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Canada Free Press Restaurant Guide

Somethin' 2 Talk About

An Oasis in a Concrete Jungle

Somethin' 2 Talk About
Vegetarians consider Somethin' 2 Talk About

Somethin' 2 Talk About

78 Gerrard St. West @ Bay
Toronto
416-260-1752
info@napoli-restaurant.com
Hours:
Hours:
Monday - Friday
8:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
By Judi McLeod

In the concrete jungle of Gerrard Street West, one block west of Bay, is a tiny oasis known as Somethin' 2 Talk About Restaurant. Within just one week of its official opening two years ago, there were already lunchtime lineups.

The fare at the family-run restaurant, where everything is homemade, is quite literally, "something to talk about." The Mediterranean menu was destined to perk up the jaded appetites of office workers who make up a large part of the Gerrard-Bay day-time population.

Chicken sandwiches here, which are topped with fresh veggies, include Shawarma (grilled chicken in a pita) and Tandoori chicken, served in a tortilla with carrot and onion salad. Two new items added to the menu are increasing the lineups. They include Chicken Delite, marinated chicken topped with swiss cheese and roasted red peppers on a bun and lemon chicken with corriander served in a tortilla.

People go blocks out of their way for the the popular Philly steak sandwich (thinly sliced strips of steak grilled with cheese on a submarine bun and for the ground beef in tomato sauce, topped with grilled eggplant in pita bread. Vegetarians consider Somethin' 2 Talk About vegan heaven.
There's the traditional Falafel; foccacia bread topped with Swiss cheese and vegetables, Halloum, which boasts a tasty toasted middle-eastern cheese with tomatoes and olives served on a rosemary bun, and a veggie kebab which is made from mixed lentils and veggies served in a pocket of pita.

Salads at this downtown oasis are out of the ordinary, particularly the Tabouleh, a mouth watering mix of parsley, tomatoes, onions and cracked wheat and the Fatoosh house salad which is tossed with toasted pita bits.

Somethin' 2 Talk About has picnic tables in a small, private, enclosed patio, and its patrons find space to eat lunch or enjoy coffee breaks in the most charming of courtyards, where spring breezes stirring the leaves make it hard to believe that busy Bay Street is just steps away.

The restaurant is really Salah's dream. The Jordanian and his South African wife, Ahdelah, work together and everyone knows their two little girls, Eman, 4, and Jenan, 51/2.

"A family restaurant really worked well for us as we wanted to have our children around us," says Salah.

In colder months, the waft of one of the restaurant's simmering soups serves an an enticing advertisement to passersby. Somethin' 2 Talk About All baked goods at the restaurant come from Ahdelah's home kitchen. Her homemade butter pecan tarts, apple crumble, oat squares, baklava and homebaked cookies are picked up after work and tucked into a variety of briefcases.

Somethin' 2 Talk About caters to private functions, including weddings, open houses, showers and parties, and the couple has served events attended by as many as 350 people. They also deliver menu specialties to office meetings, covering both breakfasts and lunches and offer discounted prices to student gatherings.

The couple, who participated in a provincial training program for language minorities, went on to excel in entrepreneurship.

Their credo is the three 'H's of Halal, Healthy and Homemade.

"Our customers keep coming back and we know that's because we care about a happy and friendly environment combined with quality and affordability," says Salah.

Somethin' 2 Talk About offers a taste of the Mediterranean from an oasis at Gerrard and Bay.


Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod