Restaurant Review: Dirty Food

DIRTY FOOD

3070 Dundas Street West ~ dirtyfoodto.com Instagram: @dirtyfoodto Co-Diner: Tim Golem

What's the best breakfast dish? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's eggs benedict. I mean, it's definitely a strong contender. So when I saw that The Junction's Dirty Food was named #1 Best Eggs Benedict in Toronto by blogTO, I was there. No further questions required! In my opinion, going for breakfast is the funnest meal to eat out and I'm always on the lookout for the hippest joints to enjoy some morning eats. I visited Dirty Food on a Saturday morning and for a place that has the reputation of being "slammed" and "impossible to get into," I was very lucky to be able to walk in and sit down at an empty table immediately. It was clearly the right day and time to visit! The restaurant is fairly small with nice distressed wood table tops. Decor is minimal, however they do have an extremely cool black and white mural of the Mississippi River running along an entire wall. The atmosphere is fresh and welcoming, embodied by our server as well. As with any good brunch place, you'll find plenty of boozy options on their drinks menu, including an array of cocktails. Fresh squeezed OJ? They've got that too. I chose The Dirty Virgin Caesar ($3.75) to drink, which seemed like an excellent way to enjoy a cocktail without having to go full-booze. (Because sometimes I'm just not in the mood.)

Clamato, spices, pickled beet juice, horseradish.

I loved this! This caesar was spicy and delicious and I didn't miss the alcohol at all. I also appreciated the unique and surprising ingredients used! The pickled beet juice was an incredible twist and the earthy-sweet beet flavour truly came through in a beautiful way. The pickled okra as a garnish was also something that I'd never seen (or tasted!) before and I absolutely loved it. In fact, pickled okra might just be the best preparation of okra that I've ever had! From this beverage alone, I could tell what I was getting into at Dirty Food. This is a place that knows how to make classic recipes their own - and they know how to do it extremely well. The food menu is fairly small and it's obvious that each dish has been perfected. There is a definite Southern comfort food vibe to the menu, you know, if the Mississippi and the okra in the caesar didn't tip you off. You'll find dishes like grits & egg and biscuits & gravy on the menu along side totally Canadian creations. Of course with the distinction of having the best eggs benedict in the city, that's where my attention fell. There are three types available on the menu and often different ones as specials. For me it was the Salmon Jonny Benny ($17.00).

2 poached eggs, house-cured salmon gravlax on jonny cakes, hollandaise, dill, fried capers.

Each bennie is served with a choice of side: home fries, fries, spicy fries or green salad. I went with the home fries and I'm sure glad that I did! This lovely plate was full of unexpected surprises. Starting with the base, in place of a typical english muffin or something of the sort, they're doing jonny cakes; a cornmeal flatbread similar to a pancake. I loved this. The jonny cake brought a nice sweetness and was far less bready than a usual benedict base, which really allowed the other ingredients to shine. Every component was ideal on this plate; from the perfectly poached eggs to the flavourful salmon. The hollandaise was the epitome of creamy deliciousness, and just the right consistency. Every time that I ate a perfect bite that included every ingredient, I found myself stopping to say "wow." It's like they've cracked the code of salty-sweet benny amazingness. And wait. The home fries. After tasting them I literally said out loud, "what potato voodoo magic is this?!?" From what I can tell, these cubes of (double?) fried potato are actually thinly sliced potatoes, layered and cut into cubes... To create like... The most incredible potato experience ever?! Usually hash browns are basically filler on a breakfast plate - I'll eat a few just to taste them, but I'll certainly never eat them all. Not so in this case! These home fries are super special and I ate every single last piece. They were even better with some housemade hot sauce!

Dirty Food was amazing and I will return. It might even be my favourite breakfast spot in Toronto right now. I especially loved that as we were wrapping up our meal, I looked at Instagram only to see that Dirty Food had posted a picture... OF MY BREAKFAST! These are clearly my people.