Time for a Picnic

I just wanted to pass along this little gem of a restaurant in Toronto, near Yonge and Eglinton. Simple and sweet, it's called Picnic. And the concept is based on comfort food, and sharing food with friends. The bright red walls, red-and-white gingham touches, and padded picnic benches actually fool you into thinking you are having a picnic - even on a snow-up-to-your-armpits, blustery, February day.

And the food! It was so difficult to choose from all of the fabulous plates. My sisters and I decided on sharing a pickle platter (!), grilled peanut butter sandwiches (with Nutella and grape jelly served on the cutest of cute little buns), incredible chicken fingers with panko crumbs, and of course a bowl of the perfect frites! We devoured it. And I want to go back. I hear the Mac and Cheese Du Jour is incredible, and apparently they serve a "baked potato sundae" for dessert - vanilla ice cream going incognito as a potato, sporting cocoa for a jacket and topped with whipped cream instead of sour.

After many oohs and aahs and exclamations that this restaurant was made for our family - it is everything we love to eat - I picked up Picnic's cute business card on the way out (great design, by the way) and couldn't believe it when I realized the restaurant was in fact owned by a distant member of my family, a "third" cousin. How odd! The food was made for our family...by our family!

Well my sisters and I continued our tastebud adventure a few doors down to The Cupcake Shoppe to top off our delicious meal with yet another delicious treat. It may not have been the healthiest of food days, but it certainly was a yummy one!