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| - White Brick Kitchen is located on the south west corner of Euclid and Bloor West between Christie and Bathurst stations on the Bloor subway line.
Toronto has their fair share of places where people are willing to line up and wait for brunch on the weekend and don't take reservations because really, they don't have to. WBK is one of those places.
On a very cold Sunday I arrived around 10:40ish to see that there were 3 groups of 3 or more in front of me. A person came in looking for a table of two and was seated immediately. All of the seating in this place is only 2 or 4 seat tables. There was one table at the front window that can seat 5.
Upon check in I was given the choice of leaving my number for my place in line or just to wait there. The place and the list is simply written down at the front counter. Anybody can see it. That's how I knew how many were ahead of me and I was given the option to leave my number so I could leave and come back but since it was so cold outside, no - I wasn't going to take a stroll to Christie Pits. It became crowded pretty fast.
They have a curtain at the doorway leading to the entrance so it sort of helps keep the heat in when the cold wanted to creep in. It became awkward however when more people started to show up and line up inside because it was cramped. Understandingly so nobody wants to be outside when it was this cold on a day like that. Still, the staff here are great, friendly and accommodating. Anybody observing to can how challenging it is to move around in this space and when there's people waiting sort of impeding the way to tables it makes the degree of difficulty even more.
The food is the reason people are lined up and coming in however. Brunch is not something that is taken lightly. You can get breakfast anywhere really but weekend mornings are a bit different.
Brunch = drinks (alcohol) served strictly after 11am. I watched while waiting in line as beer was being poured and had to sit there until the big hand hit the 12 and it became 11am. Now it's legal!
So between beer, mimosas and Caesars, I ended up getting the large Caesar which they make with 2oz of Stoli and rim the glass with steak spice instead of celery salt which is a nice change actually.
The Caesar wasn't as spicy as I was expecting but it had a good taste, mild but the steak spice rim was more like a salt and pepper type season rather than a hot pepper overall tang. Still good, just different. Just a pickle on top, nothing wacky or different, just standard.
I ended up ordering the 8 piece chicken (tenders) and waffles with a side of bacon and real maple syrup. I would have preferred real pieces of fried chicken but it isn't offered for breakfast. The chicken was battered, seasoned but nothing standout-ish. I mean the chicken seemed just plain Jane standard, not spicy and sort of bland. It was good but just good. It wasn't as risky as say the Stockyard's offering. My friend had asked for some hot sauce and I thought they'd bring a bottle but it was a tiny paper cup with maybe 5ml in it. He didn't use it all and I used some of it to spark up my chicken just a tad.
I was sort of disappointed I had to ask for and pay for maple syrup (2 bucks). I mean this is chicken and waffles and we're in Canada. I'm not really interested in Aunt Jemima's or some sort of maple syrup alternative. Not to mention this dish is almost 20 bucks. As for the side of bacon the pieces weren't measly small greasy diner type bacon but it was only 2 slices and it was 4 bucks. Emma's I believe uses Sanagan's meat at least for the pepperette they do.
The waffle was good and light but it was sort of small, maybe 6 inches in diameter? It wasn't very thick either.
Overall the service is really good at WBK. The chicken and waffles I have to say for me was mediocre. While the chicken (8 tenders around 4 inches long each) was decently abundant it didn't wow me. I need to be wowed because I'm sort of a lover of fried chicken. The waffle while good was lacking in overall quantity. There was no butter offered and the maple syrup had to be paid for which is sort of a turn off. I suppose I could have asked for butter but I didn't necessarily need it. I would have used it if it came. I can't say that I've ever paid 2 dollars for a slice of bacon (x 2) ever and the Caesar while tasty wasn't as spicy as I was hoping for or expecting.
WBK is a good place. I've had others tell me tales of how good this or that is, mainly the chicken. While I didn't have a chance to get bone in chicken pieces these tenders that came with the chicken and waffles for me were just meh.
Overall I can't say I was too impressed with this place but then again I've only had one sit down there. For a place that's known for their fried chicken and it seems to be talked about a lot - honestly I just don't see it.
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