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Toronto Life - The Wire

The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com

All stories relating to chicken

The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

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Weekly Lunch Pick: a quick, tasty and affordable combo from Taste of Orient

Three-item combo at Taste of Orient (Image: Renée Suen)

A food court gem located in the newly renovated Richmond Adelaide Centre, Taste of Orient serves heaping plates of simple but flavourful Cantonese food at the right price and the right pace for local lunch-goers with a schedule to keep. Less than $8 delivers three items from the heated countertop display with rice or noodles. On our visit, the curry-stained Singapore-style noodles, stir-fried with cabbage, carrot and onion are surprisingly light, while the green beans and chicken is, unlike most fast food counters, neither greasy nor sitting in a pool of congealed sauce. The coconut shrimp is encased in a thin, crisp batter and coated with a sweet mayonnaise dressing. Finally, four large sole fillets come slicked with a faint oyster-based sauce and delicately steamed with ginger and green onion. Altogether, a great value for surprisingly well-executed food.

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The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

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Weekly Lunch Pick: the heavenly tinga tostada at Agave y Aguacate

The tinga tostada and lime charlotte at Agave y Aguacate (Image: Renée Suen)

Desperate for decent street food, eager Torontonians line up daily at this little Mexican food stall in Kensington Market. Francisco Alejandri makes each item to order, employing the expert knife skills he honed during his years at Scaramouche, Torito and the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar. Different combinations of avocado, tomato, lime juice, red onion and pork-fat fried black beans adorn most of the dishes, but each has its own charms. The heavenly tinga tostada ($5.50) is a mound of tender, pulled chipotle chicken sautéed with cabbage, that comes on a crunchy, fried-to-order tortilla shell. A cooling slice of creamy avocado, dribbled crema fresca and slivered red onions provide a nice contrast to the bold flavours below. The meal is best enjoyed al fresco on a nearby park bench with a decadent square of tart lime charlotte ($2.75): rich lime custard sandwiched between Maria biscuits dusted with lime zest and a drizzle of buttery Arbequina olive oil.

The cost: $8.25, tax included. Cash only.

The time: 20 minutes on a rainy weekday (from order until the last crumb was polished off)—relatively speedy compared to the snaking lines you find on sunnier days.

Agave y Aguacate, 214 Augusta Ave. (look for El Gordo Fine Foods), 647-208-3091.

The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

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Weekly Lunch Pick: the sumptuous tawük lunch plate at Tabülè

The tender barbecued chicken at Tabülè

This Middle Eastern restaurant is a midtown favourite—the room is already packed when we arrive for lunch. Our order of tawük ($8.95), recommended by an attentive server, features grilled nuggets of naturally raised Mennonite chicken parked next to a mountain of fluffy rice studded with vermicelli and fried onions. Like an ode to the perfect summer barbecue, the breast meat is moist under its light, charred crust and acts as the perfect foil to a large side of fattoush ($1.50 extra)—a refreshing salad of rough-chopped cucumber and tomatoes, sliced red onion and torn, toasted pita chips doused with a tart sumac dressing. We wash everything down with a tall tumbler of orange blossom-spiked lemonade ($3.95) and think of the warm weather to come.

The cost: $19, not including tax and tip

The time: 37 minutes

Tabülè, 2009 Yonge St. (at Glebe Rd. E.), 416-483-3747, tabule.ca.

The Dish

From the Print Edition

66 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

See the list »

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

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Greatest Hits: Chris Nuttall-Smith picks the 25 most delicious dishes of the last year

Enoteca Sociale’s octopus and fava beans

The 25 most delicious dishes tasted this year, ranging  from lowbrow comforts (potato puffballs) to high-minded masterpieces (tea-smoked duck)*

See the list »

*Availability of dishes varies according to season and changing menus

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The Hype

Prime Time

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Move over, burning log: Swiss Chalet partners with Rogers to launch the Rotisserie Channel

Not the actual channel

Remember when Rogers introduced the fireplace and aquarium channels for people to waste electricity relax? Starting February 28th, if those same viewers have a hankering for chicken, channel 208 will be the station for them. Swiss Chalet has partnered with Rogers to launch the Rotisserie Channel, featuring non-stop footage of chickens turning on a spit.

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The Dish

Opening

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Introducing: Stout Irish Pub, the Cabbagetown tavern with a serious beer list

(Image: Signe Langford)

The traditional gold lettering set against a black wall might bring to mind Foxes, Fiddles and Firkins, but this is no cookie-cutter ye olde pub. Behind the simple black doors is a serious chef, 20 local craft and imported beers on tap, another 30 by the bottle, fat leather wingbacks and the welcoming aroma of smouldering peat.

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The Dish

Opening

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Introducing: Inigo, a Queen West churrasqueira, takes over Igor Kenk’s old space

Inigo is Carlos Hernandez's take on the churrasqueira

While Dundas West is in the midst of a carnivorous craze with a serious emphasis on the pig (we’re looking at you, Porchetta and Co.), a new Queen West takeout spot at the southern end of Trinity-Bellwoods Park is putting its faith in the original white meat: chicken. Carlos Hernandez opened up shop at Inigo last week—in Igor Kenk’s old spot— where he’s offering his take on the Portuguese churrasqueira, those homey greasy spoons ubiquitous on College and Dundas West.

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The Dish

Read All About It

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Mark those calendars: KFC’s Double Down coming to Canada in 11 days

Colonel sends his latest creation to invade Canada on October 18 (Image: Mike Saechang)

Few sandwiches have received as much attention as the Double Down, KFC’s grease-fest that features bacon and cheese squeezed between two pieces of boneless fried chicken. Morbidly curious Torontonians interested in trying it, however, were disappointed to learn that their local Colonels were not selling the thing. Well, that’s all about to change. The Double Down will be available in Canada from October 18 to November 14.

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The Dish

Culinary Curiosities

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Passing the bok bok bok: Etobicoke restaurant accidentally serves chicken head

(Image: Filip Maljković)

This is one of those stories that wouldn’t have made the news at Dundas and Spadina, but because it happened to a visitor from Ottawa at a restaurant in Etobicoke, the Sun is there. Apparently, a guest of our city got a surprise when she ordered a box of wings from a local shop:

Among the mound of wings there was allegedly a deep-fried chicken’s head—its eyes staring up at Karen Cook.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

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The original surf and turf: how to make Cava’s macho paella

Chef Chris McDonald’s secret? Killer sofrito. Here’s the recipe

(Image: Edward Pond; illustration by Jack Dylan)

“Paella is the Spanish equivalent of North American barbecue: it’s cooked by men, over a fire, outdoors. I love that atavistic approach to food. The important thing to remember is that making paella is a commitment. You’re dumping everything into the pan and leaving it to cook. When it’s in, there’s no turning back. Thankfully, slightly scorched rice on the bottom just adds to the charm.”

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The Dish

Opening

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A&W tries to go hip with new concept store

The North Vancouver–based A&W Canada chain—long synonymous with root beer, a dancing bear and burgers named after family members—is doing a 180. A press release from the restaurant chain says that a new Toronto concept store (there’s already one in Vancouver and one coming in Montreal) will be aimed at “urban diners” in an attempt to be “current and relevant for today.” What does that mean for a fast-food franchise? Salads, chicken sandwiches (why must every fast-food joint insist on serving spicy chipotle?), free Wi-Fi and self-order kiosks that accept debit and credit. That pretty much sums up the stereotypical urbanite: city folk who eat nothing but grilled chicken and salads, are glued to their iPads (or laptops if they’re poor) and never have cash on them.

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The Dish

Pantry Raid

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Food safety experts want us to stop rinsing our chickens

No bathing: rinsing raw chicken can do more harm than good (Image: snowpea&bokchoi)

Somewhere there’s a vegan flipping through Eating Animals and peacefully enjoying a veggie burger.

Just days after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned the country about pathogen-laden sausages and deli meats, the Toronto Star steps up to tell us that washing raw chicken—that first step in pretty much any chicken recipe—is a great way to increase one’s chances of contracting food poisoning.  The reason, explains the British Food Standards Agency, is that more than half of raw chicken contains bacteria that cause food poisoning and washing the meat just spreads the bacteria around the kitchen. The best way to combat the bacteria is to cook it to death, so better to put that chicken sashimi on the backburner. Literally.

Stop washing raw chicken, food agency advises [Toronto Star]

The Dish

From the Print Edition

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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 Informer

Mayor May Not

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Why did the chicken cross the road? Maybe because he was paid to make fun of Rob Ford

Fun and fowl at city hall (Image: Marcus Gee)

The race for the mayor’s chair is still a five-person (or six-person, if you count ghost candidate John Tory) affair. Rob Ford has refused George Smitherman’s challenge to have a one-on-one debate on CFRB 1010 and Smitherman has reacted with all the grace and dignity we’ve come to expect from this election so far: he allegedly hired some guy in a chicken suit to make fun of Ford at a Smitherman press conference.

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