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| - A few months back while on a flight to Boston, i was perusing their in flight magazine. They mentioned new restaurants in cities all across North America, and the Toronto spotlight was on Grand Electric. I had the opportunity to come and see what all of the fuss was about this past weekend. Frequenting the states many times throughout the year i am constantly trying Mexican food, especially taco's, making me somewhat of a connoisseur, which was why i was so amped to see what they were serving at Grand electric, especially since they don't have a menu posted. Grand electric is pretty far down Queen, verging on Roncessvales territory, but apparently the city knows whats up, because this place was packed. We came here on a Saturday night and waited 30 minutes, which is pretty standard. We were lucky enough to get seats out on their uncovered patio (this note will make more sense later). To start i ordered a margarita and my sis had the bourbonade, both drinks were priced at $8. My margarita was great, my only complaint was that they served it in a highball glass. The whole point of a margarita is to get a bit of salt in every swig, since the glass was so small in diameter, all of the salt was gone before i was only half finished my bevy.
We started the meal with guac and chips, and they were ridiculous. The chips were salty and they also tasted of lime, they were super fresh. The guac was amazing, and the salsa that accompanied it was super spicy and paired really well with the guac.
Taco's traditionally utilize odd cuts of meat, and at Grande Electric they honour that tradition. We had pigs tail taco's on corn tortillas with pickled onions and cilantro. The meat was tender and stewed and extremely flavourful. We also had the baja fish taco with coleslaw and radish atop. The preparation for the fish wasn't traditional, it was fried, it was more reminiscent to fish and chips than a taco. However the the batter was light and the fish was flaky. The taco's are $3.50 which is reasonable, however most taco places in the states usually charge about $2.50. I found that the shells were too small to hold the large amount of filling. It becomes quite messy and falls apart which defeats the purpose of being street food.
I was stoked for the spicy squid, since this is one of my favourites types of seafood, but i was so disappointed. Most people don't like the texture of squid, however i like the chew, this was so tender verging on mushy. The squid was sliced in rings and battered, however the coating just disappeared because they were sauced so heavily. The whole dish was a miss from me for texture, flavour and the whole concept.
We ended on a high note which was dessert. It was a key lime pie served in a jar. It consisted of a layer of Graham crumbs, with key lime curd on top, and finished with whipped cream. It was light, tart, and satisfying, it is also perfect to share.
While eating, we were well aware that it was going to rain, it was just a matter of time. The patio isn't covered, so the servers were handing out umbrellas, and that is a nice touch, but lets be real, who wants to eat tacos' while holding an umbrella.
I really liked the service at grand electric, they truly work together as a team. Throughout the course of the evening, we interacted with probably 4 servers.
A few additional notes are that if you do not finish your meal, they do not have takeout containers, so u have to wrap up your food in tinfoil. Also they just accept cash and debit, no credit cards.
Overall, the restaurant serves top knotch Mexican, the staff are super friendly, we we sent off by each staffer on our way out in a genuine manner. As great as the food and ambiance are, it would be that much better with a covered patio, the ability to take home your food in appropriate containers, and also accepting all forms of payment.
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