Rick’s Good Eats‘s Dosa Burger, $12.95, 3155 Markham Rd Unit 2 (Scarborough)
The dish
In preparation for this year’s CNE, I’m got my stomach prepared for all the deep-fried unholy creations that will be hitting our social media feeds. A CNE fixture, Rick’s Good Eats is the rare vendor where the creations stand out from classic funnel cakes and corn dogs without veering into culinary Mad Libs territory where virality is prioritized over taste like last year’s Labubu poutine.
On the menu at Rick’s Good Eats, the Dosa Burger is a teetering veggie burger where the centre is a fat aloo tikki patty: creamy mashed potatoes spiked with curry leaves and mustard seeds, with a crispy golden crust. It’s topped with lettuce, raw and sautéed onions, cilantro and a trio of sauces (tamarind, a mild sambal and a sweet achar mayo), all in between a potato bun. The patty almost melts when you bite into it, but the contrasting vegetables keep the texture from becoming one-note. The bun adds additional sweetness and is the perfect pillowy texture that easily gives when you compress it all into a bite.
While the A&W next door has a similar Masala Veggie Burger, I prefer Matharu’s version, which is overall superior: a bigger patty with a more delicate crust, more crunchy vegetables and bolder hits of tang and heat.
While owner Rick Matharu’s CNE creation isn’t available yet, his everyday restaurant menu gives diners a taste of what’s to come when the fair gates open (this year, it’s a footlong cheesy taquito).
The restaurant
Owner and chef Rick Matharu entered the food business after winning Recipe to Riches, a Canadian culinary competition show from the early 2010s where home cooks vie to have their dishes turned into a product sold by President’s Choice (imagine if American Idol had casseroles). Matharu’s dish? His butter chicken lasagna. He left his job as a videographer for digital creators, got a food truck and started a catering company, as well as opened a restaurant in Mississauga in 2016 and then a Scarborough location in 2024.
The underlying theme of his menu is North American food with a Punjabi twist. “I grew up eating Punjabi food but then all I wanted was burgers, pizza and pastas,” he said about growing up in Brampton. “My mom would make things like pizza on naan or chicken keema patties. We love KFC, so she’d fry tandoor chicken. She wanted us to still be close to our culture and roots.” The cultural compromise within the Matharu household became the backbone of the menu.
What else is on the menu
If you want butter chicken, it’s in the form of birria tacos (three for $16.50), rice bowls ($16.50), mac and cheese ($16.50) and loaded fries ($13.50), which I think is in the spirit of the CNE celebrating the city’s culinary scene but also not straying too far from midway fare. The loaded fries were one of Matharu’s oldest menu items when he used to do pop-ups more than a decade ago. Crispy fries are topped with butter chicken sauce, tangy achari mayo, raw and crispy onions, jalapeño and mozzarella. You can add it to a burger for an extra $6.75, but it’s enough on its own as a meal.
The RFC (Rick’s Fried Chicken) sandwich ($14.95) is juicy thigh meat marinated for 24 hours before being double-fried for extra crispiness and tossed in a sticky sweet barbecue sauce. If the loaded fries are too much, a lighter side of masala-seasoned fries can be added for $3.75.
Explore the area
The plaza itself doesn’t have much to look at, however, Markham road is dotted with excellent South Asian food spots. Heading south there’s The Nilgiris Restaurant (3021 Markham Rd., Unit 50) for vegetarian South Indian dishes such as dosas and idlys (excellent for gluten-free dining). In the same plaza is Al Karam Sweets (3001 Markham Rd.), a small but popular Pakistani and Indian mithai shop to drop in after lunch or dinner to build a box of two-bite desserts. Just north of Rick’s Good Eats, at the southeast corner of Steeles Avenue East and Markham Road. is a plaza with a network of Sri Lankan takeout spots and grocers.
