A Foodie Spring Break in Detroit and Toronto

It has become a bit of a tradition in the past few years to plan a small trip for my preschool spring break. It tends to be wherever my husband is consulting at the time. Last year, I had an amazing week in Chicago. This year, he is working in Detroit so we decided to spice things up by adding a few days in Toronto as well.

I decided to make this post in the best way I know, and the only way my brain thinks on a trip (or on a daily basis for that manner), that is, with a food journal.

Friday, March 30

I left for the airport as soon as my work day was over. I wasn’t feeling great but I assumed it was the excitement of flying out and being on vacation. When I finally met Jeff, I nicely asked forced him to take me to A&W. I had a vague childhood memory of onion rings and root beer and I was excited to recreate it. A&W restaurants aren’t as common in the Atlanta area, so with one next to our hotel, it seemed like a no-brainer. I loved the old school feel of the place, although the American menu isn’t quite the same as the Canadian one. The food was fine but the queasy feeling I had while traveling wasn’t going away so I didn’t get to enjoy the meal as much as I was hoping.

Saturday, March 31

Bummer of all bummers, my Friday queasiness turned into a night of food poisoning hell. All this to say our first day of vacation turned into a day of rest and basic food. I spent most of the day sipping Ginger Ale, and my kind husband got me French onion soup and crackers for dinner.

Sunday, April 1

Thankfully, I felt a lot better on Sunday so we spent the day at the Henry Ford Museum. We had lunch in a 1946 diner car from Massachusetts, Lamy’s Diner. It was so fun to listen to retro music and pretend to be in the 1940’s for the duration of our meal! As I still wasn’t sure of what I was able to eat, I had a simple tomato soup and unsweetened iced tea.

Later in the afternoon, I felt hungry enough so we stopped by the American Dog House. I wanted a hot dog, and because I am as excitable as a preschooler, I asked for the kid meal to get my hotdog served in a little car. What can I say, I strongly believe in the importance of being a kid at heart. 🙂

Monday, April 2

On Monday morning, we flew to Toronto. We had an amazing room at the Delta Hotel in downtown Toronto and, luckily, had access to their concierge lounge for free food, snacks and beverages. Of course, that meant I went crazy on the candy bar as soon as we arrived! Haha!

After we settled into our room, we decided to start our exploring with a meal…of course! Jeff wanted wine and I wanted poutine. So we settled for a pub with decent looking poutine and wine on tap, named The Pint. On top of good wine and poutine, I also got to try a riff on two things I love but never thought to eat in this format: beefshires. Yes, it is beef stew served in mini yorkshire puddings. I actually had to pause and write it down as I wanted to try making these at home.

Tuesday, April 3

We started our day with a breakfast feast at the concierge lounge. Pastries, eggs, fruits, the whole nine. After visiting Casa Loma, we stopped by Ezra’s Pound to warm up, and fuel up with coffee and a pastry. We walked through Kensington Market and Chinatown before the rain forced us to get a Lyft.

We spent our evening at the Distillery District where we found a really nice sake brewery called Izumi, an Ontario Water Sake Company. They had a small bar area, kind folks and a sake flight so we were in. While I didn’t use to enjoy Sake much, these were amazing. We followed this delicious tasting with a meal at a nearby Japanese restaurant, recommended by the nice people we met at the sake bar. Dinner at Boku Sushi was such a delight. We had a variety of colorful sashimi and nigiri…and of course I couldn’t resist the evening special: a lobster sushi roll!

Wednesday, April 4

Wednesday started with a bang as we walked to the St. Lawrence Market. I wanted to buy everything I saw but, since most of it had to be prepared or couldn’t be eaten in one sitting, we decided to browse but abstained from buying anything. We found a nearby pub for lunch, called The Flatiron & Firkin Pub. I had a great tuna poké bowl with tempura green beans…with a glass of wine, of course. Don’t we go on vacation to be allowed to drink wine with lunch? Or is that just me? Haha!

In the evening, we had dinner at the concierge lounge as their was such a great variety of food from spring rolls to hummus…and delicious dessert options!

Thursday, April 5

Thursday was a travel day, so much less exciting as we returned to Detroit. We had lunch at the Toronto airport where there were sadly not many options. You know it’s not a great sign when you pick something on the menu and the waitress tells you “No, don’t eat that, it’s not good. Pick something else.” I ended up with chicken sliders and French fries. Nothing too crazy. For dinner, we ate at our hotel’s concierge lounge. The selection wasn’t as exciting as it was in Toronto but we did enjoy some BBQ chicken, baked beans and a mystery (but tasty) soup.

Friday, April 6

Clearly Japanese cuisine was the big winner on this trip. We had one of the best meals I’ve had in a while at Maru Sushi & Grill in Detroit. More sake, more sashimi, an awesome lollipop sushi salad (I doubt I have the talent to make this but I loved the idea!) and amazing dessert. Their homemade mochi ice cream was especially tasty!

Later in the day, we walked to a Tim Hortons as, ironically, we didn’t go to one in Canada but felt like we should there. Sadly, I should have known this but it wasn’t up to my Tim Hortons standards but I still ate a Boston Cream donut and an Iced Cappuccino.

Saturday, April 7

For our last vacation day, we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts and had lunch in one of their cafés. We had charcuterie, sandwiches and soups…with wine (vacation mode, remember?).

For dinner, we went to a really nice seafood restaurant inside the Renaissance Center, Joe Muer Seafood. We sat at the bar as we always love chatting with the bartenders and shared a few fantastic dishes: seared scallops on cauliflower purée, tuna tartare, and the Joe Muer sushi roll. What a great way to end our trip!

All in all, this was another fantastic getaway with the love of my life. Together, I would explore any city, big and small as I know we always find a way to have a good time…and a good meal! 😊