"I thought you had the plans!" exclaimed my friend. "I just woke up. We can do brunch."
But brunching on a budget in Toronto is backbreaking business. Fancy fare from Figo was out, as was the thought of venturing to Cafe Cancan - both were spots I had been inclined to check out for a while, but never with the appropriate company to do so.
After securing parking on a quiet segment of Richmond St., we trekked over, passing by Gusto 101 along the way. My friend was intrigued, so we entered for a quick menu scan. The same process was executed for Portland Variety. Soon afterwards, we retraced our steps to the avante-garde industrial storefront.
Gusto 101 housed a gargantuan seating area comprising of a street-level patio, interior dining hall, and upper-level patio. Connecting the main floor to the patio was a dimly-lit concrete staircase, which blurred themes of industrial influence and the raggedness auto repair shops.
Each - presumably unisex - stall comprised of a sliding door with latch lock, a substantial garbage bin, wall hook and counter, and decently clean facilities. Though, the environment was dim, which would have camouflaged any apparent areas of filth. The handwashing station consisted of about four taps; automatic faucets would have been more preferred than individual knobs, but, then again, it wouldn't exactly adhere to the fashion of the establishment
The patio hostess was kind enough to provide us with a shaded table on the upstairs patio in spite of reservations that had been made beforehand. (Might I add that her vibrant purple strands were a spectacle to behold.)
Menus and water were provided almost immediately after being seated. Once we were both comfortably settled, the waiter came around to deliver greetings again. I took advantage of his presence to ask for recommendations, after which he politely excused himself to allow us time to ponder the selection. We concluded that it'd be best to share two dishes - one sweet and one savoury - to conserve dessert feast-ability.