how cold it was.  I figured NO ONE would be in line that early on the coldest day ever so I figured we would aim for a 9:30/9:40 arrival and be fine.  We showed up right around that time and there were already about 6 people in line!  Craziness.  About 5 minutes after we got there the line about tripled in size so we got there just in the nick of time.

The brunch menu is AMAZING.  I wanted pretty much everything they served.  I ended up getting the Southern Breakfast because it combined most of my breakfast loves: eggs, cheese grits, fried green tomatoes, and sugar smoked bacon.  YUM!  I have a weakness for cheese grits and you really don’t get them in Toronto.  I also got a biscuit on the side because I’d heard such good things about it.  Everything was DELICIOUS.  I know it’s hard to mess up bacon and eggs but it was great.  The cheese grits were cheesy and smooth.  The fried green tomatoes were just OK.  But the biscuit.  THE BISCUIT!  Perfection.  And the homemade preserves?  Amazing.  My mom had the Banana French Toast and was beyond pleased.  This is definitely one of my top brunch spots.

Shake Shack

When I’m in NYC I always want to eat as much as possible in a limited time.  Around 2 or 3PM I started to get hungry.  Now, normally I would just get a snack and have an early dinner.  Not this time.  Instead we decided to hit up Shake Shack for a burger and fries.  Believe it or not, I’ve only been to Shake Shack once (the Madison Park location) and always carried a fond memory in my heart.  When I learned that there was a new Shake Shack in town and that it was an actual restaurant I knew  I had to make my way there.

I went for a hamburger with all the fixins and fries.  SOOOOOO good!  The fries were delicious.  Really light and crispy without being too greasy.  Perfection.  The burger of course was delicious.  I could have eaten three of them.  Seriously.  I also got a sample of mint chocolate chip custard.  Also delicious but given the temperatures outside custard was NOT an option.

Amy Ruth’s

A trip to NYC is not complete without a visit to my old stomping ground – HARLEM.  And if I’m in Harlem chances are I’m either going to eat Chicken and Waffles or some Fried Whiting.  It’s the rule.  So since finding either of these meals in Toronto is not easy and are generally not delicious I figured we’d hit up Harlem hotspot, Amy Ruth’s.

I went with my staple, The Rev. Al Sharpton.  It’s Chicken & Waffles and I opted for fried chicken instead of smothered chicken (obvious choice).  My mom went for the Afrika Bambatta aka fried whiting.  As sides she went with the fried okra and mac n’ cheese.  Excellent choices if I do say so myself.  Amy Ruth’s has the BEST fried chicken EVER.  I need to find a fried chicken spot in Toronto.

Dos Caminos Soho

Dos Caminos falls under the category of old favourites.  This tends to be my regular brunch spot because they have a good menu and an excellent deal.  Your meal includes an alcoholic drink (I go for the Prickly Pear Margarita) AND a coffee or tea.  The food prices are reasonable.  Most brunch entrees around $14.  Works for me.  My standard meal tended to be the Fish Tacos but then one day they went from frying the fish to grilling and I said no bueno and had to switch up my picks.  I usually go for the chillaquiles as another option.  This time around I wasn’t sure what to get.  The menu was basically the same with some minor tweaks but there was nothing I was craving.  I ended up going with the underwhelming pork tacos.  AND they changed their rice to a red rice which was no delicious and the beans were salty.  Not a good look Dos Caminos!   This visit taught me that I’m probably a bit over this spot.  Tear.

Carnegie Deli

I know, kind of a random choice, right?  I love a pastrami on rye.  LOVE IT.  Deli isn’t a Toronto speciality so my mom and I were going to visit Katz’s Deli to get a sandwich to take with us on the trip to DC.  We ran out of time on Sunday to make it to the LES but were in midtown when I remembered Carnegie Deli.  I had never been to Carnegie before (Katz is always my deli of choice) but my boss would ALWAYS order lunch from there and he knows his food so I thought it would be a good option.

Sure paying $16 for a sandwich is a lot, but this is no ordinary sandwich.  It’s easily 2 or 3 meals.  My mom and I split a sandwich and had to take meat out of our halves to make it manageable.  I had the leftover meat as a snack the next day.  Best.Snack.Ever.  I also have to give a shout out to their half-sour pickles.  My favourite.