Some of Yorkville and the Annex’s best restaurants participate in Summerlicious each year. Here, 14 of Toronto Life’s favourites. Read the rest of this entry »
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Summerlicious 2011: Toronto Life’s picks for Yorkville and the Annex
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).
Fresh and Wild jumps on the “convenience food” bandwagon
As we reported a few months ago, the trend in food shopping is toward streamlined shops that offer prepared food for busy urbanites. Longo’s is doing it, Loblaws is doing it, Mark McEwan is doing it, and now Fresh and Wild is doing it. Construction is underway at the Distillery District location as Jason Rosso, ex-chef at Sassafraz and Rosewater Supper Club and currently the director of operations of the Distillery Restaurant Group, is giving the grocery store a makeover to make it more accessible to the neighbourhood, as well as to hungry travellers. “Our primary focus is on prepared foods, like roast chickens and oven-fresh pizzas. We also started a salad bar where you can pick and choose from 30 items.”
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Latest from Yorkville: Celebs are staying inside until nightfall
Sassafraz awaits the teeming masses (Photo by Fraser Abe)
This afternoon, we went to the secret celeb hotspot known as Yorkville in an attempt to see a few of our faves, but were shocked at the serenity of it all. The calm before the storm, perhaps? Sassafraz’s patio was nowhere near capacity. One‘s lunchtime terrace was looking sparse. Ditto for other local favourites Remy’s, Hemmingway’s and Flo’s. Like the celebs themselves, the stalkers still seem to be in hiding. The scene at the front doors of The Hazelton and The Four Seasons were all crickets and tumbleweed.
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Summerlicious restaurants announced
Get those dialing digits ready: the city has released its list of the 150 restaurants participating in the seventh edition of Summerlicious, running July 3 to 19. Price points have increased over last year (as they did for Winterlicious), so expect to pay between $15 and $30 for a three-course lunch and between $25 and $45 for dinner.
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TV chefs attacked for wastefulness, the dangers of at-work eating, Toronto restaurants raise money for HIV/AIDS
Local farmers will benefit from new provincial government funding (Photo by Bill Barber)
• Cash-strapped diners can eat out without feeling guilty on April 29, when 50 Toronto restaurants will team up with Fife House for an HIV/AIDS fundraiser. Participating businesses—including hot spots Sassafraz and Crush Wine Bar—will donate part of the day’s proceeds to the cause. Talk about win-win. [Martini Boys]
• The provincial government jumps on the locavore train, giving farming another big-brotherly boost. Ontario will spend over $700,000 on local food projects in an effort to strengthen agribusiness. [Country Guide]
• The rule of thumb is no tip on tax, and, as Corey Mintz explains, it may be no tax on tip, too. The Star food critic takes a look at the legal—and moral—issues that govern gratuities earned by servers, and the cut taken by their employers. [Toronto Star]
Day one dawns in Yorkville
Empty tables at Sassafraz—this won’t last long. Admittedly, we were jogging through Yorkville at dawn this morning when we took this picture. Why dawn? There is no better time to count the cube vans (two at the Four Seasons unloading bars and tables for an unknown shindig) and security guys (two outside the eTalk tent at Avenue and Cumberland), and scope out the perfect perch for Park Hyatt snooping (if we told you, we’d have to kill you).—Katy P“
The Last Post
Father’s Day was busy, moving house. Neither bantling materialized, though both sent a telephone message of encouragement. The loins were weary after striding about the Distillery District from noon to nine the day before, bearing witness to One City, One Table—Luminato’s first venture into the art of gastronomy. It was a bold idea, closing Mill Street and putting up a slender, 650-foot-long dinner table dramatically draped in black, backed by a line of chefs and sous-chefs at prep stations, well over 50 by the time the day was done. The public were invited to purchase $5 tickets, each one of which would buy whatever example of imaginative street food any of the chefs had prepared. But would anyone come? We knew which chefs would be there—some personally invited, others volunteering after heeding the call to arms in this very blog. But what about the punters? I lay awake on Friday night, listening to the thunderstorm and the splashing rain. Saturday morning was pretty grey and the radio promised more downpours. But in the end the sun broke through, the afternoon was properly hot (though not quite sweltering) and the turnout was amazing. Half an hour before the event began there was a lineup for tickets and all afternoon the crowds were clamouring for nourishment. The numbers aren’t quite in, but there must have been thousands and thousands of people strolling by, admiring, buying, sitting and eating.
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More summer treats
Back to Toronto and happy to find that summer still lingers here, though Canadian friends (typically) are getting gleeful about the imminent glories of autumn with its brisk days, colourful trees and hockey. Talking of which, Tie Domi was sitting at the next table to me on Thursday when we had dinner at Mark McEwan’s new restaurant, One. So much more exciting than the fanfaronade of film stars and starlets also swanning about the highly glamorous room. One is already terrific—there’s a Beverley Hills buzz to the place—and the food was impressive for any restaurant that was only three days old. Ingredients of notable quality cooked simply—just what the elite like. I was particularly happy with a warm salad of roasted carrots (so tender and flavourful) paired with big chunks of avocado, fresh orange and a subtle cumin–coriander dressing. By no means complicated but such a great match of flavours and textures. It’s a bit early to be talking about the food quite yet, however. Even the hyper-organized and savvy McEwan deserves a week or two before the critics drop in—though I noticed at least two of them there, quietly forming judgements…
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What’s the difference between a one-alarm and a four-alarm fire?
What’s the difference between a one-alarm and a four-alarm fire?—Douglas Diarra, St. Lawrence Market
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