Dining out with Loud Kids

Baby Boy is two months shy of his terrible twos and while he’s mastering the art of speaking… it seems like he’s yelling everything out. When Little Monkey was his age, she was able to comprehend far more than he can and she was a little less rambunctious as well. We live in constant fear of what he’s going to jump on next (mainly our bellies) and for the last month we’ve taken a restaurant hiatus. We did this with Little Monkey as well but she quickly realized that she LOVES restaurants and so it was a very short lived self-imposed banishment.

As we come to the end of our one month struggle I thought I’d share some of the spots we’ve gravitated towards for good eats. We discovered that there’s plenty of spots outside of traditional restaurants where we can get good, wholesome food without having to resort to fast food. Baby Boy still doesn’t understand that we haven’t been to a restaurant in a good while (Little Monkey noticed though!!) and so this wasn’t a learning experience for him. It was more of a social deed on our end to save restaurant patrons from listening to his screams of “MOM! WANT! GIVE!” and also because I was exhausted having him cling on to us at every meal. The last restaurant experience was our visit to Ethiopiques for our anniversary in early August!

Food Markets : With summer in full swing and autumn approaching, there’s plenty of markets and food stalls everywhere. My birthday celebrations weren’t fancy by any means but we did get some delicious eats from the many vendors at Front St. Foods. I was pleasantly surprised by the open air vibe that reminded me of the Europeans markets…just minus the booze! We gobbled up Holy Chuck burgers (finally!!), wings, truffle fries and oh so delicious Brussel sprouts from CCLounge, fish and chips from Little Fin and oh so much more! It was a decadent meal and because we avoided the after work and lunch time rush, our group of seven adults and two kids had a leisurely meal. Front St Foods is on until September 27^th so be sure to check them out!!

Mall : Whilst images of fast food may pop to mind.. I’m here to tell you that good eats can be found at select food courts in Canada! The Eaton Centre has elevated its food game and we spotted the Richtree Taco bus towards the Queen Street entrance. The Richtree team has transformed a 1974 VW microbus into a taco stand and integrated it into their current space. They offer a menu of tacos and burritos and the kids loved it. I enjoyed the fact that we were ‘fooled’ into thinking we were at a restaurant because of the lovely seating area and casual vibe. While the hubs and I noshed on the steak burrito and chicken tacos, Little Monkey dived into the Baja Fish tacos and Baby Boy licked the guacamole and chips clean. He was able to stand around and play on the floor and no one batted an eye because of the casual food court vibe. Richtree has plenty of other offerings from sushi to waffles, so there’s no lack of options either.

Festivals : Toronto is home to many festivals and we’ve been hitting them up with a vegence. While some like the Danforth was a disappointment, other such as Buskerfest was a hit. We grabbed hot dogs, beef rib briskets and spicy corn and fries for our dinner. Nothing like enjoying the street performers, pedestrian only roads and the energy of the city as we sit curbside and enjoy the eats. With many restaurants offering pop ups, there’s always a couple good options one can find at most festivals. I mean…we got to eat a beef brisket sandwich from one of Toronto’s top steakhouses (Barberians), so we sure can’t complain!

Grabb : Grabb is a new app that enables us to avoid standing in line and that’s something I enjoy! We even used them at the CNE and have also used them to order food from spots near parks and splash pads! A picnic where someone else does the cooking, is always a favourite of mine! Couple weeks ago we Grabbed ourselves some Indian street food and dug into it at the playground! Be sure to use the code BABYANDLIFE to get 25% off your next order and VV5DN to get $5 off!

A month of avoiding restaurants may seem easy for many but it was a bit of a struggle for us. I snuck out for a couple fancy eats without the hubs and kids and didn’t feel one bit guilty! Baby Boy still hasn’t comprehended the fact that he’s screaming but we head to D.C this weekend so there’s many restaurants in our future. Let’s hope we don’t end up in a news article such as the one in Nova Scotia or Chicago!