Let’s face it—Summerlicious is a downtown-centric festival. Still, here are eight Toronto Life recommendations west of Bathurst. Read the rest of this entry »
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Summerlicious 2011: Toronto Life’s best bets west of Bathurst
Top Chef Canada recap, episode 9: the prez
Odd couple Roger Mooking and Thea Andrews at the quickfire challenge (Image: Food Network Canada/Insight Productions)
TOP CHEF CANADA
Season 1 | Episode 9
For any viewers who found the Milestones sponsorship in episode seven of Top Chef Canada unbearable, it’s probably a good thing you were too busy watching the Canucks get trounced by the Bruins to witness last night’s episode, which sometimes felt a bit like a glorified, 42-minute President’s Choice ad. Still, seeing the contestants squirm around the constraints of the challenge made for far more entertaining viewing than watching the obliteration of Canada’s Stanley Cup hopefuls. Plus, the editing in the introductory scenes didn’t manage to give away who would be eliminated—a definite improvement over some previous episodes. After the jump, our recap of how it all went down.
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Roger Mooking sells stake in Nyood to focus on family, new album and cookbook
Toronto chef and R&B singer Roger Mooking is streamlining his life—again. In 2010 he sold his first-born restaurant, Kultura Social Dining, to nightclub impresario and actor Frank Nyilas, and a few weeks back he parted with his beloved Nyood, selling his share to yet another Clubland fixture, Mary Filigno (BLVD Room, Blurr).
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Roger Mooking—of Kultura, Nyood and Bass is Base fame—to take on Michael Symon on Iron Chef America
It seems MC Mystic is back. No, Toronto chef Roger Mooking isn’t reprising his role as rapper and percussionist in Juno-winning, ’90s R&B group Bass is Base. Instead, he will be riding his funkmobile over to Kitchen Stadium to take on Michael Symon on Iron Chef America later this May. Mooking is no stranger to food television—he’s the host of Food Network Canada’s Everyday Exotic—but the executive chef at Queen West’s Nyood will be facing some pretty high expectations following Montreal’s Chuck Hughes’ recent victory against Bobby Flay (Hughes was only the second Canadian chef ever to win on the series, Rob Feenie being the first). Symon has battled against two Canadians in the past, beating Ame’s Guy Rubino in season 6 and earning a draw against David Adjey in season 7. We’ll be tuning in to watch Mooking compete—and hoping for a little beat boxing and fake rain.
• Coming up on Iron Chef: Pasternack, Todd Stein, Mooking [Eater]
Introducing: Briscola, Cinq 01’s rustic Italian successor
Inside Briscola Trattoria (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Briscola, the new rustic Italian restaurant from Ink Entertainment’s Charles Khabouth and Amber’s Toufik Sarwa, opened last Friday to the packed crowds one would expect from a collaboration between the two nightlife vets. After taking over the space of Sarwa’s short-lived Cinq 01 restaurant, Briscola apparently saw visits from Ben Mulroney and Galen Weston Jr. on its first weekend.
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Cinq 01 closes, Italian eatery Briscola Trattoria to take its place next week
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Nighttime entertainment vets Charles Khabouth of Ink Entertainment and Toufik Sarwa of Amber have announced a new collaboration that will take over the space of Sarwa’s former College Street bistro Cinq 01. The new restaurant, Briscola Trattoria, will be a casual Italian eatery, and is set to open next Friday, February 18 (Cinq 01 closed in January).
The Best of Winterlicious 2011: Toronto Life’s 62 favourite restaurants
(Image: Renée Suen, from the torontolife.com Flickr pool)
January is upon us, and for many hungry Torontonians, that means one thing: Winterlicious. The menus are less predictable than previous years—crème brûlée’s out, lentils du Puy are in—so even the ’Licious haters might have a reason to take advantage of the festival this year. We’ve already named the 12 menus that we think are the best bets, but that doesn’t begin to cover it. Here, find Toronto Life’s 62 favourite Winterlicious restaurants, complete with menus, reviews and reservation numbers.
Winterlicious runs from January 28 to February 10. Reservations are accepted from January 13 onward (January 11 for American Express users).
West Queen West shopping event launches with deals at Jacflash, Cabaret, Carte Blanche, Morba and more
Still not tired of post-holiday sale shopping? The West Queen West BIA is launching First Thursdays, a monthly shopping event held (surprise, surprise) on the first Thursday of each month. Restaurants, galleries and stores will offer special deals and giveaways to customers who present a “passport” coupon, available for free here on the association’s site. The sales start tonight, with 25 businesses participating, such as Cabaret, Balisi, Morba, Nyood and The Drake Hotel General Store. GreenShag is offering up to 15 per cent off, Carte Blanche up to 75 per cent off, and Jacflash is offering up to 60 per cent off select items.
Just Opened: Cinq 01
Parked on College Street: Cinq 01 contains elements from Toufik Sarwa's childhood (Photo by Karon Liu)
Lounge king Toufik Sarwa, owner of Amber, is branching out of Yorkville with the opening of a quaint bistro called Cinq 01 in Little Italy.
“When I set out at Amber, I thought I’d devote 10 years of my life to it. I had offers to be partners in other projects, but I turned them down,” Sarwa says. But last September, four months before his one-decade anniversary at Amber, the space formerly occupied by Arthur’s became available and Sarwa snatched it up. “It was just perfect timing; everything fell into place.”
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Just Opened: West Salon and Spa puts a pretty face on Queen West
New kid on the block: West Salon and Spa (Carmen Cheung)
Sandwiched neatly between Brooklynn Bar and The Beaver, the recently opened West Salon and Spa is a bit out of place among the late-night watering holes and restaurants along this part of Queen West. But the owners, Priscilla Medeiros and Rob Banton, carefully selected the location by keeping a close eye on real estate for over a year.
The hip thirty-something couple are no strangers to the neighbourhood—they live in the area and Banton is part owner of nearby Nyood restaurant, which shares the same open feel, soaring ceilings and discreetly glamorous style of the new beauty parlor.
Medeiros, a former songstress and dancer, lights up when she explains the different spa services. In addition to hair treatments like blowouts, cuts, and colour jobs, customers can also schedule appointments for massage therapy, manicures, pedicures, facials, spray-on tans and laser hair removal.
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Decoding the real and imagined T.O. restaurants in Shinan Govani’s new novel
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As the social columnist for The National Post, it is practically part of Shinan Govani’s job description to eat out in Toronto. No wonder, then, that in his debut novel, Boldface Names, there are plenty of dishes served along with the dishing. Govani calls the book a “tell-some,” in which Ravi—a fictional gossip columnist for, ahem, The National Mirror—navigates the semi-imaginary Toronto “of the rich, the famous and the wicked.” This includes the restaurants, of course, and some of the locales may seem very familiar to local foodies and gadflies. We’ve pulled back the thin veil and created this crib sheet to the eating establishments of Boldface Names.
Just Opened: Madras Pantry
The view from here: a Ferris wheel sits in the window at Madras Pantry on Queen Street West (All photos by Catherine Hayday)
When Hanif Harji was a kid, his grandmother used to roll up dosas—southern Indian rice flour crêpes—so that he could manage them with one small hand. More recently, when looking for a new food project to open with his friend Ryan Fisher, it occurred to Harji that his grandmother’s child-friendly solution could provide the backbone of a whole business. A one-handed dosa leaves the other hand conveniently free for a beer. Thus, Madras Pantry was born.
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Maybe 36 hours is not enough time to experience Toronto
The old grey lady looks northward (Photo by Peter Dutton)
This past Sunday, Toronto was the subject of The New York Times’ 36 Hours column—this is Hogtown’s second treatment in the series, in which a New York writer describes a weekend visit. Even though we hate to admit it, we lean in a little closer when the old grey lady whispers our city’s name. The eating and drinking establishments mentioned include El Convento Rico, The Communist’s Daughter, Sweaty Betty’s, Lai Wah Heen and—wait for it—College Street Bar. A paltry sample, but seeing as writer Denny Lee was here only for a weekend, we can’t be too hard on him. Perhaps he likes to party like it’s 2007. And to do so south of Bloor.
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