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Toronto Life - The Dish

The latest buzz on restaurants, chefs, bars, food shops and food events. Sign up for the Dish newsletter for weekly updates. Send tips to thedish@torontolife.com

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April 13, 2012 | 3:29 pm

Two Vancouver ramen shops coming to Toronto this spring

A couple weeks back, we told you about Kingyo Izakaya, a Vancouver cult favourite that had plans to expand to Toronto later this year. Now we bring news of two more Japanese restaurants making the trip east. First, there’s Raijin, a new ramen shop from Daiji Matsubara, the owner of Kintaro and Motomachi Shokudo in Vancouver. Raijin, currently in construction in the former Cr3asians space on Gerrard just east of Yonge, should be open in just a few weeks, permits willing (in other words: it could be a little longer). The other new ramen shop is Kinton, which owner Nobuaki Urata (who was the manager at Kintaro for seven years) tells us should be open on Baldwin sometime in May. Many devoted ramen heads have been singularly unimpressed with Toronto’s current offerings (although the new offerings at Guu have attracted early fans), but with the arrival of these two new shops, along with Japanese chain Santouka, things are about to get interesting.

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April 11, 2012 | 11:47 am

Mark McEwan, Claudio Aprile and others to launch new restaurants at Pearson Airport


Toronto travellers rejoice: your airport dining options are about to expand far, far beyond the crushing indignity of eating a cold cut trio sub while sitting on your suitcase. The Globe reports that some big-name Toronto chefs will descend on Pearson International, opening several bars and restaurants intended to compete with the best spots downtown has to offer (well, that’s the idea at least). Here’s what to expect from the transformation, which will begin this summer and continue into 2013:

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April 3, 2012 | 1:07 pm

Khao San Road politely thumbs its nose at no-shows and ends reservations

Get ready to wait in line. Right here (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Khao San Road has endured its last no-show: as co-owner Jeff Regular predicted back in March, the restaurant has done away with reservations. And we can’t say we blame them. On Toronto.com, Corey Mintz lays out the pros and cons that factored into the decision: they’re now free from those insufferable no-shows, but they’ll also likely lose business from large groups and older customers. Like we said last time, Regular sounds like an infinitely patient dude, so we can’t imagine this decision was made hastily (also: hasty decisions don’t usually involve a pro-and-con list). And the long lines of people without reservations would suggest KSR can still count on a steady stream of customers. Want to join them? Get in line. Read the entire story [Eat] »

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March 30, 2012 | 4:00 pm

Friday Night Bites: tables for two at F’Amelia, Estiatorio Volos and Origin

FRIDAY NIGHT BITESIt’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: F’Amelia, Estiatorio Volos and Origin.

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March 30, 2012 | 2:25 pm

Izakaya lovers rejoice: Vancouver’s Kingyo is coming to town

Kingyo head chef Koji Zenimaru at his Vancouver restaurant (Image: Shinsuke Ikegame)

When Vancouver-based chain Guu touched down in Toronto in 2009, it set off a craze for izakaya food (i.e. Japanese pub grub) that verges on the ludicrous (although the opening of Guu’s Annex location and the competing DonDon Izakaya have abated the lineups somewhat). Now, it looks like there’s another Vancouver izakaya coming to town: over on Toronto.com, Corey Mintz is reporting that Kingyo Izakaya will open a Toronto location sometime this year. One thrilled ex-Vancouverite told us that Kingyo has a cult following in that city, and is known for its inventive cocktails (many using soft drinks imported from Japan), shabu-shabu and sukiyaki, and a signature chopped negitoro roll, drizzled with sauce. The crowd? “Japanese students, expats and trendy west-enders, drinking and munching—and buying beers for their waiters to down, tableside.” This sounds like it could be the arrival of Guu all over again.

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March 29, 2012 | 11:29 am

QUOTED: a McDonald’s honcho reflects on the new, breezier atmosphere at his restaurants

(Image: Michael Allen Smith)

You walk into a McDonald’s, you see laptops. You never used to see that.

— John Betts, CEO of McDonald’s Canada, talking to the Toronto Star’s Francine Kopun about some of the ways the fast food giant has moved in on turf traditionally owned by other chains. The most recent example? McCafé Real Fruit Smoothies, which rolled out to 925 locations across Canada yesterday, about a year after Tim Hortons launched its own smoothie line. Over the past eight years, McDonald’s has been rebranding away from its plastic-and-primary-colour past to a more Valium-tinged Starbucks-esque world of muted colours and Wi-Fi. Of course, that’s not exactly the vibe you’d get if you dropped in at the location at, say, Queen and Church. [Toronto Star]

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March 27, 2012 | 1:03 pm

Matthew DeMille to leave Enoteca Sociale

Enoteca Sociale’s Rocco Agostino with Matthew DeMille (Image: Renée Suen)

Over the weekend, Swallow Food reported that Matthew DeMille, the chef de cuisine at Enoteca Sociale, would be stepping away from his post in April to take a “cooking sabbatical” with his family in the Ontario countryside (which admittedly sounds pretty nice). DeMille signed up for the job at the Dundas West rustic Italian restaurant just last July, after a stint as Matty Matheson’s sous chef at Parts & Labour. Last November, DeMille was joined in the kitchen by former Black Hoof owner Grant van Gameren, who took over the place as executive chef. There’s no word yet on a potential replacement for DeMille. Read the entire story [Swallow Food] »

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March 23, 2012 | 4:00 pm

Friday Night Bites: tables for two at Yours Truly, Swish by Han and Pangaea

FRIDAY NIGHT BITESIt’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: Yours Truly, Swish by Han and Pangaea.

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March 23, 2012 | 11:34 am
The Saint is finally, really, seriously, actually going to open on Ossington 

In 2009, we predicted that The Saint would bring “some King Street style to the Ossington strip.” But any excitement over that possibility proved short-lived, and by 2010, we were calling it the last “mystery resto” on Ossington. You see, no measure of hype for the Saint could speed up the opening process, which was apparently marred by licensing complications with the city. (Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time the folks at City Hall got in the way of a good time.) According to a post by Corey Mintz, owner Peter Tsebelis uncovered an extra 100 square feet of space in the restaurant’s basement. A building inspector was cool with their addition, but the city wasn’t, prompting a long descent into licensing hell (it’s been such a complicated process that Mintz opted for six “O”s in the word “long” when describing the delay). But now, apparently, the place is finally finished construction, has all the necessary licenses and is fully staffed. It will open on April 9. Finally. (We hope.) Read the entire story [Eat] »

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March 22, 2012 | 4:42 pm

Canoe Shack-Up: Au Pied de Cochon’s Martin Picard brings his Quebec crew for an epic, maple-soaked feast at Canoe

Carl Rousseau (St. Canut Farm) with Martin Picard and Marc Beaudin (Au Pied de Cochon, Cabane à sucre)

Acclaimed Montreal chef Martin Picard, best known for his haute-rustic gastronomic temple Au Pied de Cochon, was in town to celebrate the release of his new cookbook, Au Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack. The colour book is full of recipes from his temporary and seasonal restaurant that’s known for serving traditional sugar shack fare with a Picard twist (think equal parts gluttony and innovation, with plenty of foie gras and other gut-busting ingredients). As part of a three-city tour, Picard partnered with Oliver & Bonacini corporate executive chef Anthony Walsh for “Canoe Shack Up,” a $185 maple syrup–laden five-course menu which volleyed between recipes developed by the two chefs. Supported by the crews from Cabane à Sucre au Pied de Cochon and Canoe (led by John Horne), and fortified by some excellent VQA wines, the event saw a ton of big-name Toronto chefs and restaurant owners in the 110-guest audience, including the folks from Beast, Campagnolo, Enoteca Sociale, The Gabardine, Malena, Parts & Labour, Trevor and Hamilton’s Earth to Table Bread Bar feasting and imbibing as Picard held court and signed books. For a look at the crowd and the entire sugar shack-inspired menu (not to mention some behind-the-scenes silliness), check out our slideshow »

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March 22, 2012 | 10:53 am

Quoted: A whole bunch of Vancouver food people on whether their city is on the cutting edge

If you compare us to New York, no. If you compare us to Regina, yeah.

— Brad Miller, chef and owner of Vancouver’s Red Wagon, responding to the question of whether Vancouver is on the cutting edge of culinary trends. The quote comes from an interesting piece in the Georgia Straight which surveyed 100 people in the industry about their city’s standing in the culinary world. Some lauded the city’s Asian cuisine and pointed to the new Japadog location that recently opened in New York. Others lamented the only very recent rise of the macaron and Neapolitan pizza, a sure sign that the city is behind the times. Vikram Vij argued that Vancouver’s sheer indifference to trends is what makes it, well, trendy. Sure, the piece has little to do with Toronto. But sometimes it’s just nice to see evidence that Toronto isn’t the only Canadian city with the occasional crippling inferiority complex. [Georgia Straight]

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March 14, 2012 | 5:11 pm

How Toronto restaurants are dealing with the vexing problem of no-shows

Where are all my patrons? (Image: Ricardo Liberato)

Unlike skipping out on a party you’d promised to attend on Facebook, failing to show up for a restaurant reservation is a pretty big deal—to the restaurants involved, at least. An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal details the lengths some restaurateurs are going to in a bid to discourage people from skipping out on their reservations. Some spots now require anyone booking a table to provide their credit card number, while others (e.g. Noma, the Best Restaurant in the World) will flip you off over the Internet if you no-show. In Australia, some owners are even taking to Twitter-based naming and shaming. And then there’s Next in Chicago, where customers have to buy a ticket to land a table—it’s like the most fun part of eating out, combined with the least fun part of going to the movies. We called around to see how Toronto restaurants were dealing with the latest epidemic of bad dining etiquette.

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March 13, 2012 | 5:21 pm
Real estate mogul Shane Baghai to launch a chain of…burger restaurants? 

While news of a new entrant into the city’s red-hot burger market might not shake Toronto’s battle-tested burger kings, they might be a little nervous to hear that the new guy is a real estate mogul who owns a farm and raises hundreds of head of cattle. When Shane Baghai’s wife developed breast cancer, the Star reports, a nutritionist advised that she avoid beef, which can be laced with hormones and “pink slime” (Google it). Instead, Baghai, who made his fortune selling homes and condos, started raising his own hormone-free cows. The 450-odd grass-fed and hormone-free animals on Baghai’s Paradise Farms will serve as the foundation for the three burger restaurants he plans to open in the GTA. He wants to open 30 locations in five years, which sounds ambitious enough, but according to the Star, “he’s not ruling out hundreds of Paradise Farms Cafes…during his lifetime.” Our message to him: good luck on that. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »

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March 9, 2012 | 4:01 pm

Friday Night Bites: tables for two at Auberge du Pommier, Aria and Keriwa

FRIDAY NIGHT BITESIt’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: Auberge du Pommier, Aria and Keriwa.

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March 5, 2012 | 1:01 pm

Niagara Street Café’s new owners Tobey Nemeth and Michael Caballo to relaunch it as Edulis

Edulis owners Michael Caballo and Tobey Nemeth, spied this weekend at Hooked (Image: Signe Langford)

We already reported that Anton Potvin, until recently owner of the Niagara Street Café, had found buyers for his much-loved locale. Now we can tell you who they are: husband-and-wife chefs Tobey Nemeth and Michael Caballo, who flew into Toronto last week to sign the paperwork and flew out again the next day. “We have to go to Vancouver to pick up our stuff, but we’ll be back in a week and we’re really excited to be back in Toronto,” Nemeth told us. “We tried Vancouver, but we didn’t love it. I think Toronto has the most exciting dining scene in Canada and this is where we want to be for the rest of our lives.”

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