Burger Day at Wychwood Barns

For some strange reason, I find food in miniature absolutely impossible to resist. Enter Burger Day. When it comes to burgers, the only thing better than a really good burger is a really good burger that's bite-sized. Burger Week was back in Toronto for its second year last week and culminated with Burger Day at Wychwood Barns, where all the participating restaurants from Burger Week (that'd be almost 70 of them, folks!) set up shop and tantalized attendees with all-you-can-eat sliders. I thought I'd died and went to burger heaven. Yes, please!

For $30, you got a wristband that earned you a right to walk up to the bbq of your choice and sink your teeth into something juicy and delicious. Tents were set up on 3 sides of the Barns itself and it was sliders as far as the eyes could see. The weather had kept many people away but the place was still packed (which resulted in a lot of muddy messes from all the foot traffic, so you really needed proper shoes to get around in comfort). You didn't need a wristband to walk around the site but you couldn't get any food without it, so it was an all-or-nothing scenario. The event ran from 11:00 am to 5:30 pm. However, shortly I got there around 1:30 pm, some places started to sell out. By about 4:00 pm, only a handful remained that were still serving. If you wanted all you could eat, you needed to be there early!

Now that's what I mean by a good system!

With respect to the sliders themselves, they were delicious. But you're kidding yourself if you think you can eat your $30's worth of food. I barely made it through seven stops and even my friend's boyfriend - who has a rather impressive appetite - barely cracked a dozen (maybe...it was hard to keep count). Some places were serving up full-size burgers instead of sliders, and a few were offering discounts to people who came by with their wristbands in the following week. My friend and I figured out a way to split a wristband, so it's doable - you'll just need to spend more time in line, which wasn't a bad thing because it lets you eat more on account of having more time to digest in between. The lines were pretty long  but moved quickly and if you got into a rhythm, you could be grabbing a slider, eating it while you were in the next line-up, and loading up on a new one by the time you were done. Some places limited you to one per person (although you could line up again and have more), while others let you take as many as you liked. Between the three of us, we got into a really good rhythm and moved from stop to stop quickly. All three of us ended up in a food coma by the end and spent quite a long time in the beer garden trying to recover.

For those with kids, the layout was great. There is a giant playground at the Barns, so parents could split up and take turns watching the kids run around having all kinds of fun while the other one loaded up on food. The organizers also brought in a few bouncy castles, though these had to be moved because of the mini flooding that happened in the original location. And there were plenty of simple, unpretentious burgers on offer to appeal to even the pickiest eaters. The tent set-up allowed the sizable crowd to move around easily (not an easy feat, considering all the individual line-ups that were happening and the amount of people that turned up!) and signage was great.

Cost-wise, I had fun and would go again next year in a heartbeat. But I do wish they had a ticketed option (e.g. buy 5 or 10 tasting tickets) in addition to the wristband option, since you really can't eat that much. But even at $30, it was still worth it and great fun. You just feel like a failure because you barely made a dent in the tastings considering the number of restaurants that were there.

WHAT: Burger Day

WHEN: June 2, 11:00am-5:30pm

WHERE: Artscape Wychwood Barns

COST: $30 for all-you-can-eat sliders (drink tickets extra)

INSIDER TIPS: First of all, go early because many places will sell out. Second, trying to find parking will make your hair go grey, so you might want to take the TTC (it's a short walk from St. Clair West subway station or you can take a streetcar). If it's raining, you'll need rain boots because the crowds will turn much of the lawn into a muddy mess. And don't let the rain stop you from attending - we barely noticed it.

This one was my favourite.

This one was my second favourite.

Yes. That's THREE kinds of meat in there.

You know you're at an all-you-can-eat event when...

Rain, sun...you name it! The weather couldn't make up its mind.

No more burgers = no more line-ups.

A Fairly Standard Saturday - In My Life, Anyway!

A street festival, patio drinks, cult film festival, and burger week - oh my! That's what I call a good Saturday. Summer is a busy time (even though we haven't hit June 21 yet, I say it's summer!) and my calendar is usually full with events and happenings that are literally written in one on top of the other. Every so often though, stars align and I'm able to make it out to most of these. This was just such a Saturday.

The first stop of the day was Eats & Beats in Riverside, a street festival on a small stretch of Queen St. East. A couple of friends and a friend's dog in tow, we spent about an hour exploring a neighbourhood we don't get out to much, sampling some treats along the way. The festival was small and not a particular draw for people looking for a jam-packed afternoon, but great if you live in the area. The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time. The highlights for me were an outdoor spinning class in a closed-off street and a dog-friendly wine store that opened my eyes to the fact that you can make sangria with cider instead of sparking water (!!). Overall, cute. Not necessarily worth a separate trip if that's the only thing on your menu but if it's on the way, it was worth stopping by. And for those that live in the area, a number of local businesses were offering a 10% discount for the entire month to those who completed six stops on a passport that you could pick up at any participating location.

After our walk-around, we were looking for a patio to enjoy but the one thing about that stretch of Queen St. is that it doesn't really have any. Lots of places had their front windows wide open, creating more of an inside patio, but this didn't really work for us since there wasn't anywhere to park the dog. Being so close to the Distillery, however, this problem was easily rectified and once again I found myself at the Mill Street Brew Pub. This time, however, we got to check out the massive new addition around the back. The Beer Hall just opened this week and is amazing! One giant stretch of it is fully covered by plexiglass and the overhang was enough to even protect the dog from the rain that made a brief appearance. The weather looked rather threatening for a while but after a brief rain period, it went back to being quite lovely and we had a great time tasting some craft beers (the flights are great fun and very affordable). The staff were very friendly and even doted on the dog and gave her treats. In between being showered with attention, the said dog managed to cause quite a stir when she vaulted over the railing in a rather spectacular nosedive practically right onto the table. Hilarious.

The next stop on my calendar was a cult film festival but we were having such a great time that I ended up lingering with my friends longer than expected. I snuck into the theatre late but it was still long enough to discover that The Lost Episodes Film Festival is pretty hilarious and I'm looking forward to day 2 screenings today. Even if you don't think you're a big enough nerd to get all the puns, it's still a great time and is very accessible to a wide range of viewers. The balcony is closed for these screenings, so if that's your favourite spot to hang out at the Bloor Cinema, save yourself a trip up the stairs and head straight to the main floor seats.

For dinner, my patio buddies from earlier in the day were headed to Rock Lobster for their Burger Week offering. When I checked in after the screening ended for the day, I discovered that I still had time to make it. With a few other additions, there were six of us in total and we were all excited to try the drool-inducing "ground chuck, Old Bay seasoning, Nova Scotia lobster, lettuce, and garlic-and-lemon mayo on an egg-washed bun". My Twitter feed has been full of stellar reviews of the food at Rock Lobster, so I was looking forward to getting a taste. I am sorry to report that this was a major disappointment for all six of us. The burger was dry and uninspiring, with the patty half the size of the bun and a tiny bit of lobster meat thrown on top. It looked like absolutely no effort went into it and we were all shocked that a restaurant would choose to participate in Burger Week with such a terrible attitude. After this experience, none of us plan to go back. Disappointing to say the least.

WHAT: This and that

WHERE: From the east end to the west

WHEN: June 1, 2013

COST: Mostly free, with a cost for food and drink

INSIDER DETAILS: Keep on top of what your friends are doing because you never know when your own plans might change. If your friends are active on social media, it's a great way to keep tabs on their whereabouts and join them for things that are more fun to do together. None of us planned to spend the day together but it kind of happened and a great time was had by all (well, minus that burger thing).

Down and Dirty with Corona - The Paint Party Edition

Who doesn't like getting 100% head-to-toe dirty, on purpose? There's nothing quite like walking through a crowded mall (did that) or getting on the subway (did that, too) completely covered in paint. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The Corona Paint Party was just that: an opportunity to run around in public with thousands of like-minded people, flinging paint at each other. And who am I to resist such temptation! This was a sealed deal the minute I heard about the party. Even if it did take me 20 mins of scrubbing and 2 hair shampoos to get myself back to a single skin colour and clean hair.

The event page invited participants to come as a blank canvass and leave as a work of art. Registration was set to start at 4pm, with the paint party starting at 5pm and the beer garden opening at 6pm. I was there at 3:30pm and the line-up already had a few hundred people in it. By 4pm, there was no sign of movement and the line grew to the point where it looped around several times. Thousands of people turned out in their best ugly white clothes (you know, the stuff you never actually wear but seem to have in your closet) to get their painting on. Finally, they started letting people in verrrrryyyyy slowly and, not too long after, we all watched as people on the inside started grabbing the full jugs of paint and flinging it at each other in giant globs, wasting it by the gallons. The organizers eventually caught on and went around the perimeter collecting these and rationing paint distribution from then on, as well as starting to water it down. Yes, they had officially started to run out of paint not 20 mins after they opened the gate.

The other thing that happened was that the people on the inside started running up to the barricade and sharing some of their messiness with those still in line. While the sentiment was sweet, never discount the power of human stupidity: those in line still had their purses, phones, etc. out in the open (which quickly got hit by the splatter) and it didn't help that the spray from the bottles of paint seemed to be aimed straight at our faces. Considering the amount of time we all spent waiting around in line and how few people they were letting in (it seemed like there was hardly anyone inside the paint zone most of the time), the organizers had more than enough time to set some ground rules for those nearing the gate. Instead, all that happened was that the people who got up to the entrance signed their name on a piece of paper that didn't even have any information on what the waiver included and we had our IDs checked. That is all. And don't even get me started on the line jumpers! This was happening a lot. Oh well.

After 2.5 hours of waiting in line, I was finally able to get inside. By this point, they were pretty much out of paint and small portions of watered down concoctions caused a frenzy by the main paint stand. People were determined to have fun after spending so long in line waiting to get in. It was a sight to behold. For those not wishing to get their clothes dirty, coveralls were provided, but they did little to protect you from the mess. Because the paint was mostly water a this point, it went straight through the flimsy material, which several people discovered very quickly. And instead of being bright and colourful, it all blended in into the same dirty-pastel coloured mess. The "art" concept behind this event quickly went out the window. If you were coming to paint, you really had to be ready to get dirty.

The painting itself was a lot of fun and I got good and covered in all kinds of messy goo. But with all the (dis)organizational mishaps, I doubt I would do this again. As much fun as it was, it just wasn't worth 4 hrs of my life, the bulk of which was spent waiting in line while a small handful of people took all the time int he world using up all the paint as thousands of wistful people watched on. Most people - who all spent hours in line - never got anywhere near the entrance. The paint zone was shut down shortly after it started to rain and the official story was that it was for safety reasons on account of the weather. However, as they didn't have any paint left by then, I'm not sure what the actual reason was. My friend and I were waiting in "line" (more like a giant huddle of people, with everyone doing whatever they wanted) to get into the beer garden where they had some food and Corona towels to give away (which would have been awesome), but once again, the line wasn't moving and we never got a chance to get inside (which was not so awesome). The girls from Hard Rock Cafe across the street did keep coming out with trays of free sliders but the crowd would engulf them momentarily and these were snatched up in seconds. After about half an hour in the intermittent rain, we gave up and went home (via a Burger Week stop, which was much more satisfying than this whole experience).

Overall, a ridiculously fun concept but very poorly organized, which I found surprising considering how many huge public events Corona is involved with. They were not prepared to handle the capacity and both the paint zone and the beer tent were tiny considering the size of the crowd. This needed to either be a ticketed event so that people didn't have to spend hours waiting in line for nothing, or the time allotted inside each zone needed to be restricted and time limits enforced. Epic fail on both counts.

WHAT: Corona Paint Party

WHERE: Yonge Dundas Square

WHEN: May 31 - 4pm

COST: Free

INSIDER TIPS: You either need to be there ridiculously early (try a couple of hours before the official registration start), or head straight for the beer garden before the first batch of painted people starts leaving the paint zone. Either way, be prepared to spend hours in line. Even considering the uniqueness of the event, it's not really worth it.

This was as close as we ever got to the beer garden - a picture from a distance before it all even started.

That beer garden sure did look nice though! What a tease.

This was the reality - waiting in the rain to never actually get inside.

Don't ask me where someone found actual paint to dump all over my hair. Sure beats me!

Just about the best part of the night - their Burger Week offering was goooooood!