Toronto Polish

Before we left for Toronto, Rod mentioned that the city has great street hot dogs. Rod is full of strange recommendations, often for places that have just closed. And I’m not sure not sure that he has ever even been to Toronto. But this is what he wrote:

“Toronto has the second best street hot dogs in the world after Copenhagen. Also, I recall eating at a dim sum place there in 1990 with robotic carts that had a route and would drive through the restaurant. I also recall seeing Dick Tracy at the cinema there. It’s a nice town. Have fun.”

Rod’s words were in my mind as we passed a few street carts (alas, no robotics carts serving dim sum). Then, passing by Union Station, you know the place we were supposed to come in but didn’t, there was a cart between the two buildings. I got a polish sausage. All the carts have a warmer grill area and then a flame grill area. So everything is flame grilled. That’s why they’re so good!

And the condiments are great. There’s a whole line of little flip lid compartments in front, and then a whole ’nother line of different condiments on the side. There are pickles, onions, sauerkraut, great sliced hot peppers, fake bacon bits, sliced green olives, corn, and two other things we can’t remember. And then squeeze bottles with ketchup and mustard and hot mustard, and BBQ sauce. I, thinking Chicago hot dog, put mustard, pickles, hot peppers, onions, and a few fake bacon bits on mine (yeah, lay off me about the bacon bits. They were good).

A few people asked the man for mayonnaise. He had some, but it wasn’t out with the rest of the condiments. Later, I learned from the Toronto Public Health requirements for hot dog carts that mayonnaise is forbidden. So I love the fact that he’s still got a “secret” squeeze container of mayonnaise that he hands out on the sly.

I didn’t go for mayonnaise. Or sauerkraut. I had a vision. Zora put some other gunk on her half, but then sheepishly confirmed that my half was better. Damn right it was. I know what to put on a Polish.

It was delicious. Good sausage. Those flames do wonders. Crispy on the outside. The sausage was cut to give it more surface area. The condiments, especially the hot peppers, were great. The peppers reminded me more of Baltimore’s “hots” than Chicago’s sport peppers. The pickles were a little too sweet, but still good. In fact, it was just as good if not better than a Chicago polish. It costs $3.50 Canadian.