Saw an ad on the subway a couple weeks back for Restaurantacular, an event offering $2-, $4- and $6-dollar eats in Mount Pleasant Village today from noon till nine.  I thought it was a little strange to have this happening on a Tuesday, but with the weather being a perfect 22 degrees over the lunch hour, I figured it was worth the trip up to Midtown for some cheap eats.

I suppose I was expecting participating restaurants to be out serving up food in the streets, but that really wasn’t the case.  Most of the places up around Eglinton did nothing to acknowledge the event, with one establishment listed on all the Restaurantacular posters, People’s Chicken, posting signs out front that they were closed due to “technical difficulties.”  I guess their deep-fryer musta been on the fritz…

One place that proudly promoted the event was the Hero Burgers up at Mount Pleasant and Eg, where they were serving up four-dollar poutine, amongst other daily deals:

I couldn’t recall them having poutine on the menu before, so of course I had to try it.  The gravy (it was definitely more gravy than “sauce en canne”) was extremely hot, to the point of melting the cheese curds to stringiness–and burning the roof of my mouth–within a matter of seconds.  That wasn’t cool.  Discomfort aside, they do a decent take on the dish, not too dissimilar to New York Fries, though for my money’s worth, the best fast-food burger-joint poutine is still Burger King–though KFC’s gets credit for being the deadliest, what with their lumpy, artery-bustin’ Colonel’s special gravy…

Since many of these sit-down places weren’t serving up food to go, I had to wander around a bit to find my next hit, at Penrose Fish and Chips.  This place is kind of like a local institution, dating back to the 50′s.  It’s quite popular, too; all the tables were taken, and there was a lineup going back to the door.  They were offering up a “sampler-sized” offering of their halibut and chips for six bucks.  The full portion was twice the price, but they didn’t short-change ya on the sampler, anyways…

Everything was hot and fresh–they fry it up right in front of your face.  The fries were perfect, and the batter was great, though I think there was a little too much batter, not enough fish.  Perhaps they give you more on the full-sized order…

Though I didn’t make it all the way down to Davisville, I didn’t see too many places where you could grab ‘n go, so I doubled back for dessert.  The macarons at Cavallion Fine Food Boutique were delectable, like little Oreos, but with a sweet, fruity filling.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a decent picture before they were all gone.  My sweet tooth says I should bought more than two…

But my desserting didn’t end there, as I stopped in for some gelato at Il Gelatiere.  The half-strawberry, half-chocolate mix helped sooth my burning mouth, though it was slowly starting to melt under the sun as I made my way back up the street.

I also grabbed a two-dollar strawberry tart from The Flaky Tart.  You could say I filled up on dessert–but I’d like to think I burned off at least some of the calories with all that walking…