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The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com
Bannock’s holiday tourtière
This time of year, it takes a strong will not to indulge, whether it be in the beautiful pastries and cakes spilling out of patisserie windows or the drinks at a holiday party. We say, why even try? We’ve rounded up some of our favourites, along with a few other gifts that your food-obsessed friends are sure to love (including one salve for those who’ve indulged just a little too much).
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Eat well and feed the hungry along the way—that’s the concept behind the annual What’s on the Table benefit being held this year on November 2. Since 2005, the fundraiser has gathered $1.5 million for The Stop, the innovative community food centre whose goal is to increase everyone’s access to healthy food (check out our interview with chef Chris Brown from shortly after he joined The Stop). Dining stations open at 6:30 p.m., and patrons won’t be starved for choice; the event features offerings from over 30 chefs, including Lynn Crawford of Ruby Watcho, Anthony Walsh of Canoe and pâtissier Nadège Nourian (see below for the very impressive full list).
Chef Joseph Bear Robe works the stoves at Keriwa, the city’s only Aboriginal restaurant (Image: Emma McIntyre)
In the basement hallway of Keriwa Café, there’s a row of photographs showing an Ojibwa man dancing through Paris in feathered powwow regalia. From the Louvre to the Champs Élysées, the stomping, rattle-shaking man appears in hyper-saturated colour, while the City of Light behind him is rendered in muted sepia, as if to invoke a noble past. But in the final image, the dancer leans over. As you look more closely, you see that he’s fiddling with something, an iPod connected to a ghetto blaster—Sitting Bull meets the b-boy crew. “You think you know me?” the photo seems to say.
(Image: Michelle Easton)
Loblaws is set to launch a line of gourmet products meant to compete with the likes of Pusateri’s or Mark McEwan’s grocery store McEwan, the auspiciously named President’s Choice Black Label. Indeed, they’re working with Toronto chefs like Marc Thuet and Anthony Walsh and macaron pushers Bobbette and Belle to introduce a tasting menu based on the products to 40 or 50 food writers and “influencers” at Parkdale’s Neubacher Shor Contemporary gallery on September 22. We got a sample at this week’s TIFF Tastemakers gifting lounge at the Intercontinental, where celebs were offered ginger-spiced chocolate, hickory-smoked olive oil, sweet chipotle dip and bacon marmalade.
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Inside Bannock, the new collaboration between Oliver and Bonacini and HBC (Image: Renée Suen)
It’s no secret that Hudson’s Bay Co. has undergone some big changes in recent years. The retailer’s revitalization project at its Queen Street flagship store, in partnership with Compass Group Canada and Oliver and Bonacini, is the first move toward a national conversion of its food services. To that end, it’s opened up two new restaurants aimed at attracting an increasingly food-conscious public: Foodwares Market, a modern food hall on the lower level, and Bannock, a new restaurant and café at the corner of Queen and Bay.
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Rob Gentile (Buca), David Lee (Nota Bene), Andrea Nicholson (Great Cooks on Eight), Paul Boehmer (Böhmer), Teo Paul (Union)
Two thousand of Toronto’s food lovers and makers gathered at the ROM on Sunday for the 21st edition of Toronto Taste. The annual fundraiser—which raises money for Second Harvest—saw more than 60 restaurants and 30 beverage purveyors offering their best to the guests. Burgers and tacos might have been the plats du jour, but new restaurant openings seemed to be the hottest item on the plates of many chefs and restaurateurs we spoke to. Here’s what we heard from Buca’s Rob Gentile, Woodlot’s David Haman, Scarpetta’s Scott Conant, Splendido’s Victor Barry, Top Chef Canada contestants Dustin Gallagher and Andrea Nicholson and many more.
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In response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week, a number of Toronto chefs and Ontario wine producers will be joining forces in a fundraiser on Sunday, March 27th, organized by Nobuyo Stadtländer, the business partner and wife of Michael Stadtländer.
(Image: Renée Suen)
After 16 years at the top, Canoe, one of the city’s culinary beacons, closed its doors on New Year’s Day for a renovation. Unlike most restaurants, they actually completed it on schedule. Although we previewed Canoe’s overhauled space during its Winterlicious opening, the Oliver and Bonacini flagship officially relaunched last week with a completed dining room and revamped menu, so we thought we’d take a closer look.
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After three new restaurant openings last year (O&B Canteen, Luma and O&B Café Grill), a $1 million facelift at Canoe and a host of new restaurants at Bay stores announced just last week, it seems as though nothing can hold Peter Oliver and Michael Bonacini back. Adding to their portfolio expansion, Oliver and Bonacini announced today that it will become the new food service provider at Muskoka’s historic Windermere House, one of the oldest hotels in Canada.
Once upon a wine list (Image: Matthew Fox)
On Tuesday, we found ourselves sitting at the chef’s rail at Canoe for the second night of the Oliver and Bonacini joint’s grand reopening (check out our peek at the renovated space). Executive chef Anthony Walsh stood nearby marvelling at the general lack of chaos, and we asked him how the opening was going. Sure, minor elements of the $1-million renovation remained incomplete—baseboards weren’t finished, soapstone counters weren’t treated—but all in all, Walsh told us, things were running smoothly. The biggest challenge for staff, he said, was the installation of a new, more efficient computer system (which resulted in a few servers huddling over monitors trying to figure out how to process gift cards).
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Fourteen years after first opening, Canoe is closing its door to undertake a major renovation starting New Year’s Day. The million-dollar revamp, which partner Michael Bonacini calls “a 30-day extravaganza,” will include top-to-bottom redecoration, Canadiana accents and a fresh menu. “We need to continue to reinvent to keep Canoe pointed true north,” says Bonacini, “and, of course, afloat.”
Chef Anthony Walsh’s mother taught him how to cook pork so tender you can eat it with a spoon. Here’s his recipe
(Photograph: Edward Pond; Illustration by Jack Dylan)
“I started cooking when I was about 14, largely because I hate doing dishes. I have four brothers and a sister, and growing up, we’d always have friends over. All we’d do is eat, eat, eat. My mother—Ann Coughlin, a good Irish girl—would cook up this amazing pork for the masses; for her, it was like water off a duck’s back. Her conviviality mixed with culinary know-how is what inspires me as a chef to this day. Cooking for someone is one of the most intimate things you can do. You have to take time to take care of your guests. At Canoe, our version of her braised pork is about as comforting as it gets. We’ll never be able to take it off the menu.” Read the rest of this entry »
This past Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of Toronto Taste, the annual event that unites Toronto’s food lovers and food makers for a day of innovative cooking, tasking and fundraising for Second Harvest. 60 of Toronto’s top chefs—including Jason Bangerter, Donna Dooher, Chris McDonald, Mark McEwan, Anthony Walsh and Anne Yarymowich—doled out top-notch cuisine to an estimated 1,600 guests at the ROM. We caught up with the chefs and asked them what’s in store for them and their restaurants this summer.
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