Getting well-fed in Oshawa
Our restaurant critic takes a road trip to find good eats
I recently went to Oshawa in search of good food — and found it.
An hour’s drive east of Toronto, Oshawa is better known for car manufacturing than its food scene.
But a new class of restaurants has come to the city of 160,000. These spots are “embracing creative foods, architectural details, diet accommodations and variety,” the city’s economic development office says.
“Now it’s all foodie culture,” echoes Louie Givelas of Oshawa’s Rainbow Family Restaurant.
My trip comes about after Oshawa chef Kyle Sherwin emails an invitation: “I am curious if you ever venture outside Toronto.”
“There is a uniqueness (here), more than standard suburban fare.” KYLE SHERWIN BANG BANG BURRITO CHEF
“How ‘bout all the way out to the dirty ‘Shwa? I sure as hell wouldn’t … until I moved out here in 2013 from Queen and Leslie,” writes Sherwin, a former Torontonian who makes enjoyably messy burritos at Bang Bang Burrito.
“There seems to be more and more independents opening up out here as people are getting much smarter about food,” Sherwin writes.
I ask Sherwin to name four non-chain restaurants deserving of attention. He names eight, including Indian, Caribbean, Italian and vegetarian options. I winnow it down to six spots and eat my way through the list. It is mostly delicious, with just one disappointment.
“I wanted to show you Oshawa is more than big-box restaurants. There is a uniqueness (here), more than standard suburban fare,” Sherwin said last week as he prepares to open a Bang Bang Burrito franchise at 366 Bloor St. W.
“I could’ve saved you the drive,” he joked.
But then I wouldn’t have sampled the succulence of the ‘Shwa. Ciao Amici My first stop is this tavola caldo (hot table). It is empty at lunchtime; my instincts steer me toward the busy White Apron diner next door. (Breakfast spots are big in Oshawa due to GM plant shift work.) I’m glad I resisted. Ciao Amici serves good Italian homecooking. Co-owner Lisa Alexiou makes thick navy bean soup ($3.75) teeming with vegetables. Her lean beef meatballs ($9.50) are lovely, a soft quartet in straightforward tomato sauce. The lemony roast potatoes on the side are influenced by husband Sotirios’s Greek background.
8 Bond St. W., 905-728-4888, ciaoamici.ca. Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Teddy’s Restaurant & Deli Customers line up at lunchtime inside Teddy’s Restaurant & Deli, an Oshawa institution.
I wouldn’t. The daily cream of cauliflower soup is gloopy. Corned beef and cabbage platter ($15.25) means salty machine-sliced meat, scooped mashed potato, coarse fried cabbage and frozen corn. The taste of margarine strangles everything like a kudzu vine. But I can kinda get behind the toasted coconut pie ($4.85) topped with canned whipped cream.
245 King St. W., 905-579-5529, teddyoshawa.com. Open Monday to Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Berry Hill Food Company Chef Sarah Chiapparro’s contemporary diner, Berry Hill Food Company, is the hippest joint in town. It looks like a hygge Scandinavian house and sounds like a ’50s jazz club.
Cast-iron brie ($12) uses a sizzling skillet to sear the cheese rind crisp. Fish and chips ($24) get a successful twist the day I’m there as unbattered cod wrapped in bacon. A dessert of banana-chocolate bread pudding ($8) is gooey and delicious.
82 King St. W., 905-240-9055, berryhillfoodco.ca. Open Tuesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednes- day); Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Spicy Affairs Next door to Berry Hill is northern Indian restaurant Spicy Affairs. The Varna family uses complex spice pastes to produce clean, clear flavours in the tandoori meat platter ($19) of minced lamb kebabs, yogurtmarinated chicken and yellow shrimp. Lamb biryani ($13) satisfies with layers of meat and spiced rice. The naan ($1.50) is fine and masala chai ($2) boasts a pleasant ginger burn. But oversweet mango paneer ($11) should never have happened.
Diners can order mild, medium, spicy or “Indian,” as the South Asian family beside me requests one night.
84 King St. W., 905-240-8600, spicyaffairs.ca. Open Monday to Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Rainbow Family Restaurant Little seems changed since Chris Givelas and family opened Rainbow Family Restaurant in 1958. Jukeboxes, family photos and linoleum keep it real.
Chef Louie Givelas offers a daunting 10-egg omelette and a 20-ounce hamburger but I opt for smaller versions. Still, there are six pieces of bacon in the three-egg GMC breakfast ($7.75), along with homefries, heavily buttered toast and good coffee. A 10ounce cheeseburger ($9.98) is a tasty handful, leaving a Jokerwide ketchup smear around one’s mouth.
82 Simcoe St. N., 905-7286463, rainbowrestaurant.ca. Open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bang Bang Burrito The slow-cooked meats are very good at Sherwin’s Bang Bang Burrito, a skull-decorated joint in north Oshawa.
Pulled chicken, beef and chipotle pork ($11 for small) get wrapped with toppings such as apple slaw and crushed tortilla chips for texture.
There is a sauce made from Carolina Reaper, “the hottest pepper in the world. I threw up from it,” says the counter help. OK then.
Also to avoid: flabby fried cheesecake ($7) and redundantly sweet sauces on skinny churros ($2).
Ask for chips ($5) without the heavy seasoning.
1812 Simcoe St. N., 905-2409111, bangbangburrito.ca. Open Sunday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight; Thursday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Amy Pataki is a Toronto-based restaurant critic and reporter covering all things hospitality. Follow her on Twitter: @amypataki