Danforth Ave Walk

The stretch of Danforth Ave. between Broadview and Jones is the location of the yearly "Taste of the Danforth" festival in August.  Although this area was originally known as Greek town and still has many Greek restaurants, it now also hosts an eclectic set of restaurants including English pubs, Japanese, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian, Thai and Continental.  But if you've been to that festival lately, you will know that it is too packed with people to maneuver.  So instead of trying to fight the crowds, taking a leisurely stroll on sunny spring day is so much more enjoyable.

How could we possibly walk through an area known as Greek town without sampling Greek specialties?  When we got to Athens Pastries, we noticed a huge line-up almost out the door, so without stopping to figure out what they were lining up for we joined the queue. What we got was fresh out of the oven Spanokapita, which is a phyllo pastry with spinach and feta cheese. We got some to go, and while it was delicious, we did burn our tongues a bit!  At Louis Authentic Gyros and Souvlaki, we watched as the cook put a couple of french fries in with the pita toppings, just like they did when we visited Greece

And as always, we scouted out potential future dining opportunities.  Aravind seemed like an interesting Indian Fusion restaurant mixing "the flavours of South India with Great Lakes fish, Canadian seafood and seasonal produce".  Their menu featured items such as "Banana wrapped Ontario Whole Fish", "Dungeness Crab Biryani", "Rainbow Trout Pakoras".

Passing through The Big Carrot Natural Food Market was a unique experience.  Where other shops usually offer samples of sweet and savoury snacks, here I tasted a healthy medley of spinach, collards, rapinni, yellow beans and onion sauteed in roasted garlic and olive oil. 

Continuing along, we spotted all sorts of quirky and delightful stores and items including the home accessories and furnishing store named Bullet.  They are currently having a moving sale, featuring giant wrought iron Eiffel towers, Will and Kate wedding plates, and these rubber duckies dressed up as British foot guards.  It's too bad that this store will soon no longer be on the Danforth, but it is moving to Queen St. East in Leslieville, which is another great area to walk.

In a store called La Di Dah, we bought this whimsical salt and pepper shaker called "Salt and Pants" to add to my collection.

Further down in a kitchen store, we spotted the cutest cookie cutters that made images of not-too-happy gingerbread men who already had a bite taken out of them.

We also liked the Easter themed display window in the children's clothing store "100-Mile Child", featuring a small mannequin dressed up like little-pink-riding-hood, sporting a t-shirt that read "Whatever Happens at Grandma's, Stays at Grandma's".  Speaking of mannequins, one clothing store had a very modern stylistic one consisting of a steel sculptured head and frame. 

Stopping by the party supply and costume store called It's My Party is always fun.  They always have something interesting in their store window, even when it's not Halloween.  This time there were a pair of giant rabbits each dressed in a suit of armour - in honour of Easter??  In the other window was a giant pink gorilla sporting a Hawaiian lei and beach hat.