There are few amongst the lactose tolerant who can resist the pull of a grilled cheese sandwich. At least that’s what Kevin Durkee and Tom Douangmixay, the owners of Cheesewerks, are counting on, joining the likes of the Grilled Cheese in Kensington Market and The Construction Site at Yonge and Eglinton. We got a glimpse of the shop’s offerings during its stint at the Distillery’s Christmas market. Last week, they officially launched their new Bathurst Street shop.
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GALLERY: Our 10 edible picks from this year’s Toronto Christmas Market (mulled wine very much included)
The organic waffles at Über Delicious (Image: Caroline Aksich)
You don’t have to be a wide-eyed, rosy-cheeked tot to enjoy the second annual Toronto Christmas Market at the Distillery District. Heck, you don’t even have to be the world’s greatest fan of carollers and reindeer songs—because the edible offerings at this year’s cheery fest are the perfect remedy for holiday exasperation (especially the mulled wine). We hit the Distillery’s cobbled streets to seek out the best the market had to offer. Here’s what we found.
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Loblaws: worth switching Kensington Market around for?
After years at 297 College St., the monks of the Zen Buddhist Temple are decamping to quieter (and presumably more meditation-friendly) digs at St. Clair and Bathurst. As The Grid reports, their old building has wound up in the hands of Tribute Communities, which has plans of its own for the site. Assuming the city gives the thumbs-up, Tribute is hoping to construct a 15-storey condo tower with about 20,000 square feet of retail space at the base. Rumour has it that Loblaws is negotiating for the spot. The company remains tight-lipped, but a new location did open in another Tribute property at Queen and Portland just last week (like the new Maple Leaf Gardens location, it has a cheese wall). Local businesses, which would find it difficult to compete with the grocery giant’s prices, selection and hours, are predictably anxious. “I don’t want to see a Loblaws there,” Yvonne Bambrick, coordinator of the Kensington Market BIA, told The Grid. “I think that is extremely bad news for the neighbourhood. I don’t even want to see it being discussed.” It could be argued that independent grocers don’t deserve special protection in a free market, but really—unless it’s going to have four cheese walls and a cheese ceiling, the city probably doesn’t need another Loblaws downtown. Read the entire story [The Grid] »
Introducing: Stasis Local Foods, the new Roncesvalles emporium for all things pickled and jarred (and preferably local)
Inside Stasis Local Foods, looking out onto Roncesvalles (Image: Caroline Aksich)
Up at the northern tip of Roncesvalles, just south of Dundas, sits the neighbourhood’s newest gourmet food shop, Stasis Local Foods. The store carries a tightly curated selection of local and seasonal gems, but the focus is on the made-in-house jams and preserves prepared by the shop’s young owner, Julian Katz. Katz has cooked his way across the Toronto dining landscape (C5, The Drake, Lucien, Ruby Watchco), but when not preparing $30 mains, he would pickle in-season produce and whip up scrumptious jams. One day, he had a revelation: “I looked around and saw that I had 30 or 40 cases of jam in my house, and I was like, ‘This is ridiculous! I can only give away jam as Christmas gifts for so long!’ ” Katz left his gig with Lynn Crawford in January to brave the city’s farmers’ markets, and then founded his company, Stasis Preserves. After a year of pestering his chef friends for access to their kitchens, Katz decided it was time to get his own.
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Weekend Reading List: top stories from our sister sites, from roller skaters to deep-fried taters
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Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. Check them out, after the jump.
Introducing: Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens, downtown’s enormous new food emporium
(Images: Kevin Naulls)
When a heritage building like Maple Leaf Gardens is renovated, there’s always a concern that whatever goes inside will gut the building’s soul, with, at best, a commemorative plaque to mark what used to be. Thankfully, Galen Weston and his Loblaws crew chose to retain the charm of the iconic arena, except that instead of stadium seating and the aroma of beer nuts, the impressively large space is now home to fresh bread (from Ace Bakery), a café (with the original Gardens gold seats), a wide selection of organic produce (fans of Portlandia will be pleased to know that images of the farmers responsible abound), a sushi bar, an LCBO, a walk-in clinic, a Joe Fresh, a wall of cheese (seriously, a whole wall), a wall of cupcakes (seriously, a whole wall) and a wall of aging meat (yes, a whole wall). That’s just the tip of the chocolate-by-the-chunk iceberg (of which there is one—it weighs 250 pounds and required a mechanical lift to drop into place). Tour the brand new grocery mega-store in a gallery after the jump.
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Introducing: Alimento, King West’s bright new Italian fine food shop and cheesemaker
Inside the new King West fine food store from the brothers Contardi (Image: Gizelle Lau)
For over a year, the windows on the northwest corner of King and Brant have sported signs reading “Alimento Fine Food Emporium: Coming Soon.” Last week, Alimento finally opened, giving King Westers one less excuse to avoid using their kitchens. We stopped by to take a look.
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The Milky Way: 9 of Toronto’s most beautiful ricotta, mozzarella and burrata creations
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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Weekend Reading List: Top stories from our sister sites, including how to achieve that rustic look and Neil Young’s new book
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Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family (that’s the company that owns us, by the by). Check them out, after the jump.
Ex marks the spot: eight culinary innovations at this year’s Canadian National Exhibition (including deep-fried cola)
Four culinary delights at this year’s CNE (Images: Gizelle Lau)
In the days of yore, people flocked to the Canadian National Exhibition to see the year’s prize cows, pigs and horses. It’s only fitting that in these fallen fast-food times, people now gather round the warm, greasy glow of the deep fryers in the CNE Food Building. Indeed, gawking at the year’s fried fare has become something of an annual tradition, so we headed back to the Ex this year to bring you eight gut-busting indulgences, including this year’s headline grabber: deep-fried Coke cola.
See photos of all eight, along with a readout of our regret-o-meter »
Best of the City 2011: The city’s most interesting dishes, places to eat them and, yes, hot sauce
(Image: Christopher Stevenson)
Baguette Pasta Fad Hot Sauce Lobster reinvented Carnivore cure Roast chicken Devilled eggs Patio for dessert
It’s back: KFC introduces the Double Down 2.0 to Canada, now with slightly less sodium
It’s baaaaaacack: the Double Down returns to Canada on June 1 (Image: KFC Canada)
In what seems more like fodder for competitive eaters and Twitterers than legitimate news, KFC has just announced that the Double Down will be making a triumphant and greasy return to Canada on June 1. The sandwich, which features bacon and cheese squeezed between two pieces of the Colonel’s famous boneless fried chicken, seems more like something Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman would dream up in his sleep than a legitimate fast-food product—but, hey, there’s clearly a market for it.
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Cheese craft: how to make Pangaea’s creamy chèvre at home
(Image: Edward Pond)
“I got bored of making charcuterie, so I started doing my own cheese. I’ve got 30 kinds on the go, and I tend to them seven days a week. I’m a little obsessed right now. If you have the right cultures—I order mine from Glengarry Cheesemaking in Lancaster—making fresh chèvre is simple, and the recipe is very forgiving. The only tough part is waiting three days while the chèvre does its thing. We’re not very patient in the modern world, but I find it soothing to wait for my cheese.” —chef de cuisine Derek Bendig
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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.
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