A pot of steamed PEI mussels with white wine and garlic at Nola Eatery & Bar, Leslieville, Toronto — PEI mussels, steamed to order, served with bread for the broth.

Mussels in Leslieville, Toronto: A Pot, Some Bread, and a Cold Glass

If you are looking for top mussels near me in the east end, the thing to check is not the recipe. It is how often the kitchen goes through them. We get PEI mussels delivered several times a week at 1161 Queen St E, steam them to order, and never hold a cooked batch, because mussels do not forgive sitting around.

Where our mussels come from and how we handle them

Ours are rope-grown from Prince Edward Island, which means less grit and a cleaner shell than anything dredged off the bottom. They arrive in the bag, go straight into a cold room on ice, and get scrubbed and sorted the morning of service. Anything that stays open when tapped gets thrown, and anything that will not open in the pot gets pulled before the pot leaves the pass.

Cooking is quick. Shallots and garlic in butter, a good splash of white wine, the mussels in, the lid on, and about four minutes of steam. The liquid at the bottom is really the point of the dish, so we finish it with parsley, a squeeze of lemon and a little more cold butter swirled in off the heat. Bread comes with every pot and we will bring more without being asked twice.

Three broths, depending on your mood

The house version is the white wine, garlic and butter above, which is the one to order if you have not had mussels here before. There is a tomato and 'nduja pot for people who want heat, with enough chili in the sauce that the bread does most of the work. In the colder months we run a coconut, lemongrass and lime version that is lighter than it sounds and disappears fast on cold Sunday nights.

Mussels in white wine and garlic broth with grilled bread at Nola Eatery & Bar in Leslieville, Toronto — White wine, garlic, butter, parsley. The broth is the reason for the bread.

A pot works as a starter for two or a full meal for one, and it is one of the better things to eat at the bar on your own. It also pairs with almost everything on the drinks list. Dry white is the obvious answer, a Muscadet or a crisp Picpoul, though a cold lager is just as good and a gin martini with the tomato and 'nduja pot is better than it has any right to be.

Best time to come for mussels on Queen East

Early evening is the sweet spot. The kitchen has just opened the day's delivery, the room is still quiet enough to talk, and our happy hour pricing is on, so a pot and two glasses comes in well under what you would expect. In summer the same order lands on our patio on Queen East, which is where most of the mussels go between June and September.

Mussels run every night we are open, and we stop serving them when the day's delivery is gone rather than stretching it. Book a table at Nola Eatery & Bar and order a pot while the bread is still warm.