CNE

Exhibition Place
210 Princes’ Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 393-6300

http://theex.com/index.php
Google Map

Date: August 18, 2006 (CNE runs from Aug 18-Sep 4)
What's on the menu: Fair food, street eats, food pavillion
Drinks: Pop, juice, water, beer available at selected locations
Cost: Most items under $10


The CNE is an annual tradition for many of us - the games, the rides, the shows, but most importantly the food. Whether it's the street vendors selling us deep fried goodies or visiting the food building, The Ex is once a year eating indulgence for a lot of us Toronotians before the summer ends and we prepare for the long winter ahead.

We arrive with much anticipation for what this years Exhibition has in store for us. The crowds are light, but it usually is on the first day with everyone still trying to squeeze as much as they can out of the summer. First stop is the food building, located in it's familiar position by the train/TTC stop. With over 90 vendors featuring traditional and non traditional fare, the food building is the perfect place to start our eating adventure.

Located in each corner of the food building is Maggie's hot dog stand. A staple at the food building for as long as we can remember. What makes specials Maggie's so special isn't the quality or taste of their dogs, rather it's their price. 99 cents jumbo hot dogs, made from 50-60% beef? the dog has a grainy texture, but it's suprisingly tasty. Condiments include the usual suspect - ketchup, mustard, and packaged relish. Wash down your dog with $1 pop, cheapest you'll find anywhere at The Ex.

Also located at each corner of the food building is the other 99 cent special, Primo's spaghetti. Another food stand that's been around for quite some time. Served in a small bowl is a watery spaghetti with a meatless tomato sauce. A dash of parmesan cheese can be added for an extra 39 cents, but at almost half the cost of another bowl, why bother. As for the taste?!? You get what you pay for comes to mind. Don't skip Primo's though, it won't be long before we'll be calling it $2 spaghetti.

With tradition foods out of the way, it was time to find the new stuff. CFO stumbled across a new vendor, Memphis BBQ, which she wanted to try. I had already been to their newish store up in Woodbridge and could attest to their good food. Memphis BBQ serves up some of the city's finest BBQ food. One of the owners is a former owner of The Purple Pig who has teamed up with a former director at Pickle Barrel to create Memphis BBQ. We order their 1/2 rack dinner for $13, which is the same as their restaurant price - a bit of a suprise since higher prices are almost expected at The Ex. Our dinner includes 6 ribs, fries, coleslaw and baked beans. Ribs are the best we've had in Toronto, strong smokey flavour with just the right amount of BBQ sauce. Fries are battered and deep fried crispy. The vinegar based coleslaw is below average, but the smokey baked beans more than makes up for it. Considering some of the prices in the food building Memphis BBQ has one of the better deals - their 1/2 rack dinner could feed 2.

For dessert it's a waffle cone from Swiss International. A small waffle cone is topped with ice cream and a strawberry topping. Average tasting for me, a tradition for many others. Outside we see ice cream waffle sandwiches being made. 2 warm waffles are served with a thick slice of ice cream in between.... it's very good. One word of caution, don't buy from the vendor just outside the food building where the ice cream waffle's are $4, a quick walk around and you'll find every other vendor selling them for $3. With full stomachs we were ready to see some shows and play some carnival games.

After a few hours of walking around, our appetites were starting to grumble again. We find a corn dog stand selling the non-pogo variety. At $4 a pop they're no deal, but they taste great. The hot dog is dipped in a sweet batter and deep fried. The outside is crispy, inside the dog is flavourful (definitely not a 99 cent Maggie dog). This is our favourite of the night.

One of the newer items available at The Ex (probably 4-5 years old) is a deep fried chcoclate bar. A Mars bar is cut into pieces dipped in batter and deep fried. Over the years this item has steadily gone up in price to an almost ridiculous $5 for 6 small pieces of a chocolate bar. The melted chocolate pieces are sinfully delicious, but too expensive... even for The Ex.

Having felt our CNE cravings were satisfied, we were ready to head home. Another year at The Ex, another tasty adventure. Those who haven't created their own CNE traditions should certainly go out and start... with so many good food choices every year, there are endless possibilies. There isn't a better way to end of the summer than at The Ex.


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