College

(Disclaimer: I realize that most of these pictures are blurry. I keep forgetting that I have to let the camera on my phone focus before I take pictures. If you want to see these images more clearly, go to College yourself.)

Straight up: it looks like I lied to you guys when I said that the College post would make up for how lame the King post was. Sorry. At least this one has pictures.

That being said, my trip to College was a lot more exciting than my trip to King.

Yesterday, a couple of friends and I walked all the way over to Fran’s on Yonge and College. It was a nice day, but kind of cold, so I’m not fully decided as to whether or not I actually enjoyed the walking that far. (The subway was down though, so I guess we would have had to walk a fair bit anyway.)

None of us had ever been to Fran’s before, but had only heard really good things about it, so we figured it would be a good idea to give it a try.

So how was it?

IT

WAS

FLIPPING

AMAZING.

Fran's. OM NOM NOM.

Fran’s is an old-school style sit-down restaurant with pretty much everything you could ever want – waffles, burgers, beer, milkshakes… everything. Every dish I saw looked amazing and the dishes that we had (a burger, a waffle and a Morning Glory plate) tasted really, really good. It’s kind of like Lick’s (why is there an apostrophe in ‘Lick’s'?) except that you get served by a waiter/waitress instead of having your food fast-food style. Fran’s is also a little bit more expensive than Lick’s, which I didn’t think was possible. REGARDLESS, I WOULD TOTALLY GO AGAIN.

WHAT IS UP WITH ALL OF THESE UNNECESSARY APOSTROPHES?!

The reason I’m not posting any pictures of the area surrounding Fran’s is because, once you’ve seen pictures of one subway stop in the downtown core, you’ve basically seen what the entire downtown core looks like. There’s just no point in me stopping in the middle of the street with my Blackberry in the air, trying to take a picture, if I’ve already done it a couple of times already.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard! There was far too much milkshake. I love it when that happens.

The really cool thing about Fran’s (and one of the main reasons I wanted to go so badly) is because Glenn Gould used to go there all the time, although he went to the St. Clair location. I still think it’s kind of cool though, because Glenn Gould is amazing.

Speaking of Glenn Gould, my friend and I went to the Bata Shoe Museum this weekend and they had his shoes there in the Juno exhibit. AND OSCAR PETERSON’S SHOES. AND JUSTIN BIEBER’S SHOES! Three of my favourite Canadians, all (kind of) in the same place. I was excited.

By the way, the Bata Shoe Museum is surprisingly not bad. We had a really good time there. I’ll post some pictures on here as soon as they’re uploaded onto my computer. (Although I know I should really just do a whole post on St. George, but that will come in time. St. George has a special place in my heart.)

My banana and chocolate chip waffle! I actually managed to eat the whole thing. Don't judge me.

Finally, the marking that a restaurant has truly succeeded in the world of restaurants… custom-made food… products.

FRAN'S HAS ITS OWN SYRUP. AND KETCHUP. AND SUGAR.

Lick’s has its Guk and Homeburgers for sale in local grocery stores… Fran’s has its own sugar and ketchup and syrup. You know you’ve made it in the restaurant/hospitality business when you have custom-made stuff. One day, my coffee shop will have custom straws or stickers or plates or something – just you wait and see.