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Ever since Toronto’s first iteration of Dishcrawl sold out well in advance, we’ve been sure there’d be more let’s-all-eat-out-together events hitting the city. Enter The Social Feed, a Vancouver-based organizer of family-style dinner parties, which launches in Toronto tomorrow night with a meal at Czehoski that’s, yes, already sold out.
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Top Toronto chefs recognized in 2011’s Nine of Dine at the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo
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This weekend, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre will host the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo, four days celebrating everything imbibable. Over 38,000 guests are expected to sample more than 1,500 fine wines, spirits and beers and participate in tutored tastings. The show also recognizes some of Toronto’s hottest chefs as part of the sixth annual Nine of Dine award, sponsored in part by Now and the expo itself.
’Wich Craft: how the city’s ice cream sandwiches stack up
(Image: Christopher Stevenson)
Ice cream sandwiches have become the city’s chicest sugar rush, proving there’s no junk food too humble for the gourmet treatment
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TIFF after hours: the 44 (and counting) film fest venues with the coveted 4 a.m. last call
(Image: walknboston)
Every year celebs from all over the world flood into the city for TIFF, but for many, it’s the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario that’s the real star throughout the month of September. Just in time to combat post-summer blues, the AGCO grants certain venues the rights to the elusive 4 a.m. last call. While last year’s list clocked in at 44 venues This year’s list of venues with extended hours finally caught up with last year’s, bringing the current number to 44—some of them not open to the public (we’re looking at you, Windsor Arms) and others open for one night only. Check out the list of late-night watering holes after the jump and stay tuned for updates on extended hours, as more are expected to roll in before the festival.
We stopped by the inaugural Food Truck Eats and found a revolution in the making
At 3 p.m., the lines continued unabated. (Image: Renée Suen)
Saturday marked the inaugural staging of Food Truck Eats, a street food event organized by Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto, which saw four street trucks and 10 vendors gather at the historic Distillery District. Although a conservative turnout of 500 was expected, more than 3,000 showed up for the long-weekend event (which ended up trending on Twitter). Despite the heat and long lineups, the crowd was abuzz—a sure indication of the city’s readiness for more liberal street food rules. We caught up with the various vendors—Cava, Geoff Hopgood, El Gastrónomo Vagabundo and more—to check out their wares and find out what they made of the day’s success. We also spoke to Doss, who gave us the heads-up on the next two events, which will take place at the on Aug. 20 at the Distillery and Oct. 1 at a new location to be announced, and will feature some surprise guests.
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New summer food truck event fuels hopes for a Toronto street food revolution
Niagara’s El Gastrónomo Vagabundo will be one of the trucks on site at the July 2 event (Image: Suresh Doss)
Steeltown might have beaten us to the food truck race, but three special events starting this summer are laying the groundwork for a decent street food culture in Toronto. Starting this July, Food Truck Eats will host food trucks and street food stalls featuring some top Toronto chefs in a bid to free up chefs from the substantial legal and health concerns associated with street-side operations. We caught up with Suresh Doss, the event’s organizer and the publisher of Spotlight Toronto, for the details.
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Marben set to host Toronto’s latest sausage fest on Wednesday nights
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Completing its transition from King West chic to rustic barnyard, Marben has announced it’s hosting the first annual Marben Sausage League. Over the next five months, 12 chefs from some of Toronto’s hottest restaurants—including C5, The Harbord Room, La Palette and Parts and Labour—will compete for the title of “Sausage Champion.”
Kneadful things: a guide to the best restaurant bread in town
With artisanal flours, custom-made ovens and full-time bakers, restaurants are turning the pre-dinner breadbasket into an indulgence in its own right
King State of Mind: When did the once-cool King West strip descend into a mess of stretch Hummers, drunken bachelorettes and last-call brawls?
Scenes from a never-ending party
2:45 a.m., Cobra
“Let’s get drunk and fuck! Let’s get drunk and fuck!”
I’m at Cobra, a King West club in a sprawling basement underneath a 19th-century warehouse. In this neighbourhood, the best parties are either deep underground or high above in a rooftop bar. Cobra is decorated like a gothic funhouse, with a wall of glowing skulls and lots of black. The get-drunk-and-fuck directive bleats from a techno remix as coloured lights, inducing a kind of electric synesthesia, pulsate on the basement ceiling. To my left, two girls make out and topple over, knocking down their bottle service glassware. Guys eagerly watch from the sidelines, plotting how to make their move. My teeth chatter from the vibrating bass. I down a shot that’s half Sour Puss and half vodka, proffered by a human Barbie doll bartender. Read the rest of this entry »
The Great Farmers’ Market Cook Off: two hours, three chefs, nine ingredients
It’s harvest season, farmers’ markets are peddling a plethora of weird-looking local bounty, and adventurous consumers are left wondering what, exactly, to do with a $20 bunch of freshly foraged purslane. To aid, inspire and amuse, we concocted this contest: we filled three hampers with nine items each—a semi-random selection of goods from the Wychwood Barns market—and asked three daring chefs to prepare a main course, in two hours or less, using only those nine ingredients, plus their pantry staples. Then we asked our critic Chris Nuttall-Smith to rank the results.
1. Red scallion, 2. Ontario popcorn, 3. Beet biscuit, 4. Hen’s egg, 5. Baby red romaine lettuce, 6. Georgian Bay whitefish, 7. Kohlrabi, 8. Wild amaranth, 9. Pattypan squash
Sixteen things to do in Toronto before summer’s over
(Image: Benson Kua)
The leaves may be changing and drunken freshmen may be stumbling around the streets again, but summer isn’t officially over until September 22. Instead of whinging about the inevitable end of the warm weather, make full use of the remaining lazy, hazy days with our list of 16 things to watch, eat, do, see and buy before it’s time to break out the scarves and jackets.
1. Go to Sugar Beach. The Claude Cormier–designed park is the newest addition to Toronto’s ongoing waterfront rejuvenation project, with quartz-speckled sand, pink umbrellas and grassy knolls. The beach is nestled between the slick Corus Entertainment building and the Redpath Sugar Factory, and the Muskoka chairs are a good vantage point from which to contemplate Toronto’s past and present or work on a late-summer tan. Jarvis slip, lower Jarvis St. and Queens Quay E.
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Weekly Lunch Pick: Marben’s Monday brunch
The revamped Wellington West hot spot nails that perfect brunch ratio of sweet to savoury—even on Monday
The traditional breakfast at an untraditional time
The place: Marben’s recently unveiled renovation—undulating ceiling slats, exposed-filament light bulbs, reclaimed wooden shelves, jarred preserves—is worth a peek, but it’s summer, and this is Toronto. We immediately request seating on the sunny front patio, where unmatched chairs, a green wall and a rustic communal table echo the interior’s cottage-chic design.
The crowd: King West’s polo-shirted bourgeoisie is in full force. Nearby are a clutch of hip, mature businesswomen and a pair of chatty designers with five cell phones on their table. In the corner sits a Dragons’ Den judge with two-tone hair and sunglasses that fool nobody.
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Just Opened: Marben trades in the onyx for oh-so-popular reclaimed wood
Carl Heinrich with a companion in the newly redesigned Marben (All images: Karon Liu)
Splendido did it, then Centro, then Brassaii, and now Marben. Sure, they’ve all been renovated, but more specifically, they’ve all received make-unders.
Back in March, Marben auctioned off bits and pieces of its former self, including the famous glowing onyx bar, in order to make way for understated pieces, vintage fixtures and reclaimed wood. General manager Sarah Evans says the Wellington West restaurant’s overhaul was meant to lighten up the place and make it known for its food rather than its scene (Brassaii cited similar urges). Still, with the restaurant open until 2 a.m. every day and Bavette—a separate downstairs party space—set to open at the end of the month, Marben isn’t retiring from the revelry. “The city needs a rowdy restaurant,” says Evans.
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Getting a TIFF drink: a complete list of establishments open until 4 a.m. during the film festival
Drake of dawn: the Queen Street hotel is one of many spots open until 4 a.m.
Stalking celebs at TIFF takes a lot out of us—and, we imagine, avoiding us takes a lot out of celebs. The best way to soothe those festival blues or celebrate festival triumphs is with a few cocktails around dawn. Luckily, more bars than ever are serving late this year.
Why so many licences this year? David Brown, bar manager at the Drake Hotel, posits a theory: “The economy is a little tight in general, regardless of what the Bank of Canada says. Giving licences earlier is a benefit to the city and businesses.” He notes that the crowd typically thins out a bit around 2 a.m., with a fresh round of TIFFers coming in around 2:30 a.m. Richard Lambert, owner of The Social, echoes Brown’s sentiment: “We will see a good turnover in the crowds, with a second wave coming around 1:30.” Read the rest of this entry »
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