# best steak in downtown Toronto?



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

got to reminiscing today, about when I used to travel to T.O. on business. Used to sometimes go to Barbarians (on Elm??) , or Le Biftheque (in Sheraton Center?) for a steak. (went to Ruth Chris' once...)
Are those places still on the go?
Where would one go for a good steak these days? (please dont say The keg)


ohhh....also reminds me, remember one trip, when my toronto cronies took me to this brand new
restaurant on Yonge Street, just up from the Eaton Center. There was a long lineup outside, just waiting to get in - and this was lunch-time! it was call "Swiss Chalet" hahaha ...jeez what year was THAT???


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

jargey3000 said:


> Where would one go for a good steak these days? (please dont say The keg)


Sorry, I don't have any info to help with your search but your comment about avoiding the Keg made me chuckle. 
The Georgia Straight is a weekly entertainment and lifestyle newspaper in Vancouver that has annual Golden Plates awards for best restaurants in different categories via a readers' poll. And the Keg regularly tops the steakhouse category. While I think the Keg is a good chain for what it is, IMO it's kind of nuts to list them as the best steakhouse in Vancouver. It's kind of the grain of salt you take when utilizing broad based reader polls for restaurants.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

Then there was Ed's Warehouse in TO. Upstairs for roast beef, downstairs for steak (or maybe I have that reversed).


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

Unfortunately, I am old enough to be able to remember and have visited every place mentioned so far. 

Obviously restaurants come and go like fashion. Few stand the 'test of time'. A couple that I did frequent when living and doing business in Toronto that are still around are Scaramouche for fine French dining, Barberian's and Hy's for steaks. I hear Hy's is moving location so you would have to check when their new location will be open.

Ed's Warehouse was decent but not exceptional like Hy's for example and I only recall Ed's for prime rib. What I recall about Ed's Warehouse was that it was about the last place to insist on jacket and ties for men in the dining room. It got to the point that they would have had to turn so many people away who turned up without one or both of those items of apparel, that they kept a stock of 'loaner' jackets and ties at reception. The advantage to Ed's was that it was right next door to the theatre and whenever I went to Ed's it was because I was going to the Royal Alex to see a play. 
https://tayloronhistory.com/2016/11/15/eds-warehouse-restaurant-closed-in-1999/

Ed's Warehouse like his Honest Ed's store are now long gone. Life moves on. But I am now thinking about when my parents, my brother and I first arrived it Canada and Toronto as immigrants and it wasn't long before we were shopping in Honest Ed's. That's probably where my Mother's first set of pots and pans came from and my first pair of blue jeans.

Reminiscing is fun. I can remember the first meal I ate after arriving in Canada. My Father's uncle who already lived in Toronto, picked us up at Union Station and took us to lunch at a restaurant near his home in Parkdale. I was 7 and old enough to look at, read and order from the menu for myself. I had a 'western' sandwich and fries. For a 7 year old from Scotland, anything 'western' was a must have.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

The reminiscing had me look around on the wee a bit. I came across this:

https://tayloronhistory.com/tag/winstons-restaurant-toronto/

It refers to a fair number of the TO eateries I knew in my youth. I have maybe been to half of those listed.



jargey3000 said:


> ohhh....also reminds me, remember one trip, when my toronto cronies took me to this brand new
> restaurant on Yonge Street, just up from the Eaton Center. There was a long lineup outside, just waiting to get in - and this was lunch-time! it was call "Swiss Chalet" hahaha ...jeez what year was THAT???


According to the above source, the First Swiss Chalet was opened at 234 Bloor Street West, in 1954.

It also says that the Tom Jones Steak House is still going. It was pretty good, as I recall. The rooftop dining room at the Park Plaza was at one time reputed to have the best chateaubriand in town. That's about the only place in Toronto I ordered that and it was rather good as I recall (contrary to the stock advice that a good restaurant cannot be found on other than the ground floor of any building). Another restaurant that broke that rule, in my view, was the 54 Dining Room on the 54th floor of the original TD tower. Memorable dishes were the "Crab Imperial" appetizer and the Beef Wellington entree. Restaurants rarely do a good job on the latter.

One place the writer does not list, but deserves honourable mention would be the Imperial Room at the Royal York Hotel. I recall fondly many family dinners there on special occasions, with the occasional dinner there just because we all felt like it - no special occasion required. We were usually treated to the sound of the Moxie Whitney Orchestra and quite a few well-known (or sometimes only later well-known) entertainers provided floor shows. 

Our family frequented the Royal York less often when the Inn on the Park Hotel opened in North York, much closer to home. Anyone here remember the Café L'Auberge and the Vintage Room? Good, but not up to the Imperial Room standard. I have in my desk drawer a few packs on Vintage Room wooden matches, from that bygone era when there were no restrictions on smoking in restaurants. Those matches are probably close to 50 years old. In a similar vein, I also have a few boxes of wooden matches from the long-gone Timber Club in the Hotel Vancouver.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks for your post and the weblink. Brought back many happy memories.

Tom Jones, Hys and RuthsChris are recommended. Eds was Roast Beef on the main floor. The upstairs was an after thought and not one of my favourites. But the roast beef was always a treat on the way to the Alex.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

You're right about Ed's roast beef. I do not think I ever went there for steak. But the "Warehouse Cut" of roast beef was always very good. And the horse radish had authority, which I like. Not at all wimpy. 

Ed's was open for lunch too. When I worked in the TD Centre, we would often go there for lunch. Actually, I was on an audit team and we could find ourselves working just about anywhere downtown (and sometimes away from downtown). But the firm always paid for taxis and we could take a cab to lunch just about anywhere. At Ed's for lunch, I usually had the beef ribs, which I guess were the leftover ribs from the beef roasts carved the night before. Super tender. A good meal for $1.50. The other lunch item I recall was "Ed's Hot Knockers" for $1.25.

We would sometimes hit the Osgoode. Their lunch special was always rib eye steak, served with veggies and potato, kaiser roll, rice pudding and tea or coffee, all for $1.35.


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

There was a steak place on Dundas west of the city in Mississauga I guess, which had an interior all done in re-used church stained glass, pews, etc. Big wood beams and so on. I can't recall the name but it was pretty good for steaks. Anyone remember the name?

Another was the Black Angus in Etobicoke. Still going today apparently. https://blackangussteakhouse.ca/

Re Swiss Chalet, that must have been the first in Toronto. It's a Quebec chain is it not?

I had my wedding dinner (first marriage) at the Royal York. Don't remind me.

I recall the Inn on the Park quite well. It sat all by itself in the relatively middle of nowhere when it first opened. My main memory of it was as a salesperson in the pre cellphone days, it had very nice public phone booths. Back then, every salesman drove around with a roll of dimes in his pocket to make phone calls to the office and customers, in between visiting clients. The Inn on the Park had booths off the lobby with a nice padded seat and a counter/desk space under the usual Bell public telephone mounted on the wall. It was a favourite spot to stop and make phone calls for that reason, almost like a small private office space. Today, many hotels have business/office facilities but back then, it was a 'one of a kind.'

Checked the few matchboxes kicking around still in my desk drawer. One from a Swiss Kantonal bank; one from the Peppermill Hotel in Mesquite, Nevada; one from Junipine hotel just outside Sedona, Arizona; one from Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado. I have no idea how those are the ones that managed to make it to my drawer. At one time, I had a large globe fishbowl full of paper matchbooks from all over. Probably worth a fortune today to collectors. Every think about the things you used to collect and eventually threw out that you should have hung on to?


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

The material to which I provided a link, seems to suggest that Swiss Chalet originated in Toronto:

_When I commenced working full time, in the 1960s, I had a few more dollars to spend. One of the first restaurants my friends and I visited was the Swiss Chalet. This chain first appeared at 234 Bloor Street West, in 1954, and in the years ahead opened over 200 eateries throughout Canada and the U.S. However, my first experience with its barbequed chicken was at 362 Yonge Street, which remains in existence today. However, the original location on Bloor Street closed in 2006; a condo is now on the site. It is difficult to realize today how popular the Swiss Chalet was in the early-1960s. I once attended a wedding reception in the banquet room in the basement of the Swiss Chalet at its Yonge Street location.
_

The only place I recall going to dine outside of Toronto was the Valhalla Inn, that opened in 1963 in Etobicoke. Being from Norway, the family had to go check that one out. I think we only went once, so I guess it did not create an impression that would lead one to make the trek again.

What I recall most about the Inn on the Park, was the big stone fireplace in the lobby that was kept fired with 4-foot logs in winter. Before gas fireplaces were heard of. A rare sight in a hotel, even then.

I had a cousin in Florida who started collecting matchbooks from every place she went, starting around 1960. Last time I saw her, she had quite a collection, but not growing anymore. I do not think anyplace hands out matches anymore, or do they?

I have a handful of matchbooks out in the workshop. The others here in my desk are from Caesar's Place in Las Vegas, Lawry's Restaurant in Los Angeles (some of the best prime rib anywhere, to this day) and, for variety, from the Singing Surf Motel in Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands.

LTA, I cannot help out on the name of the Mississauga restaurant to which you refer. There is one that I recall the name of, but not where it was. It was called the Serbian Village and was somewhere north of Toronto, maybe around Aurora. I friend took me there once and it was really good, and different.

As for stuff tossed that should have been kept, I recall the family summer cottage. When I was a kid, it had a collection of comic books started before I was born. Friends, family and visitors added to it over the years. Long gone, but those hundreds of comics from the 50s to 70s would probably have a few that would bring a few bucks today.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

I suspect LTA is referring to La Castile on Dundas between Dixie and Hwy 427. I live some fifteen minutes away and can attest it is indeed, still there.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Mukhang pera said:


> And the horse radish had authority, which I like. Not at all wimpy.




Instant Potters please take note. Memorable dishes are to have authority. They are never to be wimpy.

do these words describe IP success? it seems to me that in the IP thread we keep hearing about either a lot of very soft semi-babyfood; or else an IP recipe turned out a total disaster.

back to this old-time thread. Somehow these posts are causing me to picture wood panelling, upholstered dark maroon booths. thick white resto grade china & a _nuage_ of slightly cloudy, slightly greasy steam particles in the air


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Longtimeago said:


> ... Re Swiss Chalet, that must have been the first in Toronto. It's a Quebec chain is it not?


Not at all. Swiss Chalet was the *Phelan* family's first expansion of Cara from railway and then airline catering into restaurants. Cara began as *Ca*nadian *Ra*ilway News Company in 1883. That first Swiss Chalet on Bloor St opened in 1954. The franchise left Quebec around 2000 then re-entered the Quebec market with the purchase of St-Hubert in 2016. 

The Phelans lived on Old Forest Hill Road, next door to Percy Gardiner, head of another monied, Toronto family dynasty that included ownership of the Canadian KFC franchise (begun as Scott's Chicken Villas). Fun fact - Colonel Sanders, fed up with the IRS in the US, sold and moved to Mississauga in 1965. George Gardiner had bought into his 'special recipe', serving it at Scott's restuarant on Bloor St in the early 1960's, then at the stand-alone chicken villas in 1962.

_“On early Saturday mornings at the Phelan house,” the Globe and Mail reported in 2003, “the children were treated to a hectic scene in their parents’ bedroom: Helen on one side of the bed advising brother George by telephone on where to put the next KFC outlet. On the other side, P.J. Phelan was making calls on where to plop the next Swiss Chalet.”_

Cara was publically traded from 1968 to 2004, was taken private, then went public again in 2015. Cara Operations (CAO) changed their name and trading symbol in 2018 to Recipe Unlimited Corp (RECP). They are the largest owner of franchise restaurants (1,221) in Canada. I owned both iterations, made some money, but concluded that as with many family-controlled dynasties, the publically traded shares generally serve family interests better than those of public shareholders.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> Swiss Chalet was the *Phelan* family's first expansion of Cara from railway and then airline catering into restaurants ... The Phelans lived on Old Forest Hill Road, next door to Percy Gardiner, head of another monied, Toronto family dynasty that included ownership of the Canadian KFC franchise ...
> 
> “On early Saturday mornings at the Phelan house,” the Globe and Mail reported in 2003, “the children were treated to a hectic scene in their parents’ bedroom: Helen on one side of the bed advising brother George by telephone on where to put the next KFC outlet. On the other side, P.J. Phelan was making calls on where to plop the next Swiss Chalet.”



madame Hellin Fellin was onceuponatime a mademoiselle Gardiner? both families had made their money in fast food? eeuuuuuw


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

humble_pie said:


> madame Hellin Fellin was onceuponatime a mademoiselle Gardiner? both families had made their money in fast food? eeuuuuuw


Helen (nee Gardiner), was George's sister, who married P.J. 
George later married a Helen (nee McMinn) himself.

Fine dining. Will I have the French Buffet, a steak, or finger-lickin' good KFC? 
Only in hogtown you see!

View attachment 19234


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

onlyMO wouldn't it be great to host a finger lickin oldtime steak table w dil, jarg & mukh

happy new year guyz


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

humble_pie said:


> onlyMO wouldn't it be great to host a finger lickin oldtime steak table w dil, jarg & mukh
> 
> happy new year guyz


Sounds like a great time!

Actually, I’d love to go back time to some of my old haunts in the West Island of Montreal....

HNY HP!


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## Gumball (Dec 22, 2011)

I am vegan and this post offends me

Just kidding...go to Antler restaurant


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

When we lived by Major Mackenzie Drive north of Unionville, we would take a straight shot across to Hogan's Inn in King City. And if we were ambitious, King Road all the way to The Terra Cotta Inn. I had a contract at Mississauga Road. So I knew about all the country roads that got me there. No time savings but much less soul-destroying than 40N.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

humble_pie said:


> onlyMO wouldn't it be great to host a finger lickin oldtime steak table w dil, jarg & mukh
> 
> happy new year guyz


I'm ALL IN on this one!! yuk-yuk
is Le Biftheque still open....kinda fits humple's description upthread.... complete with dis-interested, slightly overweight waiters in dated tuxes. & bowties, with white(ish) shirts that have been thu the waser & dryer juuuuust a few to many times..."Bring us a bottle of your second-least expensive Metlot please."


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

Longtimeago said:


> ... Re Swiss Chalet, that must have been the first in Toronto. It's a Quebec chain is it not?


I guess it depends on your POV.

Maurice Mauran had introduced the style to Chalet BBQ in 1948. There was a split that led him and another business partner to open up Swiss Chalet in Toronto circa 1954. Current owner Cara closed all their Quebec restaurants in the 2000's then in 2016 bought Quebec based chain, St-Hubert.

https://nationalpost.com/life/an-il...ns-of-a-quebec-classic-the-bbq-chicken-dinner
https://tayloronhistory.com/2016/10/28/history-of-torontos-swiss-chalet/
https://www.thestar.com/news/2007/03/11/a_canuck_classic_loses_its_home.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Chalet


Interestingly, he also founded Harvey's then later moved on to being a successful mutual funds manger.


Cheers


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> Not at all. Swiss Chalet was the *Phelan* family's first expansion of Cara from railway and then airline catering into restaurants ...


< deleted side bar >

Cara are the current owners. They closed the Quebec stores in the early 2000's and have recently (2016), re-entered Quebec by buying St-Hubert.

The founder was Maurice Mauran (with a business partner). He was a Montreal business man who is reported to have put this style on the menu in Montreal in 1948. The move to Toronto is vaguely described as the result of a split.

Cheers


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

So my memory hasn't totalled failed yet. I was sure there was a Quebec connection there somewhere. Chalet BBQ complete with dipping sauce was pre Swiss Chalet.

Dilbert, I think you are right about La Castile. Looks right when I Google it.

Mukhang pera, I remember the Valhalla but not for dining. I can't recall ever eating there. It did have a lively bar however well known as a 'cougar' hangout. I once went there alone when my wife was having a 'girls night' and I was banished from our home (in Etobicoke) for the evening. I honestly didn't realize it had the reputation it then had for cougars, I just remembered it from earlier days as a nice enough place for a drink where you could look through portholes into the swimming pool while having a drink. 

So there I am drinking my usual CC and coke when a woman sitting next to me at the bar struck up a conversation. No harm there, so we chatted for a while until finally she said to me, 'I see you are wearing a wedding ring, are you fanatic about it?' I nearly choked on my drink. I left alone.

Nice description and history of the Valhalla Inn here: https://robertmoffatt115.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/the-valhalla-inn-passes-on/

KCowan, I too remember the Terra Cotta Inn. It was quite upmarket sitting there all by itself out in the middle of nowhere. It appears to still be there according to Google although when I read about their 'wrap of the day', I'm not so sure how upmarket it has remained.

I used to work with a company who had their office just on the outskirts of Georgetown (Norval) and the Terra Cotta Inn was where we would often take customers for lunch. Another near there was called Someplace Else. It was always amusing when someone would say, 'shall we go to X for lunch' and someone would reply, 'nah, let's go Someplace Else.'

Anyone remember the Old Mill Restaurant and their Sunday brunch? Google tells me they are still going strong. I used to cross country ski along the Humber River park system on a Sunday morning and then stop in there for brunch.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

Longtimeago said:


> Anyone remember the Old Mill Restaurant and their Sunday brunch? Google tells me they are still going strong. I used to cross country ski along the Humber River park system on a Sunday morning and then stop in there for brunch.


Old Mill is still going strong. One of the few times when I have had a Christmas dinner in a restaurant was there about 5 years ago. They put on quite a good spread. I have some relatives who have made something of a tradition of Christmas dinner there. 

Interesting note about the Valhalla. My one time there I was a bit young for cougars, except to think they were mountain lions.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

LTA, I distinctly do recall a restaurant called “Chalet Suisse” in 60s or 70s Quebec. And they were reputed to feature a distinct dipping sauce. It was much better than anything from St. Hubert!


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

jargey3000 said:


> I'm ALL IN on this one!! yuk-yuk
> is Le Biftheque still open....kinda fits humple's description upthread.... complete with dis-interested, slightly overweight waiters in dated tuxes. & bowties, with white(ish) shirts that have been thu the waser & dryer juuuuust a few to many times..."Bring us a bottle of your second-least expensive Metlot please."


Jarg, if you’re referring to the one on Cote de Liesse near Dorval airport, it’s long gone, I’m afraid.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

hahah...no...the one in the Sheraton Center (Richmond street maybe?) in dt TO.
I'm pretty sure its gone too?


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I like Morton's


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## Fain87 (Jan 20, 2018)

Jacobs Steakhouse is but it's very expensive. Some of their A5 Japanese steaks go as high as $880. 

I'd suggest going with the Employers credit card if you go there. 

https://jacobssteakhouse.com/pdf/steaks.pdf


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

I find that Jacobs site amusing. 

There are various factors that go into a good steak. Cut, age, marbling, grain vs. corn fed, etc. and then the one that really counts, the cook. So I look at that menu and it tells me nothing. You can start out with what should be a good steak and ruin it in 30 seconds. A higher price does NOT indicate you will enjoy a better steak. That all depends on your individual taste preferences and the person who cooks it. 

But even ignoring all of that, how many people do you think really would look at that menu and have any idea of what to expect from one vs. another ribeye? Maybe 1 in 100? Most would be saying, 'what's Wagyu mean?'

No doubt it is a good marketing ploy though for selling over-priced beef to those with more money than brains.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

^+1
And then, even if I got a well-cooked blah vs a blah, I doubt if my tastes are sophisticated enough to tell the difference.
More money than brains indeed.

We just barbecued 2 delicious tenderloin at home last nite. Total cost for 2 meals, incl bottle of good wine = $40.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

what was your wine OMO?
just curious...were having prime rib tonite, & i'm going with either E.Guigal Cotes du Rhone, or Robert Mondavi Private selection cab (both of these are a little higher-priced that my normal weekend-quaffing wines...hahaah, but what the heck it IS prime rib!)


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Do people still eat steaks? I am not vegan or anything like that, but steaks do nothing for me.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Oops, missed your post jargey. Lately we've been enjoying a Spanish wine - Anciano gran reserva 2007. Oaky, full bodied and flavourful.

Steaks, yes. About the only beef we eat is tenderloin. I'd sooner have a small portion of marinated, lean & tender than anything else, athough a well built lean burger is a close second. A salad, broccoli, maybe a stuffed baked potato... Rather than cooking as a steak, we'll sometimes make up kabobs, or beef bourguignon as well.
We do eat more chicken than beef overfull (flats of fresh skinless breasts).


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

OnlyMyOpinion said:


> (flats of fresh skinless breasts).


Agree with you on the beef! Give boneless skinless thighs a try. More flavour and moist.


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## Longtimeago (Aug 8, 2018)

I can't see any way to compare chicken to steak. But I suppose that depends on the individual. I read agent99's comment, 'steaks do nothing for me' and have to accept it as being true for agent99. Chicken does nothing for me, it's basically tasteless like pasta. You have to do something to ADD taste to both as far as I am concerned. Try eating a chicken breast entirely on its own or spaghetti without any sauce. A steak on the other hand has a taste whether you happen to like the taste or not.

https://nypost.com/2015/04/26/why-nothing-especially-chicken-tastes-like-it-used-to/

I eat chicken all the time like most N. Americans today do but it always has to have flavour ADDED. I don't have to add anything to enjoy eating a steak.


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