#5

One great advantage of Pittsburgh is its central location to visiting most of the major cities East of the Mississippi. Less than 4 hours gets you to Washington DC, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Buffalo. Less than 6 brings you to Indianapolis, Louisville, Philadelphia, Columbus, Detroit, and Toronto. 8 Hours expands the sphere to the metropolises of New York City, Chicago, and Albany. This makes 3 of the 5 largest cities in North America a doable weekend trip. If you know which 3 cities those are, you were ahead of us before we stepped foot in Toronto.

This large city was founded over 200 years ago, and it’s been under construction ever since. The skyline is dotted with cranes and dominated by monolithic glass condo and apartment buildings. Light rail trains, buses, cars, bicycles, and pedestrians zip by at every intersection. From the historic Cabbagetown and Chinatown to the more recent Koreatown, Little Portugal, and Little India, Toronto is defined by the many cultures that call it home. So what better way to experience this grand city than to eat our way through it.

1) Peameal Bacon – We don’t know exactly what peameal is, but throughout Toronto, diners, foodstalls, and delis push this moist, flavorful and surprisingly lean meat. We indulged at the St Lawrence Market, gobbling down an overflowing sandwich for lunch. Dessert was a potato knish from a Polish stall in the market’s basement.

2) Hanging Duck – In Chinatown, our traveling companion’s request was to eat in a restaurant with hanging ducks. While a good rule of thumb, we ended up instead at a restaurant where women hand-rolled dumpling dough in the street window. Once inside the toughest choice was picking only 3 types of dumplings from their overwhelming selection. Though we have no doubt they all would have been good.

3) Street Food – Once a month, Kensington Market’s 2 main streets of shops, bars, and food stalls, shut down for car-free Sundays. Pedestrians crowd in the streets, and restaurants set up shop on the sidewalks. We sampled Mexican chorizo, raw-food brownies and wraps, tostadas, samosas, and iced coffee.

4) Black Hoof – This restaurant has no reservations and no place to wait, except for a bar a 5-minute walk down the street where they will ring the bartender if you don’t have a cell phone. They pride themselves on proving to their customers that every cut of meat is palatable. From pig tails to beef heart, the plates transcend the novelty and are amazingly delicious.

5) Kim Chi – Outside of Korea, it’s hard to imagine walking by by block after block of Bi Bim Bap restaurants. The dozens of windows with pictures of Korean food filled with Asian customers all looked equally appealing to us, so we picked one at random and got teary-eyed over plates full of spicy cabbage, rice, and beef.

Toronto is not a melting pot. Each of its many cultures retains its distinct identity. But at the end of the day, everyone can put their leftovers at the curb to be composted together by the city.