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Pulled pork (left) and brisket sandwiches
Just in time for the cold weather, the Drake Hotel has opened a barbecue pop-up shop in its old Scoops and Tees space. “In Canada, barbecue is associated with summer, but in the south they do it rain or shine,” says chef Anthony Rose. “I grew up in the south—southern Ontario, anyway. When I was a kid, my mom would start the barbecue in February.”
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Not actually Justin Bieber nail polish
We thought it was weird (to say the least) when news came out over the weekend that Justin Bieber is collaborating with OPI on a line of nail polish titled One Less Lonely Girl. Then again, we’re pretty sure the kid could sell bedbugs if he slapped his name on it. The power of celebrity makes people buy weird things. Below, seven other odd celebrity endorsements.
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Sang Kim teaches the hungry to make sushi (Image: Karon Liu)
While news of the Drake Hotel’s barbecue pop-up shop has been circulating around the city, the hotel’s restaurant has introduced something else that’s equally intriguing: make-your-own sushi. Known as temaki, this process involves a platter of sashimi, vegetables and garnishes presented in front of diners who each have a plate of nori and sushi rice to make their own rolls. “As far as I know, no one else is doing this in Canada,” says Sang Kim, the hotel’s director of food and beverages.
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Colonel sends his latest creation to invade Canada on October 18 (Image: Mike Saechang)
Few sandwiches have received as much attention as the Double Down, KFC’s grease-fest that features bacon and cheese squeezed between two pieces of boneless fried chicken. Morbidly curious Torontonians interested in trying it, however, were disappointed to learn that their local Colonels were not selling the thing. Well, that’s all about to change. The Double Down will be available in Canada from October 18 to November 14.
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JK performs the fry toss (Image: Karon Liu)
Right on the heels of chef Tyler Florence bringing his grapes to the Rogers Centre, Jamie Kennedy is bringing his potatoes to the Air Canada Centre. The chef and the ACC partnered over the summer, and now Kennedy’s signature item will be served at the venue from his own fry stand. “We’re raising the bar on stadium food,” says Kennedy. “We’re contributing to food culture in a way and this is a vehicle for us to reach out to more people.”
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Upwardly mobile at the new Longo's (Image: Karon Liu)
The latest supermarket to open in the downtown core is a sleek, 48,000 square-foot megastore by Longo’s. The new spot is part of Maple Leaf Square—the spanking new sports-themed development beside the Air Canada Centre—and should make locals rejoice as their area, better known for tourists and expressways, takes one step closer to becoming a bona fide neighbourhood.
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Puttin' up the Ritz: Toca and the hotel to which it's attached will open in January
Since news broke that the opening of the Ritz-Carlton had to be pushed back to January due to flooding, the chain has been looking to share a little good news. Well, this week, they got it. The Simcoe Street hotel announced the details of its signature restaurant this week. (Hey, at least now they have an extra month to get the place ready.)
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The great eat-off: Anthony Bourdain versus Jonathan Safran Foer (Images: Renée Suen, Elena Torre)
This week’s debate on what we should be putting in our mouths comes from two extremes of the discussion: Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of Eating Animals, who argues that meat is murder, and Anthony Bourdain, author of Medium Raw, who argues that meat is murder—tasty, tasty murder. For 20 minutes on CBC Radio’s Q, the two slagged it out over whether it’s right or wrong to eat meat.
We listened to the discussion so you don’t have to. Here, a cheat sheet on what was said, so you can annoy your entire family at the Thanksgiving table. Spoiler alert: no one wins, and the discussion horse is beaten to a point where it’s pâté.
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(Image: Google)
Screw autumn. And long live summer barbecues.
That’s the attitude of the Drake Hotel, which is in the process of transforming its Scoops and Tees shop into the Drake BBQ. Starting October 22, slow-cooked sandwiches will be served in this space, just two doors down from the hotel.
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The numbers are in. Not surprisingly, credit card spending was up in the Entertainment District, while Yorkville saw a slight decrease during TIFF, but it doesn’t necessarily mean Yorkville is officially dead. The Globe reports (yes, the paper has a non-redesign story today) that credit card purchases at restaurants and bars went up 9.1 per cent on King West while going down 5.2 per cent in Yorkville. The same pattern applies to retail stores.
The chef poses in front of his new pizza oven (Images: Karon Liu)
“Would you like to try a pizza?” asks chef Mark McEwan as he stands in front of the wood-burning oven at his newest restaurant, Fabbrica, located in the suburban Shops at Don Mills. “It’ll only take 90 seconds, and we can eat it at the bar.” Never mind that he’s expecting dozens of guests for a preview dinner or that he also has to head downtown in an hour or two to do his second book signing this week; McEwan sits down and shares a salsiccia pizza (lamb sausage, caramelized fennel, mozzarella) with us like it was a lazy Sunday afternoon.
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Let’s face it, the annual all-nighter art fest isn’t for everyone—whether it’s the chilly weather, crowds or corporate sponsors, attendees can always find something to complain about. So to make Nuit Blanche a tad more fun, we created a scavenger hunt perfect for waiting out long line-ups. Below, a list of 30 items to check off throughout the night. Read the rest of this entry »
Mark McEwan shows off his crostini (Image: Karon Liu)
Two little reminders: one, Shops at Don Mills still exists, and two, Mark McEwan will be opening his casual Italian restaurant, Fabbrica, there on Friday. At yesterday’s press conference for Chef’s Challenge—the November 20 celebrity charity cook-off—McEwan served up some crostini with bone marrow butter and horseradish gremolata that’ll be on the menu at the new restaurant.
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Jamie Kennedy, David Rocco, Massimo Capra and Mark McEwan show off their creations at the George Brown cooking school (Image: Karon Liu)
The city’s celebrity chefs converged at the George Brown cooking school yesterday at a media launch for Chef’s Challenge, November 20’s Hell’s Kitchen–esque fundraiser for Mount Sinai hosted by Gordon Ramsay. The premise is that five of the city’s top chefs—Mark McEwan, David Rocco, Jamie Kennedy, Massimo Capra and Lynn Crawford—will head up a team of 10 (consisting of the top 50 fundraisers) and cook the same three-course menu. Ramsay and a panel of yet-to-be-announced judges will determine who cooked it best.
(Image: Nico Nelson)
We were surprised to learn that National Vodka Day occurs every year on October 4 (and not every weekday at 5 p.m. as previously thought). As our inboxes filled with press releases from vodka companies celebrating the day of fermented potatoes, we wondered what other random food holidays are out there. Turns out, a lot. (Happy strawberry cream pie day!)
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