(Image: Christopher Drost)

After his transit plan was defeated at yesterday’s special council meeting, Rob Ford hopped on the TTC and rode straight into the open arms of his supposed supporters: the good people of Scarborough. According to some late-night tweets from a Ford staffer (who else?), the mayor was riding the Eglinton SRT until 1 a.m., followed by a ride on an Eglinton bus around 2 a.m. We know talking to the people—and occasionally moving their sand—energizes Ford, so perhaps this is his photo-friendly way of licking his wounds (hey, it’s better than pounding back a bottle of Wild Turkey in his undies). Or maybe he’s trying to rally his Scarborough troops while he “forges ahead” with his defeated transit plan—for some reason, there’s already talk of a referendum. Either way, we like the good folks at Reddit’s idea for his next transit trip: a ride on the Finch bus during rush hour. Read the entire story [Toronto Sun] »

Shoot ’em up (Image: Aeroshot)

After marvelling (and despairing a little) at breathable chocolate and bacon inhalers, only the latter of which turned out to be an April Fool’s joke, we were curious as to what the next breathable wonder to hit the market would be. Enter the AeroShot, a lipstick-sized tube containing four to six puffs (about 100 mg) of calorie-free, lime-flavoured caffeine. Developed by the same Harvard scientist who created Le Whif inhalable chocolate, the device is being promoted as an alternative to the oh-so gruelling task of drinking coffee or energy drinks: “pure energy” with “no liquid to slow you down or fill you up.”

Those claims have spooked some people. The product’s recent launch in the U.S. (it’s not yet available in Canada) rekindled worries about the hazards of pairing alcohol with caffeine. “Aeroshot is nothing more than a club drug or a party enhancer designed to give the user the ability to drink until they drop,” U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said at a press conference. He has a point—studies apparently show that people consume more alcohol when it’s paired with energy drinks. Still, to be fair, Breathable Foods, which makes the Aeroshot, is warning users to cap their consumption at three tubes per day and scrupulously avoids mentioning any late-night applications on its website. So who exactly is the product for, then? “Athletes, college students or any of us passing long days at the office.” This is starting to make more sense all of a sudden.

• Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix [Associated Press]

Tanya Taylor fall/winter 2012 (Images: Billy Farrell Agency)

While New York Fashion Week officially kicked off today, the week’s jam-packed schedule means shows have been running since yesterday morning. Among those early birds was Toronto-born Tanya Taylor, who debuted her eponymous fall/winter 2012 collection with a tea room–themed presentation at an art gallery in Midtown West. Taylor spent two years as a designer for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s Elizabeth and James brand before launching her own label, and we could see the influence of that line’s relaxed fits and eclectic outlook in her 17 looks. Covetable items? A short grey wool dress paired with a slim medallion-printed sweater, and all of Taylor’s chic tapered pants. Check out all of Taylor’s debut looks in our gallery after the jump.

Taylor’s mixing prints and textures revealed a sense of whimsy—corroborated by names like “peach pop Fancy Woodpecker Sadie pant”—but she pulled back from the brink of twee with relaxed fits and masculine tailoring. We also dug the ’60s thread running through the collection, from a cream swing coat to several fluffy angora pullovers. A wool herringbone jumpsuit was less successful (the jumpsuit trend has lingered far too long), but overall, a strong start for Taylor—and for fashion week.

Check out Tanya Taylor’s 17 fall/winter 2012 looks from New York Fashion Week »

This is the capital of Canada. This is not Minneapolis; this is not Houston.

—Councillor Frank Di Giorgio, speaking out against LRTs at yesterday’s council meeting, appears to have gotten a little confused. He’s right—Toronto isn’t Minneapolis or Houston. Unfortunately, though, it isn’t the capital of Canada—even if it often acts like it is.

Massimo Di Lascio making a pizza (Image: Caroline Aksich)

For those tired of Terroni’s traditionalism, Libretto’s lineups and the long ride on the 501 out to Queen Margherita, there’s a new, laid-back Neapolitan-style pizza operation in town: Via Mercanti. The latest addition to Kensington Market is helmed by two Sicilian expats, Romolo Salvati and Massimo Di Lascio, who both have some serious pizza pedigree—they left the Queen Margherita only two months ago to set up shop in the recently shuttered Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill, where Salvati was once the chef. Their new venture reflects both of their passions: pizza and coffee.

The duo met back in Salerno over 10 years ago. Salvati ran an espresso bar adjacent to Di Lascio’s pizzeria on Mercanti Street (Di Lascio has more than a quarter century of pizzaioloing behind him). “Mercanti” being Italian for “market,” the pair decided the name was perfect to represent their Italian past and their Kensington present. This unassuming pizzeria may not have the now-standard haute-rustic feel of so many new restaurants in Toronto, but it’s not without its charms. The window display consists of an Italian flag–bedecked soccer ball, cans of Italian-imported tomatoes and bags of flour. Inside, there’s a concrete wraparound bar, simple oak tables, recessed pot lighting and a selection of espresso-based paintings by Toronto artist Francesco Gallé. Oh, and staying true to the owners’ Italian roots, there’s also a 50-inch TV for football matches.

Tubs of freshly made campanelle (a type of pasta named after little bells) sit on the counter, ready to be used in scarpariello: a simple dish of campanelle, a Salerno-style tomato sauce and a tuft of finely chopped basil ($14). Of course, the main attraction is the pies. Behind the glass display of fresh pizza-ready ingredients, it seems like the entire ex–Queen Margherita staff is busy cooking. Dough is quickly pulled and then dressed with a simple tomato sauce base, fior di latte (sourced from Woodbridge) and toppings like ham, mushrooms and sun-dried Italian black olives (which together make a capricciosa, $13). Next, the pizzaiolo slides the whole thing onto a pizza shovel and into one of the two brick ovens for 60 to 85 seconds. The eponymous house pizza ($16) is a (probably unholy) mashup of a calzone and a traditional pizza. This Frankenstein of a pie starts with a white pizza base (buffalo ricotta, ham, salami and a mushroom medley) that’s topped with an entire margherita pizza—we’re assuming those without caveman appetites need not apply.

Pizzeria Via Mercanti, 188 Augusta Ave., 647-34306647

Joe Fresh has announced that, much like every young adult (and old adult reading young adult fiction on the TTC), it’s a fan of The Hunger Games: the company recently partnered with the popular franchise. Hungry Hungarians who want to see the Toronto premiere of the film are in luck, because Joe Freezy wants to set one person up with a flight (if required), a hotel, two tickets to the red carpet premiere and a $500 gift card for Joe Fresh (perhaps to buy the skirt Coco Rocha wore on the cover of Flare magazine, or maybe the Finnish flag dress Andrej Pejic sported for Fashion?). While it would be more appropriate to have a Battle Royale–style brawl for the tickets, it appears all you have to do is enter online.

(Images: Hunger Games, screengrab; Joe Fresh, Jenna Marie Wakani)

After a lengthy special council meeting to debate the city’s overarching transit plan, where Rob Ford and his allies repeatedly and passionately championed the mayor’s “I’m building subways” proposal, Ford declared that the whole meeting was irrelevant. Of course, what the mayor really meant was that he found the final vote—to support a return to a light rail–based, decidedly above-ground transit plan—irrelevant.

The Toronto Star has the details:

In an extraordinary dismissal of city council’s will, Mayor Rob Ford has called his resounding defeat on Wednesday over Toronto’s transit plan irrelevant.

He is urging the province to build subways even though council voted 25-18 in favour of an above-ground LRT plan and Queen’s Park indicated it will listen.

“Technically speaking, that whole meeting was irrelevant,” said the mayor, after councillors voted to go with a competing transit plan championed by his former ally, TTC chair Councillor Karen Stintz.

Ford went onto say he’s confident the province will continue to follow his own plan, dismissing council’s express will. Perhaps Ford was just flustered in the post-vote presser after a long day; still, even Denzil Minnan-Wong, one of his staunchest supporters, noted that the mayor was out of line. Though if council proceedings are as insignificant as Ford suggests, we have a vehicle registration tax that needs reinstating and a Jarvis bike lane worth saving for him.

• Special transit meeting: Mayor Rob Ford dismisses council’s vote against his subway plan [Toronto Star]
• Rob Ford takes a midnight ride on the TTC [Toronto Star]
• Ford on Stintz: ‘She stabbed me in the back’ [Toronto Sun]
• Ford pays price of obstinacy in council’s rebuke of his transit vision [Globe and Mail]
• Toronto council rides with Stintz on transit [ National Post]

The TAS651, one of the models being recalled (Image: Tassimo)

Canadians who like their cuppa joe produced through futuristic robotic labour will be upset to learn that nearly a million Tassimo coffee makers are being recalled in Canada, as well as about 800,000 units in the U.S. In case you’ve never used a Tassimo, the machines uses “T Discs”—small containers filled by one of the partner brands with coffee grinds, tea leaves or other stuff—to make single servings of hot beverages. Tattooed baristas might hate them for their prepackaged, pre-ground coffee; armchair environmentalists might direct their scorn at the packaging that goes in the trash with every cup. But the latest round of haters is more likely objecting to the burns they can cause. According to the Toronto Star, in the U.S. there have been 140 reports of the machines “dousing people” with scalding water. In 37 of those cases, the victims suffered second-degree burns. Apparently, the discs can explode during the brewing process, spraying hot water on the unlucky brewer—or, in one case, a two-year-old girl. Full details of the recall are available on the Tassimo website. If indeed this is the beginning of the robot uprising, it seems it will be well caffeinated. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »

Mary, Shannon, Gayle and Julia (Image: Four Weddings Canada)

This week, Four Weddings Canada showcases its first gay wedding. Naturally, given past reality TV show models, we’ve come to expect the gay contestant to be the sassiest. Not so for 38-year-old Gayle, who’s about as entertaining as a 12-hour wait in a hospital waiting room. Instead of sass, episode six gives us a battle for bitchdom, complete with some of the bluntest honesty we’ve heard to date and a bride we have to assume is an infant because she can’t understand how to eat a slice of kiwi with her bare hands (it’s just never been done before!). Find out who doesn’t like drag queens, who’s the worst person ever to her own mother and whose boobs look great in her dress in our Four Weddings Canada TV brief after the jump.

Gayle, age 38 (Budget: $10,000)
Snooze. Gayle should be so amazing to watch—she’s ex-military, she’s a lesbian, she has her wedding ceremony at a water park, and she hires a drag performer for her reception. But she’s like a ghost. Boo.

In a somewhat unorthodox turn, we’re nominating two brides for this week’s Head Bitch in Ceremony. Julia, because she’s awesome (funny and bitchy—we like), and Mary, because she might be the worst person in the world (she yelled at her mother at her wedding reception in front of everyone! Who does that?). She may even be worse than Taylor. Yes, Taylor.

(Oh, and Julia won the honeymoon.)

Eva Mendes is a satisfied woman (Image: Paul Hubble/FilmMagic)

Fans and admirers of Ryan Gosling will be unhappy to note that his girlfriend, Eva Mendes, is satisfied by their relationship. The couple worked together on The Place Beyond the Pines and have been spotted holding hands on more than one occasion, and now Mendes is going on the record saying she’s “never felt so creatively satisfied on a film. He’s amazing.” Creatively satisfied, or just satisfied? We’ll let the trailer for Girl in Progress answer that question.

• Eva Mendes Calls Boyfriend Ryan Gosling a ‘Dream’ [People]

Remember last year when Chris Cosentino, one of the pioneers of the offal revival, visited Toronto for undisclosed reasons and claimed he could smell Chinatown from three blocks away? Or when Richard Blais, the molecularly inclined winner of Top Chef All-Stars, tweeted about the interesting tasting menu he’d just lunched on in Toronto? Or when Italian food legend Lidia Bastianich dropped in at All the Best Fine Foods? Turns out they weren’t here just because they love us—they’re all guest judges on season two of Top Chef Canada. Other notable judges and tasters include—and let us be clear, this is a bit of a spoiler for those who really like to keep their Top Chef Canada viewing pure—east-coast chef Michael Smith, season one host Thea Andrews (no hard feelings, we guess!), chef-about-town Matty Matheson of Parts and Labour, Leafs assistant captain Colby Armstrong, Susur Lee and his soon-to-be restaurateur sons Kai and Jet Bent-Lee, Toca’s Tom Brodi, Roger Mooking, Top Chef Masters winner Marcus Samuelson, last season’s winner Dale MacKay and his adorable son Ayden, Keisha Chante, Rick the Temp Campanelli, Lorenzo Loseto of George, Charlie’s Burgers mastermind Franco Stalteri, husband-and-wife dynamos Marc Thuet and Biana Zorich, Odd Bits author Jennifer McLagan, Vancouver Indian restaurateur and chef Vikram Vij and assorted competitors from last season, not to mention the somewhat bizarro guests we already told you about, like Alan Thicke and Mike Holmes. (Whew!) Not bad.

The bar at Gusto 101 (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Gusto 101, the latest shiny new thing to appear in the perpetually-in-construction King West neighbourhood, opened its doors last Friday. Built out of a dilapidated old auto garage, Gusto 101 is still decidedly King West—and that’s exactly what owner Janet Zuccarini (Trattoria Nervosa), director of operations Jill McAbe and designer Alessandro Munge were going for. Inside, the bare cinderblock walls are outfitted with industrial-style light fixtures, and old licence plates hang on a wooden beam. The open kitchen shows off the restaurant’s centerpiece: a Tuscan-style wood-fire grill.

In the kitchen is executive chef Daniel Mezzolo, previously of Hockley Valley Resort. The dinner menu was designed mainly by Zuccarini and focuses on bold Italian flavours. There are antipasti, like char-grilled octopus ($13.49), and fritti, like arancini with wild mushrooms and fontina ($9). Of course, there’s pasta: rigatoni with braised oxtail ($13.79), ricotta gnocchi with pork sausage ($13.79) and pappardelle al funghi with portobello, oyster and porcini mushrooms and truffle paste in a light cream sauce ($14.79). The wood-fire oven is responsible for the pizzas like the polpette, with tomatoes, mozzarella, meatballs and smoked provolone ($13.79), and mains like Moroccan “brick chicken,” which is cooked sous-vide then finished on the grill and served with Swiss chard and garlic smashed potatoes ($17). Desserts come in mini-portions and include mascarpone tiramisu, dark chocolate mousse with caramel, olive oil and sea salt, and wild lemon air: aerated limoncello with fizzy candy, candied celery and a sprinkle of ground coffee ($3 each or $8.50 for a combo of all three).

On the drink menu: cocktails, a robust selection of Italian wines and Vini di Gusto, Gusto’s own wine, which is on tap for a buck an ounce. The wine is made in the restaurant’s own winery (located in the basement), where stainless steel vats of malbec and sauvignon blanc are hooked up to the taps upstairs. The operation is a branch of Vintage One, an urban winery based in the Junction.

Starting February 20, Gusto 101 will serve lunch, and brunch will follow in March. Come April, the restaurant’s huge 90-seat rooftop patio will open for dining or drinks, along with a streetside patio facing Portland.

Gusto 101, 101 Portland St., 416-504-9669, gusto101.com