Fuzz Box

If you want to snack on authentic Nova Scotian donairs without paying the premium price at a restaurant like Hopgoods Foodliner, then The Fuzz Box is the place for you.  A donair consists of thin slices of seasoned beef, tomatoes, onions, and the signature sweet garlic sauce, all wrapped in a pita.  This East Coast specialty is $6.49 at The Fuzz Box compared to the $14 appetizer at Hopgoods.  You don't get the ambiance, service or amazing chocolate bar dessert that is available at Hopgoods, but the donair itself stands up to the comparison.

We also tried the fried pepperoni with honey mustard dipping sauce for $5.49 but didn't find this worth the money.  If we go back, we would like to try the donair pizza or panzarotti.

Just a few buildings down from Fuzz Box, on the other side of the street, is a beautiful Art Deco building that used to be the Roxy Theatre, but has been turned into a Tim Hortons.  The lovely yellow-bricked facade remains with many features of the theatre still intact.  There is the gorgeous ticket booth, the marquee announcing "Tim Hortons On The Run", and neon lights denoting "Allenby", the original name of the theatre when it was first built in 1935. 

The Fuzz Box
1246 Danforth Ave.

Tim Hortons
1195 Danforth Ave.

Brussels Bistro

We've finally proven Thomas Wolfe wrong–you can go home again, especially when this refers to the reincarnation of the restaurant Cafe Brussels into the newly opened Brussels Bistro.  We used to love Cafe Brussels on the Danforth, especially for their moules-frites (mussels and fries), rack of lamb dish, and the gorgeous decor of the two-tiered restaurant.  It was a sad day when it closed.

But now, Cafe Brussels has been re-branded and reopened in the Beach area under the new name of Brussels Bistro.  The decor is much more modest than the opulent Cafe Brussels, but charming in its own right.  It is in a renovated house that is reminiscent of the restaurant Corner House.

The best of all is that the menu is the same as the old place, and my favourite dishes are still there!  The menu contains an entire section specifically for mussels.  The one I like best is the "Mussels a la Snob" which sit in a broth containing wine, garlic, cream, flour, butter, tarragon, celery, carrots, onions, herbs, and peppercorns.  It's so good I find myself drinking it like soup.  The frites are thin and crispy and come served with mayonnaise.

My other entree of choice is the "Carré d’agneau, Roquefort", otherwise known as rack of lamb with roquefort sauce, accompanied with seasonal vegetables.  The blue cheese flavour in the sauce is amazing and goes so well with the perfectly cooked lamb.

We were so excited to experience the old Cafe Brussels food again that we couldn't decide which of our favourites to order.  We ended up with both, by sharing the mussels as an appetizer followed by the lamb as an entree.  This was a bit too much food but we were too busy tripping down memory lane to care.  In our defense, we did skip dessert so as not to be complete gluttons.