Queen St Warehouse

I have lost count how many times I have said that I have been busy with my photography lately.  I was with a client who was authoring a cookbook and it took us quite some time to finish the project.  I am quite elated that it is finally done! On our last day my EyeCandyTO business partner, Abe and I, went out to celebrate and talk about the whole experience.  It was quite a ride to finish a whole cookbook.

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We ended up celebrating another feather to our growing cap at Queen St. Warehouse.  This place is an off-shoot of El Furniture Warehouse up at Bloor.  I have wanted to find out why there are consistent good reviews of this restaurant but each time I try, it was always too full. As I know Abe is alright with waiting for a table, I took the chance at their new installation at Queen St. West. And I was pretty glad that we did.

When we walked in at half past three in the afternoon, I was surprised that all the tables available were just at the bar. The person receiving patrons let us in the secret that she just handed the check to the couple by the window and she said if we were willing to wait, we could grab that for ourselves. When she said that, I was already elated. The table was any food photographer’s dream, diffused even lighting and the table was quite photogenic. Added plus was that I was dining with my favourite food stylist, Abe, what else could I ask for?

As we were going through the menu, we were pleasantly surprised that every dish was $4.95. I looked around at other tables and I was half disbelieving that they were regular sized full plates. I sort of thought that the food would come tapas size. Everything in the menu was a full size serving and that was a definite plus. All I was anticipating to do was to have a taste and see if the food lives up to the hype among foodies. El Furniture Warehouse has been trending for a long time so I figured, they must be doing something really good and tasty.

Since Abe and I haven’t been out for a while, we decided to go big and planned to order starters, mains and desserts. For our starters, we split the Mac N’ Cheese and a plate of onion rings. I must say, I could finish that Mac N’ Cheese all by myself and would be full. To me it tasted like comfort. The onion rings on the other hand gave me a surprise. It had a maple glaze on it and it definitely heightened and complimented the concentrated sweetness of the onions. The batter was not as thick and that was a really good thing. Crisp and light, it definitely is a boost to the appetite.

For mains we opted for the Braised Beef Au Jus and Smokey BBQ Burger. Again, I am amazed at the price of $4.95 for the plates we received. The Braised Beef came with fries and the Smokey BBQ has a side of kale salad. It was definitely filling and I must say, I love that tender braised beef. Straightforward, tender and meaty, everything I want my sandwich to be.

Then came the time that we have to get our dessert that Abe and I was in deadlock. We were debating whether to go for the deep-fried apple pie (yes!) or the 10 mini donuts dusted with sugar with an dark chocolate ancho chili dipping sauce. I wanted the apple pie and Abe was trying to sway me to flip for donuts so we asked the server which of the two was more photogenic. To explain ourselves, I outed myself as a food photographer/food blogger and that Abe was a food stylist. I smiled ear-to-ear when she sided with me and I happily waited for our dessert to come. What we ended up with was the manager coming up to our table and after a few minutes of chitchat, she tells me there was actually a third option. The mini donuts they also serve wrapped in bacon. Now, when I heard the magic word bacon, I was probably beaming! LOL. She offered for us to try it with Abe’s share sans the bacon. In the end, both Abe and I got our preferences after all.

Thank you Queen St Warehouse for giving such a good meal as we celebrated another milestone for EyeCandyTO. I will definitely will be back for more of those decadent bacon wrapped donuts!