Pedestrian Sundays at Kensington Market are back on May 27 (Image: Min)

Monday, May 21

• 86’D: Join Ivy Knight for a tea party in honour of Queen Victoria. Featuring Victoria Gin tea cocktails and dainty tea sandwiches from Fresh City Farms. The Drake, 1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042. Find out more »
• Queen Victoria’s Secret: The launch of Brewer’s Backyard, a new craft beer series at the Brick Works. This time around: beer by Great Lakes Brewing of Toronto and sandwiches from Fidel Gastro. Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave. Find out more »
• Piola’s Monday Night Mixer: Piola’s weekly aperitivo italiano, with cocktail and beer specials and complimentary snacks. 1165 Queen St. W., 416-477-4652. Find out more »
• Sorauren Farmers’ Market: 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the field house at Sorauren Park. 50 Wabash Ave. Find out more »

Tuesday, May 22

• Escape the City—Canoe and Beach Dining Adventure: Paddle to the island with the Culinary Adventure Company for a gourmet beach picnic. 416-565-1730. Find out more »

Wednesday, May 23

• A Chef’s Tour of Little Italy: Join the Culinary Adventure Company on a behind-the-scenes tour of Little Italy’s finest kitchens. 416-565-1730. Find out more »

Thursday, May 24

• Exploring the Wines of the World: Taste a flight of six wines from around the world with the Global Wine Tour. The Fine Wine Reserve, King and Spadina. 416-909-0460. Find out more»
• Mediterranean Flare: Marni Wasserman teaches recipes for healthy vegetarian meals inspired by the flavours of the Mediterranean. Marni’s Kitchen, 26 Lauderdale Dr., 647-477-8131. Find out more »
• Sweet and Savoury Pies and Tarts: Baking expert Daphna Rabinovich demonstrates recipes that highlight the ingredients of the season. LCBO Summerhill, 10 Scrivener Sq., 416-922-0403. Find out more »
• Epicure’s Revue: To celebrate Victoria Day, the Revue Cinema will be screening the 1952 The Importance of Being Earnest, followed by an expert discussion of English tea. 400 Roncesvalles Ave., 416-531-9959. Find out more »

Friday, May 25

• Cake Pops and Whoopie Pies: Learn to make and decorate these trendy treats. Bonnie Gordon College, 868 Eglinton Ave. W., 416-440-0333. Find out more »

Saturday, May 26

• Supper Club—DK Kitchen does Louisiana: Explore the culinary traditions of the American South with Alexandra Albert. The Depanneur, 1033 College St., 416-828-1990. Find out more »
• Easy Entertaining—Get Grilling: Get ready for grilling season by learning what cuts of meat to buy and how to prepare them, from marinating to grilling. St. Lawrence Market, 92 Front St. E., 416-392-7120. Find out more »
• Vegan Spring Expo: Visit the second annual expo for a day of vegan-friendly tastes and talks. 34 Little Norway Cres., 647-858-7764. Find out more»
• Sweets Tour in Support of Meagan’s Walk: Tasty Tours hosts a charity tour with half of the proceeds going to Meagan’s Walk, which aims to raise awareness about paediatric brain tumours. Tour begins at Ding Dong Bakery, 321 Spadina Ave. Find out more»
• Discover Greektown on the Danforth: The Culinary Adventure Company offers a tasting tour of the largest Greek neighbourhood in North America. 416-565-1730. Find out more »
• Introduction to Cupcake Decorating: A hands-on workshop teaching you how to dress up a cupcake. Le Dolci, 416-262-3400. Find out more »
• Stop Market Café: Enjoy a weekly meal sourced from ingredients found at the adjacent farmers’ market. Proceeds from the sales of food at the café are reinvested into The Stop’s programs. 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Green Barn, 601 Christie St. Find out more»
• Evergreen Brick Works Farmers’ Market: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 550 Bayview Ave. Find out more »
• The Stop Farmers’ Market: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St. Find out more»

Sunday, May 27

• Toronto Taste 2012: Second Harvest presents an evening of gourmet food and drink with over 60 of Toronto’s top chefs and beverage providers. Proceeds from the event go to Second Harvest. ROM, 100 Queen’s Park, 416-408-2594. Find out more»
• The Return of The Stop’s Beer Garden: The first event of the 2012 series kicks off with beer from Muskoka Brewery and food from Hot Mess Halland. Green Barn, 601 Christie St. Find out more»
• Mushroom Forage and Gourmet BBQ: Learn about foraging with a trip to the Don Valley in search of wild mushrooms, leeks, fiddleheads, and other edibles, followed by a tasty lunch prepared by The Culinary Adventure Company’s chef. 416-565-1730. Find out more»
• Kensington Market Pedestrian Sundays: The ninth year of events begins this Sunday. Come out and enjoy street festivals, market vendors, street food and more. Kensington Market. Find out more»
• Preserves: Learn the basics of fruit preserving, and its many uses in cake recipes. Bonnie Gordon College, 868 Eglinton Ave. W., 416-440-0333. Find out more »

It’s 4 p.m. on Friday, and you don’t have a dinner reservation. Still, there’s no need to fret (or waste your night waiting for a table). We just called some of the city’s hottest restaurants and found three that can squeeze in two for dinner tonight. Now it’s up to you to get dialing and snag a table before they’re all gone. Today: Scaramouche, The Gabardine and North 44

Tables available tonight at:

This sauvignon blanc has 3 grams of sugar per litre, making it extra dry (Image: LCBO)

Wine tasting notes are notorious for purple prose and overly impressionistic descriptions, and it’s not always easy to glean that most basic of factors: how sweet the darn thing might be. Luckily for Ontarians, the LCBO has started putting up new bin tags that list the actual sugar concentrations in honest-to-goodness grams per litre. The Globe and Mail’s Beppi Crosariol explains the new numbers replace the previous sugar scale, which ranged from zero to 15 and was frankly a little opaque. The new tags will also take the sugar-acid balance into account by including one of five terms on the tag: extra-dry, dry, medium, medium-sweet and sweet. [Globe and Mail]

If the Twitterverse is to be believed (and no less a figure than Shinan Govani has confirmed it, so it must be true, right?), Joanne Kates, the long-time Globe and Mail restaurant critic, will publish her last review in the paper this Saturday. As NOW’s Joshua Errett notes, the perennial Scaramouche lover was a prominent practitioner of the old-time hat-over-the-eyes school of criticism, although like most critics she didn’t entirely manage to keep her likeness under wraps. No word yet on who might replace her, or which restaurant will receive the honour of her final bit of praise or skewering.

UPDATE: We recently heard from Kates, who told us in an email, “38 years was a great run—and long enough. I didn’t need the grind of a weekly column any more.” As for what’s next for her, she noted that her “voice will not be silent.” Case in point: her iOS app.

Kevin Siu, the executive editor of features at the Globe, told the Dish that Kates’ last review will indeed run this Saturday, followed next Saturday by a column reflecting on her nearly four decades reviewing Toronto restaurants (her first Globe column has been scanned and uploaded). “She’s been the defining voice in Toronto dining for a long time,” Siu said, “and we do look forward to continuing to work with her.” The paper’s new critic will be announced on Tuesday, followed by an online chat between the two critics on May 28.

(Image: Caroline Aksich)

Since these things tend to sell out pretty much instantly (this month’s Street Food Block Party sold out in a few hours), we thought we’d let you know that tickets are now on sale for the June edition of the Toronto Underground Market at the Evergreen Brick Works. Get them while the getting’s good »

This season, we’re 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).

(Image: Top Chef Canada)

This week’s eliminated chef: Trista Sheen of Crush Wine Bar

You said at the beginning of this episode that you didn’t expect to make it so far. Why is that?

You always doubt yourself, you don’t know what you’re up against. Just trying to stay humble is a good thing.

So you’re not generally a cocky chef then?

No, no [laughs]. I like to joke around, but I definitely don’t have a big head about it.

How did you think your rabbit fingers went over with Dale MacKay’s son Ayden?

I will be completely honest with you: there are certain things in certain episodes that I cannot even remember because the adrenaline is pumping so much [laughs].

OK, let’s talk about the elimination challenge then. What did you think when you first saw Marcus Samuelsson? Were you a fan?

I am definitely a fan. Years ago, when Nick [Liu, Sheen’s husband] and I got the book Aquavit, it was just so cool, it was ahead of its time. It was great, because we’ve had so many different variations of judges, to get a really well-known chef. Unfortunately, it had to be the episode when I was eliminated.

Would you say he was the judge you were most excited to cook for?

Yeah. Maybe that’s why I shit the bed? I think it was definitely one of the more stressful, hardcore episodes.

Your dish used Indian and Caribbean flavourings, right?

It was basically because I grew up in Thorncliffe/Flemingdon for 15 years. I was just trying to combine all those cultures into one, because it was a big part of my upbringing.

Are those flavours you cook with much?

Yes and no. I have used them, but it’s not like an Indian mom making it. I wasn’t born and raised with it, but I’m so used to the flavours.

Your dish had a ton of components: chicken broth with dumplings, poached chicken thigh, carrot purée, fried chicken skin.

You get your head so caught up in the competition that you start to push yourself even further. You push yourself more and more because you want to do something crazy. You want to show Canada that you are capable of doing these things. Unfortunately, it bit me in the ass, but you get your head caught up in it.

Leaving the plastic wrap on the plate—has that ever happened to you before?

No! And it had to happen on national TV! It’s tough.

And it was actually only on Marcus Samuelsson’s plate, no one else’s.

The thing is, I had no clue, obviously. Finding out at the judge’s table afterward, I was just mortified. Let’s just say I won’t be watching this episode. I planned a dinner party instead. [We spoke to Sheen on Monday, before the episode aired.]

Do you have a dish that you’d say was your best on the show?

Short answer: no. But that brunch dish, I was just so happy about it, and not because I won that episode, but just because I was so proud I built my own fire and I was able to do all those things on the fire. I was like, oh man, I want to eat this!

Have you served the dish at Crush?

Minus the squab part, that is something I would totally make at home: little pain perdus, little Lyonnaise potatoes, that sort of thing. And squab, I love working with it—I came from a Scaramouche background.

What’s your job at Crush?

I’m the executive chef, since just after Christmas. It’s been a big year for T-bird. I don’t cook as much as I used to.

Is it nice to have a break from working the line?

Yin and yang. Every once in a while I’ll get my fix, and then I’ll go back to orchestrating and emailing and that sort of thing.

Your husband, Nick Liu, is in the middle of launching his new restaurant, GwaiLo. Are you helping out with that?

You know, I have so much on my plate as it is. I like to support him when I can, but we’re definitely busy people!

(Image: Karolyne Ellacott)

“Anybody can do a good burger,” says Todd Savage, co-owner of Stack, uptown’s answer to Barque. “But being the pit master is a real art form.” Indeed, Savage and his high-school buddy from “about 400 years ago,” Bill Panos, originally intended to devote their new restaurant to on-trend burgers, but ended up deciding it was important to have more options, especially for a family-friendly spot.

With about 30 years in the food business between them, the pair have mixed and matched the best of their respective experiences. Taking over a 4000-square-foot space, the restaurant is spread out over two storeys, with a custom-made chandelier of sorts tying the space together. Built by Philip Scalena of Scalena and Associates, the fixture is composed of three stacked chrome circles with acrylic chips suspended below. A palette of cream and brown runs throughout the place, with red tile accents adding warmth. The most important part of the restaurant, however, is visible in a back corner, contained behind glass: a 1,200-pound Southern Pride smoker.

In addition to burgers and barbecue, the extensive menu has a selection of salads, tacos, paninis and sandwiches, as well as various dessert items. Panos’s year-and-a-half of burger research resulted in 13 variations. The chipotle version features eight ounces of Ontario ground beef, which is grilled on the flat top and brushed with chipotle. The patty is then placed on a Fred’s Bread bun and topped with Monterey Jack alongside dusted jalapeños, fire-roasted corn salsa, avocado and house-made pico de gallo. Finishing off the whole affair are some tortilla strips for added crunch and a squirt of spicy ranch dressing ($12). Stack’s southern-style brisket sandwich is served on a soft bun, topped with crispy onion and drenched in house-made barbecue sauce ($10). There are also lighter options, like a trio of blackened catfish tacos wrapped in corn tortillas and served with pico de gallo and chipotle ranch dressing ($10). Finally, for dessert, Stack has its own take on s’mores: a cone of oven-fresh vanilla-glazed doughnuts loaded up with graham cracker crumbles, chocolate sauce and a pile of mallows ($5).

Stack, 3265 Yonge St., 647-346-1416

Top Chef Canada has just been picked up for a third season, and Food Network Canada is looking for a fresh batch of competitive cooks. Hoping to be one of them?  The questions on the 23-page application range from training (“Have you attended a culinary school or any other cooking program?”) to the not-so-food-specific (“Describe your most embarrassing moment”). The form and a five-minute video are due June 19, so there’s still plenty of time for applicants to bone up on their best offal-prepping skills. After the first season, critics (and Torontolife.com commenters) complained that the cast wasn’t diverse enough to represent Canada—and the show did indeed put together a less white and less male cast for season two. Anything you’re hoping to see in season three? Let us know in the comments.

Natura 2011 Rosé

$13.95 | Rapel Valley, Chile | 89 points
Devoted beer drinkers might call the Victoria Day long weekend “May 2-4,” but to another group it signals the start of rosé season. This organically produced pinkie stands out from the crowd, and it’s from a place not usually associated with good pink wine.

The taste: It has a generous, fairly piquant nose of red currant and pomegranate fruit with floral and citrus notes and dried herbs. It’s very bright, fresh and well balanced, with a perfect acid-sugar ratio. No sense of being too sweet or confected, which is a shortcoming of many inexpensive New World pinkies.

How to drink it: This is an ideal sipper for the deck or dock. Serve well chilled but not stone cold, with a plate of cheese, salami and fruit.

Vintages. LCBO 277962

Patrick Kriss at Splendido’s pass (Image: Renée Suen)

If you haven’t heard a lot about Patrick Kriss yet, you will soon. Owners Scott and Lindsay Selland have revealed to Torontolife.com that Kriss will be stepping into the role of chef de cuisine at Acadia when Matt Blondin departs for Momofuku Daisho at the end of the month.

Kriss’s maturity and refined style are a product of the exacting standards he picked up in a number of high-profile kitchens. The George Brown–trained chef started at Auberge du Pommier before moving to New York’s Daniel—the flagship restaurant of celebrated chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud, who’s set to open up shop here this year—where he worked for three years before taking on the role of sous chef. During his time at Daniel, Kriss also staged at France’s illustrious La Maison Troisgros and Régis et Jacques Marcon. Having honed his culinary chops at three Michelin–starred establishments, Kriss then came back to Toronto, working most recently as chef de cuisine at Splendido (where he oversaw our 12-hour stage).

Although the reserved chef has stayed out of the spotlight, he’s well regarded in the culinary community. However, this will be the first time Kriss heads a kitchen of his own, and he’ll no doubt lead Acadia into some uncharted waters. While Scott Selland assures us that Acadia’s focus will remain on modern interpretations of Lowcountry cuisine, patrons can expect a more “soulful” take on the food, what he calls “cooking from the hip.” We’re told that management has also taken note of all the feedback they’ve received since the restaurant’s opening: Kriss’s menu will include more house-made items like smoked bacon, and feature a greater selection of products from quality purveyors like Anson Mills and Benton’s. And while the refined flavours and beautiful plating aren’t going anywhere, the dishes should be a tad more approachable, with more substantial portion sizes to boot.

The transition is taking place as Acadia readies its patio (it opens today), which seats another 38 and is outfitted with a small menu of its own. As the weather warms, the space may also host an outdoor crab bake or crawfish boil or two. As Selland puts it, “this is a step forward for Acadia.”

Summer flounder, Bering sea snow crab and Washington State coho salmon (Images: courtesy NOAA)

Most reports about ocean fish stocks tend to be pretty ominous, but at last there’s some good news about fish populations. The New York Times’s Green blog points to new numbers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that suggest six species are on the rebound and have already reached healthy population levels. The Bering Sea snow crab, the summer flounder on the mid-Atlantic coast, the haddock in the Gulf of Maine, the chinook salmon along the northern California coast, the coho salmon off Washington State and the Pacific widow rockfish are all back in a big way, thanks in part to not-so-popular government catch limits. The agency also found that 27 fish stocks have been returned to health in the past 11 years (NOAA also runs a neat consumer-oriented site with sustainable seafood information). Maybe now we can feel a little less guilty about how we get our omega-3 fix. But only a little less. [New York Times]

The Summerhill LCBO or Hogwarts? (Image: -sina- from the Torontolife.com Flickr pool)

Ontarians love their booze, and the LCBO’s 2011–2012 financial results prove they’ve been buying lots more of it. It’s the 17th year in a row of record sales for the board, with net sales up $218 million or 4.9 per cent over fiscal 2010–2011, totalling a cool $4.7 billion. Of course, that’s not exactly shocking, since the LCBO’s pretty much the only place in town where you can grab a bottle of bourbon or gin, unless you make your own. VQA table wines from Ontario were big winners last year, with an increase in sales of nine per cent, but the big success story is still craft beers. The fact that micro-brews are doing well shouldn’t be surprising, given the attention they’ve been getting from big beer companies, but the bump in sales is still pretty staggering: in the last year, Ontario craft beers led all segments with almost 45 per cent growth. All of this means that the liquor monopoly remitted $1.63 billion to the provincial coffers. With numbers like these, we doubt Queen’s Park would be in a greatf hurry to get rid of the LCBO any time soon.

By Eric Vellend | Photographs by Christopher Stevenson | Food styling by Linsey Bell/judy inc.

Nine years ago, Mark McEwan scandalized Torontonians with his $35 truffled Bymark burger. That was before words like “grass-fed,” “heritage” and “dry-aged” entered into the burger lexicon. The city is now crammed with craft burgers, and carnivores no longer flinch at steep price tags. Competitive chefs bring in whole cows from nearby farms, bake their own buns, smoke their own bacon (twice), replace ketchup with tomato chutney and source the most pungent cheeses they can get their patty-flipping hands on. Thankfully, the mom-and-pop shops haven’t been artisinalled out of business—there are still plenty of sublime greasy-bag burgers around, as well as a few new-school diners ironically replicating them. Here, the very best of the city’s boundless burgerdom.

Start the slideshow »

1 | THE HARBORD ROOM

2 | MARBEN

3 | THE STOCKYARDS

4 | NOTA BENE

5 | HOLY CHUCK

6 | THE BURGER’S PRIEST

7 | BYMARK

8 | ALLEN’S

9 | THE COUNTY GENERAL

10 | GOLDEN STAR

11 | E11EVEN

12 | UNION

13 | ORIGIN

14 | BLUE PLATE

15 | PARTS AND LABOUR

16 | THE GABARDINE

17 | MILDRED’S TEMPLE KITCHEN

18 | HRVATI

19 | CRUSH

20 | THE DRAKE

21 | BESTELLEN

22 | APACHE BURGERS

23 | THE QUEEN AND BEAVER

24 | DRIFT

25 | TREVOR KITCHEN AND BAR

Chuck Hughes leads the cooking class at The Stop’s after-school program (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Yesterday afternoon, Chuck Hughes took a break from promoting his new cookbook, Garde Manger, to join 19 eager kids in a cooking class at The Stop’s after-school program at Wychwood Barns. Upon his arrival, three enthusiastic youngsters took Hughes on a tour of the Stop’s facilities at the barns (the organization was one of Canada’s first food banks and has since expanded into a community hub with a wide-reaching mandate that includes community gardens, food markets and advocacy). Some highlights of Hughes’s kid-led tour included handling compost and worms and ogling the now-in-their-prime seedlings that were about to be shipped out to west-end community gardens. We couldn’t resist tagging along.

Before leading the class at the after-school program (designed to get low-income youngsters engaged with food and cooking), Hughes strolled through the Stop’s international community garden. At the Filipino garden, we learned that the Chuck’s Day Off star had just returned from an Asian tour where he had snacked on such, ahem, delights as balut. We also learned that on his Eastern travels he got a new tattoo, a crowned durian. “When I learned that it was called the king of fruits, I had to get it,” explained Hughes.

Before getting down to the brass tacks of teaching the kids how to fillet a Lake Erie silver bass, Hughes started with a short lesson on kitchen safety. But while he talked about hygiene, the celeb chef was scolded by the fastidious after-school gang for opening a faucet with fishy hands. Echoes of “contamination!” filled the room. When all the veggies were prepped and the fish filleted, the kids went off to play (including a memorable game of jump rope), with one exclaiming how awesome “Chuck Norris” was and that this was “the best day ever.”