When I am not frequenting Summerlicious restaurants, I will be eating my way through the local/organic food joints of the city. I also have a list of vegan restaurants that I am dying to try.

Finally, I am still on the lookout for the best brunch and best Thai in the city.

How will I fit all this eating into the next two months of summer? We’ll see!

This is the sort of place where you can sit for hours with a friend or a book and no one will kick you out. It is the sort of place where you can have homemade dessert or hearty Eastern European fare. It is the sort of place where re-fill coffees are free and there are always more than six types of cake. It is my kind of place.

The scrambled eggs were over-scrambled, and the eggs benedict were nothing special (packaged ham? Really?). The crepes were awful – a little too thick, and absolutely drowning in strawberry jam. Each bite required half a glass of water.

One thing I can say for sure though, they have great home fries. Seriously, best fries I have ever had. They’re not too oily, crispy on the outside, and very well seasoned.
They also have great orange juice, although their coffee is hit and miss. When I went, they had macadamia nut coffee – definitely a hit!

Futures is also known for having great cheesecakes, although the crepes drenched in strawberry jam were more than enough sweets for us.

Rating:

483 Bloor Street West
Phone: 416.922.5875

A server immediately came to the door to seat us and give us the menus. The place was painted a yellow-cream colour, and decorated with a lot of roosters. The front portion has many booths, which allow for some privacy, although the back portion is open and more cramped with rickety tables and chairs.

My companion settled on the corned beef hash and I ordered the Western omelet. A bread basket came soon after, although half the toasts were badly burnt. I was appalled that they could serve such badly burnt toast. Even at home, I would have thrown them out.

The corned beef hash was the first to arrive. The beef was tender enough, although the mish-mash was thrown together with such carelessness that it tasted like leftovers. The poached eggs were appallingly rubber-like, even though the yoke was not cooked through.

The Western omelet was very satisfying. The omelet was thick and cooked to perfection. There weren’t a lot of veggies and ham, but that meant the omelet held together nicely. The home fries, however, were a disappointment. Unexciting little potato cubes lacking in flavour and crispness.

While my omelet was good, the appalling state of the poached eggs on the corned beef hash and the incredibly burnt toasts were hard to overlook.

Rating:

We arrived at 10:25 to find the place without a line, unlike what many reviews had warned us about. The last member of our party had yet to arrive, so we walked around for another 10 minutes (they will not seat you unless your entire party has arrived). By the the time she arrived at 10:35, the place was full. We waited about 20 minutes before our server came out to get us.

The place was small and narrow, with large paintings in subdued colours on an exposed brick wall that was faded brownish red. It looked less charming than it sounds.
The food arrived about 20 minutes after we ordered. I had a Brussels’ style waffle with scrambled eggs and an apple coleslaw.

The Brussels’ style waffle was light and crispy, just like the menu promised, but it was also completely tasteless. The scrambled eggs were a little overdone, and the apple coleslaw had dill pickles in it, which was just bizarre. The peameal bacon was the only item that didn’t disappoint.

My companions’ eggs benedict fared a little better, although the hollandaise sauce was not that different from what we’ve had elsewhere.

With mediocre food, mediocre service, and a mediocre atmosphere (floorboards that creaked and only one washroom?), I couldn’t figure out why this place had gotten such great reviews.
“Maybe this place is cheaper than most brunch places,” one of my friends suggested. She often brunched at The Drake, and declared that our brunching experience was not complete until we had been to The Drake. But when I got home and checked the menu at The Drake, I found that there eggs benedict was priced at $12, while the eggs benedict at Le Petit Dejeuner was priced at $12.95.
“Maybe it’s a homelier vibe,” my other friend suggested. The place was not nearly as charming as some cafes I’d been to, which also served breakfast mind you. And if I really wanted a homely vibe, I could have made a better breakfast at home and even eaten it in bed if I wanted.

In the end, I really could not figure it out what about this place had charmed the previous reviewers. Maybe their $6 mimosas? But for a good sober breakfast, I’d go elsewhere.

Rating:

Rating:

467 Bloor St. W.
Toronto, ON
(416) 840-9988
Website

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Toronto, ON
(416) 972-7655
Website

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Toronto, ON
(416) 928-0021
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Toronto, ON
416-351-EAST
Website

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Toronto, ON M5R 2C7
(416) 927-0077

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120 Cumberland St.
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(416) 923-9992