If you could have one meal in Toronto, what would it be?

Good Lord people!!!!! The Mandarin, the 360 restaurant, you people know nothing about good food. WOW Frankie Tomattos!!!!!! These are some of the worst tourist traps in the city. Why don't you people just suggest pizzapizza, or mcdonalds!!!!!! I think I know what you are looking for my friend. But sadly Toronto does not have a signature dish that we pride ourselves on. The closest thing to that would be the PEAMEAL BACON SANDWICH which you can find at the St.Lawrence market which is a Toronto foodie stop must! I recommend the Carousel Bakery to Get a peameal. http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/ I will also recommend the smoked meat sandwich and smoked meat poutinne at Caplansky's. This sandwich can only be found in Toronto. http://caplanskys.com/ Another huge trend right now in Toronto is Charcuterie. One of the best and most hyped restaurants in Toronto right now is The Black Hoof. http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/blackhoof You may eat some of the most amazing meat of your life in this place. Toronto also has some of the best real chinese food in North America. For a night of amazing Dim Sum. Try Lai Wah Heen. Its one of the best rated dim sum places in canada. No offense to all the other suggestions, but I recommended places that locals eat, not tourist traps. The man is on a foodie tour for crying out loud, show him some respect. If you need more help and more suggestions, post this question here http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/23 this is where people who love food in Toronto talk about food. Enjoy our city!!!

my favourite place to eat in Toronto is 360 degrees up the CN tower.If you get the set meal it's not that expensive,plus what an amazing view you get with your meal.Also if you eat up there you don't have to pay to get up the tower or wait in line to get up.

I would have to say, up the CN Tower. Its really great to have a good meal, and take a look at the view right beside you. Or even Greek Town (which is in DownTown)!! ... They have great sandwitchess!

I'd find a small Greek restaurant along the Danforth, the kind the locals go to, the kind where you choose the food from a kind of buffet near the kitchen, and have some roast lamb, potatoes, Greek salad and some retsina. As far as I know, there is no better Greek food in Canada than in Toronto. It might not be strictly Canadian or even Torontonian but damn it's good.

I live in Scarborough, and for me, what now defines cuisine in Toronto is diversity. You can get authentic cuisine from anywhere in the world, almost, prepared by people who came here from there. I'd suggest picking a cultural group and find a restaurant that serves that. My personal favourite though, is none of those. My favourite thing in a Toronto restaurant is the tarte au sucre at le Papillon. Great Quebecois cuisine. It is in a very nice area to go for a walk downtown as well. http://www.lepapillon.ca/

Toronto doesn't really have a signature dish. Our signature is something a bit more vague. This city really prides itself on being able to offer the foods of just about every culture you can think of. I recommend you check out St. Lawrence market. It's a supermarket style place, but there's so much more to it than that (google it). Kaplanski's is a fabulous place to have pretty much the best kosher lunch in the city. The quality of meats and soups there is just out of this world and the prices are easy on the wallet.

Don't listen to any of those suggestion. You want to go to a place that is truly Toronto...go to The Tulip. It is not fancy, it's been there for decades and does the best damn Steak around. http://www.dine.to/tulip BTW, Dim Sum is not Canadian

Well, living in Toronto for years my recommendation for a "must have" would be a peameal bacon on a kaiser at the St. Lawrence Market. It's so Ontario, and it's delicious. For $5 it's not a bad deal either. There are a couple of places in the market that sell them. I like mine loaded with toppings. You can get a pretty decent poutine at the blue chip truck infront of City Hall, but you've already got plans for Quebec poutine, so you're O.K. Just if you're hungry. If you're driving down the 401 from Toronto Quebec-bound, I forget where, but somewhere before Kingston you'll see a sign for a cheese factory off one of the rural exits. I suggest dropping by. It's a great little cheese store that sells a bunch of yummy cheese, including the curds they use in poutine. They've got cheddar curds which are quite rare and delicious. They aren't expensive either. If you're passing through the Niagara region, you may want to pick up some ice wine, a local specialty known around the world.