A visit to Mother's Dumplings

Drew hasn't visited with his friend Nancy since his birthday (where she cooked a feast of lobster ravioli!) and they are way overdue for catching up. Dim sum is their brunch of choice and Nancy has the perfect location: Mother's Dumplings.

Everything is made fresh and it is fascinating to watch as the cooks, theatrically on display behind glass, roll the ingredients into little balls and tuck them into wrappers to be sent to be boiled, baked, steamed or fried. The menu is made up of recipes that the chef Zhen learned from her mother. It is pricier than Nancy and Drew's usual dim sum haunts but the dumplings are startlingly fresh tasting and there is not the usual grease. Best of all: a peek into the kitchen reveals a sparkling clean interior instead of the horrors of a favourite dim sum palace that will remain unnamed.

Raul has to work but Nancy's other half, Bruce, joins in and the conversation almost upstages the food. The boiled shrimp, pork, egg and chive dumplings are a vivid green and burst with flavour but the steamed Lamb Shui Mai packs the most punch and the little puckered bundles are fought over. Nancy raves about the broth for the beef and noodle soup with bak choi - it is rich with beefy goodness but mild and subtle - Drew is less enamoured with subtle and adds hot sauce to kick it up. The bbq-ed pork bun is the most standard dim sum option but also the most delicious. Drew is particularly partial to a side dish of spicy peanuts that mix well with everything.

Bruce is excited about a chocolate-banana smoothie for dessert but Nancy and Drew debate the options endlessly. Nancy is leaning towards rice pudding but Drew is curious about the assorted sweet buns. "It's a risk but it'll either be something extraordinary or something we'll tell a story about," he speculates. The sweet buns are extraordinary. Two varieties are gelatinous but brimming with fruity sweetness. There is a tiny lemon almost cupcake that is very tasty but the best is a stunning jewel of a treat shaped like a brightly coloured fruit - "It looks like a little bum mooning us," notes Drew referencing one of Nancy's more notorious escapades - that is a cake stuffed with a fruit paste: a work of art that tastes as good as it looks.

Dim sum may be composed of tiny delicacies but the trio eat enough to be a full meal. Mother's Dumplings is a great place to visit and dine slowly with style.

Mother's Dumplings is at 421 Spadina Ave. mothersdumplings.com

All Drew Can Eat Sushi

A Halloween lunch should be spooky theorizes Drew, but when his publisher invites him to lunch Drew does not quibble about the atmosphere or lack of gastronomic ghoulishness. "Sushi or Thai?" asks Sean.

"I'm good with either," replies Drew. "With a slight preference for sushi today."

"Sushi it is," says Sean.

They meet at Masa Sushi, 15 Charles St E, for the all you can eat sushi luncheon. At first Drew is sceptical, years ago he ate often at this location and mainly because it was filling and cheap, not because of quality. In those bygone days the offerings were arranged in a buffet which always leads to the temptation of filling up on noodles. Walking into Masa, Drew is pleased to see that there has been a full renovation. Instead of a dark almost-cafeteria ambience (which actually would have been more suitable to Halloween) everything is bright, golden and faux-Buddhist palace. And there is no longer a buffet, one orders from a menu and everything is prepared fresh and delivered to the table.

And the price is still great: $11.95 per person.

Sean orders a lot of food and Drew adds a few items to the order: Sean is extremely health-conscious but Drew has a passion for all things shrimp and deep-fried, so Dynamite Rolls have to be included. The sushi is fresh, tasty and copious - Sean and Drew didn't realize that each order included six to eight pieces. However the food does all disappear. Only the tempura disappoints as it just a little greasy.

For $11.95 one can't expect sashimi and that is Raul's big grudge against sushi restaurants in general. "It's impossible to eat $11.95 worth of rice," he notes. "So it's almost never a bargain. I'll get some sushi-grade tuna and make us a feast for half the price."

"Fine by me," says Drew who is too stuffed and content to care. His only pressing concern is how he will find room for Halloween candy.

Over easy at the East York Restaurant

When Drew first moved into Pape Village his kitchen was being renovated and for about a week he was without a stove. He's admit that he defaulted to McDonald's a few times just for convenience but then the property management's representative Lisa gave him a tip. "Try the East York Restaurant," she said. "It's cheap and the food's great, especially the feta cheese omelette." After a long day of unpacking Drew was famished and took Lisa's advice. The diner was packed - they also do a rocking bar business with karaoke nights and a seemingly endless series of celebrations for regulars - but he was squeezed in and served a bacon cheese burger that was twice the size of a quarter pounder, and with onion rings substituted for fries. And the bill was actually fifty cents less than his last burger combo at McDs.

His other dining dilemma was the search for a non-brunch location. On a Saturday and/or Sunday morning, he likes nothing better than to sit over breakfast and savour the weekend papers. He had avoided breakfasts at the East York Restaurant because of the raucousness and that there always seemed to a cliquish crowd out front packing the patio. It turned out to be far from a clique and more of a gathering place where everyone is welcome. And he was allowed to read in silence except for the occasional trading of sections that had already been read. By the second visit server Linda knew his order and he has never been able to drain his coffee cup before she appears with a piping hot refill. And if you are lucky enough to be in on a hot summer morning when she is working her gams in short shorts . . .

Part of a village is a sense of community. Drew was looking for a quiet place to read the paper and have an inexpensive but hearty breakfast, he found just a little bit more. Every morning now, when he and the dog wander down Pape, the regulars who he had avoided, look up from their morning coffee on the patio and say "Hi." And at least a few morning's a month, after the dog is back home asleep, he heads back for some eggs over easy with bacon and brown toast.

The East York Restaurant is at 1039 Pape Ave.

Pumpkin Cookies from The Danish Pastry Shop

When Drew was a child one of his favourite treats when visiting his grandparents in Thunder Bay was to eat a marzipan from the Current River Bakery. Drew's Mom is a master baker, so the fact that it was such a treat had more to do with the influence of his cousins who would visit at the same time. When Drew's Mom would travel to Thunder Bay she would always go to the Current River Bakery and bring back marzipans - a nice gesture but not a necessary one as a tray of her brownies or some of her gingerbread men are actually more delicious. Unfortunately on the last few visits, Drew's Mom's return flights have fallen on days when the bakery was closed and purchasing the scrumptious petit fours in advance lead to staleness. A dilemma indeed.

Fortunately The Danish Pastry Shop, 1017 Pape Ave is just down the street from R&D's and they make, though differently shaped (tubular rather than square), magnificent marzipans. Drew agrees to pick some up for his Mom to take back for Drew's sister. That way they will be fresh and at their best having only travelled a short distance.

It is pouring rain but Drew has his orders and sets out. On a Saturday morning The Danish Pastry Shop is busy but people wait patiently while individual orders are packaged and paid for. It is an odd but delightful little shop, selling all kinds of pastries, pies and treats, as well as meat pies and pickled herring imported from Denmark. Drew decides to buy a blueberry danish to eat on the walk back but his eye is also caught by the first of their Halloween treats: pumpkin cookies in the shape of jack o'lanterns. At Christmas the store creates massive magnificent gingerbread houses, for Halloween they go all out with spooky cupcakes and cookies in terrifying shapes and styles.

"What do you think of the cookies?" asks Drew.

"They're delicious," says Raul. "You can tell the difference of a master baker."

"Your cookies are great as well," reassures Drew while remembering the hours Raul spend in the kitchen perfecting Drew's Mom's oatmeal cookie recipe. " They've been doing it for so long that they can probably bake perfectly on auto-pilot. The pumpkin makes them really moist and not as sweet as sugar cookies."

"And we did like that Jamaican pumpkin," muses Raul as he heads for the kitchen.

Dinner and a Show: Dining at Mysteriously Yours

R&D do not dine out at restaurants very often - partially budget constraints but mainly because Raul enjoys cooking so much. When there is an opportunity it is embraced whole-heartedly and when, for work purposes, there happens to be a meal involved: all the better. This is R&D's fourth visit to Mysteriously Yours Mystery Dinner Theatre, 2026 Yonge St and Raul begins planning his choices before they have even left the apartment. Or he has even seen the menu. "Salmon or chicken, salmon or chicken," he ponders. "I know you'll go for the beef."

R&D began attending Mysteriously Yours when Drew was invited to do theatre reviews of their productions but this is the first time that they will be casting critical eyes and tastebuds on the culinary offerings. Dinner theatre has a bad reputation for the food being an afterthought - the show takes precedence, everything must be prepared and served in large quantities and quickly, the average dinner theatre patron is not gastronomically adventurous, etc - but this has never proven to be the case at Mysteriously Yours. Executive Chef Rossy Earle takes pride in her offerings and also sells a line of specialty products under the banner SupiCucu including a popular Diablo's Fuego hot sauce. Officially the food is labelled "fusion" reflecting Earle's Panamanian heritage, unofficially it means that familiar dishes have just a little more bite.

The current production is Upton Abbey which could loosely be described as Downton Abbey played for farce and with the addition of a few murders and a character based on Columbo. To this end the menu - and cocktails - have been tweaked to reflect and upper class British sensibility, more Upstairs, Downstairs than Coronation Street or pub fare. It is a warm summer evening so both choose to start with a Baby Spinach Waldorf Salad ("cherry tomatoes, grapes, celery, walnuts & apple vinaigrette"). "Fresh and lively," enthuses Drew though he notices that both eat the grapes first rather than blending all the flavours. They can be picky eaters.

Raul has the Chicken Lyonnaise ("with caramelized onion gravy, buttermilk red potato mash & green beans") while Drew, as Raul predicted, has the Braised Beef Pot Pie ("boneless beef rib, potatoes, mushrooms & vegetables braised in stout, topped with pastry"). The chicken is moist and tender and the gravy has a nice little after bite. The green beans absolutely glow with goodness and are cooked just the far side of al dente so that they are firm but don't quite crunch. The pot pie bursts with flavour and is packed with more meat and mushrooms than potatoes - no filler - and somehow the pastry remains flaky and light despite mass production.

Desserts arrive during the first intermission and Drew is extremely pleased, for the fourth time, with the Chocolate Brownie ("served with Triple Sec chocolate ganache"). He muses that he should have perhaps got into the theme of the evening and gone for the English Trifle but a chocoholic has to do what a chocoholic has to do. Raul is equally pleased with the Apple Crumble Tartlet ("with caramel sauce & whipped cream") and announces loudly, with a pat on his stomach, that it is surprisingly filling.

The service is, as always, impeccable, efficient and friendly (thanks Adrian) and the show is hilarious. Add in a delicious meal and Mysteriously Yours turns out to be a bargain. Raul crunches the numbers and pronounces the evening a smashing success.