With the rise of nouveau speakeasies like the Toronto Temperance Society and SpiritHouse, there’s been an increased interest in some of the classic cocktails previously lost in the mists of time (witness SpiritHouse’s 11-page drink list, broken down by historical epoch). But what if some of those old cocktails deserve to be forgotten? Over on the New York Times’s Dining Journal, Robert Simpson recapped a panel at last weekend’s Manhattan Cocktail Classic in which prominent mixological types weighed in on that very question. The Brooklyn? “Not a good drink.” The Aviation? “Tastes like hand soap.” Hemingway’s signature Papa Doble? “Why should we have our drinking habits dictated by Hemingway’s diabetes problem?” Where exactly this leaves the Toronto, a mixture of rye, fernet branca, syrup and bitters that’s been popping up on cocktail lists around town, remains to be seen. Read the entire story [Diner’s Journal] »
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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 10: I got soul, but…
Marcus Samuelsson and Dale MacKay joined the judges this week (Image: Top Chef Canada)
Last week, we complained that the one-two punch of a vending machine quickfire followed by a camping challenge made it feel a bit like a novelty episode. So it was with great anticipation that we tuned in to see last night’s episode, which featured Top Chef Masters champ and all-around chef hero Marcus Samuelsson, who, as Ryan Gallagher suggested, did push the chefs to try harder. It also featured a shot of a young Trista Sheen, who grew up in Flemingdon Park, in full-out cornrows. In other words: an excellent episode all around.
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Yet another new izakaya on the way: Nejibee
Toronto will be positively awash in new non-sushi Japanese restaurants this year. First there was Don Don Izakaya, which opened up in February. Then Kingyo, the popular Vancouver izakaya, announced plans to open an offshoot in Toronto this year. As well, there are three new ramen joints on the way: Santouka, from Japan, and Raijin and Kinton, both from Vancouver, the latter of which has its grand opening this Friday (it also has a new, somewhat Black Hoof-y website). The most recent announcement: Nejibee, a Japanese izakaya chain specializing in teppanyaki, will soon be opening up shop on Wellesley Street just west of Yonge. The only question: will Nejibee’s welcoming salute be able to match Guu’s enthusiastic call or Don Don’s drum?
Nejibee, 24 Wellesley St. W., 647-748-2882, nejibee.ca, @NejibeeIzakaya
When Matt Blondin announced (via Twitter, naturally) that he’d be stepping away from Acadia, the molecularly tinged Southern restaurant he helped launch last summer, he set the rumour mill spinning about where he’d land. Yesterday, he put those rumours to rest in an interview with the Star’s Amy Pataki, in which he revealed he has signed up with Momofuku to be the executive sous-chef at Daisho, which will apparently serve communal meals for groups of four or more. He’ll be working under Sam Gelman, who was previously chef de cuisine at Má Pêche, the midtown New York outpost of David Chang’s Momofuku empire. Blondin, it turns out, will be in charge of hiring and training the kitchen staff and overseeing daily operations—no small responsibilities for such a hotly anticipated restaurant. Chang’s praise for Blondin in the Star article was characteristically wry: “He’s well entrenched in the Toronto food scene. He can help with things like, which is the better garbage disposal company?” Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »
More details emerge about Bent, the new restaurant from the Bent-Lee clan
The future home of Bent at 777 Dundas St. W.
While the initial hoped-for launch date of Christmas 2011 has come and gone (like every single other hoped-for launch date in the history of the restaurant industry), the new project from Susur Lee and his sons Levi and Kai Bent-Lee is coming along nicely. The restaurant, we’re told, will be called Bent, after Susur’s wife, Brenda Bent, who designed the interior (given the family’s restaurant naming history, with Susur, Lee and Madeline’s, this leaves the names Brenda, Kai, Levi, Jet and Bent-Lee available for future projects). Levi will be in charge of the restaurant’s operations, Kai will run the bar, which will focus on sake, and Susur, naturally, will be in charge of the kitchen, whose menu will apparently prominently feature ceviche. If things go according to schedule, Bent should be open for business in about four weeks.
David Lawrason’s Weekly Wine Pick: a sprightly, award-winning Niagara riesling
Vineland Estates 2009 St. Urban Riesling
$19.95 | Niagara Escarpment | 90 points
The Ontario Wine Awards were announced in Niagara-on-the-Lake last weekend, and this classic Niagara riesling scooped a gold medal in the semi-dry riesling category, topping 23 others. Stocks are dwindling at Vintages, but the Vineland 2009 riesling that’s more widely available at the LCBO makes a great backup—after all, it did take gold in the dry riesling category.
The taste: This is a slim, elegant but intense riesling in a slightly off-dry style, but nicely pitched with lemon acidity and a touch of CO2 spritz. Look for aromas of honeyed bread, perfume and lemon pie. Very good to excellent length, with a dry, lemony and slightly mineral finish. Not as sweet as you might expect.
How to drink it: The off-dry nature makes this a great sipping riesling for a spring garden party. Don’t over-chill, and serve with seafood canapés or sushi.
Top Chef Canada exit interview, episode 9: whose palate is it anyway?
This season, we’ll be chatting with each week’s eliminated chef after they get the boot (or, rather, after their boot-getting episode airs—this stuff was recorded months ago). Find out who got eliminated, after the jump »
Enter the Banana Mafia: new posse of chefs to throw Asian Street Market party
While Nick Liu’s fans wait for the opening of his new Asian brasserie GwaiLo, the former Niagara Street Café chef has been showing up at various pop-ups and one-offs. Next up: an Asian Street Market at the Amsterdam Brewery featuring a crew of young Asian chefs calling themselves the Banana Mafia (the name likely does not refer to the fruit). The team is made up of Liu, Robbie Hojilla (Ursa), Jeff Claudio (Yours Truly), Jonathan Poon (Chantecler) and Leemo Han (Swish by Han and Oddseoul, which is presumably the name of the Han brothers’ new Ossington place). The event, which is almost sold out, takes place this coming Monday, May 14, with tickets going for $60 each. Check out the party’s event page for more info.
Top Chef Canada recap, episode 9: roughin’ it
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (Image: Top Chef Canada)
Last night’s episode featured two guest judges (Spencer Rice, a.k.a. Spenny, and Roger Mooking, a.k.a. MC Mystic), one topless chef (David Chrystian) and a whack of inept camping from city folk stranded out in the country. In other words, it was one of the novelty episodes—and with only six chefs standing at the end, we hope it’s the last. Of course, it featured its share of hijinks, so we’re not complaining. A rundown of what happened, including the shocking revelation of which folksy instrument Mark McEwan plays in his spare time, below.
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Top Chef Canada exit interview, episode 8: meat and potatoes
This season, we’ll be chatting with each week’s eliminated chef after they get the boot (or, rather, after their boot-getting episode airs—this stuff was recorded months ago). Find out who got eliminated, after the jump »
Reason to Love Toronto: because we’re serious about our bake sales
(Image: Eamon Mac Mahon)
The complaint is so well-worn it’s become rote: Toronto, despite its lively, cosmopolitan dining scene, has an embarrassing dearth of good street food. The villains in this story are antiquated regulations and bureaucratic bungling of the kind that accompanied the Toronto a la Cart fiasco (the name alone elicits a shudder). Last April, a revolution was set in motion when Hassel Aviles, a 31-year-old mother of two, put out a call for ambitious, like-minded cooks to join her for the inaugural Toronto Underground Market, a culinary bacchanal where budding entrepreneurs and home cooks can sell their creations to hundreds of ravenous foodies. The scene at the Brick Works, where the gatherings happen roughly seven times a year, is electric, with hundreds of gourmands comparing notes on their butter chicken and waffles, wild mushroom arancini or huitlacoche taquitos. All the food is prepared in municipally inspected kitchens with a certified food handler present—this is, after all, still Toronto the Regulated. But Aviles’ market is just the kind of grassroots, entrepreneurial operation that was needed to launch Toronto’s street food into the post–hot dog era. And it’s about to get bigger: on May 5, Aviles teams up with Food Truck Eats, a wildly popular gathering of the city’s mobile eateries, to throw an epic block party (capacity is 3,000) at the Brick Works. The event kicks off the Toronto Street Food Project, a broad campaign to get city hall to ease off on some of its more draconian bylaws. Let the foodie revolution begin.
QUOTED: Matt Blondin, on leaving his post as head chef of Acadia
After weeks of deliberation, I’d like to announce that my final day at Acadia will be May 31, 2012. Thank you for all of your support.
— Matt Blondin, chef at Acadia, our second best new restaurant of 2012, which opened last July. No word yet on what’s next for the inventive young chef. [Twitter]
Swish by Han to open Ossington outpost
Swish’s popular soon dubu (Image: Matthew Fox)
Back in January, Swish by Han’s Leeto Han posted a set of New Year’s resolutions on the restaurant’s blog promising a “new spot by mid-year,” but offered precious few details beyond the fact that the brothers behind the popular Korean restaurant “can’t wait to spread our wings.” Now The Grid is reporting that the new restaurant, whose name is secret, will be located at 90 Ossington Avenue, sandwiched between Delux and Levack Block, and will serve both dinner and late-night Korean bar food. The opening date: hopefully by August, which, come to think of it, sounds a lot like another (sort-of) Korean restaurant we know. Read the entire story [The Grid] »
The Month That Was: the Toronto restaurants and bars that opened and closed in April
Looking down from the mezzanine at Bellwoods Brewery (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Openings:
Looking down from the mezzanine at Bellwoods Brewery (Image: Gizelle Lau)
• The Saint—after three long years of waiting, during which time most of Ossington rapidly gentrified, this neighbourhood tavern from the people behind Buca finally opened its doors. Read our Introducing post »
• Bellwoods Brewery—A highly anticipated new brewpub on Ossington from a pair of Amsterdam Beer alums, with food by Guy Rawlings. Read our Introducing post »
• Lilly’s Lunches—A new downtown-centric bike brown bag bike delivery service from a cubicle escapee. Read our Introducing post »
Top Chef Canada recap, episode 8: later, caterer
(Image: Top Chef Canada)
Last night’s episode started with some reflections from the chefs back at their, um, glamorous condo. Xavier Lacaze was amazed that he’d made it so far. Ryan Gallagher thought that Curtis Luk had been sent home too early. Carl Heinrich missed his girlfriend (it was her birthday). And Jimmy Stewart? He revealed that he still lived with his mom. “A lot of people might find that embarrassing,” he said. “Home will always be there. This will not.” Was that a sly forshadowing by the producers of things to come? Read on to find out.
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