journal features

a good burger joint in Toronto

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2011.05.24

Today I decided to try the burger joint across the street from the office for the first time. I regret ignoring it for six months.

One of the weird things about Toronto, all these years, is that there are damn few good burger places. I can't explain it: this is a city where you can find plenty of great places for just about any other cuisine.

Wandering in to "Grindhouse" (I think it was the similarity in name to the stupid Tarantino movies that put me off) on Queen Street west I was pleasantly surprised to find that they'd made an interesting and attractive place without the usual burger joint awfulness or cheesiness about it. A brick interior, good music, a decent bar to sit at - great!

But it's the food that matters, and I can state without hesitation that I had the finest hamburger I've had anywhere in Toronto. I ordered a "wild boar" burger and had with it the gluten-free bun that - along with everything else on the menu - they make in-house. It was simply delicious.

There's one caveat, and that's the price. I'd only brought a twenty with me for lunch ($6-$10 being the norm in Tokyo for lunch, I still haven't adjusted!) and I couldn't afford to have the burger (including the $1 surcharge for a bun that I could eat) plus any side dish (fries came in at $6!).

I strongly recommend the place for the occasional treat.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges