Beyond the PATH

PATH lunch reviews has been rather quiet this summer - lazy reviewers spending time either on a lake or trying to rack up the billable hours.

In these summer months, this reviewer likes to occasionally stray beyond the underground confines of the PATH. Okay, I like to do it all year round, but am more inclined to run further than the Bay Street Mercatto when I don't need to put a coat on.

Now that I am back in Scotia Plaza, Jamie Kennedy's lunch spot, Hank's Cafe, seems less of a hike than it did when I worked at the Eaton Centre. Hank's is right next to the JK Wine Bar, in the space that was the JK Restaurant, I think, at 91/2 Church St. I've been to Hank's a few times now, and have been totally thrilled with my meal each time.

Things I love about Hank's:

1) That you can order a half a sandwich. For one thing, it is cheaper, and for another it makes me feel less guilty about eating a sandwich for lunch and not, say, some crappy salad. I am never happy when I just have salad for lunch. I know I've written fairly positive things about Sandwich Box in the past, but I went there the other day and had the GROSSEST salad. I was trying to be healthy and had quinoa in my salad and there were rocks in it. Barf.

2) That you can order small cups of soup. This way I can have soup and a salad and it isn't too expensive, and I don't have to make decisions about picking either/or.

3) That the iced tea is unsweetened. I love sugar, to a fault, but I do not like my drinks CRAZY sweet, which is what iced tea always seems to me to be. Also, my dentist once told me that all my cavities were from the ridiculous amounts of iced tea I used to drink so I am sort of scared of sweetened iced tea. I went on exchange once to a very weird boarding school in Switzerland that had in the dining room a bucket of super sweet iced tea with a ladle in it that you could drink all day. It was the only thing available 24 hours. Weird. Anyway, the best part is that Hank's has sugar syrup so you can sweeten the iced tea as much or a little as you like.

4) You can stay and eat at the tables and they will bring you your lunch that you order at the counter, or you can take out. This makes it a good place to meet someone for a quick lunch - you still get to sit down at a table, but you don't have to be in some weird underground food court.

5) The coffee is amazing.

6) It is very cute, with nice paper napkins and signs, and it is out of the downtown core, and based on how people dress it is clear that it is not just full of lawyers and bankers. It is like a mini-farmhouse cafe. I am always happy after I go there because it feel like a mini vacation. Like I've "gotten away from it all". Just kidding, but not really.

So far, my favourite sandwich is the smoked turkey. I've had the smoked trout, also pretty awesome, and the pulled pork which seems to be a frequent special. All the soups I've tried have been fantastic. Chilled watermelon with mint oil or something? Delicious. Can't remember the others, but I remember that I liked them. In future I will try and be a better food reviewer and take some notes or something.

In other news, I just now realized that there is a Petite Thuet at King and Yonge. Not sure how I missed that. Will go and review soon.