(Photo by Danielle Scott)

• Since before Circa even opened in 2007, club watchers wondered endlessly if Peter Gatien’s enormous party palace could possibly draw in enough of a crowd to survive. Gatien left the club last March, followed by a number of original staffers, and the mega-club has been inching ever closer to bankruptcy since. Now it looks like it may go over the brink, as Circa has just sent out letters to its estimated 100 creditors. The fact that no self-respecting 416er over the age of 24 would be caught dead there is partially to blame for the club’s demise, though Circa will try to continue operations after restructuring its debt load. [BlogTO]

• After winning the Toronto leg of Gold Medal Plates with a wry dish of crispy chicken skin and poultry cartilage, David Lee took silver at the national championships after a two-day, three-stage battle of wits and whisks. The competition kicked off with a wine-pairing challenge, wherein the chefs were given a mere 24 hours and $400 to whip up a Black Hills 2008 Alibi–inspired dish to feed 250 people, and culminated with the grand finale, where the chefs were asked to cook their finest signature plate. Lee came in second with an updated reprisal of his Toronto dish, while Montreal’s Mathieu Cloutier rose to the top of the podium with a rack of rabbit confit and a foie gras parfait. [Globe and Mail]

• Dutch scientists have used live pig cells to create the world’s first lab-grown, Petri dish–raised meat, but the yet-to-be-tasted pork is more “soggy” and “sticky” than the restaurant-ready variety because the muscle has never been stretched or worked. Although the so-called “in vitro” meat could greatly reduce environment-damaging methane emissions from livestock, whether or not we eat it depends on the all important consumer taste test, which may come as early as 2014, when scientists hope the Petri-pork could be used to make processed food, like sausages.  [The Times]

•  The 2010 Whisky Bible, Britain’s dram digest, has ranked America’s 18-year-old Sazerac Rye as the world’s finest and pegs India’s Amrut Fusion close behind at number three. Although the Bible’s author, Jim Murray, puts the Isle of Islay’s Ardbeg Supernova in second place, he also notes that “there is a lot of Scotch whisky out there which is really not good at all,” adding, “If these guys in Bangalore can produce exceptional, world-class whisky, why can’t Scottish distillers who have been around for 100 years or more? Very often, the answer is that distilleries don’t take a huge amount of bother in choosing the casks they use, and it has become a numbers game for them.” [The Independent]

• Although it doesn’t take an Ipsos-Reid poll to know that Americans ate vast quantities of turkey and pumpkin pie last weekend, Thanksgiving trends are becoming easier to track as more people use Google to search for recipes. Marketers might be particularly interested in knowing that a cornucopia made of baked bread is the country’s centrepiece of choice, or that broccoli casserole is popular from Maine through Appalachia to Florida. With millions of consumers searching recipes the day before Thanksgiving, Tanya Wenman Steel, editor of Epicurious, sees a different trend: “As a snapshot of America, it shows that people aren’t planning.” [New York Times]

The magazine of good living dies (Photo by SuperFantastic)

Gourmet is no more.

The food world is mourning the loss of the magazine, which has been a cornerstone of North American culinary journalism for nearly 70 years. Publisher Condé Nast announced yesterday that the final issue will hit newsstands in November. Turns out that while Gourmet was talking about foccacia, it was no longer bringing in the bread. Fans of Gourmet may find solace in the fact that Condé Nast’s other food rag—and Gourmet’s biggest competitor—Bon Appétit, is off the chopping block for now, and that the company also plans to keep Gourmet‘s book and TV projects going, as well as preserve its recipes on their sprawling food Web site, epicurious.com.

Here’s the word about Gourmet from news outlets across North America:

• New York rounds up comments from various NYC chefs, including this gem from David Chang of Momofuku Ko: “Losing Gourmet is fucking sad. It’s fucking horrible.” [New York]

• Toronto chef Susur Lee tells the Globe he was “depressed” at the news: “Gourmet is like a bible…When I heard, I called my wife to tell her the news. Something like that, you want to share with your family.” [Globe and Mail]

• Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend tells Bloomberg: “There’s a great deal of sentimentality associated with Gourmet … It is the epitome of Condé Nast photography and journalism, but it’s a poor business.” He ain’t kidding: Gourmet’s ad sales slid to $28.3 million in the first six months of the year from $49.5 million a year earlier, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau. That 43 per cent drop compares with a 21 per cent decline for the U.S. magazine industry during the same period. [Bloomberg]

• None of the roughly 180 employees of the magazine, including Gourmet’s legendary editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl are expected to stay with the company. [New York Times]

• The New York Times calls the move “startling,” especially in light of comments made by Paul Jowdy, publisher of Bon Appétit: “They would never do that,” he said in February about shutting down Gourmet. “They’re both very important magazines in the culinary world, and they’re very different magazines, and they’re both very healthy. So there’s all these rumours that are just ridiculous. I try not to pay attention to them, but you have to know—if you think of two of the most prestigious, credible, trusted magazines in the industry, you’re going to say Bon Appétit and Gourmet.” [New York Times]

• Reichl, who was once a food critic for the L.A. Times, told her former employer: “Like everyone else, I found out this morning,” she said. “I can’t talk about it now, it’s too raw. I’ve got to pack up my office.” She later tweeted: “Thank you all SO much for this outpouring of support. It means a lot. Sorry not to be posting now, but I’m packing. We’re all stunned, sad.” [L.A. Times]

• Time magazine reports that the recession provoked an identity crisis at the magazine. Gourmet‘s latest cover, for example, touted a story on where to eat a restaurant steak for $14.50. “When you’re catering to an affluent audience and you’re talking about huddling at home or cooking inexpensive stews, there’s a disconnect,” says Merri Lee Kingsly, publisher of Saveur, a rival title. [Time]

Does this man taste like this cocktail? (Mickey Rourke from korbybanner.com, drink from Gourmet)

• Ever wondered what Mickey Rourke would taste like if he were a cocktail? Neither had we. Nonetheless, Gourmet has attempted to figure it out (tequila, bitters and blood orange juice), creating nine other drinks inspired by such Oscar nominees as Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Meryl Streep. [Gourmet]

• The Kitchn has suggested food pairings for all the best picture nominees. How about the Hannah Schmitzel with a strong Kate Winslet? [The Kitchn]

• Toronto chef Massimo Capra (of Mistura and Sopra Upper Lounge) recommends a somewhat more posh party menu that includes seared Kobe beef on truffled potato croquettes and a ceviche-style shrimp cocktail. [Globe and Mail]

• If finger food won’t cut it, Epicurious’s Complete Oscar Package offers multi-course (if predictable) dinner ideas for all the best picture noms (New Orleans fare for Benjamin Button, Indian for Slumdog Millionaire) and a menu created by Wolfgang Puck. [Epicurious]

• For some, whipping up a four-course American-British meal in celebration of Frost/Nixon is too much work for a Sunday, so Delish has 10 easy-to-make party appetizers, like fig and stilton squares. [Delish]