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Weekly Lunch Pick: the fajita bar at Carnicero’s, St. Lawrence Market’s newest butcher shop

The chicken fajita at Carnicero’s (Image: Andrew Brudz)

Late last year, Witteveen Meats manager Brad Noonan took over the Manos Meats stand down the hall at St. Lawrence Market, and, after giving the place a revamp, renamed it Carnicero’s (Spanish for butcher). The new space features 60 feet of gleaming display space and a custom-made fajita bar, perfect for post-holiday culinary budgets and diets (and for grabbing something for dinner while you’re grabbing something for lunch).

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The Informer

From the Print Edition

October 12, 2011 | 12:05 pm

14 Comments

Tony Keller: How group buying sites have spawned a breed of fickle, bargain-addicted consumers that will never pay full freight again

By Tony Keller | Photo Illustration by Lindsay Page

The Price is Wrong

Late last year, Marlon Pather, owner of a midtown meat shop called The Butchers, embarked on an ambitious plan to sell thousands of online coupons. Like other merchants seized by the daily deal mania of websites such as Groupon, he thought that his deep discounting would bring in new shoppers. It did. He quickly became Canada’s biggest coupon merchant, selling 22,000 coupons, worth millions of dollars, in a few months. Pather thought the new customers would redeem the value of their coupons gradually, but they cashed in all at once. By spring, he realized that his loss leader strategy had turned into a straight loss. Customers were lined up around the block, and the fridge was constantly running out of stock. The coupon clients came for the discount—$400 worth of steaks and burgers for just $100—but every time the cash register rang, Pather lost money. And his established clients, who until then had been willing to pay full price, were having trouble even getting into the store.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

July 8, 2011 | 10:45 am

1 Comment

A gourmand’s guide to haute dogs for the grill

Innovative butchers are digging up old family recipes and mixing exotic meats with offbeat flavourings By Eric Vellend

(Image: Christopher Stevenson)

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

March 30, 2011 | 10:05 am

60 Comments

Best New Restaurants 2011

Oysters from Frank's Kitchen

This year’s crop of restaurants, from a million-dollar dining room to a brazen burger joint, pushed Toronto’s culinary culture in creative, comforting and blessedly cheap directions. Here, the 10 new spots that are redefining the way we eat, drink and play in the city By Chris Nuttall-Smith | Photography by Ryan Szulc

See the list »

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The Informer

From the Print Edition

March 10, 2011 | 8:42 am

5 Comments

Meet five Bay Street escapees who left six-figure jobs to work for themselves

They left six-figure corporate jobs for the queasy uncertainty of self-employment. Tales of emptied bank accounts and the elusive but oh-so-sweet gratification of running your own shop By Denise Balkissoon | Photography by Daniel Ehrenworth

The Candy Man

Tim English, 46
Then: Bay Street lawyer
Now: owner of Chocolateria

I started my Bay Street career as a labour and employment lawyer at Filion Wakele Thorup Angeletti in 1991. Then I moved to Ontario Power Generation for eight years, and after that to Direct Energy for about a year and a half. I had a high salary, about $250,000, and was on the cusp of moving up into the executive ranks, but in the back of my head, I’d always wanted to run my own business and work for myself. In the summer of 2009, when I turned 45, I decided it was time.

My first step was to study every shopping district in the city, to figure out what kind of business appealed to me and which neighbourhood was booming. I realized chocolate is really hot right now. I had taken baking classes at George Brown College for fun and enjoyed it. So I set up a production kitchen in my house and rented a candy kiosk at the Downsview farmers’ market for three months last summer. I wouldn’t call it a hugely successful apprenticeship: the chocolate melted in the summer heat, and I ended up giving most of it away. Also, Downsview doesn’t attract a demographic that buys quality chocolate and pastries.

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The Dish

Neighbourhoods

November 2, 2010 | 3:00 am

27 Comments

Bloor West Village Guide: our 20 favourite places between High Park and the Humber

Though solidly yuppified, this erstwhile eastern European enclave has held on to its tradition of thriving small businesses. Neighbours are genuinely chummy, moms trade intel on good nannies and bad teachers (between Pilates classes in the park), and the main drag offers almost everything. By Crystal Luxmore, Photographs by Emma McIntyre

Start the Bloor West Village tour »

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

August 4, 2010 | 12:08 pm

Comments

Best of the City 2010: 14 picks for the top food in Toronto

Leaf fan: Matchbox Gardens grows rare and wonderful lettuces (Image: Jay Shuster)

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The Dish

Neighbourhoods

July 29, 2010 | 5:00 am

41 Comments

The Dundas West Guide: our 21 favourite places between Ossington and Lansdowne

The strip of Dundas West between Ossington and Lansdowne has not been immune to the wild gentrification going on directly south of it. New restaurants, stores and bars have been cropping up for the past couple of years (Red Canoe, a swank Canadiana shop, opened two weeks ago), but there is a hesitation in the ’hood to turn Little Portugal and Brockton Village into the next Ossington. Incoming business owners make a point of blending in with the long-standing family-owned bakeries, soccer bars and pho stops. Even in new establishments, the decor has a thrift shop feel, and the prices cater to locals rather than destination diners. From east to west, here are our 21 favourite Dundas West spots for cheap eats, good music and authentic Portuguese cuisine. By Karon Liu. Photos by Jenna Marie Wakani.

The Dish

Neighbourhoods

April 22, 2010 | 4:01 am

41 Comments

The Roncesvalles Guide: Our 25 favourite eating and shopping destinations along Parkdale’s Polish drag

Referred to as Little Poland by long-time residents and Roncey by the younger crowd, the Roncesvalles strip is one of the few neighbourhoods in the city that has earned its “hip” label without been invaded by raucous nightlifers. Progress keeps marching forward here, despite an ongoing road rehabilitation project that has claimed a few business causalities. We recommend spending a spring Saturday visiting these 25 spots. By Karon Liu. Pictures by Jenna Wakani.

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The Goods

From the Print Edition

March 30, 2010 | 10:33 am

1 Comment

Matt Galloway: 10 things I can’t live without

The new host of Metro Morning, the city’s top-rated wake-up show, shares 10 things he can’t live without

Soccer season
I’ve had Toronto FC tickets behind the home net since the first year. I go with a big group of friends and friends of friends. We’re Toronto sports fans, so we’re sort of bonded in misery. It’s all about measured optimism.

Christie Pits Park
I’ve lived in the same neighbourhood for 20 years, so I’ve seen the park change from being sort of sketchy to a place where you can take your kids. It’s where I taught my daughter to skate.

My neighbourhood butcher
I go to Vince Gasparro’s Meat Market (857 Bloor St. W., 416-534-7122), around the corner from my house. I was a vegetarian for 14 years, and when I decided to start eating meat again, I wanted to know where it was coming from. Gasparro’s has amazing lamb and huge Mennonite farm–raised chickens. The guys there are so much fun, it’s like an old-fashioned barbershop.

My man purse
About six years ago, I decided to graduate from the starving student backpack. As soon as I saw this one, I just sort of knew. It’s the perfect size.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

March 5, 2010 | 5:23 pm

Comments

Eat the Oscars: 10 Toronto dishes—one for every best picture nominee

Hosting an Oscars party is going to be tough this year. With 10 nominations for best picture, instead of the usual five, making movie-themed munchies will be twice as hard. To help Toronto hosts get their bearings, we suggest the following dishes from across the city, each inspired by the films hoping for the ultimate Academy prize.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

February 2, 2010 | 11:02 am

6 Comments

Neighbourhood butchers gain popularity, sex appeal

Time to toss out the cliché image of the neighbourhood butcher as a balding, blood-soaked hulk. The National Post is reporting a “renewed interest in butchery,” thanks in part to such publications as GQ and the New York Times fetishizing the men who wield the cleavers. Calling the butcher “the new rock star of the culinary world,” the Post says that the local butcher shop is a thriving business, recession or not.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

January 28, 2010 | 11:45 am

4 Comments

Five 2010 trends to watch: we ask Jamie Kennedy, Anthony Walsh, David Lee and other chefs what to look for in the coming year

Bespoke bread from Marc Thuet (Photo by Renée Suen)

It’s no secret that 2009 was rough for restaurants—“It’s a year a lot of restaurateurs are happy to see go,” says C5’s Ted Corrado—but with the new year almost a month old, optimism is back on the table. We talked to some of the city’s top chefs about five culinary trends for the coming year.

1. Less Is More
Small, chef-run restaurants that are down-to-earth in both atmosphere and culinary style. Chef Jamie Kennedy, who’s focusing on the Gilead Bistro, a decidedly more casual restaurant than the Wine Bar he sold last fall, anticipates more “chef-driven” spots like J.P. Challet’s Ici Bistro and Grant van Gameren’s Black Hoof. Claudio Aprile, who’s working on his second restaurant, Origin, agrees: “I’m hoping that we see a lot more restaurants that are open kitchen, 30 seats, three line cooks.”

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The Dish

Read All About It

January 12, 2010 | 8:36 am

1 Comment

World bitters shortage, the end of “foodie,” early bird specials as youth fad

• A hiatus at the Angostura Bitters plant in Trinidad has resulted in a paucity of the boozy drink ingredient at American bars. The recent resurgence of such old-timey drinks as manhattans, old-fashioneds and dark and stormys has led to a rise in the use of bitters in fashionable bars everywhere. Freemans in New York City (think Le Petit Castor, but on the Lower East Side) is reporting that suppliers are rationing three bottles per account, on-line retailer BevMo is sold out, and San Francisco bartenders are canvassing the city, looking to hoard the stuff. At least some bars here in Toronto aren’t suffering—they’re making their own. [Grub Street]

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The Dish

Read All About It

August 18, 2009 | 9:23 am

1 Comment

The best chef in the world, butchers as sex symbols, Drake wants to open a T.O. restaurant

Vampire sighting: Kristen ??? was spotted in Vancouver

Vampire sighting: Kristen Stewart was spotted at a Vancouver sushi restaurant this week, dining with co-star Robert Pattinson (Photo by Laura Ramos)

• Rapper and Degrassi alum Drake says he wants to open a restaurant in Toronto, but he’s also planning another album and a few films, so the culinary dream might be a few years off. The “Best I Ever Had” singer is known to be a fan of Vivoli, so we wouldn’t be surprised if his potential menu included pizza and cocktails. [Rap Up]

• Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were seen celebrating at Miko Sushi in Vancouver last weekend. The pair is in town to film the third Twilight movie, Eclipse. We assume he left a generous tip this time; the servers at Il Cantinori in New York weren’t pleased when he left them a paltry 14 per cent. [New York Daily News]

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