This week I went to Belly Buster Submarines in downtown Toronto, but it triggered some great memories of the original one on the north side of the city.
When we were teens we used to pile into cars on the weekend and head up there for our subs at the end of the night.
The men behind the counter did a phenomenal job of lining up 6 or 7 subs at a time and doing the roll call of what everyone wanted, ingredient by ingredient (“cheese? cheese, cheese, no cheese, cheese, no cheese”). While the staff had all their wits about them, the boys on the other side of the counter ordering usually had no brain cells left to spare.
The microwaves were cooking bacon in ways that these microwaves were not intended to be used for. In the franchised locations to this day they are still using microwaves in the same way.
There was usually one or two token girls for every group. Only much later in life when I started going to yoga classes would I see this ratio of men to women flipped around.
When we’d go to summer camp, you would die and go to heaven if someone was able to bring you back one from the city on their day off. Just make sure they put the right ingredients on it so you didn’t get a soggy one (no tomatoes or sub sauce/italian dressing).
The Belly Busters experience is funny to me because it links up with everything I know about Keroac’s On the Road in a strange way. When young adults get to drive, their freedom goes up. Anything is possible when you have people with no ability to make good decisions and access to high powered machinery in the form of a car. Thankfully the trouble we got into was mostly extended to this guilty pleasure of eating fattening subs and listening to Phish CD-Rs at midnight.
While I don’t like to call the affluent, north side of Toronto suburbia because it’s not covered in strip malls, there’s no question it had the disconnect and sheltering of a suburb. And as such we used to drive around on the weekends, hanging out in parks or the odd house that parents had vacated, and get these famous turkey subs slathered in mayonnaise, properly applied using a sandwich spreader.
What’s your origin story?
Elliott’s current Belly Buster lineup:
Turkey + Bacon
White bread
Mozzarella cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onion
Pepper
Mayo
No mustard
Another great podcast episode this week! Try listening to it while putting your phone away.
The title of this show is a reference to me currently re-reading the timeless classic, The Power of Now.
Also find this on your favourite podcast player of choice.
Lovely Photos
I asked friends to share with me artists they are enjoying work from lately and Nadya has sent me this lovely photographer and musician from Newfoundland: Sarah Kierstead. She captures what I imagine to be the still mood of living in such a remote area.
I have been really enjoying Nadya’s photos too!
Bagels Around the World
Breaking news: Hans has informed us about Beigal Bake in London, England.
It appears to be a 24 hour operation serving soft bagels with smoked deli meat on them, in addition to being a favourite amongst the drunk party crowd.
Hans has only had the lox and cream cheese offering but he was certainly blown away by it.
Their latest post on IG is a testimonial by Questlove, and how Amy Winehouse used to take him there so he always goes back to honour her memory. I look forward to finding out more or even trying it one day.
That’s also the same Brick Lane neighbourhood where you get the top quality Indian food, which some people argue is better than the Indian food in India.
See you next week 🥯