Brunch at Lisa Marie [Defunct]

Lisa Marie located at 638 Queen St W in Toronto

May 13, 2018: It’s not often that I find myself to brunch downtown since it’s not the most convenient to get to on a weekend morning, but having brunch at Lisa Marie after just finished the Sporting Life 10 K run was just a no-brainer. Even as we passed by other restaurants in the city, we noticed other participants who were wearing the neon green T-shirt signifying that they had just completed one of the city’s most popular races too. In fact, fellow Sporting Life runners were dining in at Lisa Marie too.

Modern space

Nice open patio window

A line-up after we got our table

We were very lucky in that upon stepping into Lisa Marie, we only had to wait 10 minutes in total before we got seated. Actually, at first, the hostess took our name and asked us to come back later since there was a spot at the bar but it was still being cleaned. We decided to stick around to wait. We ultimately were given an actual table which was so much better. During this time, so many more customers had arrived after us.

A nice bar to sit at (but it got really crowded afterwards and I’m so glad we didn’t end up sitting there)

Brunch menu

Brunch drinks menu

Ken got the Station Cold Brew Ice Coffee which was so fancy and poured out from a glass bottle.

Station Cold Brew Ice Coffee. $4.50
Before and after pics

Double Pancake Pork Burger. $17
-double stacked 4oz pork burgers with pancake buns, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, Mac sauce with a side of maple syrup

I decided to go for the unique “Double Pancake Pork Burger” and I’m so glad that I did! It turned out to be really tasty. It was literally like a burger with pork patties doubly stacked and instead of buns, they used pancakes! I’m not too fond of sweet and savory foods like pancakes with salty burgers but this combination turned out to work so well together. I really enjoyed the taste of it! I didn’t need to add any maple syrup to it either for it to taste good. (Actually, it tasted like a Big Mac burger because of the American cheese and Mac sauce. XD)

For the side, you could choose either the Pad Thai Fries, Dijon & duck fat home fries, or a mixed green salad. I couldn’t pass up on such uniquely named fries so I chose the Pad Thai Fries. These were indeed orange-coloured fried that tasted like the Pad Thai dish. They were spicier than I thought. The raw bean sprouts helped to refresh the taste buds.

Open Faced Smoked Fish Club. $17
-in-house smoked salmon, thick cut bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, lemon ricotta cream cheese, capers

Ken ordered the Open Faced Smoked Fish Club with the Dijon & duck fat home fries. This was like a toast with smoked salmon and bacon on top of it. It was very savory and actually too savory for my taste. What I loved though were the Dijon & duck fat home fries! I liked these better than the Pad Thai Fries actually. They were so creamy and moist seasoned potatoes!

I’m really glad that we got to brunch downtown! 😀 (I also didn’t know that Lisa Marie was the new restaurant of Fidel Castro. No wonder their staff wore T-shirts with the other restaurant’s name on it.)