TORONTO: The more things change

UPDATE – January 2010: The owners of Irie Food Joint have closed the Jamaican restaurant and opened Harlem Underground in the same location. The new eatery focuses on Southern food as well as live events.

Sometimes I think I’m an 80-year-old woman at heart. I like to drink hot water and carry old Kleenex in my purse. I like routine. I don’t like change.

I know Toronto is a big city in a constant state of flux. Condo towers where parking lots used to be. Chain stores where independent boutiques once stood. But there are a few things I can count on, places I go to meet with old friends and enjoy no-fuss food.

I always end up at Irie Food Joint when I’m in Toronto. Opened in 2001, it serves Caribbean (mostly Jamaican) food in a laid-back atmosphere. Some Queen West restaurants are all about how cool you’re dressed. There’s none of that here. Irie’s menu is printed on old records. The back patio is one of my favourite places to just relax among the stained glass and tiki lights.

I’ve written about Irie before, but this time I took better pictures.

The jerk chicken wings ($8.50) is a good starter to share (or not). It’s got Irie’s jerk spice but with more molasses.

I had the day’s special of jerk pork ($18) but you can’t go wrong with the signature jerk chicken. Irie’s jerk does not set off fire alarms. It starts off smoky sweet on your tongue, settles into the savoury allspice, then kicks into the Scotch bonnet at the end. I know some people prefer mind-numbing hotness but I like this.

Several blocks away is Queen Mother Cafe, which has served Laotian-Thai food since 1978. Just as Vancouver is overrun by sushi places and Ottawa with shawarma counters, Toronto is a haven for Thai food. I’m not sure why. Anyway, Queen Mother is a consistently good spot.

I rushed here with a friend during a break from our conference – only to run into others from the same conference who also used to live in Toronto and came for their Queen Mother fix. It’s common to find the funky restaurant filled with lunching lawyers and media types from the Muchmusic/City-TV building across the street.

I went with my usual pad thai ($10.50), thin rice noodles stirfried with chicken, shrimp, bean sprouts, eggs, scallions, chopped peanuts and ground roasted chiles. Queen Mother does pad thai the way it’s supposed to be, NOT drowning in a weird ketchupy sauce, but tossed just right in a tangy sweet and sour sauce.

My friend Melissa ordered the bah me hang ($10.50) which I think is now my new favourite. Thin egg noodles are stirfried with bean sprouts, onions, celery, chopped peanuts, sautéed shrimp and chicken. But the spicy lime coriander sauce really kicked it up a notch. (I can’t believe I just quoted Emeril Lagasse.)

Anyway, those are my Toronto haunts and I sure hope they stick around for a while yet.

Irie Food Joint, 745 Queen Street West, Toronto, (416) 366-4743. More info here.
Queen Mother Cafe, 208 Queen Street West, Toronto, (416) 598-4719. Open Mon-Sat 11:30 am-1 am, Sun 12 pm-midnight. Menu here.