The summer 2025 Toronto chicken Caesar salad wrap wars may seem like a fever dream to some, but for me, the gleam of that auspicious time in the city’s culinary history has never completely faded.
In the immortal words of Taylor Swift, I’m “still at the restaurant,” so to speak.
The chicken Caesar salad wrap, however simple in conception, is a piece of art, and last summer, scores of people in the city all seemed to come around to that same conclusion at the exact same time.
The boom was aided by two local sandwich staples, Grandma Loves You and Elm Street Deli, who, seemingly by complete coincidence, teamed up with Toronto influencers (Belicia Chung and The Chew Review, respectively) to put out their own versions of the classic wrap.
To make a long story short, people lost their minds over the wraps. Both shops would sell out within hours when they announced drops. To respond to the demand, Grandma Loves You made its wrap a permanent menu feature, while Elm Street Deli’s faded away: a pleasant memory of a simpler time.
Until now, that is: Elm Street Deli and The Chew Review are bringing their internet-breaking chicken Caesar wrap back to the city for one day only, and if you want ot get your hands on one, you’ll have to be ready to attack.
The Chew Review tells blogTO that the wraps will be available exclusively at Elm Street Deli’s new Leslieville location from 11 a.m. until they’re all sold out on Saturday, March 14.
To make the competition for a saucy, Caesar-y bite even steeper, there’ll only be a total of 100 wraps available, which, given the speed with which the sandwich shop’s wraps sold out last summer, likely won’t stick around for long.
What makes this wrap so special? The dish is loaded to the absolute limits of its wrap, with a generous serving of crispy lettuce and croutons tossed in house-made Caesar dressing, with juicy smoked chicken from Cherry Street Bar-B-Que, for starters.
Each wrap also includes an entire head of Romaine lettuce, chopped fine, and 4 oz. of chicken. When I say they’re huge, I mean it. This time around, they’ll even be served with a new Buffalo sauce to really top things off.
Elm Street Deli Leslieville is located at 1247 Queen St. E.