Time for a quick one! Sometimes reviews like this just sort of fall in your lap... or in this case, roll into your neighbourhood on a colorfully decorated truck.
When I reviewed the first Toronto Shake Shack (there are now a few) last year, a few friends of mine noted how in that piece I didn't try one of their milkshakes. Perhaps an oversight on my part (what with "Shake" being literally in their freaking name) that found its way into the back of my mind ever since.
Well, wouldn't it just be some fine luck that Shake Shack Canada has been operating a food truck this entire summer, visiting locations throughout southern Ontario for a brief limited time (a single weekend at most). Turns out the final stop of this tour was Labour Day weekend at Woodbine Beach... a place certainly much closer to me than Lake Simcoe or Port Carling. Not exactly walking distance.
Naturally, I had no clue whatsoever about any of this until I was riding my bike home from work late on the Saturday of the long weekend. The beach was mostly empty, most of the lights were off but in the corner of my eye I saw this unfamiliar truck on the left, in front of the main parking lot of Woodbine. You can imagine the raised eyebrow of intrigue once I saw this was Shake Shack... the Shake Shack... operating a truck essentially a few beach backyards from me. I resolved to investigate this properly the next day, which I did... managing to visit the truck just in time before they closed for Sunday evening.
Aside from the truck, they had some various (Instagramable) activities set up for folks, like a burger beanbag toss thing, dueling foam french fries, QR codes for T-shirts maybe? I dunno... honestly I just wanted a milkshake and didn't look all that intently upon the quirky but still very much brand-oriented promo fluff. I'll give points for making their setup feel very summery though.
There were four shake options: vanilla, chocolate fudge, cookies and cream, or strawberry. I chose... well surely you've read the title of this article, right.
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect... beyond thinking at worst this would be decent. Well it definitely surpassed that, as this was indeed quite a damn tasty shake.
A very pleasant thickness to the ice cream... milky and creamy in flavour without anything tasting cheap or hollow about it. These flavours actually lingered on the tongue, almost like they expanded in your mouth. If this wasn't legit ice cream they're using an exceptional imitation... but I'm 99 percent certain this is the real stuff. There's too much genuinely fresh richness to it.
As for the "cookies" element... here I was expecting something akin to a crumbled up Oreo (or Oreo-like substitute), something with that kind of presence and crunch. This was similar... but it reminded me more like the buns of an ice cream sandwich (without that weird peeling stickiness you get from those, of course). The chunks/crumble of the cookie in here were mostly quite small but still blended throughout the shake enough that no sip or gulp of it was free of them.
That dark cookie flavour (also slightly crunchy in the bigger bits) combined with a very creamy ice cream blended down to a perfectly drinkable viscosity... all else I can say is: damn. A extremely delightful summer treat indeed. Shake Shack's shakes are also pretty good it seems, even out of a food truck near closing time. Thumbs up from me.
Another Tuesday... another Taste! We've got a different one this week, moving beyond our last couple of mediocre showings and tackling a popular and distinctive destination in the Toronto restaurant scene. It's... eating Sour Cream and Onion Ruffles chips on the 501 Queen Streetcar! Wait... *checks notes* sorry, that's what I ate after prom night. Whoops! I really have to stop mixing these things up...
My experience with Gusto 501? Considerably less Stairway to Heaven/Time of Your Life as that. First of all I'd already visited Gusto back in late 2018, or at least their grandfather spot Gusto 101 (I had a fantastic meatball pizza there). Gusto 501 was still a flicker in the stars at that point, the unique building housing that newer restaurant not even yet built (it was completed sometime in early 2021). Another entirely meaningless observation: both Gustos (501 and 101) refer to the addresses of the streets they occupy, King East and Portland respectively. Imagine they opened a third one up on Yonge Street in Richmond Hill... Gusto 11643! Rolls right off the tongue.
Heading off to at last visit the newer, more eastern Gusto actually served a dual purpose: trying a pizza I'd been curious about of course (and seeing how it compared to its Gusto 101 counterpart)... but more importantly, a golden chance to see an old friend who's been living overseas for nearly a decade. He was back in town briefly for this August long weekend and a window to catch up over lunch was open before us.
After a "damn man long time!" initial reunion at King and Parliament we made the short walk east towards Gusto (with gusto). As I was locking my bike, my buddy was ambushed! ...by another old friend of his from theatre school he also hadn't seen in a while (her incredulous reaction to seeing him was truly hilarious and sweet... like an honest "what the hell are you doing here?") As it turns out... this friend of a friend happens to work at the very Gusto 501 we were about to visit. Sometimes this insanely large world is insanely small. Insanity, I know.
Speaking of that, the interior of Gusto 501 likewise does not conform to conventional thinking. There are two floors in this very large, vertically open space... with the second floor acting like a towering perch (or indoor balcony) overlooking the distant tables below. Our server friend (my friend's friendly theatre friend) joked how going up and down those stairs for this job eliminates any need for a gym membership... not her exact phrasing but you get the idea.
Pleasantries aside, it was time to dive into the serious pizza business at hand. I felt a bit of pressure, on both my reputation as a certifiable Pizza Knower and that my buddy spends most of the year in Northern China (Inner Mongolia to be slightly more precise), a region known for lots of delicious items but pizza not exactly among those.
Nevertheless I was confident from my experience half a decade previous at Gusto 101 that we were in for something good here. My popular friend selected the Funghi pizza (generously gifting me a slice to try) while I went for the Salsicce... which translates as "sausages" in Italian (I won't bother explaining what "Funghi" means)...
A sausage fest indeed! Here we have Gusto 501's house sausage, smoked mozzarella, pecorino and romano cheeses with some Calabrian chillies. The pizza normally comes with scallions as well, but seeing as I continue to dumbly confuse scallions and shallots with each other... I had them omitted. A mistake I immediately rued an instant after it was too late, realizing scallions were the ones I liked. Damn me...!
Even without the fresh vibrancy of green onions, this pizza has lots going on. Marvellous heat from those pastey, oily chillies... juicy crumbled house sausage (precisely tender and juicy, without being too salty or fatty) and a very noticeable smokiness to that smoked mozzarella (unlike my experience at Levetto).
There's a definite heavy richness to this pie but it's far from that singular note: there's a good amount of bitterness and spice, smoke, moderate oiliness, some sharp creaminess from the cheese, the dough is fresh and tasty (if a slight bit dry)... all these layers of flavour that unravel and vary... it's downright excellent. Not a kind of pizza I'd get on a regular basis but an absolute winner nonetheless.
I do enjoy a good mushroom on occasion as well (insert joke here). My only issue with mushroom pizzas such as this can be how that distinct taste becomes too repetitive and samey after half a dozen bites or so. That earthy, juicy, tenderness is great here and lingers in the mouth nicely... the creamy, melty cheeses helping accentuate those nice flavours... but halfway through a second slice of it I tend to get somewhat bored of it. This is where something like roasted cloves of garlic, or dollops of blue cheese just in a limited amount could really elevate an already terrific pizza into the stratosphere.
Gusto 501 doesn't quite go for that bold contrast, instead using caramelized onions for some sweetness and rolling with two kinds of mushrooms (shittake and oyster) with three cheeses (fior di latte, pecorino and taleggio). Not my ideal mushroom pizza, personally, but it still works very nicely and that sweetness from the onions really helps it mostly avoid any samey repetitiveness.
Thanks to the good fortune of my buddy knowing our server (and especially her being so energetically delighted to see him) we scored a couple of bonuses for the meal. First, some aiolis! Yes, because of the lighting it looks way more like hummus (especially the one with the liquid in it) but we've got a lemon aioli on the left (that's lemon juice not olive oil) and a garlic aioli on the right.
Both are quite tasty dips. Full-bodied and heavy, although I much preferred the garlic one (shocker, right) with it's rich lingering garlic hit. The lemon aioli brings some charms as well, tasting much lighter and looser... almost healthier than any thick mayo dip has a right to suggest.
The hookups keep coming! As I've mentioned over the course of these many, many reviews... I'm not really a dessert guy. When it's on the house, however? Well it'd be crazy and rude not to.
What we have here is Gusto 501's tiramisu, a dessert I am actually quite fond of. And yes, in the lighting it also looks like hummus for some reason... This portion was definitely best shared by two or more, with the dish itself being much heavier on its creamy aspect over the coffee pastry. You mostly taste the mascarpone and fluffy sugar sweetness, with a short layer of the coffee soaked lady fingers on the bottom giving just enough presence to cut through all that decadent whipped cream. The powered chocolate (in the shape of Gusto's hexagon logo) is an addtionial nice touch.
It's very good, with big smooth flavours that make a fitting finale to a big meal. Perhaps a bit too much of the cream cheese for my personal taste, but I can't deny it still tastes lovely regardless.
Overall! I really tried to use the adjective "rich" as sparingly as possible here... but there's no denying that particular term best describes the cuisine sampled here at Gusto 501. Heavy cream, cheese flavours that tickle that spot of your taste buds. Sadly I forgot to take a photo of the mocktail I ordered (the very tasty Sole Di Sorrento) which was indeed rather different than that... not that you'll ever know! No photo, it obviously never happened...
On quality alone, I'd definitely recommend checking out Gusto 501. The pizza is genuinely fantastic with excellent depth and contrast of flavours and textures (it passes the reheat test as well). I'd grade it a strong "B++", just falling short of the elite 'A' range as there are a few pizzas in that category I like a bit more (and find slightly more interesting). Not to take away from what Gusto is doing, however. It's a terrifically executed pie I'd be happy to encounter again. Those top notch flavours combining so smartly really are the key and they nail it.
Tuesday Tune
I've always found these guys hit or miss, but I do love this riff.
That's all for another week! Until next time... stay safe, stay cool and most of all... don't spill that mustard.
