The Harbord House and Linux Caffe

Today has been a comedy of errors I felt so disoriented how I could have planned a day so bad.  I normally would have a plan and have every detail sorted out in advance.  If time permits, I even have contingencies to back it up.  Today, it felt like my alter ego came out of hiding and what I scheduled was all out of whack.  I planned to meet up with friends to watch a parade I thought was happening today.  A co-photo enthusiast friend of mine, Sue Shadoff, invited me to witness a Vintage Easter Parade she participated in.  I thought it would be fun to have an afternoon of photography, shooting portraits of people in their Sunday vintage best.  I don’t know why it didn’t sink in to me that Easter was still a week away.  Supposed to start at Yonge and Bloor and end at Spadina and Bloor, I thought it would be best to select a restaurant along the route and I told my friend to meet me at The Harbord House.  But me planning the meeting place using my alternate ego, I thought Huron St on Bloor was Harbord St.  I literally smacked my forehead as I stood at the intersection of Bloor and Huron Sts.   I could not believe how so off the mark I was.  Good thing that the brunch at The Harbord House was worth the 15 minute walk amidst the rain.  My silver lining of the day was that I did not make a mistake in choosing my brunch place :D

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So I was a good 15 minutes late when I showed up at the Harbord House and I found my friend, Valerie, perfectly content, reading her book, sipping good coffee.  That was a good sign.  I ordered Vegetarian Benedict, two poached eggs sitting on top a sweet slice of tomato and spinach, piled on top of potato pancakes, smothered with hollandaise sauce. Valerie selected Smoked Salmon Benedict, poached eggs piled on top of a slice of smoked salmon and English muffin, also having its generous hollandaise topping.

My morning of errors completely fading into the background, I dig into my chosen eggy treat.  I excitedly dig into the Vegetarian Benedict and took a good heaping forkful of the poached egg, tomato and potato pancake.  After tasting my perfect bite, I think I would prefer having my Egg Benedicts on top of a potato pancake from now on.  I am guessing there must have been a bit of vinegar drizzled on my pancake as I tasted some tartness that complimented the pancake perfectly.  It made so much sense to me I finished everything on plate.  Now I know why The Harbord House has so many good reviews.

After all our brunch disappeared, Valerie and I walked off the calories and moved to Linux Caffe , to have more coffee and conversation time.  I know I’d be bouncing off the walls tonight with all the coffee I have taken in today but I could not pass up good coffee.  I have once attended a friend’s exhibition at this place and know that their coffee was excellent.  Paired with a maple butter tart, my sweet tooth was pacified.   After how my morning started, the afternoon moved on perfectly.  No more reason to complain, this foodie is happy :)