News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
Comal y Canela is in the Globe and Mail.
When Ms. De Leon was five, without warning, they left in the middle of the night. While hiking over the border into California, a member of their migrant group was shot and killed by a “coyote” (smuggler).
“It was so cold that they covered me with the dead man’s jacket.”
It took me six months too long, but I finally made it to the new Royal Bakery, at Ray and Weston Road.
The owners took over a space that had been empty for a some time. Around five years ago, the rather run-down Coffee Time (where I sat with my agent and bought my house, for what it’s worth) shut down, and the building became rather unattractive.
No more! Now the space is bright, warm, and welcoming.
Royal Bakery and BBQ Chicken serves pastries and deli sandwiches, and sells the largest loaves of bread you’ve ever seen. The donuts are enormous, fresh and cakey, and the coffee and hot chocolate we had were both great.
Despite the name, they don’t yet sell barbecue chicken; that’s coming in the summer. I’m looking forward to it.
Somehow in the New Year’s celebrations I missed an article in Toronto.com about Weston’s Wiff Restaurant at 1804 Weston Road which serves a Somali-Italian fusion menu. Readers may have sampled their samosas at the Weston Farmers Market.
Read the article here.
Read Melissa’s Weston Web article from 2012 here.
We’re officially in the summer doldrums – at least I am. Adam’s still incredibly productive.
In spite of having a new premier with his early announcements and the delicious prospect of October’s civic election, my side of Weston Web’s virtual office is eerily quiet with ceiling fans gently moving stale air over the desks, typewriters and silent telephones.
Before the civic election campaigns begin in earnest, this might be a good time to take a breath and reflect on some of the almost 3000 articles that have appeared on Weston Web since Adam began publishing in 2010. Incidentally, every article written on Weston Web is still available and can be searched by topic or date.
WestonWeb uses WordPress which keeps statistics on the number of times each article is viewed. Interestingly, some articles have a life of their own and are constantly being read – even years after publication. Many of these most popular articles were written by student writers who are paid a small stipend for their efforts.
Grab a beverage and get comfortable; here’s a list with links to the 20 most popular Weston Web articles of all time – in reverse order. You’ll have to supply your own roll of the drums.
20. St John’s Anglican Church up for sale. February 2016. The mid-19th Century church at 2123 Weston Road was for sale at that time.
19. Weston Wins. February 2016. This is about former Premier Wynne’s (those were the days, remember?) decision to lower fares on the UP Express that resulted in dramatically increased ridership.
18. Drake general store pop up hits Mount Dennis. December 2016. Whenever you have an article with the words ‘Drake’ and ‘Weston’ in it, there’s bound to be lots of interest. Sadly for Drake fans, this was a Drake Hotel pop up.
17. Atlantic Salmon should hit Weston this weekend. September 2013. This one is popular when salmon are running in the fall.
16. 5 buildings to be ashamed of in Weston. May 2010. As a mark of Weston’s transformation over the past eight years, all of these buildings have disappeared entirely except for the Plank House which continues to sit empty and unloved.
15. TV show filming in Weston. March 2011. An interesting article on Weston’s film operations at the time. Scroll down to view an informative comment from Weston Historical Society’s Martin Proctor.
14. Longtime York South-Weston resident and advocate to become NDP candidate. November 2017. This article about (now MPP) Faisal Hassan is from guest writer Riley Peterson.
13. WCI home to the youngest recipient of Volunteer Toronto’s Legacy Award. June 2016. This was written by one of our student writers, Natalie while she was a student at Weston Collegiate Institute.
12. Weston youth flies to Sweden to represent Canada in Youth World Cup. July 2014. An earlier article from Natalie about a talented WCI soccer player.
11. Zeal Burgers; real burgers. October 2016. Yet another of our student writers, Lieselotte Noort writes about the best burger joint in town.
10. P&Ms – lots of history and a bright future. June 2012. Guest writer Melissa wrote this about the restaurant that has been serving Westonians for decades.
9. New vegetarian restaurant. March 2016. This is about Budda Chay, the vegetarian restaurant at 1784 Jane.
8. Wakame Sushi is the best sushi joint in Weston. March 2012. Another of Adam’s excellent restaurant reviews; Wakame Sushi is still going strong at 2625 Weston Road.
7. Book review: Safe as Houses. August 2012. Adam’s review of an excellent novel by Eric Walters, written for young adults based around the historical background of Hurricane Hazel.
6. Mark DeMontis is PC candidate. November 2017. This gentleman generated considerable interest during his campaign to become a PC MPP. Adam’s astute observations proved to be correct.
5. Lutong Pinoy: A new Filipino restaurant on Weston. June 2016. Guest writer Charlie Siddayao wrote this about Weston’s first Filipino restaurant, still in business at 1754 Weston Road.
4. P&M: Ready for the Move. January 2015. The story of P&M Restaurant in the weeks before moving to its spanking new location in May 2015.
3. Irving Tissue expanding. July 2012. Irving Tissue is the last of the big employers on Weston Road and guest writer Laurie Mace covered the proposed expansion of the plant.
2. Scarlett Heights Academy to close. October 2017. There has been intense interest around the closing of this school which is not strictly in Weston but obviously of interest to residents locally.
1. Ahmed Hussen wins YSW Liberal nomination. December 2014. The dramatic federal Liberal Party nomination of Ahmed Hussen astonished pundits who expected former councillor Bill Saundercook to win. This story has been accessed more than 2000 times.
Just a couple of observations: the restaurants reviewed in our top 20 are still in operation. If you want them to stick around, keep patronizing them. It’s easy to forget that Weston has undergone some quite remarkable changes in the past eight years with more still in the pipeline. With large numbers of people about to make Weston their new home, the next few years will be interesting.
Journalistic integrity forces me to write about Comal y Canela at 1692 Jane St. I desperately want to keep it secret from you, because it is a hip, gourmet Mexican restaurant right here in Weston. It’s a tiny space, with 15 seats, a cute decor, and gorgeous, delicious, authentic Mexican food. I don’t want you to know, because I fear I’ll never get a seat there again.
But it’s marvellous. And you have to go.
Comal y Canela has only been open for about 4 months, but word seems to be out. It was busy there tonight—a Tuesday—with a few families jumbled on benches and chairs around the polished, rough-edged wood tables. The place is close, familiar, friendly, and inexpensive enough to frequent. (We spent $62 for a family of four.)
The menu is only in Spanish, in keeping with the authentic food. Our server, who was wonderful, helped us through it, as there was lots of stuff we’d never heard of. The guy next to me, emerging from a rapture, tried to explain pozole. He said it’s like chilli, but he said ‘chilli’ with a sneer. No Tex Mex hard tacos here, friend.
I wanted to try it all. The sausage is made in house, as are the tamales (they didn’t serve them today, because the recipe they started last night didn’t work. The corn meal in Canada is different, our server explained.) The pork is ‘tip to tail’, and some of the food takes hours, or days, to make.
But oh, is it worth the wait.
I got goat birria: a rich stew, served with tortillas, chopped onion, sliced radishes, and cilantro. It was fabulous. When it was hot, it was warm hangover food. The braised meat fell apart, and little delectable droplets of red oil surfaced on the brown broth. While it cooled, it got better and better, as the spicy blackened-pepper flavours came forward. I love goat, and this was perfect; just a teensie bit fatty, with two knuckles of bone in. I joined my neighbour in the heavenly choir.
My wife had tacos gobernador (shrimp tacos). No amateur alimentarian, she loved them, and she denied me all but a bite—and that was begrudgingly granted for science. My kids had chicken tacos dorados (taquitos) from the childrens’ menu, topped with lettuce, sour cream, and queso fresco. Unfussy and unspicy, they were total kid wins.
There are only two shortcomings. The first is vanishing: I would have killed for a beer (even a Mexican one) to go with my meat, but, at least for now, Comal y Canela is unlicensed. Instead, I had a made-in-house hibiscus iced tea. It was great. The second means everything or nothing: the menu is meaty, with little for vegetarians, and nothing (as far as I can tell with my Spanish) for vegans.
But ignore those quibbles. Comal y Canela is superb.
Mati’s Coffee is the latest addition to Weston’s ‘Main Street’ and is situated at 1947 Weston Road; just north of John Street on the west east side. Originally from Ethiopia (the home of all coffee), owners Konjet and Derrge Tadewsa are a true Canadian success story. Konjet worked at Tim Hortons for many years learning the ins and outs of customer service. She and husband Derrge (who did the renovations) are now taking the plunge with this new Weston business.
Aside from coffee and other beverages, Mati’s serves a wide selection of food, from home baked muffins to donuts, delicious cake slices and meat patties.
The official opening was held on Saturday, showcasing the beautiful renovation that has transformed the site of the old Weston Bun Bakery. In attendance were some familiar faces from Weston including Masum Hossain, Marion O’Sullivan and Debbie Gibson from the BIA and Suri Weinberg-Linsky from Squibb’s bookstore across the road.
Let’s give a warm Weston Welcome to Mati‘s Coffee and make a point of supporting this new business. Did I mention they have free wifi?