Stop 33 Grill

Stop 33 Grill on Carrying Place Road, just west of Dufferin Avenue

A diner that advertises itself (on its sign on the edge of the road) as having the best of everything ("best breakfasts", "killer lunches") and gut-busting portions, Stop 33 is a nice little place just around the bend from where Dufferin Avenue turns into Hwy. 33 (Carrying Place Rd.). It's only open 4 days a week (Thursday through Sunday) from 7am to 2pm.

The last time I ate at this diner, it was called something else, but the cook looks like the same guy. I ordered the home fries with gravy and onions "poutinized" and a (bottomless) cup of coffee. Although I went through 2½ cups of coffee with my meal, it was a mediocre brew, at best. I didn't have any expectations that it would be good (it was just as bad years ago), so I'm not going to complain about it.

If I've learned one thing living here, it's that no place knows how to make a good cup of coffee, no matter how it touts its java. McDonald's thinks its "gourmet" blend is fantastic, Tim Horton's believes its cuppa is the ideal coffee for the masses, and The Grind, for which I had such great hopes, makes as subpar a cup as the aforementioned, at a higher price.

I've taken to ordering a cup at the convenience store at the foot of Dufferin which has had a Country Style in it for several months now. Not bad when it's hot, but, again, nowhere near the delicious cup of coffee perfection that is Timothy's or Second Cup, which I doubt we'll see here ever.

Back to the breakfast. I was brought a huge plateful of potatoes covered in gravy, onions, and cheddar cheese curds. It looked like a portion for 4 people and I didn't think I could eat it all. The first thing I ate was a cheese curd and immediately a bad taste assaulted my mouth. The cheese had gone bad!

Disappointed, I tried the rest of the dish. Excellent! The potatoes, gravy and onions were all superbly flavourful. I gave the cheese curds another chance with the same woeful result. Yuk. An off taste, to say the least.

Still, I surprised myself by eating the whole plateful, pushing the cheese aside. Had it been fresh, the whole meal would have been so pleasant, including the price of it: $4.98 ($2.99 for the home fries, gravy & onions, an extra $1.99 for the "poutinizing".)

I left the lovely young waitress a hefty tip (having been a waitress myself, I always overtip) and went to pay the bill ($7.16) with my Mastercard. As I got to the cash register, I saw the sign "no credit cards will be accepted today". Oh, no!!

I was counting on using my card and didn't know if I had enough in change (all the cash I had with me was a bunch of quarters and loonies) to pay the bill! I asked why I hadn't been told about this by the waitress (the sign outside says they take both Visa and MC) before I ordered, and was told by the owner/cook that she - the waitress - didn't know. Seems like the machine was acting up - again - and wasn't charging people properly, or paying him properly, or something like that, and he was planning on not taking credit cards any more anyway.

As I counted out my carefully saved laundry money (I had just spent $15 at the Farmer's Market before deciding to finally try this diner and had no bills left at all), I felt disappointed that this Trenton adventure didn't quite pan out as well as I had hoped.