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The Hype

To-Do List

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The Weekender: New Creations Festival, Cory Doctorow and six other events on our to-do list

Writer Cory Doctorow, Sumo Robot Challenge and composer John Adams

1. ELECTRONICA MEETS ORCHESTRA
Once a year, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra hosts a festival to prove that sometimes, classical music can be just as edgy as Lady Gaga. The entire program of this year’s New Creations Festival is rife with boundary-pushing examples of musical innovation, but we’re most intrigued by Saturday’s program: composer John Adams conducts the Canadian premiere of his jazzy City Noir, while DJ and composer Mason Bates presents his electronica composition Liquid Interface. March 5. $32–96. Roy Thomson Hall, 416-593-4828, tso.ca.

2. SUMO ROBOT CHALLENGE 2011
Since 1992, this quirky design competition has pitted robots designed by OCAD U students, high schoolers and the general public against one another in epic battles of technological supremacy. Head downtown to find out whose robot is the better fighter, dancer and, yes, painter. March 5. $5. OCAD U Auditorium, 100 McCaul St., 416-977-6000 ext. 332, ocad.ca.

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The Weekender: Sandra Shamas, Brothel #9 and six other can’t-miss events

Dum Dum Girls, Brad Mehldau and Anne Sofie von Otter and Sandra Shamas

1. SANDRA SHAMAS’ WIT’S END III: LOVE LIFE
Comedy queen Sandra Shamas started making audiences laugh back in the ’80s—her show, My Boyfriend’s Back and There’s Gonna Be Laundry, was a huge hit at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 1987, and led to no small amount of success on the comedy circuit. These days, after a nine-year absence from the stage, her shows reflect a performer more comfortable in her skin, perhaps the result of some country living (she moved to a farm and started growing carrots after the aforementioned boyfriend-turned-husband filed for divorce). Whatever the subject matter, Shamas is still making everyone laugh. To March 13. $25-$65. Winter Garden Theatre, 189 Yonge St., 416-872-5555, ticketmaster.ca.

2. BREAD DAY WITH ANDREA GIBSON (FREE!)
For many DIY foodies, bread is the final frontier. Sure, making a loaf is cheaper than tossing a bag of Dempster’s in your grocery cart, but for some (like, say, us) it can be a little intimidating. Enter the fine folks at The Cookbook Store, who are hosting a day-long ode to bread this weekend. Toronto “bread maven” Andrea Gibson, owner of Fred’s Bread, will be on hand to answer questions, and there will be various loaves of bread available for the tasting. February 26. The Cookbook Store, 850 Yonge St., cook-book.com.

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The Hype

Creative Types

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Awesome Foundation Toronto releases its short list of Toronto awesomeness. We cut it from 16 to five

A bat light to call the mayor is just one of 16 ideas to make the final cut

The newly minted Awesome Foundation Toronto (AFT) released its short list of all things awesome, whittling down a list of 250 submissions to an exclusive club of 16 items that are just a little more awesome than the rest (not that the others weren’t awesome; they just weren’t quite awesome enough). It is from this list that the AFT will pick a project to receive $1,000 to be brought to fruition. The winner will be announced this Thursday, February 24, at 8 p.m. at the Drake Hotel.

Well, we think that’s just awesome—but this isn’t the Best Picture Oscar, where everybody and their mother receives a nod. We’ve made the list even a little shorter, selecting the top five projects on our own scale of awesomeness. Our picks, after the jump.

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The Hype

The Inn Crowd

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Seven-year itch: the Drake Hotel announces plans for expansion

The Drake Hotel (Image: Amber Dawn Pullen)

Since the day its current incarnation opened—Valentine’s Day, 2004—the Drake Hotel has been the restless centre of West Queen West. Unable to remain contained in its original building, the self-proclaimed “hotbed for culture” spread east, spawning a retail shop and barbecue joint. And now, as part of its seventh anniversary celebration, the Drake has announced that it will be expanding yet again. The plan is to provide additional rooms, new menu items, and enhanced performance and exhibit spaces for artists.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

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Just Opened: Imperial Chinese, southern barbecue and a little west-end game changer

Crown Princess Fine Diningstar
1033 Bay St., 416-923-8784

(Image: Vanessa Heins)

The colonial Shanghai decor is impressive, to say the least: there’s more expensive marble here than in Hadrian’s baths. Chandeliers blaze, piano concertos play, one server wears a French maid’s uniform, and the tableside service is proper and accomplished. The menu offers just about every luxury ingredient imaginable: goose liver, caviar, lobster, swallow’s nest and (ecologically disastrous) shark’s fin dishes. While the Cantonese cooking is good, it doesn’t live up to the sticker shock. That said, the $48 Peking duck wheeled out on a mahogany trolley is nicely crackly and rich-skinned; it’s best post-carving, turned into a stir-fry with crisp fried rice noodles and iceberg lettuce for wrapping. Whole grouper (don’t tell the SeaChoice folks) comes straight out of the aquarium, is steamed and clean tasting and set over a subtle house-made soy and wine broth ($24). Dim sum standouts include the flaky, golden abalone pastry and broiling-hot sesame balls enveloping marzipan and pumpkin. Mains $16–$98.

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The Dish

De-licious

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The Winterlicious 2011 menus are out, so let’s compare them to previous years

By now, Torontonians are well-seasoned winterliciousers—and at Winterlicious 2011, we will be deftly dodging the wilted arugula and heading straight for the belly of the beast (preferably pork). Looking through the newly published list of restaurants and menus, there is plenty to be pleased about this January. Our popular “Best of Winterlicious” piece is coming out next week, but we thought we’d get a jump on things and take a look at how this year’s roster compares with last year’s ’Licous lists.

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The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

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Weekly Lunch Pick: the $6 chicken curry burrito at the Drake Café

The good and the grape: Drake Café's chicken curry burrito (Image: Catherine Hayday)

The café at the Drake Hotel is showing a bit of mercy to busy office workers who don’t have time for a sit-down lunch. Its new (and aptly titled) Grab and Go menu features one-hand-required “type and eat” sandwiches that break from shrink-wrapped, cardboard-laced cubicle fare. The chicken curry version is fresh and filling. It comes with moist meat and just the right amount of spice, but its most impressive features are fruit and nuts:  grapes, apples and walnuts. Available when the café opens at 8 a.m., the sandwich can be procured mid-commute. The grapes and walnuts ensure that it’s is still juicy and crunchy at midday.

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The Dish

Opening

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Introducing: Churchill, the latest lo-fi bar on “destination” Dundas West

Remember West Queen West before it was a zoo? The folks at Churchill, Little Portugal’s newest bar, sure do. The owners of the new place are looking to resurrect that 2006 feeling, one street north. Churchill, staffed by Parkdale expats, joins Camp 4, Red Light and Brockton General in the glut of lo-fi-vibe bars that seem to be spilling off Ossington onto Dundas West.

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The Dish

Opening

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Introducing: Drake BBQ, a simplified Southern meat-a-thon on Queen West

Pulled pork (left) and brisket sandwiches

Just in time for the cold weather, the Drake Hotel has opened a barbecue pop-up shop in its old Scoops and Tees space. “In Canada, barbecue is associated with summer, but in the south they do it rain or shine,” says chef Anthony Rose. “I grew up in the south—southern Ontario, anyway. When I was a kid, my mom would start the barbecue in February.”

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The Hype

To-Do List

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The Weekender: Make Some Noise at the library, art at the Brick Works and six other events on our to-do list

Out of Context—for Pina kicks off Harbourfront's World Stage programming (Image: Chris Van der Burght)

1.    FROM THE GROUND UP LECTURE: RAJ PATEL
Best-selling author Raj Patel has gone from working for such global organizations as the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the UN to criticizing them at every opportunity. Catch the academic-activist expounding on the true cost of food production (spoiler: local is better) before sitting down to a three-course dinner prepared by Jamie Kennedy. Oct. 17. Lecture $10, with dinner $200. Gardiner Museum, 111 Queen’s Park Cres., gardinermuseum.on.ca.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

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A preview of The Drake’s pop-up barbecue and DIY sushi

Sang Kim teaches the hungry to make sushi (Image: Karon Liu)

While news of the Drake Hotel’s barbecue pop-up shop has been circulating around the city, the hotel’s restaurant has introduced something else that’s equally intriguing: make-your-own sushi. Known as temaki, this process involves a platter of sashimi, vegetables and garnishes presented in front of diners who each have a plate of nori and sushi rice to make their own rolls. “As far as I know, no one else is doing this in Canada,” says Sang Kim, the hotel’s director of food and beverages.

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The Dish

Opening

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Drake Hotel to open barbecue pop-up shop

(Image: Google)

Screw autumn. And long live summer barbecues.

That’s the attitude of the Drake Hotel, which is in the process of transforming its Scoops and Tees shop into the Drake BBQ. Starting October 22, slow-cooked sandwiches will be served in this space, just two doors down from the hotel.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

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Despite some reservations, Toronto will appear on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations

Anthony Bourdain at his book signing at Massey Hall (Image: Renée Suen)

Toronto chefs and foodies, take note: Anthony Bourdain, the reformed bad boy of the culinary world, beloved potty mouth and host of the Travel Channel’s No Reservations, will be featuring Toronto on his show. Bourdain made that announcement on his book tour this week when he stopped in at Massey Hall to promote his follow up to Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook. The globetrotting professional eater and drinker entertained and dazzled admirers during his 90-minute performance, downing bottles of Steam Whistle pilsner and drawing upon material from his memoir. Bourdain graciously entertained banal questions during the event’s short Q&A and took time to applaud Beast’s Scott Vivian, who catered the post-show VIP book signing. However, it was his announcement of bringing No Reservations to the city that drew the most hoots and hollers from the packed house.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

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Today at TIFF: Black Swan, Miral, the Reel Canadian TIFF Party and more

Our daily roundup of opening galas, parties and screenings.

• 6 p.m. Incendies North American premiere at Bell Lightbox
• 6 p.m. Miral North American premiere at Ryerson Theatre
• 6 p.m. Another Year at Visa Screening Room (Elgin)
• 6:30 p.m. Potiche North American premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 8 p.m. Ivory Tower Screening Party at Camera Bar
• 8 p.m. Festival Music House opening night at The Roosevelt Room
• 8 p.m. The Reel Canadian TIFF Party at the Drake Hotel
• 9:30 p.m. Black Swan North American premiere gala at Roy Thomson Hall
• 9:45 p.m. Cave of Forgotten Dreams world premiere at Bell Lightbox
Ceremony at Brassaii
The Spotlight Awards and Official After-Party at Festival Central (148 Cumberland St.)

The Hype

TIFF Talk

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Spotted! Lauren Conrad in Toronto

We thought that Lauren Conrad’s trips to Toronto were numbered when she left The Hills and stopped making appearances on The After Show. As it turns out, L.C. is in town right now. We hear she was enjoying a cocktail with a friend at the Drake Hotel Lounge yesterday.

Star graphic

= Find this story on our Celebrity Sightings Map, where we plot the locations of stars spotted throughout Toronto

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