Luscious Italian cheeses are the best things to emerge from Toronto’s enduring rustic Italian infatuation. From buffalo milk ricotta to burrata, the finest mozz-and-cream concoction ever invented, they turn a simple starter into an eye-closing, table-pounding affair.
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Introducing: Bar Vespa, a new Italian-inspired room in Liberty Village
Bar Vespa, FAB Concepts’ new Liberty Village restaurant and bar
After opening the Sugar Beach–fronting Against the Grain in June, FAB Concepts, the group behind places like Mill Street Brewpub and The Pour House, is now launching Bar Vespa. Located in Liberty Village next door to their Brazen Head pub—and right across from the new Williams Landing—Bar Vespa was inspired by a recent trip through Tuscany by co-owner Sean Bayley and his partners.
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New Reviews: Wvrst and Mavrik
A modern beer-and-sausage hall on King and a quintessential wine bar on Queen
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WVRST 
609 King St. W., 416-703-7775
Chef Aldo Lanzillotta’s modern “sausage and beer hall and other wonders,” as he’s called it, is exactly what it sounds like: long plywood communal tables and bench seating run the length of the stripped-down space that used to be Marc Thuet’s convict-run restaurant, Conviction. There are 18 house-made sausage options, from traditional (Italian, boerewors, kranjska) to vegetarian (tofu kolbasa that tastes like malnutrition) to game (venison, kangaroo and duck, which tastes like chicken liver). The crowd is young and worldly, for the most part: plaid shirts and Topshop playsuits who see the delicious irony in conservative Bavarian-Italian fare served on King West. The food is good, though limited—fennel-rich pork sausage, for instance, grilled over a gas flame and topped with caramelized onions on a grilled bun. The duck fat–fried French fries are crispy and intensely potato-y, though they’re only marginally different from the ones fried in plain vegetable oil. The beer list, curated by Stephen Beaumont of Beerbistro, is one of the best in town and includes bottlings from Quebec’s outstanding Dieu du ciel microbrewery, plus plenty of local independents like Flying Monkeys, and one-litre steins of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Lanzillotta’s self-service concept is bold and a little annoying. Customers order and pay at the open kitchen, and runners then bring out the food when it’s ready. You have to leave your credit card at the bar or settle your bill each time you get another round. If you want to order more, you have to line up again. “Please tip,” the menu nonetheless advises. “The runners who deliver your food and happily clean up after you would truly appreciate your generosity.”
Matthew DeMille, formerly of Parts and Labour, takes the helm as Enoteca Sociale’s new chef
Rocco Agostino and Matthew DeMille, both of Enoteca Sociale (Image: Renée Suen)
Earlier this month, Enoteca Sociale, the popular west-end Italian wine bar, posted a notice on their website that their long search for a new chef was over. Executive chef and co-owner Rocco Agostino told us that the restaurant was looking for someone willing to take the concept of the Roman-style wine bar and make it their own. Their pick? Matthew DeMille, most recently known as Matty Matheson’s sous chef at Parts and Labour; his new gig starts tomorrow.
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Introducing: Mavrik Wine Bar, a laid-back Queen West hangout run by two escapees from the corporate world
Mavrik Wine Bar’s cozy room with an open kitchen in the back (Image: Davida Aronovitch)
Mavrik Wine Bar, a cozy new place replacing the Korean spot San, quietly opened a couple weeks ago one door east of Queen West staple Czehoski. Following the lead of DeKefir, Prairie Girl Bakery and these guys, co-owners Joanne Park and Elizabeth Choi have done what so many cubicle-slaves only dream of. The childhood pals left high-paid corporate jobs to open their ideal hangout spot: a homey wine bar—hold the pretension. “We left our cares behind,” says Elizabeth, a former Wall Street trader whose love of wine was inspired by hip New York hubs like Terroir and Blue Ribbon.
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The Weekender: Drake Spring Market, Hot Docs and six other events on our to-do list
Saint Hollywood by Uta Bekaia, Kate and Will and Buca chef Rob Gentile
1. DRAKE SPRING MARKET (FREE!) Read the rest of this entry »
By some miracle, this Saturday’s forecast promises a one-day respite from the non-stop April showers we’ve been seeing. Which means we won’t need to don our winter jacket at The Drake’s spring market this weekend. The one-day-only market, right at the corner of Queen and Beaconsfield, offers up jewellery, cards and artwork by local artisans, as well as amazing discounts on The Drake General Store’s cute and quirky merchandise. April 30. Queen St. W. and Beaconsfield Ave., 416-531-5042, thedrakehotel.ca/market.
Q&A with David Kinch: the celebrated California chef on terroir, Terroir and Toronto
David Kinch at last year’s Terroir (Image: Alexa Clark)
Last week, we brought you a Q&A with “nose-to-tail” pioneer Fergus Henderson (St. John Bar & Restaurant), who will be making the keynote speech at tomorrow’s Terroir symposium. Recently, we also had the opportunity to speak with last year’s keynote speaker, David Kinch, about his impressions of the event (he’s attending this year as well). Kinch, chef and proprietor of Manresa in Los Gatos, California, is renowned for his terroir-driven cuisine, made possible by an exclusive partnership with LoveApple Farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains. His food has garnered high praise from critics and gourmands, winning him the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific in 2010. Manresa also has two Michelin stars and is listed as the world’s 86th best restaurant by Restaurant magazine.
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Introducing: Toca, refined Canadiana at the Ritz-Carlton
Back in October, we reported that chef Tom Brodi (formerly of Canoe, North 44 and Gramercy Tavern in New York, under Tom Colicchio) would be behind the new Ritz-Carlton’s signature restaurant. When the luxury hotel opened last week, we got our first glimpse at Brodi’s year-long project, Toca (the name is a play on TOronto, CAnada).
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Toronto’s six best local cheeses
Canada’s cheeses are competing against Old World classics at the city’s finest cheesemongers. Here, six stinky stunners
1. Monforte Dairy Halloumi
This sheep’s milk cheese is exceptional brushed with olive oil, grilled or pan-fried, then eaten hot; the crusty exterior gives way to a squeaky-chewy interior. Available March through November at various farmers’ markets, including St. Lawrence Market North (93 Front St. E., 416-392-7120) on Saturdays. $2.50/100g.
2. Glengarry Cheesemaking’s Lankaaster Gouda Read the rest of this entry »
About Cheese carries this pasteurized cow’s milk cheese from Ontario. It’s mellow enough to appeal to the stink-phobic, but complex enough to charm hardcore fromageophiles. The slightly sweet paste with a semi-firm texture makes for an awesome nibble or an upscale addition to a sandwich. $6.85/100g. 483 Church St. (at Wellesley St. E.), 416-925-8659.
Inside the fridge of chef Marc Thuet and restaurateur Biana Zorich
In our new series, Crisper Chronicles, we ask the city’s top food personalities to let us into their most intimate alimentary enclave: the home refrigerator. This week, chef Marc Thuet and his wife, front-of-house master Biana Zorich—both back in Toronto after shooting a new season of Conviction Kitchen in Vancouver—talk about the treasures (and trash) that lurk in their icebox.
Marc Thuet closes Conviction for good, but has two new restaurants in the works
Biana Zorich and Marc Thuet at the opening of Conviction in 2009 (Image: Karon Liu)
Just over a year after opening Conviction—the third incarnation of their flagship restaurant—chef Marc Thuet and partner Biana Zorich have closed the restaurant for good. A lapsed lease has spelled the end of team Thuet’s presence on King Street West—and the end of an era, seeing as the couple was among the first to colonize what is now a hot restaurant strip. Now they’re turning their attention to places as close as Rosedale and as far away as Alsace. Anywhere, they say, but King West.
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Real Simple: Chris Nuttall-Smith takes on Enoteca Sociale and La Bettola di Terroni
Enoteca Sociale doesn’t look like much, and the cooking isn’t fancy. But this humble Dundas West spot is a revelation
(Image: Lorne Bridgman)
We’re at the bar, waiting, when the anchovies arrive: five little slivers glinting like late sun off a rippled cove. They’re fresh, quick-cured with salt and lemon, laid out over buffalo mozzarella rounds and tomato that’s drizzled with deep green oil. The dish looks almost too simple to be restaurant food. The fish taste bright and bracing, perfectly balanced against the sweet tomato and delicate cheese. Our server made the anchovies, she tells us, blushing. She’s also a prep cook. Came in at nine this morning to do a vat of them herself.
Later, on a patio that feels like a piazza, we eat artichokes fried light and crisp like you get them in Rome, then unforgettable sweetbreads, and a vortex of perfect bucatini all’amatriciana, tossed with guanciale and slicked with just enough fiery tomato sauce to make it pink. I get my fork in twice before my tablemates finish it off.
Toronto has plenty of good Italian restaurants, and if you’re willing to pay a fortune for dinner, a couple that are great—Noce, Via Allegro on a good night. But Enoteca Sociale, which opened this summer in a humble room on Dundas West, is unlike any other Italian spot in the city. The Roman-inspired cooking is utterly simple—few of the dishes have more than four or five visible ingredients—and generally brilliant. It’s free of ego, built around fresh, seasonal, impeccable produce, rooted in solid technique. The place is ambitious but surprisingly cheap, a great Italian restaurant that costs less than most of the merely good ones. I find myself counting down the days between visits. Even amid a bona fide Italian boom, it’s hard to find cooking this accomplished at three times the price. Read the rest of this entry »
Toronto chefs serve up free sample dishes for Cheese Boutique tasting series
Now bargain-hunting foodies have something to look forward to that doesn’t end in -licious. Starting September 11, the Cheese Boutique is hosting an eight-week tasting series that will feature a different top Toronto chef each Saturday afternoon. From noon to 4 p.m., there will be complimentary sample dishes made by the featured chef using at least one of Cheese Boutique’s products. The chef lineup includes Café du Lac‘s Bernadette Calpito, the Black Hoof‘s Grant Van Gameren, Pizzeria Libretto‘s Rocco Agostino and O&B Café Grill‘s Markus Bestig. See the event’s Facebook page for complete details.
Cheese Boutique, 45 Ripley Ave. (at South Kingsway), 416-762-6292, cheeseboutique.com.
The Weekender: The Secret World of Og, a cheese festival and five other things to do this weekend
Toronto's famed Cheese Boutique hosts this weekend's chefs festival (Image: Chris Buecheler)
1. THE SECRET WORLD OF OG Read the rest of this entry »
Based on Pierre Berton’s much-loved children’s novel, this Canadian Children’s Opera Company-produced show follows four kids (leader Penny and her siblings Pamela, Peter and Patsy) who, while searching for their mysteriously missing little brother, Paul, visit an underground land populated by green-skinned residents can say only one word: “Og.” Originally published in 1961, the tale has been made into an animated series, but this is the first time the story has taken opera form. May 6 to 9. $35. Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 231 Queens Quay W., 416-973-4000, harbourfrontcentre.com.
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