For week six, we thought it made sense to reveal what our staff – many of whom helped piece together our COVID-19 takeout and delivery database (which you can search thematically, be it via neighbourhood or cuisine) – has been eating as of late.
But before we do, here are a few new places that have opened up in the past week to provide you with takeout or delivery options:
King + Bannatyne is back at it with a new curbside deli system. Currently, open from Tuesday to Friday, it is offering a pickup service where you order and prepay the day before. The menu is dope, with meat available by 250-gram format (including the River City Brisket), loaves of City Rye, salads, slaws, soups (including the squash and carrot coconut curry, which is luscious), beer, wine and those house pickles too. Also, how sexy is this new website.
Forth is taking a more grocery-style approach too. Its online store now features iced lattes, cold brew concentrates, a piña colada cocktail kits (so rad, with all the fresh non-booze ingredients) all of which can be delivered for free. While we've highlighted Mottola Grocery before, its worth a mention that the grocery store is currently offering kits to make your own Yard Burger at home, which is truly an outstanding burger, having made our 20 Winnipeg food recommendations for 2020.
Cheesemakers/caterers Loaf and Honey have plenty to offer for delivery too, including Elaine-approved big salads, large mains priced out per-person, including incredible options like its $50 deal to feed four people with items like mushroom Wellington and Mac 'n' Cheese with crunchy pretzel topping. Marion Street Eatery is also back with plenty of take and bake comfort food options too.
Pasquale's has reopened too with take and bake items on top of its regular menu in St. B, while just around the corner we’ve received the tip that Le Croissant is still open and serving all things French and delicious like creton, ultra flaky baguettes, and pain au chocolate, along with an unsung pizza dough that is said to be gorgeous in all aspects.
For homey, stick to your bones vegan cuisine check out the isolation menus from Roughage Eatery, while just down Sherbrook Street, Tallest Poppy, is looking to open again soon for takeout, as Talia has indicated in The Globe and Mail. Already on the strip, you can also hit up excellent fried fare from Magic Bird, along with huge takeout containers of schnitzel from Bistro Dansk. Alfy’s Noodle House, which is currently serving frontline workers, will also again be open soon, giving you ample options all within two blocks.
Quite a number of Filipino places are currently open too, including Jeepney – which is doing new deals weekly, Batchoy House, Max’s which can do huge catering orders, Jenmuel’s Lechon, and Rice Bowl.
Another most-excellent spot we have missed highlighting is Harth, which has been doing curbside pickup since late March. All the pastas are made in house, and you can find the new features showcased on its Insta account.
And finally, Rae and Jerry’s is now offering a curbside pickup, meaning you can get chicken fingers with dill, a shrimp cocktail, and prime rib with an onion salad. Here's the full menu.
As to what we’ve been eating? Here’s our staff picks:
Cody Chomiak, Director of Marketing
Capital Broadway has been our go-to right now, it’s elevated comfort food done well and owners Greg & Wayne are incredible.
Literally, everything on the menu is amazing. We rotate depending on the mood - but I always go back to their ribs. It’s everything you want to tuck into. I also love the grilled steak salad, organic salmon, and Capital Burger! Their wine list is a good pairing as well if you want to order a nice bottle.
It's always been a downtown favourite, but now that I can’t go in for lunch when at the office, I’m so happy to be able to bring their food back home.
They do pickup at their broadway location and they also are on SkipTheDishes. To make things easier, you can do all your payments over the phone.
Mike Green, Manager of Creative Communications and Social media
My first choice is going to be Hildegard’s Bakery. Its pizzas, particularly The Menno, is fantastic, while last week I had the greatest butter tart ever from there (I have a video of it oozing when we cut it in half; it was glorious). They also do homey soups that have been very fitting during this recent cold weather snap. (Note: Hildegarde's is closed from April 21-25 to give the staff a much needed break).
Like most people, we've been hitting the carbs quite a bit during this, and another brilliant bite I had was just this morning, which was the smoked gouda croissant from Tall Grass Prairie, which is doing pickups daily from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the original Wolseley location.
We also went big last week and ordered takeout from 529 Wellington, which was pretty spectacular, with the only drawback being that I couldn't give Jim a big hug when getting the pickup order (he's such a gentleman). We shared a ribeye sandwich (which is huge) and was about as decadent as takeout gets. The meat was beautifully medium-rare and liberally seasoned, while the garlic toast underneath is primetime. You have to get a tower of onion rings with it, which are the best rings in the city, and the caesar salad was nice too. You can also order bottles right now from their stellar wine list.
We also drove out to Frigs last week to buy an abundance of pasture-raised, all-natural local meat, and on the way, we back hit up Baraka Pita Bakery and my word, that chicken shawarma is still so incredible. The way the hot sauce and garlic sauce combine and the crispy edges of the chicken with that tang of those Lebanese pickles (apparently the word is “mouneh”)… oh man, I almost shed a tear.
Gillian Chester, Communications and Travel Media Manager
My husband and I are spreading the love taking turns each week ordering take out from a different local restaurant. A new discovery that we love is Yafa Café! It's healthy, delicious and not food I would ever make at home on my own. I tried a bunch of new food, so it felt like travelling to another country through cuisine while in the comfort of my own home.
I highly recommend the mini mix grill as an introduction, which comes with a skewer of shish taouk (chicken) and kabob kafta (ground beef and lamb) each, plus garlic sauce, hummus, vegetables and choice of rice or fries.
I should add, they have instituted a new "pay it forward" program, where people can order a meal to help those working the front line and the vulnerable.
They are offering take-out, delivery direct to customers with touchless payment via phone, and delivery via Skip the Dishes, Door Dash and Uber Eats.
Karen Allen, Graphic Designer
At Pizzeria Pronto (locations on Sterling Lyon Parkway and St James St.), they have the best gluten/wheat free pizza base options in the city. I’ve tried a lot of gluten-free pizzas that taste like cardboard but Pronto’s gluten-friendly pizza is fantastic. We like to order the 11-inch Create Your Own Pizzas so we don’t have to share and can choose our favourite toppings (up to 10 toppings for your pizza!) My new favourite topping is pickled jalapeño and I pair it with pineapple, feta, spinach, artichokes and sundried tomatoes (possibly controversial, definitely delicious).
You can order through SkiptheDishes or you can go to their website and order there. They have instructions for curbside pickup on their website, as well as its Instagram and Facebook pages.
I also want to give a shout-out to Food for Thought in the West End. My father-in-law lives alone and this has been the best option for making sure he eats nutritious meals each day. The meals come ready to heat and eat, packaged up very neatly, and we deliver the box to his house. Their website is easy to navigate and they have wide variety of meals, including vegetarian entrees and desserts. This is a great place for crowd-pleasing comfort food and we’ve had stellar customer service every time we’ve ordered meals.
Maddy Reico, Digital Content and Marketing Coordinator
Sizzling Dhaba is my go-to for authentic Indian food in the south end of the city. You can’t go wrong with Chana Masala (get it spicy!) with a side of fresh naan bread.
I started ordering from the restaurant a few months ago and now it’s become almost a bi-weekly tradition. It's easy-peasy too, you can find them on Doordash, Skip, or do curbside pickup.
I've also been relying on Sushi Gozen a lot too, which you can see in the lede image.