There are pockets of º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøwhere businesses seem to naturally pair off — neighbouring storefronts that enhance each other’s appeal, as if they were pre-planned all along.
In the Beach, catching a movie at the Fox Theatre often means dinner at The Goof, a greasy spoon and Chinese-Canadian restaurant with a film noir ambience after dark. In midtown, assembling a charcuterie board usually means stopping by both La Salumeria and the adjacent Fanfare Flowers green grocer.
A similar pairing caught my attention one morning in Dovercourt Village while I was waiting for an egg and sausage sandwich at , a takeout breakfast spot just a short walk north of Ossington station at 985 Dovercourt Rd. Customers drifted in with boxes from , a few doors south at 963 Dovercourt Rd. One serving sweet, the other savoury; one offering lattes, the other sticking to drip coffee. They opened months apart, keep nearly identical hours — Masa from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, Better Days from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. but closed Mondays — and, as it turns out, have become natural complements.
Better Days owner Dave Fish wanted a neighbourhood doughnut spot that reminded him of classic small-town doughnut shops.
Michelle Mengsu Chang º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar“It wasn’t intentional,” said Better Days owner Dave Fish. “It’s good timing.”
A former server at spots like Campagnolo and Mamakas Taverna, Fish wanted to open his own place in the neighbourhood he’s called home for 25 years. But as a dad, he was looking for something with fewer late nights than the typical restaurant grind.Â
“I saw a lack of, or the disappearance of, classic doughnuts, so I thought a doughnut shop would be an easier way to dip my toes,” he says, referring to the past two decades of over-the-top doughnuts, often stuffed with plastic pipettes and piled high with candy pieces and bacon.Â
Opened in February 2024, Better Days offers a dozen classic flavours, including yeast doughnuts like chocolate dip and raspberry-filled, and cake varieties such as sour cream, double chocolate, and maraschino-dotted cherry sticks.
The crullers, fried fresh by head bakers Kayleigh Mcdonald and Becsy Lapp, are pillowy with a thin glaze and a gentle chew that melts in your mouth. The cake doughnuts have a crisp crust and dense, moist interior. My favourites: the chocolate cake with toasted coconut, and the cherry stick dotted with maraschino bits.
Masa Deli owner Reza Azucena is preparing to open a second location of his Bloorcourt breakfast sandwich spot in Leslieville later this spring.
Michelle Mengsu Chang º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStarThe doughnuts are $3 a pop ($3.50 for filled doughnuts and the apple fritter is $5). Considering they’re all made in-house and the smaller doughnuts at the big chains are no longer under a buck, I prefer the doughnuts here.
Sandwiches from Masa Deli. From left, the Deli Breakfast Burrito, the Torta Milanesa and the Sausage and Egg Breakfast Sandwich.
Michelle Mengsu Chang º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStarDoughnut experimentation hasn’t disappeared entirely, but familiar flavours have seen a resurgence in recent years (see also: Harry & Heels doughnuts), spurred by global uncertainty and a rose-coloured longing for a pre-Y2K world. For Fish, he was thinking of his teenage years at Donut Den, a long-shuttered strip mall hangout in St. Thomas, Ont. “We actually had someone leave a review that said our doughnuts reminded her of that place,” he says.
Masa Deli’s sandwiches have their own nostalgic appeal. Owner Reza Azucena’s breakfast sandwich — with soft, folded scrambled eggs on an English muffin — reminds me of the McDonald’s Big Breakfasts I loved before they disappeared from Canadian menus in 2020. His $9.50 version is more substantial: a buttery three-egg chive omelet with a house-made chicken sausage patty (Azucena doesn’t eat pork), containing a hint of brown sugar. Dill pickles, Dijon aioli, spicy salsa, and gooey white cheddar make it bright, creamy and rich.
A batch of French Crullers in the fryer at Better Days Coffee & Donuts.
Michelle Mengsu Chang º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStarAlongside the signature breakfast sandwich, Masa’s burrito combines shaved pastrami, the same fluffy omelet, American cheese, tater tots, aioli, salsa, and chipotle mustard. At lunch, Azucena’s Salvadorian roots show up in the Torta de Milanesa: a panko-crusted chicken cutlet with refried beans, guacamole, salsa, and pickled jalapeños on a crusty papo seco roll.
The menu is small, but Azucena often teams up with other businesses — from a fried salami and mortadella sandwich with midtown’s La Salumeria to a horchata cream doughnut with his neighbour, Better Days. His dream pairings? An oxtail burrito with Jamaican patty maker Fahmee, or something with the owners of Kimchi Korea House, who are also regulars.
Sandwiches from Masa Deli. From left, the Deli Breakfast Burrito, the Torta Milanesa and the Sausage and Egg Breakfast Sandwich.
Michelle Mengsu Chang º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar“It’s fun and it makes us get creative,” says Azucena, who lives above the restaurant and saw a rotating roster of failed businesses in the space before taking it over himself in June 2023. Like Fish, he worked in restaurants for years and wanted a place of his own with more manageable hours.
“When Better Days came, (Masa) did even better,” he says. ”(Their staff) come here for meetings and our staff go there for doughnuts. We made a good friendship and he’s also an industry guy. We really feed off of each other.”
In the coming weeks, Azucena will have new pairing possibilities. In May, he’ll open a second Masa location in Leslieville, taking over the former Reliable Fish & Chips space. The menu will be different, Azucena says, as the bigger kitchen will allow him to have a deep fryer and he’s waiting for a liquor license and has plans for dinner service (the Dovercourt kitchen is smaller than an office cubicle, so be warned orders can be a bit of a wait).
Fish isn’t ruling out an east-end expansion for Better Days, but for now he’s staying put.
“A lot of people from the east ask about a second location,” he said. “I wont say no, but it’s not in the immediate...I want to continue to bring good vibes to the neighbourhood as much as we can. Like the name says, we just really want to make people’s day better.”
Correction - April 23, 2025
This article was edited from a previous version to note the correct name of the restaurant Kimchi Korea House, located on Dundas Street W.Â
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