Thirteen Hayden Street in Toronto has pretty much lived up to its reputation as a number.  Starting early last year, the spot has changed names three times, transforming from the take-out spot for Foccacia Restaurant to two different middle eastern take-out counters and then back to Foccacia.  Then, early this year, it changed names once again.  The new spot, called Hayden Lunch House, joins the family of falafel/shawarma places on the strip (or perhaps, more accurately, replaces Bascha, which sadly closed down late 2012) and opened just a week or two ago.

Hayden Lunch House

Last week, I tried the restaurant for the first time.  Just like every other middle eastern sandwich spot in the area, it is fast food, offering both pita sandwiches and plates consisting of a main, salad and rice.  At my first visit, I ordered a falafel sandwich on a whole wheat pita.  As per usual, I was asked what I wanted with it (for me, it’s usually hummus and most of the vegetables (including tabule, but nothing spicy), no tzakiki sauce (so that it wouldn’t hide the taste of the falafel)).  After filling the sandwich with my choice of items, it was lightly grilled for a few minutes.  Wraps are under $5 and “plates” are under $10.

Falafel pita wrap, cut in half (by me)

While I don’t think any falafel wrap can ever live up to Bascha, I have to admit that this one comes close.  The falafels were just the right texture and the vegetables   Decor at the restaurant is plain, and it is still cash only (though I expect they’d take debit and credit soon).  Customer service was pretty good, unlike one of its predecessors, M and E (you can read about my experience here), though the guy putting together my wrap seemed to be surprised that I didn’t want any tzakiki sauce – he actually asked me if I knew what it was.  This is definitely a take-out spot I would try again, and perhaps the curse will break this time and Hayden Lunch House would stick around for the long haul.