This cheesy, delicious, jam-packed $25 taco platter is the best thing I ate this week
A $15 three-course pasta lunch in North York, an incredible $13 muffuletta in Etobicoke, and $2 buttery Uzbek samsas in Scarborough — each week, food reporter Karon Liu travels the GTA to bring you a trusted and affordable recommendation on what to eat while exploring the city.
The Caja Grande combo from Gorditas, $25, at 9 Milvan Dr.
THE DISH
I never say no to a sampler platter, especially when it saves me two bucks compared to ordering à la carte. The Caja Grande combo does just that: two gorditas and three tacos of your choice for $25 (normally, gorditas are $6 each and tacos are 3 for $15). For the uninitiated, gorditas are a Mexican street food similar to a thicker arepa: crispy masa cakes stuffed with meat and cheese. The most classic filling is chicharrón — fried pork skin stewed in a tomato chili sauce until silky-tender — paired with melted cheese.
The unlimited toppings bar is well stocked with housemade salsas, hot sauces, pickled onions and peppers, as well as salsa macha.
Karon Liu/ Toronto Star
For the tacos, you can't go wrong with carnitas (braised pork shoulder), al pastor (spit-roasted pork or chicken), or the less commonly seen lamb. And don't miss the unlimited toppings bar, stocked with limes, hot sauces, fresh salsas, and pickled peppers and onions to add a bright, herbal, sour and sweet contrast to all that rich, slow-cooked meat and gooey cheese. My favourite? The salsa macha — a chili oil packed with peanuts, roasted chilies, sesame and pumpkin seeds for a nutty, spicy crunch in every bite.
Gta
4 of the best bakeries in Toronto for classic old-school doughnuts
Skip the candy bar toppings and bacon bits — these Toronto spots are serving doughnuts the old-fashioned way.
Gta
4 of the best bakeries in Toronto for classic old-school doughnuts
Skip the candy bar toppings and bacon bits — these Toronto spots are serving doughnuts the old-fashioned way.
THE OWNERS
Toronto may be a taco town, but it's still catching up on gorditas. That gap led mother-and-daughter team Laura Mena-Macias and Denise Romo-Mena to start selling the homemade gorditas they grew up making in Aguascalientes, Central Mexico. It began during the pandemic via online community groups. Demand grew quickly, and the whole family got involved, even rounding up the daughters' boyfriends to help with deliveries. When a space at Plaza Latina opened up, the family moved in to expand the catering business and take everyday orders. Mena-Macias and Romo-Mena run the day-to-day operations, while father Manuel Romo and Denise's husband Naqeeb Omar help out on weekends, especially when Gorditas stays open till midnight for hungry late-night customers. While pork features heavily, the lamb and chicken on the menu are halal.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ALSO ON THE MENU
The no frills menu at Gorditas.
Karon Liu/ Toronto Star
Other gordita fillings include potatoes with chorizo; eggs in a red chili sauce; ground beef with potatoes and carrots stewed in tomatoes; and refried beans. Gorditas' burrito, $18, keeps it simple with choice of meat rolled with cheese and refried beans in the flour tortilla (Omar says where his wife's family is from, burritos don't traditionally contain rice). Instead, it's a. To drink, $8 horchata is a great deal as it comes in a litre-sized container.
Gta
Our food reporter's top picks for meals under $15 in Toronto
From prix-fixe lunches to hearty sandwiches, here are four places in Toronto where you can get delicious meals without breaking the bank.
Gta
Our food reporter's top picks for meals under $15 in Toronto
From prix-fixe lunches to hearty sandwiches, here are four places in Toronto where you can get delicious meals without breaking the bank.
EXPLORE THE AREA
Plaza Latina is a great spot for a casual food crawl — the vendors don't overlap much, and they're all steps from each other. Venture into the heart of the food court for El Sabroson for Peruvian ceviches and chaufa (Peruvian-Chinese fried rice) as well as the adjacent El Comedor Popular Ecuatoriano for the hard-to-find sopa de pata (cow's foot soup) or cheesy empanadas. As the temperatures swell, swing by one of the oldest vendors, La Fuente Del Puro Sabor, for freshly squeezed juices. Outside, the stretch of Finch is lined with similar plazas specializing in Latin food, but right across from Plaza Latina is Bengali Sweet House (12 Milvan Dr.), a great place to fill up a box of beautiful mithai.
This is the Thursday, May 29 edition of Food Crawl, the Star's weekly food newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canada-Mexico arrangement perfect fit for Pony Corral musician José 'Pepê' Cortes
'I usually do this one later on in the night but since I just had a request for it, here we go, off to Mexico!' It's Saturday evening at the Pony Corral Restaurant & Bar on Pembina Highway. Entertainer José 'Pepê' Cortes launches into a rollicking version of La Bamba, diners on the eatery's spacious riverside patio put down their forks and knives to clap along to the Ritchie Valens hit, which Cortes performs on guitar with the assistance of a pre-recorded backing track. Given his high-spirited delivery, one would never guess that Cortes, a summertime fixture at the Fort Garry hotspot since the mid-2000s, has sung the crowd-pleaser 'oh, about a million times,' over the years. Jose (Pepe) Cortes, who is a one-man show, performs on the riverside patio at the Pony Corral Restaurant & Bar three nights a week. 'The thing I try to remind myself is that there's always going to be somebody here for the first time who has never heard me do La Bamba, which, I suppose because I'm from Mexico, people kind of expect,' Cortes remarks later, during a break between sets. That's fine with him, he continues. His job, he feels, is to make guests forget about whatever might be troubling them, if only for an hour or two. So when he spots somebody beaming and raising their glass during La Bamba or Besamé Mucho, another Mexican standard that's part of his act, he tells himself, 'mission accomplished.' Cortes, 66, was born in Mexico City, the second eldest of five siblings. Growing up, he was a big fan of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, he says, casually dressed in sandals, grey shorts and a pale-blue short-sleeve dress shirt . By the time he was 11, he was teaching himself to play popular songs he heard on the radio, on an acoustic guitar borrowed from a relative. Not that he always understood what he was singing about. 'We did take English in school but no, there were lots of times I didn't have a clue what the lyrics meant, I was mostly just pretending,' he says, mentioning he has answered to the nickname Pepê — even his mother calls him that — for as long as he can remember. Before long his older brother Eduardo, Lalo for short, began accompanying him on drums. Cortes guesses he was 12 or 13 when a sign went up in their neighbourhood, advertising for bands to volunteer their services for an outdoor music festival. After talking a pair of classmates into joining them, the foursome made its official debut as El Dilema, covering rock tunes by American groups such as Grand Funk Railroad, with Cortes handling lead vocals. El Dilema was well-received. Before long the group was getting booked for community dances around town, now billed as Children owing to how young they were. The band eventually expanded to seven members and by the mid-1970s, Children had become a popular nightclub draw, not just in Mexico City but in more touristy destinations, as well. Cortes was 21 in 1979 when Children was booked for a weeklong engagement at the Princess Hotel in Acapulco. Also appearing there was a band called Zig Zag, which got its start in Mexico before relocating to Minneapolis. Following one of Children's performances, the members of Zig Zag told Cortes they were impressed with his voice, especially when he sang falsetto on Bee Gees numbers. Also, would he be interested in going with them when they headed back to the States? It seemed like a great opportunity and after discussing it with his bandmates, he made the difficult decision to leave Mexico. Supplied José 'Pepe' Cortes in Mexico with the band Children 'Zig Zag mostly did classic rock — Boston, Kansas, that kind of stuff — and we used to get standing ovations for our version of Bohemian Rhapsody,' Cortes says with a laugh, adding besides the Twin Cities, they were also getting booked for shows in North and South Dakota, and, later on, in Canada. In August 1984 Zig Zag was hired for a social being held at the Canadian Forces Base in Shilo. In attendance was a pharmaceuticals rep originally from Deloraine who had relocated to Brandon. Cortes struck up a conversation with her between sets. Within a year, they were married and living in Winnipeg. Cortes continued his musical career after moving to the city. He started off with a country-rock outfit called Raven before being introduced in 1987 to Wayne Hlady, founder of the Beatles tribute act Free Ride. For the next 18 years, Cortes-as-George Harrison played guitar and sang with Free Ride. It was a lucrative gig, he says, but because the band was often booked as many as six nights a week, it caused a strain in his marriage. 'We had two kids, a boy and girl. I was Mr. Mom during the day, cooking the meals and seeing them off to school, but the minute my wife got home, I'd be out the door,' he says. Free Ride definitely helped pay the bills, he goes on, but still, his wife desired a normal life, one that would enable them to socialize with family and friends on the weekend, instead of him always appearing at this bar or that. He understood her point — he even tried his hand at a 'real' job working for a local landscaping firm — but in the end they had grown too far apart. Following his divorce in 2005, Cortes made the decision to part ways with Free Ride. For a while he'd been writing songs of his own, but because Free Ride was all-Beatles, all-the-time, he knew there would never be an opportunity for him to perform his compositions in front of a live audience. One of the first places that hired him after he struck out on his own was the Pembina Highway Pony Corral. There he was encouraged to mix in original tunes alongside time-tested favourites such as Under the Boardwalk, Imagine and Brown Eyed Girl. He also returned to his roots, by sprinkling in Spanish-style songs popularized by the likes of the Gipsy Kings and Santana. By 2011, Cortes, who did three sets a night, Wednesday through Saturday, had developed a loyal following. That summer he was on Facebook when he spotted a message from a person he'd gone to school with in Mexico City. He remembered she used to be pals with his first girlfriend. Out of curiousity he asked if the two of them were still in touch. They were, she replied. SUPPLIED Free Ride as The Rolling Stones. Jose 'Pepe' Cortes is Keith Richards,, front Five minutes later, he received a second message, this time from his ex, a woman named Gabriela. 'She was like 'hi, how are you.' She told me she was living in Tequisquiapan, about three hours from Mexico City. After messaging back and forth a bit more, she said I should come for a visit, which I ended up doing that winter.' Cortes fell in love with both Gabriela and the town, notable for its quaint cobblestone streets and rustic houses. On the flight back to Winnipeg he thought if he could land a gig there, he'd probably move. Four years later he was preparing to do just that. Ahead of his imminent departure, Peter Ginakes, owner of the Pony Corral, proposed they stage a 'Farewell Pepê' concert in his honour, on the patio. That night the place was jam-packed, with lineups stretching into the parking lot. As Cortes was putting away his guitar for what he thought would be the last time at that locale, Ginakes approached him to say, 'You know, there isn't any reason we can't do this every summer.' Cortes, who has dual citizenship, refers to his current situation, which sees him living and performing in Tequisquiapan for nine months of the years, and spending June through August in Lorette with his daughter Sam and her husband, as the 'best of both worlds.' Not only does he get to see his two adult children as well as a pair of grandchildren, ages five and nine, when he's here he holds down a Las Vegas-style residency at the Pony Corral three nights a week, Thursday to Saturday. Added bonus: his son Matthew occasionally supports him on bongo drums. 'It's funny because couples who used to come see me at the Pony 20 years ago, back when they were dating, now show up with their kids to catch the show,' he says. 'The other night my own grandkids were here and the oldest one spent the whole time in one of the Tiki huts, banging away on the table like he was playing drums.' Cortes, who has recorded four CDs of original material, figures he currently has close to 150 songs in his repertoire, including what he refers to as the calypso medley, which he put the finishing touches to in Mexico, this past winter. Jose (Pepe) Cortes on the patio at the riverside Pony Corral Restaurant & Bar (Pier7) at 1700 Pembina Hwy. 'For that one, I kick off things off with Lionel Richie's All Night Long, then switch to Kokomo by the Beach Boys, September by Earth, Wind and Fire and finally Hot Hot Hot (by Buster Poindexter). If that doesn't get people tapping their toes, nothing will.' And although Gabriela has only come with him to Winnipeg once — she found it too chilly, even in June, he says with a wink — he intends to make the annual trip north for as long as Ginakes and the Pony Corral will have him. 'The only tough part is I'm not as young as I used to be,' he says, polishing off the last of his coffee. 'Lots of times customers will go, 'Pepê, it's so good to see you,' and offer to buy me a drink. I have to tell them thanks, but no thanks… or at least to wait till Saturday night, when I don't have to work the next day.' Monthly What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. An email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing. David Sanderson Dave Sanderson was born in Regina but please, don't hold that against him. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Global News
4 days ago
- Global News
‘Best place to make movies': Toronto presents Guillermo del Toro with key to the city
Toronto has handed Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro the key to the city in recognition of his affinity for making films here. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow presented the Mexican-born filmmaker with the ceremonial honour Thursday morning, saying his history of producing films in Toronto has created jobs and supports a local screen industry. In accepting the key, del Toro said he loves Toronto and considers it 'the best place to make movies.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The presentation took place at the waterfront Cinespace Studios, which says it's renaming four sound stages to pay tribute to the 'Shape of Water' writer-director. Del Toro says he's spent about half of his 30-year career making movies in Toronto, including 2009's effects-laden action film 'Pacific Rim' and 2017's fantasy 'The Shape of the Water,' which netted Oscars for best director and best picture. Next up is his Netflix film 'Frankenstein,' featuring Jacob Elordi as the titular monster, which Del Toro says will be finished at the Toronto video production studio Company 3. Story continues below advertisement 'Frankenstein' is bound for the Toronto International Film Festival in September. 'I have loved Toronto for so many years and I am very happy that it loves me back,' del Toro said during the ceremony. 'It does not only exist as a great city for making film, but for celebrating film,' he said.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Best place to make movies': Toronto presents Guillermo del Toro with key to the city
TORONTO – Toronto has handed Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro the key to the city in recognition of his affinity for making films here. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow presented the Mexican-born filmmaker with the ceremonial honour Thursday morning, saying his history of producing films in Toronto has created jobs and supports a local screen industry. In accepting the key, del Toro said he loves Toronto and considers it 'the best place to make movies.' The presentation took place at the waterfront Cinespace Studios, which says it's renaming four sound stages to pay tribute to the 'Shape of Water' writer-director. Del Toro says he's spent about half of his 30-year career making movies in Toronto, including 2009's effects-laden action film 'Pacific Rim' and 2017's fantasy 'The Shape of the Water,' which netted Oscars for best director and best picture. Next up is his Netflix film 'Frankenstein,' featuring Jacob Elordi as the titular monster, which Del Toro says will be finished at the Toronto video production studio Company 3. 'Frankenstein' is bound for the Toronto International Film Festival in September. 'I have loved Toronto for so many years and I am very happy that it loves me back,' del Toro said during the ceremony. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'It does not only exist as a great city for making film, but for celebrating film,' he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2025.
