In an article in today's New York Times, intrepid travel writer Matt Gross takes a Porter Airlines flight north of the border. His mission? To discover whether the rise of the loonie means Toronto still has enough cheap eats (and cheap thrills) to make it an affordable destination for Americans.

To save you the suspense the answer seems to be a resounding yes. He likes our cheap hot dogs (more expensive than New York's but with better toppings), cheap vintage in Kensington Market and cheap motels (The Travelodge on King West).

It's actually a surprisingly well written article and features a lot of places we've pimped here on blogTO like Golden Turtle (best pho), Soundscapes (best music store), Aunties and Uncles (best brunch) and Sydney's (one of the best places to buy a suit).

But the best part about his take on Toronto is definitely the accompanying video. There's no embed code, so you'll need to click over to the New York Times web site to watch it. There's some pretty fun exchanges with activists protesting the Island airport and Habs fans looking to buy (and burn) a Leafs jersey in Kensington.

Photo by Steve Payne for the New York Times