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Locals Welcome Season 1 Episode 10
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FunTranscript
00:00But these casual gathering spots are often more than meets the eye.
00:05Because as the city changes, so do they.
00:08Sometimes in surprising ways.
00:11Like becoming a performance space.
00:15Food courts are where we share culture.
00:20I'm Suresh Das.
00:22I've spent my career writing about the local favorites
00:24that made Canada's food scene truly unique.
00:27I believe every bite tells a story.
00:29Now, I want to share those stories with you.
00:40This is Asian Court.
00:41This is kind of where I grew up.
00:43This is one of the oldest Chinese neighborhoods in Toronto.
00:46We're talking immigration waves that go back probably 45 years at this point.
00:52Now, one of the most important food courts in Asian Court, in my opinion,
00:56is the Dynasty Centre Food Court.
00:59For many of us, humble food courts like the one I'm headed to can be just a pit stop on our commute.
01:05But they are often worthy destinations in and of themselves.
01:08Today, I'm venturing beyond the standard fast food offerings to see how many food courts are the beating heart of Toronto's food scene
01:15and a reflection of the city's ever-evolving communities and cultures.
01:20Dynasty Centre, it's one of those if-you-know-you-know type of places.
01:23You don't stumble upon it.
01:25Home to maybe five food stalls, and one of them is great fountain fast food.
01:29I'm heading there to meet Anna Peng.
01:31She's the daughter of the family that owns the restaurant.
01:44I've been here before, but the menu is so big, I've only tried a fraction of it.
01:49Hi, Anna.
01:50Hi.
01:51How are you?
01:52Good. Yourself?
01:53Good, I'm ready for lunch.
01:54Can you actually join me?
01:55Of course, yeah. I'd love to.
01:56Can I start with some milk tea today?
01:58Milk tea?
01:59We have a nice bubble tea.
02:00I would love that.
02:01Yes, please.
02:02Pork belly.
02:03And pork belly on rice?
02:04Yes, please.
02:05Anything else?
02:06I do want to try this garlic fried chicken on fried rice.
02:09Okay, let's do that.
02:10Awesome.
02:11Here's your bubble tea.
02:12Thank you. I'll see you in a minute.
02:14Yes.
02:15For decades, the Dynasty Centre Food Court has been a gathering spot for the Scarborough Chinese community
02:20and a living institution for the food cultures brought here.
02:26Hey.
02:27This is amazing.
02:28I've been coming here for many years, but this is my first time actually having a meal with
02:33you, sitting down with you.
02:34Yeah.
02:35So, okay, what do we have here?
02:36Okay, so we have the braised pork belly with preserved vegetables on steamed rice.
02:39One of my favorite dishes to have here.
02:40Yeah.
02:41Get some of the mustard greens.
02:42The mustard greens really cut, like, the fat from pork belly.
02:45Yeah.
02:46Yeah, yeah.
02:47Oh.
02:48Mmm.
02:49It has a luxuriousness to it.
02:52It's a comfort meal.
02:53It's a comfort meal.
02:54And it's so, like, humble-looking.
02:56This must be, like, one of the top dishes here.
02:58Top, top.
02:59Mmm.
03:00There are so many food courts in Toronto, right?
03:02Oh, yeah.
03:03This particular place, Dynasty Centre, is pretty unique.
03:05Well, for a lot of our customers, they kind of miss this chaotic energy that they have back in Asia.
03:10Right, right.
03:11Yeah.
03:12You can feel that in this room, actually.
03:13In Chinese, there's this word called, like, , which means it's just, like, really warm in the room.
03:18Like, it's caused by, like, a lot of people around, a lot of energy flowing.
03:22Right.
03:23That rhythm is important.
03:24It's part of the experience.
03:25Yeah.
03:26The classic Hong Kong diner food is the other big reason why customers keep coming back.
03:31In the 1950s and 60s, these diners became a staple in Hong Kong.
03:36They're known for their big and affordable menus that feature items like Anna's mom's milk tea.
03:42And Western-inspired dishes using Cantonese techniques, like her dad's many wok cook specialties.
03:49I gotta try some of this garlic fried chicken, because I'm really curious about the sauce.
03:57Mmm.
03:58Wow.
04:00I've never had a sauce quite like that before.
04:02Like, I'm tasting, like, some sort of, like, herbalness to it.
04:05Some sort of spice quality to it.
04:07Mmm-hmm.
04:08It's the black pepper, definitely.
04:09Yeah.
04:10And then the earthiness is kind of coming from the bay leaves that we use.
04:13Ah, that's what it is.
04:14That is outstanding.
04:15That might be a new favorite for me, actually.
04:17Did your parents always want to open a restaurant?
04:19What was their journey?
04:20Around 2008, they got into a fish and chips spot in Pickering, and they ran that for around seven to eight years.
04:26But along the way, I think my mom kind of felt, like, detached from her Chinese identity.
04:30So that brought them to kind of finding a great fountain.
04:35We have to talk about the reality of the pandemic.
04:37But the pandemic really had a massive impact.
04:39100%.
04:40And this whole entire space was just blank.
04:42It was empty, right?
04:43That was very scary for both my parents.
04:45Then when you saw that your parents were going through this challenging time, what did you do?
04:49Tell me.
04:50As first-generation immigrants after graduating, the expectation is for the kids to find a comfortable job.
04:58What do you say?
04:59No, I want to be in the restaurant with you.
05:02No, I want to sort it out in the food court with you guys.
05:05Yeah, so they were just like, are you crazy?
05:07Yeah, yeah.
05:08The reason why I'm here is to give my thanks back to my parents for sacrificing, like, so much of their life to come here, raise me and my brother.
05:17I can't do that if I'm working an office job.
05:20Huh, wow, yeah.
05:21Right?
05:22So even I'm getting a little bit emotional about it right now.
05:26But no.
05:27They went through a lot to get to this point.
05:30Sorry.
05:32To help her parents and the struggling business, Anna turned to social media.
05:37Hello, great fountain friends.
05:39We are back.
05:40You need to get in the car.
05:42She came up with a simple and playful way to draw in customers.
05:45This is definitely something you should try, like.
05:48She began to eat her way through Great Fountain's 200 plus items.
05:52Number T44 on the menu.
05:54One at a time, all while sitting in the front seat of our car.
05:57So far, I haven't dropped anything on myself.
05:59As a food writer, trying to, like, tell the stories of places when everything else was shut down, I would eat in the car a lot, too.
06:05Yeah.
06:06And I was really impressed.
06:07A lot of our customers were actually eating in the car, which gave me the idea of, like, I should eat in my car, too.
06:13Oh, my gosh.
06:14Okay.
06:15Goodbye.
06:16Anna's disarming personality and clever social media work quickly got a lot of attention.
06:22And before long, business picked up again.
06:24You've done a tremendous job to say, like, come and visit us in this very unique space with, you know, food that really transports you to a certain time and place.
06:34Thank you, Anna.
06:36From a small community food court in the suburbs, my next stop is in the heart, or should I say, the belly of downtown Toronto.
06:51I'm talking about the path, the world's largest underground pedestrian walkway.
06:57Every day, waves of commuters pass through this place.
07:02And as if grown in number, so have the food courts down here.
07:07But with over 30 kilometers of tunnels, the path is an easy place to get lost.
07:12So I thought it's best to come with a guide.
07:14They actually changed a lot of the wayfinding in here.
07:16Right, okay.
07:17Because it was too confusing.
07:18East is that way, Scotia Plaza.
07:20Yeah.
07:21Richmond Adelaide Center is that way, west.
07:23Back in 2012, award-winning journalist Katie Dobbs spent two weeks living in the path.
07:29The Toronto Star chronicled her experience with the hidden culture below the city in a graphic novel-style weekly feature.
07:37You were inside for two weeks.
07:39Like, you didn't go out.
07:40Yeah.
07:41I was staying in a hotel connected to the path, so I wasn't sleeping down here.
07:44The path is built for, like, these moments that are, like, at the beginning of your day or the end of the day.
07:48And lunch dates, the food courts in every direction.
07:51Yeah, let's grab some lunch.
07:52Yeah.
07:53Our first stop is one of the busiest food courts in the path, under Union Station.
07:5820 years ago, path food courts had mostly chains selling soups, sandwiches, and giant muffins.
08:05But today, it's an expensive prime location to open a food stop.
08:09And it attracts all kinds of interesting vendors, like Tut's Egyptian Street Food.
08:14I love the cauliflower.
08:15Yeah.
08:16And then we have the falafel, too.
08:17Yeah.
08:18Yeah.
08:19Yeah.
08:20Owner, Amr Emazariki, opened Tut's in 2020.
08:24It was a big risk moving so far from the Egyptian community west of the city.
08:28How did you end up in the path?
08:29Like, did you always want to open a restaurant in the path?
08:31We did a pop-up with Union Station called Union Summer.
08:34Yeah.
08:35And people loved our food, so as soon as something opened up, we jumped on the opportunity.
08:39I love it.
08:40Starting off strong here, Katie.
08:41Four sandwiches each.
08:42My God.
08:43All right.
08:44Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:45That looks so good.
08:46Thank you so much.
08:47Enjoy.
08:48What are you doing first here?
08:50Cauliflower.
08:51Okay.
08:52All right.
08:53I'm going to go for the falafel.
08:59Mmm.
09:00Oh, yeah.
09:01It's so good.
09:02Mm-hmm.
09:03They're doing Egyptian-style falafel, made with fava beans and herbs.
09:06It's got a nice, pronounced sort of herbal quality to it.
09:09How's your cauliflower?
09:10It's so good.
09:11It's nice and crispy.
09:12Mmm.
09:13And the seasoning's great.
09:14To be able to see Egyptian street food in the subterranean maze called the path,
09:19it's a really big deal, I think.
09:20Yeah.
09:21Cheese pizza days are, like, far behind us, which is cool because the path is mostly for office workers,
09:25but it's also for anyone who's, like, coming to see a game or an event.
09:29And there's a lot of people who hang out in the food courts, like, after everyone goes home.
09:33You see people, like, studying there.
09:34Sometimes you see people playing board games.
09:36People just hanging out.
09:37Became a third space for a lot of people.
09:38Yeah.
09:39I just love how, guys, the palette of the city has also grown and evolved.
09:43The path has really accommodated it.
09:44It's so great.
09:45Yeah.
09:46You can just get so much here.
09:50Now it's my turn to lead Katie to another gem in the path.
09:53Forno Cultura.
09:55This wasn't here when I was in the path.
10:00Yeah.
10:01I would have had a lot of cookies.
10:02Yeah.
10:03Back in my days working in tech, Forno Cultura was my go-to for a sweet and a caffeine boost.
10:10Andrea Mastrandria's father and grandfather were both bakers in Italy.
10:14He is carrying on the family tradition right here in the path.
10:17Hi, Andre.
10:18Good to see you.
10:19Good to see you.
10:20Andrea, how would you decide that you wanted to open it here?
10:22I mean, the path always for me was quite unique.
10:25You know, there's that culture where people always have their sweet and coffee first thing
10:28before you go to the office.
10:30And then again, that kind of repeats itself, you imagine, in the afternoon.
10:33We've kind of just fit right into that.
10:35That's great.
10:36So why don't we just do a couple of different things?
10:38I will.
10:39I like citrus.
10:40Citrus, okay.
10:41This is, we call it our parola di limone, which is lemon.
10:44Lemon shortbread.
10:45Shortbread.
10:46It's grandma's cookie, everybody's favorite.
10:47There's a pistacchio limone.
10:50That's a good start.
10:51I'm a huge fan of chocolate.
10:53Chocolate.
10:54It's a no brainer.
10:55This was a very old school, traditional Pugliese.
10:58It's got dried spank grapes.
11:00I'm going to go here.
11:01Parola di ciocoletto.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Salt comes from black olives.
11:04We dry black olives.
11:05You have some really interesting flavor combinations with these cookies.
11:08I mean, they all kind of started from grandfather and my father and that kind of history.
11:13And I'm like, but our customer base and our team represent the globe.
11:18So we are constantly influenced by flavors from many cultures.
11:22We are a Toronto brand, 100%.
11:24I mean, we get these combinations that you wouldn't find definitely in Italy for sure.
11:29Yeah, yeah.
11:30So what are you going to try here?
11:32This is a lemon one.
11:33I think I'm going to start with that one.
11:34Okay.
11:35Oh my gosh.
11:37Whoa.
11:38It's so buttery.
11:39It's so good.
11:40That is wonderfully just like, just subtly tart.
11:43Oh, that lemon flavor is just so nice and delicate.
11:46So good.
11:47Just what you want in a shortbread.
11:48Yeah, yeah.
11:49Yeah.
11:50We're a very multicultural city, but most of that diversity is in the suburbs.
11:54And it feels to me like finally we're seeing that culture seep in to the food courts of downtown Toronto.
12:01For sure.
12:02It's what people want too, right?
12:03Like people don't want the same old food courts.
12:05Even since you wrote your piece.
12:06Yeah.
12:07It's changed a ton since then.
12:08I think, Katie, you should do it again.
12:10You should do a part two.
12:11Because I'd love to read how we can live in the past now, over 10 years later, with the food options we've seen today.
12:18Oh yeah.
12:19Food's never a problem here.
12:20It's clear that there's a demand for food courts that serve many different communities in the city.
12:30In my years as a food writer, I've learned that food courts can also be a place where chefs come to be inspired.
12:37Chefs like my good friend and award-winning restaurateur, David Schwartz.
12:42Hey buddy.
12:43Get some lunch?
12:44Let's do it.
12:45Let's go.
12:46David has been celebrated for his commitment to traditional cooking at his restaurants, Sonny's Chinese, Mimi Chinese and Linny's.
12:55His incredible food has earned him a place in the Michelin Guide in Toronto.
13:00When he's not at his restaurants, there's a good chance you can find him at a small food court tucked away beside OCAD University and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Village by the Grange.
13:12Feels like home away from home here.
13:15Has to be our second-dozenth time here.
13:18When this place opened in the 1970s, it was among the first food courts in Canada.
13:23And since then, it's been packed with food stalls as diverse as its clientele.
13:28As well as students, this place caters to people coming from nearby Hospital Row, Galleries and Chinatown.
13:35When I started coming here, I was a student.
13:38And the way I interacted with this space was very different than the way that I interact with this space now.
13:44It's impossible to choose just one place when we come here.
13:47So we're going to get a bit of everything, starting with Nai Nai, one of the only Indonesian restaurants in downtown Toronto.
13:55Hi, Alita.
13:56Oh, hi.
13:57How are you?
13:58How are you guys?
13:59Good, good.
14:00Now that I'm here, I'm good.
14:01So the last time we were here, we actually fell in love with this one dish that you served with the stinky bean.
14:05Oh, yes.
14:06Yes.
14:07Yes.
14:08Stinky bean.
14:09Nasi goreng with stinky bean.
14:10So nasi goreng is such a really unique dish.
14:12Seeds from the betai tree, also known as stinky beans, have an effect on the body similar to asparagus, hence the nickname.
14:20And nasi goreng is fried rice typical of Indonesia and Malaysia, usually seasoned with shallots, garlic, shrimp paste, and tamarit.
14:30Oh, here we go.
14:31Okay.
14:32Awesome.
14:33Oh, my God.
14:34Amazing.
14:35I really want Toronto to like, knows like how good is Indonesian food.
14:42It's some of the best Indonesian food I've ever had.
14:44Thank you so much.
14:45Oh, you're welcome.
14:47The place I can never skip when I come here is Jaffna Street Food.
14:50My absolute favorite Tamil spot in the city.
14:53So my favorite thing here, which we're going to have, is the string kothu.
14:59Okay.
15:00Which is basically string hoppers that are chopped up on the griddle and tossed in like spices.
15:06Curry of your choice, maybe mutton or chicken.
15:08Exactly.
15:09The most popular is mutton, I would say.
15:10Let's do it.
15:12Oh, here we go.
15:13Here we go.
15:14Enjoy.
15:17After stops with Turkish donor and Korean bulgogi, in a matter of minutes, we've got a feast of four different cuisines and it could have easily been more.
15:26More to begin here.
15:27I want to start with this.
15:28Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:29Nasi goreng pate.
15:35Oh, yeah.
15:36Come on.
15:37That's really good.
15:38The texture of the rice is perfect.
15:39Yeah.
15:40The bean is a little bitter, but good when you eat it with everything.
15:44I feel like a lot of chefs in the city draw inspiration from food courts.
15:48Yes.
15:49I live for this.
15:50Food in these food courts is like maximum flavor.
15:53Yeah.
15:54And so you were raised in a Jewish household.
15:56Yeah.
15:57And now you run multiple Chinese restaurants.
16:00Yes.
16:01To me, Chinese food culture is the most diverse historically deep food culture that exists.
16:06I just love it.
16:07Yeah.
16:08And I grew up eating a lot of Chinese food.
16:10So I'm not coming in here and trying, you know, these dishes and then putting them on my menu.
16:15But oftentimes we'll eat these things and there'll be something small that like starts a conversation in your head that leads you somewhere else.
16:22Like the rice here, like the texture on it is so perfect or the perfectly crispy edge delicious meat off a spit.
16:29There's always something that kind of edges my menu somewhere else.
16:32I think we should demystify this idea of appropriation.
16:35In my opinion, anyone should be able to cook anything as long as you acknowledge it and respect it and don't mess it up.
16:41The main focus for my team and I every day is celebrating it.
16:45Absolutely.
16:46For our next taste, the iconic string kottu.
16:50This takes me back to my mom's cooking in a way that few restaurant dishes can't.
16:55Oh yeah, man.
16:56With the lime, like, it's really good.
16:58Crunchy onion.
16:59Yeah.
17:00The mutton as well.
17:01Yeah.
17:02Right away, the pronounced flavor is the curry leaf.
17:04I love curry leaf.
17:05Slightly coarse.
17:06Kind of like it tickles in the back of your throat right now.
17:08Oh man, that is like, that's childhood for me.
17:11Something that makes this space feel really unique and special to me is that it really feels like they're curating with intent for, like, the people who are actually using the space and eating here.
17:21Absolutely.
17:22Students, people who live in the area, who work in the area, who go to school.
17:26A place like this shouldn't exist in today's day and age where you have franchises in every food court, right?
17:31I mean, 50 years in now, this place is, like, really special.
17:35I'll come here with you anytime that you stay.
17:37All right.
17:38Well, thank you.
17:39All right, so what's next?
17:48In the center of Toronto's Fashion District is the modern food court Waterworks Food Hall.
17:54It represents an upscale return to the era that created Village by the Grange.
17:59Vibrant, stylish, and perfect for date nights or events, Waterworks Food Hall is a truly contemporary spin on the humble food court with lots of great options.
18:11This looks incredible.
18:12I have to come back and try some.
18:14Tonight, I'm here to eat with Magnus Patterson, owner of the beloved Jamaican-Italian restaurant, Rasta Pasta.
18:24Hey, Magnus.
18:25How are you, my friend?
18:26How you doing?
18:27Good, dude.
18:28Nice to see you.
18:29Good to see you.
18:30Yeah, man.
18:31This is amazing.
18:32Yep.
18:33For over a decade, Magnus could be found in Kensington Market, cooking jerk chicken over charcoal in front of its original location.
18:40And he's recently opened a second restaurant here to branch out to a different crowd.
18:45In my opinion, you are a Toronto legend.
18:49I feel like anyone that has spent any time walking through Kensington Market knows your little takeout spot, Rasta Pasta.
18:56Yeah, this September will be 13 years.
18:5813 years.
18:59Kensington is a bohemian.
19:00It has its own unique personality.
19:02Now you've got this.
19:03This is bougie Rasta Pasta.
19:05It is a very different vibe than Kensington Market.
19:07Oh, yeah, yeah.
19:08Waterworks is an upscale food hall.
19:11It's a different clientele.
19:13It's a classy place.
19:14Business people come for lunch.
19:16Yeah.
19:17And on the way home, they stop for dinner.
19:18Yeah.
19:19I see a lot of dates right now.
19:20And the younger guys, they come with their dates.
19:23Yeah.
19:24Anybody's welcome.
19:27There are few better icebreakers for a date night than Magnus' unexpected mixing of classic Jamaican food with Italian favorites.
19:34Like his Irie Fettuccine.
19:38Oh, thank you.
19:41When you read about this dish on paper, if you've never been to Rasta Pasta, you're thinking in your head, Fettuccine Alfredo with jerk chicken.
19:49I don't know.
19:50But when you try it.
19:55Why didn't it taste so good?
19:57This is incredible.
19:59Creamy sauce.
20:00The kick from the jerk chicken.
20:02Very nice.
20:03Mmm.
20:04Mmm.
20:05Wow.
20:06To me, this is not fusion in my opinion.
20:09This is like a marriage.
20:11It goes so well.
20:12Absolutely.
20:13Mm-hmm.
20:14This is Toronto on a plate.
20:15Yes.
20:16They used to cook jerk chicken with my grandma back in Jamaica.
20:20When we first came from Jamaica, we lived on Bond Road.
20:23Very close to Little Jamaica.
20:24That's Italian area also.
20:25Both are right there, right?
20:26So you adapt real fast.
20:27If you let cultures stay in one place long enough, they're going to intertwine.
20:34They're going to find ways to intersect.
20:37And it works so well.
20:39It's such a Toronto thing, Magnus.
20:40It's such a nice taste.
20:41I've got some customers who come and they buy this every single day.
20:45Well, that is like the biggest compliment.
20:49I think the beauty of Toronto is there's so many different kinds of food courts.
20:51Yeah.
20:52It's always about a sense of community.
20:54Yeah.
20:55And gathering, right?
20:56Yeah.
20:57And trying new food, right?
20:59Trying new foods.
21:00Absolutely.
21:01That's my story.
21:02Mm-hmm.
21:03Yeah.
21:04If it weren't for food courts, I wouldn't be doing what I do today.
21:07Since the first food courts were built in the 1970s, they've been a part of the fabric of Toronto.
21:13As the city has changed, so have they.
21:16They've been at the heart of our oldest communities and are growing to meet the needs of our newest.
21:22If you want to know how a city shares food and culture, these are the places to check out.
21:37And it's okay.
21:38I think it's really nice.
21:39There's lots of shops, that are the most important, but it's easier to manage.
21:41And this is kind ofoubted.
21:42It's so fun to be.
21:43Yeah.
21:44I think it's really fun.
21:45It's fun to have ever been a lot of fun.
21:46I'm kind of excited.
21:47It's more fun to see it because I'm not sure you do.
21:49So you're all right.
21:50This is good.
21:51You're all right.
21:52And you're all right.
21:54You're all right.
21:55I'm happy to see it.
21:56It's so fun.
21:58I'm happy to meet with you.
21:59Who is all right.
22:01You're a big believer.
22:02How are you at this list?
22:03You're quite right.
22:04You're all right.
22:05I'm happy to explore the world.
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