Tidbits: featuring Hogtown Smoke, Smith Brothers, Pho Vietnam and The Burger's Priest

I haven't had the chance to do a full review of a restaurant in a while but I still want to share with you guys some of the things I've had the pleasure (or displeasure) of eating recently. Therefore I've decided to introduce a new series of posts called Tidbits. These posts will showcase specific dishes from several restaurants I've visited within the last couple of weeks. Hopefully this will allow me to create more content when times get busy and I can't take the time to do a proper review. Sorry for the bad pictures, I've been making due with my crappy camera phone for now until I get an upgrade.

First on the docket is the brisket infused burger at Hogtown Smoke. Hogtown Smoke originated as one of the first food trucks in the Toronto area and they opened up their first physical location around the end of last year in The Beach area. The burger itself is Angus ground, topped with pulled pork, BBQ sauce, caramelized onions, red peppers, three cheeses and bacon. First impressions, this thing is massive. I've always held that the best sandwiches were the messiest ones but I feel like this burger takes it a little too far as the pulled pork falls off, which in and of itself wouldn't be a bad thing if the cheese wasn't melted onto it. Once the cheesey pork fell off it was hard to put it back onto the burger which was disappointing since the flavour from the cheese was very good. The pulled pork/onion/pepper topping was too sweet for my taste, I feel like the sweet BBQ sauce and the sweetness of the onions kind of overpowered everything. Despite this the burger patty itself was very flavourful, but it was not without its flaws. Personally I like two different types of burgers, ones with thick meaty patties that are cooked almost medium/medium rare like a steak and thin patties with great crust (the only reason I separate them into these categories is that I feel its hard to get the best of both worlds). The Hogtown burger was thick but it was very dry in the middle, which made it kind of tough. Overall not the best effort, considering how good the BBQ from this joint is.

Next up is the New York strip from Smith Brothers. Accompanied by Smith's signature shoestring fries this New York strip is a thing of beauty. I am a vehement meat eater, so nights like these have me smiling like a little kid on Christmas. This was the first time I've ever had shoestring fries and I admit I was a little disappointed. I love fries (jeez what the hell do I not love) and I expected shoestring fries to be super crispy delicious morsels of carbs. Sadly that was not the case as the fries did not have the expected crispy nor crunch. The sauce that I ordered was the Mushroom Cabernet, the flavour of the wine definitely comes through but the earthiness of the mushrooms seems lost in the sauce. The steak itself is cooked to a beautiful medium rare and its flavour is pretty good. Not the most flavourful steak I've ever had but definitely juicy and cooked well. I do wish there could have been a better crust on it, but in the end it was a valiant effort.

Third up is pho from Pho Vietnam. This was probably the most disappointing dish of the post. Good pho has deep complex flavour and tons of body which the broth at Pho Vietnam lacked on both fronts. The broth felt like it wasn't given enough time to develop proper flavour as the depth normally seen in pho was missing, this was probably due to the onions and ginger not being charred enough during the cooking process before they were added to the soup. In addition to this the broth was very thin and didn't have the usual coat your mouth texture that good pho broths have. Overall disappointing since there are numerous good pho places in and around the city.

Nearing the end of the week I felt a little lost, so I decided to drop by The Burger's Priest for a little 1on1 with his Holiness. I ordered the Priest which is a traditional cheeseburger with an added cheese stuffed portobello mushroom patty. The portobello and cheese patty is coated with panko breadcrumbs (the superior breadcrumb, hue) before being fried up and served hot. The patty itself is fantastic, intensely flavourful with a nice light crust on the outside but the star of the show was definitely the portobello patty. The secret cheese blend oozes out of the crunchy exterior of the mushroom patty when you bite into it, smothering the rest of the burger in its delectable flavour. The burger is a messy one, but not overly so, and every bite is as delicious as the last. Definitely one of the best burgers I've ever had.

Thanks for reading! You can find more information on the restaurants featured here below:


Hogtown Smoke: @hogtownsmoke

Smith Brothers Steakhouse: @smithbrossteak

Pho Vietnam: Yelp Page

The Burger's Priest: @burgerspriest