There's no doubt that Toronto has an impressive amount of high-quality coffee shops to choose from. For most cafes, the main focus is on perfecting their espresso-based drinks. What's surprising though, is how common it is for many of these cafes to outsource their baked goods rather than make their own - all from a handful of the same local Toronto bakeries like Circles and Squares, Queen B Pastry, Bunners and Desmond & Beatrice.

From a business standpoint, focusing on your core offering (coffee) and leaving the baked goods to other local "experts" does make a lot of sense. On the other hand, many of these cafes are outsourcing their baked goods from a handful of the same bakeries. This approach has resulted most of these coffee shops all showcasing similar displays of baked goods that over time becomes predictable.

Where to get a Mother's Day brunch in Toronto is a vital question for those of us who like to show our love through culinary endeavours, but perhaps lack the necessary skills to whip up a picture-perfect breakfast in bed.

Read on for some choice restaurants to take your Mom to this Mother's Day (some of which are whipping up something special for the occasion), and please note that while some of them require reservations--after everything your mother has done for you, the last thing you want to do is make her stand in line--others that don't just might be delicious enough to brave the potential wait.

This week on DineSafe, Toronto health inspectors found a little more than just busy bees working away in some restaurant kitchens. What's a cute expression for, uh, "pesky rodents?" Yes, two restaurants inspected this week were found to be operating with rodent infestations and thus were subsequently shut down. Along with those closures came plenty of conditional passes, with which repeat offenders such as Jules Café and Burger Shack are already well accustomed. Here are some of the DineSafe highlights this week.

Last weekend I had the chance to escape the city for my in-laws cottage on Lake Huron. Since the nice weather and scenic landscape were perfectly suited to drinking, I brought along a well-stocked cooler that included two summer beer offerings from two great Toronto breweries, Great Lakes Brewery's Orange Peel Ale and Amsterdam Brewery's Oranje Weisse.

I decided to compare them side by side to settle the age-old debate as to which one takes the crown as Toronto's champion orange beer. (It seemed much more epic at the time. Did I mention I was drinking?).

When people think about Asian/Chinese malls in the GTA, chances are the first place that comes to mind is Pacific Mall. This instant connection unfortunately overshadows the fact that there is another relatively large mall to the north (and west) called First Markham Place. Built in the late 1990's, located in the main area of Markham, and boasting over 150 non-chain retail stores with 20-plus restaurants, this shopping centre is a favourite among locals who want to get their Asian fix but don't want to travel to the much further (and much more chaotic-parking wise) Pacific Mall.

Sunday morning, when thousands of runners were taking to the streets for the Toronto Marathon, many others, myself included, were waking up from food-induced comas brought on by the previous night's Street Food Block Party.

A joint effort between the Toronto Underground Market and Food Truck Eats, the sold out event saw 3,000 people descend upon the Brick Works for an evening of culinary debauchery. With over 30 vendors in attendance, those on wheels and those behind tables co-existed harmoniously, in their effort to feed the crowd and support the street food movement.