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Like Ossington and Harbord before it, Dundas Street West keeps surprising us with new cafés, bars and restaurants. The latest is Porchetta and Co., which opened this week; its specialty is Italian pork. Owner Nick auf der Mauer wanted to start his own food joint without hopping onto the poutine or gourmet burger bandwagons. The result is a minuscule takeout-focused shop that tries to do one thing well: porchetta, natch. The menu consists of porchetta sandwiches ($6), porchetta plates ($9), two types of soup (small bowl $4) and that’s it.
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Introducing: Porchetta and Co., the new sandwich shop that’s turning Dundas West into a carnivore’s carnival
Weekly Lunch Pick: the $12 jerk meat loaf at Harlem
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Now that we’re wearing toques, it’s hard to deny that winter has arrived. Fight the chill by cozying up in Harlem, where rich woods and red fabrics set the mood for a homey meal of soul food. We skip the collard greens, mac-and-cheese and ribs that Harlem is known for in favour of the quintessential comfort food dish: meat loaf. This isn’t the drab, dry slice you once dreaded as a child. Harlem’s jerk-spiced beef version is moist, vibrant and topped with red peppers and gravy. It’s served over basmati rice and succeeds in doing what few meat loaves have done before: look good on a plate.
Cowbell is the first restaurant in Toronto to get LEAF certification for its green ways
Ring my bell: Cutrara and company get a green thumbs-up (Image: Google)
When it comes to providing environmentally sustainable cuisine, locavore haven Cowbell walks the walk, according to Leaders in Environmentally Accountable Foodservice (LEAF). The new Alberta-based organization, which aims to help diners recognize green restaurants, spent hours extensively examining Cowbell’s energy and water use, its menu and the way it deals with waste and recycling, among other criteria, before giving Cowbell the distinction of being the first LEAF-certified restaurant in Toronto.
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Dangerous Dan’s gross new ads capitalize on pot, universal health care
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Dangerous Dan’s, Queen Street East’s unmissable hamburger joint, has never been known for moderation. It’s no surprise, then, that the diner’s latest ad campaign is a series of shock ads featuring shots of humongous burgers next to such slogans as “It’s 4:20 somewhere” and “While we still have health care.” The series is basically the marketing equivalent of the colossal colon clogger—Dangerous Dan’s 24-ounce patty topped with a quarter pound each of bacon and cheese.
Beet versus meat: five things we learned about eating habits from Jonathan Safran Foer and Anthony Bourdain
The great eat-off: Anthony Bourdain versus Jonathan Safran Foer (Images: Renée Suen, Elena Torre)
This week’s debate on what we should be putting in our mouths comes from two extremes of the discussion: Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of Eating Animals, who argues that meat is murder, and Anthony Bourdain, author of Medium Raw, who argues that meat is murder—tasty, tasty murder. For 20 minutes on CBC Radio’s Q, the two slagged it out over whether it’s right or wrong to eat meat.
We listened to the discussion so you don’t have to. Here, a cheat sheet on what was said, so you can annoy your entire family at the Thanksgiving table. Spoiler alert: no one wins, and the discussion horse is beaten to a point where it’s pâté.
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Turns out cockroach brains might just save us all
Roaches, the gross-out saviours (Image: Liz West)
We wanted to follow up on our earlier story about how the UN is seriously considering the potential of farming insects to save the planet from the effects of meat farming. Honestly, we didn’t think we’d need another reason to start eating bugs, but then this tidbit hit the news: the universally reviled cockroach might become the next weapon against such drug-resistant bacteria as E. coli and MRSA.
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UN recommends we all start eating bugs
Bug stand: a Thai merchant sells bugs from her food cart in Bangkok (Image: Rene Ehrhardt)
Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, has been the subject of many a food trend story. Apparently, bugs are a nutritious, protein-rich and environmentally sustainable source of food. Now that there’s a worldwide meat crisis looming, the Guardian is reporting on how the UN is taking a serious look at the benefits of farming insects.
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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]
Best of the City 2010: tailors, exterminators and 13 other top helpers
Left: top tailor Giovanni of Italy; Right: Jump Start Dog Training (Images: Jay Shuster)
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 Dundas West Guide: our 21 favourite places between Ossington and Lansdowne
The strip of Dundas West between Ossington and Lansdowne has not been immune to the wild gentrification going on directly south of it. New restaurants, stores and bars have been cropping up for the past couple of years (Red Canoe, a swank Canadiana shop, opened two weeks ago), but there is a hesitation in the ’hood to turn Little Portugal and Brockton Village into the next Ossington. Incoming business owners make a point of blending in with the long-standing family-owned bakeries, soccer bars and pho stops. Even in new establishments, the decor has a thrift shop feel, and the prices cater to locals rather than destination diners. From east to west, here are our 21 favourite Dundas West spots for cheap eats, good music and authentic Portuguese cuisine.
A sticky situation: how to make Union’s finger-licking ribs
Chef Teo Paul describes his 20-year quest for the perfect ribs
(Photograph: Edward Pond; Illustration: Jack Dylan)
“Back in the ’80s, there was this place by our house, near Dupont and Davenport, called Mickey’s Ribs. The kitchen just did ribs to go. It took them an hour to make them, and they were expensive as hell—my dad would only get them as a special treat. They were unbelievably awesome. So for the past 20-odd years, I’ve been trying to recreate them. When I opened Union last year, I put side ribs on the menu and called them sticky ribs, because that’s want I wanted—that amazingly saucy, meaty, sticky goodness. But they weren’t sticky. For three months, the three other chefs and I talked about them every night. We played with the liquid ratios and tried different cooking times. Then, one night, because the oven was full, I put them on the bottom rack. That was the ticket. They worked perfectly. Here’s what you do.” Read the rest of this entry »
Guys socially conditioned to think yogurt makes them gay: study
Approved for dudes: bangers and gravy (Image: Alpha)
Turns out mancakes have scientific weight to them.
A study published last week by Northwestern University concluded that boys are taught that such foods as red meat and beer are associated with masculinity while vegetables and yogurt are feminine. As a result, the study says, men “tend to forgo their intrinsic preferences to conform to a masculine gender identity.” Well, insecure men who think eating a Yoplait equates to kissing another man.
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