New York shopping tour with Safeway

August 31, 2013 - Labour Day Weekend Shopping

5:15 am - Boarded the Safeway tour bus

8:30 am - Crossing the border

10:45 am - Service center and breakfast at Checkers. Ordered big buford. My friend's salad had old lettuce slices. 

12:30 pm - Lunch at En En Chinese Buffet. The most authentic Chinese restaurant. When you have a bus load of Chinese tourist stopping by, it means it's good stuff.

5:30 pm - Crossing Premium Outlet

7:00 pm - Dinner at Mr Deli in food court. Ordered mushroom swiss burger. $4.99

Shared a nice cold beer with Benaldo.

Just to be clear, we had two separate beds

August 31, 2013 - Burger count: 2

September 1, 2013

8:00 am - Manhattan - walked from Times Square to Chelsea Market in the humid day.

9:00 am - Pit stop at H Mart in K-town for Rice Punch

9:45 am - Arrived at Chelsea Market 

10:00 am - Camping at Lobster Place, they start serving the Lobster roll at 11:00 am

Lobster Bisque - $6.95

Spicy Salmon Box - $8.95

12:00 pm - Walked back to Times Square for Shake Shack

Stack Shack - Cheese burger and portobello mushroom filled with cheese - $8.85

4:00 pm - Woodbury Outlet

Waldorf Turkey Wrap - $7.99

September 1, 2013 - Burger count: 1

September 2, 2013

8:00 am - Breakfast at McDonald's - Steak Egg McMuffin. It was dry and had a tendon. Wouldn't recommend it. - $5.59

12:00 pm - Waterloo Outlet

2:00 pm - Lunch at Burger King: 2 cheeseburger, 1 bacon cheeseburger

September 2, 2013 - Burger count: 4

Weight gained from eating 7 burgers in 3 days: American size

Joey Eaton Centre - Waitresses first, food second

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Date visited: August 19, 2013

Time: 12:30 pm

Party Size: 8

Price: $14 before tax and tips

Website: http://www.joeyrestaurants.com/

Food consumed:
- Baja Fish Tacos (fish & shrimp, white corn tortillas, cheese, guacamole & very Mexican hot sauce, no fries here)

Pictures of food consumed: (Click on image to enlarge)

I am so proud of this shot. To me, it has the perfect lighting and display by the cook. On the other hand, could be a lucky shot.

Review of Restaurant:

• What did I think of the service?

Known for its waitresses, we were served by a waiter called Steve. Where did all the waitresses go to? The HR manager must be a guy and hires based on the brain between his legs. Other than that, service was as expected.

If you have never been to the washroom at this location, be sure to check it out. I would call it "The Road to Glory". If you manage to make your way through the maze, you'll  be greeted by a picture of a hiker at a waterfall. What a relief!

• How did my sensitive stomach feel?
  

The baja fish taco were meh, despite high recommendations from co-workers. I think Grand Electric was better. Since I lost credibility from some peers because of my Grand Electric review, I plan on heading back there despite banning it to see if I can get food poisoned again.

No stomach issues at Joey Eaton Centre.

Second Documented Trip

Date visited: August 26, 2013

Time: 6:30 pm

Party Size: 2

Price: $23.25 before tax and tips

Food consumed:
- Hand pressed burger w/ fries - $13.25
- Cocktail Pale Ale - $5
- Gringo Cerveza - $5

Pictures of food consumed: (Click on image to enlarge)

This shot was bad. Did not use flash and increased the ISO to 12800. Very pixelated with undefined edges.

Taken with Nexus 4: the worst camera phone on a smartphone

Review of Restaurant:

• What did I think of the service?

This time we were served by a waitress, Kathleen, rather than Steve. I think he takes care of the "patio" area as he was in the same area. Kathleen seemed a bit out of it, her mind wasn't there, she was just a robot serving customers. The blonde waitress acted like a ginger.

• How did my sensitive stomach feel?
  

Two beers after work does not mix well on a Monday evening. Stomach was churning like crazy. It must be the cerveza. Mexican beers... *shakes fist* My friend claimed that he had was feeling sick, must be psychological from all my food poisoning talks.

City of Toronto Inspection Report

(Click on image to enlarge)

Here are just the SIGNIFICANT infractions:

April 19, 2012 - PASS - 1 significant infraction

1. Operate food premise-mechanical equipment not maintained to provide sufficient chemical solution rinse

As expected, this location should have almost impeccable inspection report due to the location and high integrity of the restaurant branding.

VERDICT: Mexican food at a predominant Western food menu has a slim chance of causing stomach issues versus a pure Mexican restaurant. I'm looking at you, Grand Electric.

Bonus comment:
Quote from the movie Machete about Mexicans

Guu Izakaya Restaurant - Noise level over 9000

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Date visited: August 17, 2013

Time: 8:00 pm

Party Size: 7

Price: $23.51 after tax and tips

Website: http://guu-izakaya.com/toronto

Pictures of food consumed: (Click on images to enlarge)

Gyu Carpaccio: seared beef sashimi w/ ponzu, wasabi, mayo & garlic chips - $6.50

Gindara: grilled black cod w/ saiko miso & white wine sauce - $11.80

Lobster tempura - $14.80

Salmon Tataki: seared BC salmon sashimi w/ ponzu, wasabi, mayo & garlic chips - $6.80

Maguro Tataki: seared BC tuna sashimi w/ ponzu & garlic chips - $7.30

Tontoro Kimchi Itame: panfried pork cheek w/ kimchi & vegetables

Salmon belly carpaccio - $9.80

Hokke: Grilled atka mackerel w/ grated daikon radish

Salmon Natto Yukke: chopped salmon sashimi w/ seven friends (natto, takuan, shibazuke, scallion, cucumber, garlic chips & raw egg yolk) - $8.80

Okonomiyaki: deep fried Japanese pancake w/ squid tonkatsu sauce & karashi mayo - $6.80

Ikapiri: deep fried calamari w/ spicy ketchup & wasabi mayo - $6.50

Takoyaki: deep fried octopus balls w/ tonkatsu sauce & karashi mayo - $5.00

Octopus tempura - $7.80

Karubi: grilled salt & pepper beef short ribs w/ scallion sauce - $6.80

Yakiudon: pan fried udon noodles w/ beef, mushrooms & scallion - $8.50

Gyu tongue: thinly sliced angus beef tongue steak on sizzling plate w/ scallion - $6.50

Review of Restaurant:

• What did I think of the service?

I heard many good things about Guu but the one complaint was the noise level. I didn't understand that as Chinese restaurants tend to be very noisy. As soon as you step foot into the restaurant, all the waiters drop what they are doing and greet you in Japanese. They do this for everyone who comes in and leaves. It got so loud that we had to create a WhatsApp group and chat there. Some group members, who knew sign language, communicated that way. Kidding aside, I felt a sensory overload. My ears were about to bleed.

Despite that, the service was very good despite the noise. The servers excused themselves when they retrieved an empty dish. I expected nothing less from Japanese, where mannerism is taught at a young age, unlike Chinese people....

• How did my sensitive stomach feel?
  

My ears suffered that night instead of my stomach, a small price to pay when I don't have to end up in the washroom all night long. This is surprising since most of the food was either deep fried or raw. 16 dishes for 7 people was not enough. I was probably 2% full by the end of the meal. It's good to have a big group so you can try different dishes, come in groups of 5 since most of the portions are served in that multiple.

City of Toronto Inspection Report

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: http://www.toronto.ca/health/dinesafe/index.htm?show=detail&id=104804

February 1, 2013 - Store utensils in manner not preventing contamination (Significant)

Not much to mention for this location. However, the one at 559 Bloor St West (Bloor St West / Bathurst St) has a darker history.

Source: http://www.toronto.ca/health/dinesafe/index.htm?show=detail&id=106444

Here are just the SIGNIFICANT AND CRUCIAL infractions:

December 19, 2012 - CONDITIONAL PASS - 4 significant infractions

1. Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated
2. Operator fail to provide separate handwashing sink(s)
3. Operator fail to properly wash multi-use utensils

July 29, 2013 - PASS - 1 significant infraction

1. Fail to provide accurate probe thermometer (This is serious as raw fish is being served)

Before I looked at the second location, I thought it would be funny if the other location had a conditional pass. My gut feeling was correct. I don't think I will come back to either place as it was very noisy. Food was good but I like to look for value in my meals. The value wasn't at Guu Izakaya Restaurant.

VERDICT: If you can stand the noise level, this Izakaya passed the Jer's litmus test.