Eating while riding horseback was pioneered by the efficient Mongols, who also adjusted to reading, receiving haircuts, and filling out their taxes atop their four-legged mobiles. Enjoy the convenience of chairs and tables with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of fresh burgers, burritos, drinks, and more at Utopia Cafe, located on College Street in Little Italy.

Utopia Cafe offers diners a brave new world of freshly made casual fare, with a dine-in menu of sandwiches, salads, and Tex Mex–inspired favourites. Begin your palate's perusal of Utopia Cafe with the regular poutine ($4.95), with fresh cheese curds and veggie gravy, or with the gourmet poutine ($6.75), served with sautéed mushrooms, goat cheese, and veggie gravy. Utopia Cafe's warm grilled-chicken salad ($9.95), topped with roma tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette, is sure to silence the grumbles of stomach-gremlins, and the grilled-eggplant quesadilla ($9.99), bedecked with cheese, green-onion mayo, and salsa, adds veggie-intake health points to the gooey dish. The steak and cheddar burrito ($10.99) makes steak cravings satiable, and the veggie souvlaki sandwich ($7.99) marinates, herbifies, and skewers soy protein in a delicate pita with onions, tomato, and tzatziki. Burger buffs wishing no malice toward cows can opt for the veggie burger ($7.50), the grilled bison burger ($8.99), or the bovine-free Kissing Cousins burger ($8.99), made with fresh ground lamb and creamy goat cheese.

With its laid-back lodgings and attentive staff, Utopia Cafe boasts a carefree approach to cuisine. Enjoy a beer from Utopia Cafe's back patio, or set up shop amid Utopia Cafe's interiors while you and your fellow marine biologists discuss favourite flavours of kelp.

Reviews

With more than 260 voting, 84 per cent of Urbanspooners recommend Utopia Cafe, and both Yelpers and OurFaves reviewers give it four stars:

• The fries are crisp and flavourful and the garlic dill mayo is the perfect dip. – Kim Jenkins, Urbanspoon
• I don't even like steak and I can't get enough of the steak quesadilla. Everything about this place is phenomenal. The service, the homemade mayo, the hot sauce and the poutine are all fantastic, but paired with very reasonable prices and a warm atmosphere means that this place takes the cake! – Aliepooh87, OurFaves
• [The veggie burger] tastes like the real thing but only better. Utopia is a hidden gem. The portions are huge, fries are incredible, prices are cheap, food is delicious and the patio is where its at. – NShaps, OurFaves