Restaurants
Hopgood's Foodliner
Hopgood's Foodliner serves such impeccably executed fare that I scarcely realized the last time I had crab dip so delicious was at Aunt Dolly's church potluck. While the restaurant's name references a grocery store owned by the executive chef's Maritime grandparents, the offerings aren't strictly tied to his Nova Scotia background. The hospitality, on the other hand, is. After our meal, Hopgood paused from expertly wrestling a pig carcass in the kitchen to bring us some house-made milk liquor and share some future plans for the restaurant.
The simple menu lists meat and seafood options, void of the excessive details that can have you tripping over your adjectives as you attempt to order. What wasn't evident was clarified by our waitress, who was excited enough about the charred broccoli that I knew immediately that I had found a kindred spirit.
We started with the donairs, which are imprinted in my childhood memories as having the magical appeal that many kids feel about hamburgers. I can say with certainty that these were authentic and every bit as delicious as I remember from growing up in Nova Scotia. Two chewy, house-made pita breads, piled with beef and pork cooked on a vertical spit, topped with chopped onions and tomatoes and a sweet garlicky sauce made with evaporated milk ($12).
Next, we tried the spot prawn cocktail ($15) which was served chilled on chopped iceberg lettuce and radishes, with sliced button mushrooms and a mild and creamy Marie Rose dressing. The last time I had this dish was definitely at a potluck. It seemed a bit surreal to be munching on it in this sleek, urban space and without a molded gelatin marshmallow salad to accompany it, but it was also great.
Right up there with Tupperware parties and smocking, the hot crab dip was classic throwback to 1985 (and before) domestic bliss. Creamy and rich with a delicate crab flavor, it was topped with bread crumbs and served with warm Triscuits. It struck us as slightly humorous to be served crackers on a $15 platter, but the irony of elevating simple, peasant flavors to a high art status has been working since van Weber spun folklore melodies into German opera, so why stop now?
Hopgood's take on the classic boiled dinner was superb: thick slices of corned beef, presented with turnip served four ways (see lead photo): raw and slivered as a garnish, roasted, greens and pureed ($24). The corned beef tasted faintly of star anise and cinnamon and was tender and rounded in beef fat, "as it should be," in the words of our hostess.
Allegedly inspired by a Seinfeld episode, the scallops were paired with a few chunks of pork shoulder, reduced to cubes of chewy, delicious meat ($22). While the scallops were quite large — and admittedly well-executed — they were sourced off the coast of British Columbia. All things considered, it might be nice to use Digby scallops. This dish was drizzled with honey mustard, sprinkled with almond dust and garnished with broccoli, both charred and pureed.
We finished with the crispy toffee bar ($8), which arrived at our table in a brown paper package, tied up with string. This little bundle of joy was a Rice Krispie bar, layered with soft toffee, dipped in white chocolate and sprayed with cocoa. It creatively combined elements of trailer-park goodness, executed with the precision of a dedicated professional.
Assured that the menu will change seasonally, based on fresh produce grown on a farm outside the city, I have every intention to return to Hopgood's Foodliner for my East Coast comfort fix.
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It looks like this place has an opportunity to use higher quality ingredients for the prices that they're charging. I too can make a Kraft crab dip using Triscuits...
Too bad the donairs are a bit on the expensive side, too.
I've had it, it's great. I think it has more like 5 or 6 scallops. Price might be a little high.
trailer park food at yuppie prices....
Thanks for the explanation.
@Fatty Have you in fact been? Your assertion that it "looks like this place has the opportunity to source higher quality ingredients" is absurd, and clearly you haven't a clue. Get off your butt and go try the crab dip, and then tell us if you think this could be made better with your knowledgeable sourcing of "higher quality ingredients".
@Khristopher $12 for 2 donairs is a bit pricey, by street food standards. In a proper restaurant, where the ingredients are lovingly sourced, and the donairs made with care, from scratch in their entirety, $12 is still a bit pricey if those donairs aren't perfect. On the other hand, if they are, (and they were) $12 is a bargain.
@Matt, @Jenny Are you two Americans? I hear they have much bigger portions at Red Lobster. This sounds like the place for you both! Shitty food! Big portions! But be warned, there are some prices at Red Lobster that break $22.
@Coffee Chris And the place is full! But I didn't see any "yuppies" there. Maybe they left their "yuppie" name tags back in 1983, where they belong.
@lol zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzzz shit sorry fell asleep reading your comment.
@Andy Silver Instagram rules! All the cool kids are using it. You suck.
So really, here's the scoop (from someone who's actually been there!). Hopgood's is really, really good. And hopping. The food is sophisticated (despite the nostalgic nods to the chef's roots), surprising, delicious, and worth more than the Ultimate Feast at Red Lobster, but in fact costs less. Are we clear?
I would easily put the Foodliner in my top five restaurants of Toronto! Delicious!
• Atmosphere. Loud, awkward table placement (sat in the front) where every time a fellow diner from another table needed to use the washroom we had to shuffle out of the way. Feels like they slapped a fresh coat of paint on former tenant Brads décor and left the rest. Not really acceptable for the level of restaurant they're aspiring to be.
• Cocktails. Awful. Tried a Bronx and another drink which I can’t recall the name of but it was expensive, tiny, and tasted like pinesol. Both drinks were uninspired soups of liquor that were clearly made by an amateur or by a pro who just wasn’t trying. For the price tag that’s just unacceptable. ($10-13 each)
• Food. We decided to skip appetizers as we weren’t overly hungry and went on just to mains. I ordered the steak and shrimp which were a good size, good cut and well cooked but nothing mind blowing (think Canyon Creek). Meanwhile my wife ordered the scallops and was less than impressed with their flavour or the portion size (tiny as mentioned previously and in the photos above).
For equal money may I’d suggest you instead go to Acadia, east coast inspired cuisine that is far better executed and excellent cocktails.
I highly doubt this writer is from out East if she can't call it what it is.
And they upped the price I think... my Donairs were $14 for 2 tiny little pitas.
They tasted legit from back home but... they barely amounted to one full one you'd get at say Greco Pizza after a night at the bar.
The servers were snobby hipsters. Completely killed the 'down home' vibe if that is what they were trying for.
I agree with the other poster, it is just like Brad's just with a coat of paint and dimmed lights.