Chako Barbecue Izakaya - Why is This Place Always So Busy?

Chako Barbecue Izakaya

2190 McNicoll Ave.

Scarborough, ON M1V 0D3

Canada

A friend organized a Saturday night out for 9 of us at 8pm. I drove up to Chako's in Richmond hill eagerly anticipating the sights and smells of searing seasoned and sauced cuts of meat. I quickly realized after a quick call that I was at the wrong location. I wasn't even in the right city. Oops, my bad. I guess I should have asked which one we were meeting at. After recklessly speeding down the highway and cutting several people off, I finally got to the other Chako's.

Surprise #1 - They don't have tables that seat more then 6 people in the main room. Our group was seated at 2 separate tables (guys at the 6 seater table, girls at the other). The girls table was far enough where we couldn't converse with them.

Surprise #2 - Apparently, they have all you can eat after 10pm Monday - Thursday for $10.

The Review:

Korean barbecue is fairly simple for normal people - you know, the people who aren't falling down drunk or people who have never cooked anything in their entire lives. If you fall into the normal category, good - I can skip all the bullshit explaining the grill and raw meat ordering process. One of our grills was off, and we had to ask the waiter to light the second one for us. Waiter (I think his name was Steve), you really expect 5 guys to cook on only one grill? C'mon bud! The second grill didn't seem to work properly - the heat was never high enough to really get a good charred look to the meat.

Chako's Short Ribs

Meats:

After ordering way more food then we could actually cook, we threw on a full grill of short ribs. The short ribs were cut thick - thicker then I've seen at any other Korean barbecue joint. Fatty, and marinated to the max - they took a while to cook on the good grill. Well worth the wait, very meaty and loaded with flavor and enough sweetness to balance out the saltiness. The regular beef order was sliced thin for fast cooking, but I found it was too salty for my taste. The chicken had a good flavor from the marinade, but this was also too salty for my liking. More salt doesn't mean more flavor argh!

Seafood:

The salmon came in trays of 4. They were also thicker, bigger pieces then what I'm used to at other places. Cooked fairly quick, meaty and salmony. Good stuff. The shrimps cooked quick as well, but spending all that time peeling the shrimp and making sure you get rid of all the Little legs takes too long. I'd skip it. The calamari (squid) had a good flavor, but a few pieces weren't cleaned properly before they landed on our table. The tilapia, err.. white fish? Decent, took a little longer to cook.

They also had a decent selection of veggies to grill up. The girls happened to notice the shape of the peppers before they put it in their mouths. Grilled mushrooms and zucchini are always winners. I by no means have anything that even resembles a sweet tooth, but they had pineapple rings that when grilled, get even sweeter. Grilled pineapple is awesome.  

Our grill was filthy by the time we finished. The black sludge from the fat and meat debris was caked on pretty thick. They didn't offer to change our grill at any time during our dinner - if you ask them I'm sure they're be quick to switch it. We were just too hungry to even ask. Ugh.. all that sludge can't be healthy.  Note to self: ask to have grill changed next time.

The Verdict:

Chako Barbecue Izakaya gets a 6 out of 10. Overpriced at $22, they also automatically add the tip on to the bill. The defective grill and some overly-salty meats and unclean squid soured my experience a bit. Good, thick cuts of short ribs and plump pieces of salmon are good - I'd stick to just those next time, along with the veggies and grilled pineapple. If I went back to Chako's, it would only be for the $10 all you can eat after 10pm.

Dangerous Dan's Diner - Does it Live up to the Burger Hype?

Dangerous Dan's Diner

714 Queen St. E.

Toronto, ON M4M 1H2

Canada

If you know me, you know I'm all about chase. But when it comes to beef, more specifically - burgers, it's all about the catch. I've been on the hunt for the cities best burgers for a while now. If only I had kept track of where I'd been and which burgers I've tried - prior to a couple weeks ago that would make a lot more sense.. doh!

I first read about Dangerous Dan's Diner a couple years ago on an online article about unhealthy food. It's located in an area of the city known as 'Leslieville'.  Dangerous Dan's Diner is nestled between a strip club (Jilly's) and small, local area specialty shops. Their claim to burger fame is their outrageously big and greasy burgers. I headed inside along with 3 friends who were up for some burger madness.

The Review:

Inside, it lived up to reputation of being a 'dive'. At first glance, it looked like something out of the movie 'The Hills Have Eyes'. The chairs and booths were old seats out of Dodge Caravans that seemed to be stained with what smelled like shit and spoiled food. There was a large picture on the wall of Dangerous Dan himself with his cat. I wouldn't be surprised if he f*cked that cat, killed it, and used the cat meat to make a mystery burger which was the inspiration for his now famous burgers. Far fetched, but possible. We sat down, and were quickly told that nobody serves us and we need to go the front to order. My 3 friends all ordered single 8 ounce (1/2 lb.) burgers with cheese - $5.39. I opted for the 16 ounce (1 lb.) double with cheese - $8.65. Somebody ordered onion rings - $3.35, and a side order of fries - $3.09.

Since the patties are pretty thick, it took about 10 minutes before the burgers were ready. Ready, set, eat! My 16 ounce double burger with cheese was huge. Taking a massive bite, the burger pattie started to fall apart immediately. Pieces of the pattie were falling onto the plate at a fast pace. It was soft, greasy and didn't have any seasoning. It did however have a strange sort of 'gaminess' taste to it. Scary. The damn thing just kept breaking apart with every bite. By the time I was half done, it looked like I had ordered a plate of ground beef. Most of it had crumbled onto the plate and I was forced to use a fork to pick up the pieces. My co-foodie told me her burger tasted like cleaning products. I don't doubt her - there were probably traces of cleaning product in there. The onion rings and fries - stay away. From the taste of them, you can tell the oil in the fryer hadn't been changed in a long time. The fries were the standard shitbox frozen kind. The gravy was completely bland. The bun? Now the bun was pretty good. Nice and soft, so you could really compress the burger to make it manageable.

The Verdict:

Dangerous Dan's Diner - now I know why there are marijuana logo's all over the menu. The only way to enjoy the food there is if you're high. IMHO, it's a 3 out of 10. The prices were good for the size of the burgers. The bun was good. But the texture, blandness, gaminess and cleaning product taste of the actual pattie combined with the old grease tasting frozen fries and gravy with no taste make this a place I don't think I'd come back to. Not even if I was high. Even if you offered me a joint and then a free meal followed by free drinks I'd have to reluctantly say no.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: Mulberry Ristorante - worth the drive to NY for a big meatball?

Mulberry Italian Ristorante

64 Jackson St.
Lackawanna, NY 14218

United States

Being a HUGE fan of the show 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives', I caught an episode where they featured this small joint down in western NY. My co-drinker Krissy and I decided to take a road trip to check it out Mulberry Italian Ristorante Located in the city of 'Lackawanna ' just south of Buffalo (grimey!), this little restaurant on a suburban city street was a little hard to find at first thanks to my horrible navigating.

We had a reservation at 5pm, and to our surprise it was empty when we walked in. All the hype on Triple D made us think we'd be walking into a packed house! The hostess was cute - a solid 7. She quickly seated us at a nice corner table, and being the alcoholics that we are - quickly ordered some drinks to get the night started.

Surprise #1 - Cheap drinks: Top shelf mixed drinks only $3.25!!

The Review:

The Mulberry Italian Restaurant menu was simple and to the point. We started off with some cesar salads - $7. The lettuce was crisp, and the homemade cesar dressing had a little tanginess and wasn't overly creamy. Overall, a decent cesar - but nothing to write home about.

They were beautiful. Huge, round.. and super soft. It might sound like I'm talking about boobs - but let's get back to the food. I'm talking about their famous Mulberry Italian meatballs. We each started off with one of their 5 pin bowling ball sized meatballs - $5. It comes in a big bowl. Smothered in their homemade red sauce with parm ontop and a single basil leaf. The texture of the meatball was like nothing I've had before. When you cut into it, it holds up and doesn't fall apart at all. BUT, as soon as you take a bite - it literally melts in your mouth. Super tender, and had a great flavor. A lot of stuff going on in there! The red sauce was light with a touch of garlic - scooped up the rest with my bread.

For our main, we split a large order of their cinder block sized homemade lasagna - $18. Since everyone in America is fat, this must be normal to eat something this big for dinner... right? Apparently they make a couple of these monsters every morning, and as soon as they sell out - it's off the menu for the rest of the day. The lasagna was stacked. It was loaded with their sliced homemade meatballs, chicken, sausage and a ton of mozz and parm. Again, it held up when you cut into it and didn't fall apart! The red sauce balanced everything out. My only complaint about the lasagna was that their was WAY TOO MUCH ricotta cheese on the top layer. Did someone spill the whole container in it and forget to tell the chef? WTF! My co-foodie pointed this out to me first, and I mean c'mon, we literally had to scrape out most of the ricotta to enjoy it.

The Verdict:

Overall, I give Mulberry Italian restaurant a 7 out of 10. Everything is homemade. The prices were great. (Well, isn't everything including food in the US cheap? I think I'd be morbidly obese if I could get Taco Bell combo's for $2 or a steak at a restaurant for $10). The meatballs lived up to the hype. The lasagna was decent but I wouldn't order it again due to the ricotta explosion in there. WTF lol. 

Q: Would I go back to Mulberry - and is it worth the drive if shopping in Buffalo?

A: I think so. I like cheap drinks, and I like oversized food.