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Every year, Toronto Life’s April edition names the current food and restaurant trends we love, hate and those with which we have a love-hate relationship. Here, in no particular order, are our hated trends for 2010
The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com
All stories relating to supper clubs
Best new restaurants 2010: James Chatto names five honourable mentions
(Image: Renée Suen)
Toronto Life‘s annual ranking of the city’s 10 best new restaurants is in our April issue, on newsstands now. Despite the lacklustre economy, it’s been a banner year for eating out. Here, James Chatto picks five more new restaurants are worth lining up for.
Toronto New Year’s Eve celebrations: a 10-part field guide
Choosing one New Year’s Eve event over hundreds of others can be daunting, especially when all the descriptions meld together with promises of a glass of champagne (read: cheap sparkling wine) and various misspellings of “hors d’oeuvre.” To help in the decision-making process, here’s a roundup of 10 very different events taking place on December 31st.
(Looking for the best NYE prix fixe menus? Click here »)
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Venue: Gladstone
Dining options: Marc Breton’s hearty fare, including poutine, grilled cheese, ploughman’s board
Libations: Hotel bar stocked to the max
Atmosphere: The Skin Tight Outta Sight rock ’n’ roll burlesque troupe will be taking over the hotel, encouraging guests to put on their best “rock of love bus attire” (make sure those clear plastic platform heels have good traction on ice)
Entertainment: Singing and dancing by one of the city’s most popular burlesque troupes, partial nudity
Likely to happen at midnight: An MC will commence the countdown in an over-the-top, Rocky Horror manner with lots of double entendres
Who will be there: Aspiring roller derby athletes, musicians from bands no one has heard of, fans of the Pillow Fight League
Who should go: People who missed the burlesque boom of 2004
Avoid if: You have a stack of $5 bills you’d prefer not to part with
1214 Queen St. W., 416-531-4635, event Web site. $30 in advance, $40 at the door.
Photo by Skin Tight Outta Sight
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Venue: The Drake Hotel
Dining options: Five- or three-course meals, along with hors d’oeuvre. Expect such Drake staples as sushi and charcuterie
Libations: Obligatory glass of sparkling wine
Atmosphere: All-around warmth created by the hotel’s mood lighting and a sense of self-satisfaction from staying away from the downtown core
Entertainment: Jazz crooning by Elise LeGrow upstairs, DJs spinning in the underground. Basically, a re-enactment of K-os’ “Sunday Morning” video
Likely to happen at midnight: Quick cheers and air kisses followed by revellers crowding into the hotel rooms, where the real party begins
Who will be there: Twenty-somethings still in denial about the death of hipsterism, fashion students who skipped out on lunch at Freshii for an entire week to save up the entrance fee
Who should go: Those too old for the club district but too young for Yorkville
Avoid if: You have no idea what Owl City is
1150 Queen St. W., 1-866-943-8849, event Web site. $75, $99 with dinner.
Photo by Amber Dawn Pullin
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Venue: Watusi
Dining options: Four-course menu (unfortunately doesn’t include the famous chickpea fries)
Libations: Quirky Pearson-era cocktails: mojitos, piña coladas, Manhattans and Singapore slings
Atmosphere: Retro dance party without the hassle of having to dress up as Peggy Olson
Entertainment: DJ spinning near the back of the space, marvelling at the restaurant’s psychedelic colours, deciding whether to eat or dance
Likely to happen at midnight: Quick champagne toast, then back to partying like it’s 1965
Who will be there: Nearby residents and business owners, kids disenchanted with Queen West, noise narcs keeping the volume under control
Who should go: Mad Men fans
Avoid if: You still use the term “shagadelic”
110 Ossington Ave., 416-533-1800, watuzi.biz. $65.
Photo by Watusi
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Venue: Sneaky Dee’s
Dining options: The famously cheap and huge nacho platter
Libations: Cheap pitchers (and we don’t mean Roy Halladay)
Atmosphere: Laid-back dive bar
Entertainment: Sneak standby Shit la Merde will be spinning at The Garrison instead, but the DJ lineup will still maintain a similar sound
Likely to happen at midnight: Brief pause just after midnight as everyone realizes they missed the countdown due to all the dancing
Who will be there: The fraction of Torontonians who actually look good in skinny jeans, over-inked 20-somethings
Who should go: Cash-strapped students, people who would rather wear hoodies and jeans than suits and dresses, revellers unwilling to trek to the Junction to swill bottles of PBR in an ironic fashion
Avoid if: You’re over 30
431 College St., 416-603-3090, sneaky-dees.com. $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
Photo by Allison Felus
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Venue: Ultra
Dining options: Surprisingly good and varied (vegetarian options!) three-course meal with such dishes as duck and roasted squash tourtière and beef tenderloin with marrow crust and parsley root purée
Libations: Not one, but two glasses of champagne for each person
Atmosphere: Dark club with glowing panels to accentuate the silhouettes of the well coiffed and fit staffers
Entertainment: Loud beats, macho guys giving bro hugs
Likely to happen at midnight: Lots of hooting and hollering
Who will be there: Male regulars breaking out the black party loafers, women in sky-high heels
Who should go: Party-goers who prefer not to go outside between dinner and clubbing
Avoid if: You are not a fan of Jersey Shore
314 Queen St. W., 416-263-0330, ultratoronto.com. $161.
Photo by Ultra
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Venue: The Burroughes Building
Dining options: Hors d’oeuvre (read: fill up beforehand)
Libations: Open bar
Atmosphere: Fancy-dress masquerade ball with a whiff of exclusivity
Entertainment: Eavesdropping, predicting who will make it into Govani’s next column, updating Twitter feeds every 10 minutes
Likely to happen at midnight: A collective toast, fifty-fifty chance of confetti cannon, aerial group photo reminiscent of the one in The Shining
Who will be there: Shinan Govani and the duo behind Greta Constantine will be hosting. And wherever Govani is, expect flocks of other local celebs and party page regulars to be close by
Who should go: Aspiring gossip bloggers, party photographers, the Salahis
Avoid if: You want to get wasted
639 Queen St. W., jen@styleforstyle.ca, event Web site. $100.
Image by Burroughes Building
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Venue: Nathan Phillips Square
Dining options: $3 hot dogs ($5 with fries)
Libations: Tim Hortons and Starbucks to offset the hypothermia—that is, if it’s even possible to get inside the coffee joints, which have to serve hundreds of people throughout the night
Atmosphere: Collective feigned enthusiasm to mask the bitterness of not having worn enough layers, kids asking how much longer till midnight
Entertainment: Scripted bantering by newscasters, an unidentifiable VJ, Shawn Desman/Danny Fernandes/Massari (it’s Karl Wolf this year), Jarvis Church, Anjulie, Kardinal Offishall, cast of Rock of Ages, the Mission District
Likely to happen at midnight: A good but modest fireworks display so as not to set the city on fire, followed by a massive evacuation at 12:01 in order to beat the traffic
Who will be there: Out-of-towners, fathers with shoulders strained from carrying their kids all night
Who should go: Junior high students venturing downtown for the first time without parents, boyfriends who want to be that guy who proposes on live TV, families composed of people who really get along with each other
Avoid if: You have a TV that carries CityTV
100 Queen St. W., event Web site. Free.
Photo by Photopia
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Venue: Hazelton Lanes
Dining options: Very small appetizers
Libations: The event is sponsored by Roberto Cavalli Vodka
Atmosphere: Conspicuous consumerism at its finest
Entertainment: A hodgepodge of DJs, Cirque du Soleil aerialists and a Cavalli fashion show, because nothing says party like a fashion show
Likely to happen at midnight: Polite glass raising and air kisses
Who will be there: The real housewives of Toronto, industry people ready to hand out stacks of business cards
Who should go: Fashion bloggers, Waldorf wannabes
Avoid if: You equate Jimmy Choo’s H&M line with Jimmy Choo’s actual line
55 Avenue Rd., 647-898-2554, event Web site. $60–$80.
Photo courtesy of Roberto Cavalli
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Venue: Ame
Dining options: À la carte in the evening, tasting menu at 9 p.m.
Libations: Wintry girly cocktails and hot sake
Atmosphere: Low-key setting where it’ll be more about the food than the revelry
Entertainment: Guy Rubino’s culinary flourishes
Likely to happen at midnight: Polite hand roll raising
Who will be there: Bay Streeters hacking away at their BlackBerrys, foodies who’d rather have a party in their mouths than at a club
Who should go: Ho Su and New Gen regulars looking to step it up a notch
Avoid if: You always order California rolls at sushi joints
19 Mercer St., 416-599-7246, event Web site. Tasting menu $85–$100.
Photo by Davida Aronovitch
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Venue: Casa Loma
Dining options: Hors d’oeuvre are included in the $75 entrance fee, but has anyone ever seen a server with an actual plate of food at these parties? The catering is done by the Pegasus Group, which also represents Nyood, Kultura and the interchangeable Philthy McNasty’s, O’Grady’s, the Wheat Sheaf and the Fox and Fiddle
Libations: Obligatory glass of sparkling wine (the event description says “champagne,” but we’re skeptical). The bar’s open until 2 a.m.
Atmosphere: The event promises “plenty of romantic make-out spots,” according to She Does the City (it’s that kind of party). Access is limited to the great room, the library and the conservatory, but we’re sure a few people will make it a mission to have a romp in the stable or the master bedroom
Entertainment: DJs spinning, watching people grinding strangers in a century-old house where children have Easter egg hunts
Likely to happen at midnight: Castle-wide PDAs
Who will be there: People who haven’t visited the castle since grade school, naughty librarians, history buffs
Who should go: People who need parking, kids who got shut out of the rave at the Don Jail during the summer
Avoid if: You expect a Clue-style murder mystery to unfold
1 Austin Terr., 416-524-4505, event Web site. $75.
Photo by Wanda Gould
Also: Check out our picks for the best NYE prix fixe menus »
McEwan to open new Italian restaurant, still eyeing the downtown Travelodge for new supermarket location
Mark McEwan means business (Photos by Karon Liu)
The hugely successful McEwan supermarket at Shops at Don Mills is keeping Mark McEwan north of Bloor as he plans to open his fourth restaurant next May. Fabbrica, the Italian term for “fabricate,” will be what McEwan calls “a true to form, Grandma’s cooking, down on your knees” Italian restaurant serving roasted fish, Neapolitan pizza (made in wood-burning ovens) and pasta that’s made in-house. “We’ll also have a salami cellar,” McEwan says. “We’re not reinventing the wheel here, we’re just making good food.” The reason to stay uptown, he adds, is that “there’s a huge market up here, and I believe the market is under-serviced. There’s a calling for quality restaurants,” noting the abundance of chain restaurants in the area.
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The Roosevelt Room takes the supper club back to the future
The new meal: The Roosevelt Room, which remains under construction, intends to put the focus on food (Photo by Karon Liu)
Another supper club is opening in the Entertainment District, but before the eye rolling commences, note that The Roosevelt Room is attempting to distance itself from its cookie-cutter urban-chic counterparts. The menu is to be prepared by a high-profile executive chef, and the interior is done in a deco motif intended to channel golden-era Hollywood (rather than the slick, soulless look into the future we’ve come to expect from supper clubs).
We met visonary and Bay Street whiz Jeff O’Brien yesterday as he was configuring the lines on the patterned ceiling above the bar and giving thumbs down to wallpaper deemed too shiny. “I’ve thought for the longest time that Toronto hasn’t really nailed the supper club concept,” he says. “There have been a lot of attempts, but they haven’t really fired all cylinders on the food, service and entertainment components.”
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Restaurant sales on the rise, the slow death of charcuterie, the legalities of supper clubs
The fad fades (Photo by Renee Suen)
• Are charcuterie’s days numbered? A few Toronto chefs think so. Fad skepticism aside, the city’s favorite appetizer could be on the decline due to safety rules that make it difficult to produce. [Globe and Mail]
• Restaurant industry statistics are in for the month of January. Despite a never-ending stream of grim news, restaurant and bar sales actually went up in the first 31 days of 2009. We hope this signifies an end in sight. [Forextv]
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Stadtländer’s latest, Charlie’s Burgers mystery, 900 Starbucks closures
Stadtländer expands (Photo by jembe)
• Good news for fans of Michael Stadtländer’s acclaimed Eigensinn Farm: the cultivator-chef will be launching a new restaurant, Haisai, in a neighbouring town. Like Eigensinn, it is based on the farm-to-table concept, though we hope that it will seat more than 12. [Reuters]
• Pasta making is an arduous process, but it shouldn’t be a perilous one. A man working a machine at a Toronto noodle plant lost an arm when the mechanism snagged him, initiating a workplace safety investigation. [National Post]
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Toronto’s secret dinner clubs, Labatt keeps it Canadian, eating during labour
Please stay (Photo by Chris Martin)
• Beer may be the saviour of the recession. As rumours fly that the auto industry will close plants, Labatt promises to stay right here in Canada. The CEO of North American Breweries says there are no plans to move production to the United States. [Buffalo News]
• Talk about exclusive; the latest thing on Toronto’s avant-garde eating scene is clandestine dining. Charlie’s Burgers is an anonymous “anti-restaurant” that takes on-line reservations for mystery meals at secret locations, adding new complexity to the how-to-get-a-table dilemma. [Toronto Star]
• A former Maple Leaf Foods plant employee has been charged with lacing Schneider’s meat products with sewing needles. With new stats that show consumers still steer clear of the brand, we wonder what fate awaits the meat packer. [National Post]
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Toronto’s clandestine supper clubs, celebrity chef survival rates, Susur Lee’s PR ploy
Rats are back in the news (Photo by Socar Myles)
• The recent rat fiasco at Loblaws’ Dupont location raised awareness across the city about food safety issues. Here, CTV’s detailed (read: gross) look at what can go wrong when rodents invade. [CTV]
• Underground supper clubs are more common in Toronto than we would have guessed. Apparently, the lawless establishments aren’t just for the rebellious; tight patron regulations ensure that they’re for the discerning foodie, too. [BlogTO]
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