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Aprons & Icons

Corey Mintz cooks dinner of Froot Loops and beets for Scott Thompson

In the latest instalment of his cooking for fairly famous people series, Toronto Star writer Corey Mintz invites Kids in the Hall star Scott Thompson over to dinner. Mintz jokes that eating a bowl of prop Froot Loops while on the original set some 15 years ago was the real reason the Kids disbanded. Endeavouring to reverse bad karma, he whips up a Froot Loop panna cotta from the Momofuku cookbook for Thompson. “The milk and cream are steeped in Froot Loops, sweetening the liquid into cereal milk, before being set with gelatin. It’s garnished with crushed Froot Loops,” he writes. Also on the menu: hamachi ceviche with yams and kumquats; rapini, potatoes and guanciale; and a leg of lamb with navy beans, hazelnuts and beets (which Thompson avoids). No comment from Thompson on whether the panna cotta is good enough to keep the Kids crew together permanently, but we’re not hopeful. “If I had my druthers,” Thompson tells Mintz, “we’d still be working together full-time.”

• Cosmic imbalance and an ailing Kid [Toronto Star]
• FED #20: Scott Thompson [Porkosity]

| Leave a Comment » March 1, 2010 | 3:31 pm | Robert Furtado

Restauran-TO

Famous frites not on menu at Jamie Kennedy’s Gilead

Jamie Kennedy (Photo by Davida Aronovitch)

Jamie Kennedy had a rough year in 2009: he sold Hank’s and the Wine Bar, his Gardiner Museum restaurant took a more casual route, and he was essentially on the brink of bankruptcy. “I expanded too quickly,” he told The Globe back in June. “I was exposed to costs far out of balance with my revenue.”

Now Kennedy is making his way back to the kitchen five nights a week at Gilead Bistro, where his study in economy hasn’t gone unnoticed by The Star’s Amy Pataki (nor has the less-than-packed dining room). For example, Pataki notes that the bistro charges $3 for bread. Also, Kennedy sells charcuterie and soups through the Healthy Butcher and turns chicken and beef bones into stock that can be bought at Rowe Farms.

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| 4 Comments » February 26, 2010 | 12:21 pm | Karon Liu

Culinary Curiosities

Water buffalo cheese is the latest in artisinal dairy

Water buffalo have picky milking needs (Photo by Cathy, Sam, Max and Mai)

Two years ago, Martin Littkemann and Lori Smith were tired of milking cows, so the couple purchased 40 young water buffalo for their farm north of Trenton. Since then, the herd has grown to over 100, and they’ve launched Ontario Water Buffalo Co. The milk is sold to Vaughan’s Quality Cheese, where it’s turned into small-batch cheese and sold at Pusateri’s, Whole Foods and select Loblaws and Longo’s. It’s also been served at Pizzeria Libretto, Terroni and Buca.

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| Leave a Comment » February 25, 2010 | 11:15 am | Natalie Goldenberg-Fife

Beauty School

Grey hair trend makes its way to Toronto

Drew Barrymore's TIFF dye job (Photo by James Helmer)

We’ve been wondering when the grey hair trend would make its way from celebrities, teen bloggers and fashion runways to the streets of Toronto, and it seems that time has come.

Toronto junior stylist Mike Baronowski went from dark brown to a platinum-silver months ago to match his clients at Greg May Hair Architects in Yorkville. But Greg May, owner of the salon, has seen a serious increase in demand for all kinds of wacky shades.

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| 1 Comment » February 25, 2010 | 10:05 am | Glynnis Mapp

Deathwatch

Captain John’s floating restaurant still up for sale

Stormy seas for Captain John's (Photo by Paul Dex)

Novelty boat-restaurant Captain John’s has managed to stay afloat for decades despite a history of legal issues, debt and poor reviews—not to mention that one of its dining boats sank after being hit by a city ferry in 1981—but its future looks grim now that owner John Letnik is jumping ship.

When the restaurant went up for sale a few months ago, the asking price was $1.5 million. Mr. Letnik had hoped that a younger, foresighted entrepreneur would take over the garish tourist draw and convert it into a floating casino or hotel. It’s been tough going: the asking price has been dropped to $1.1 million.

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| 2 Comments » February 24, 2010 | 3:06 pm | Jon Sufrin

Culinary Curiosities

Hot dogs’ shape presents choking hazard, seriously

These dogs aren't for kids (Photo by Richard Hsu)

We’re holding back on a plethora of dirty jokes for this one. The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement yesterday saying that due to their shape, certain foods—particularly hot dogs—can easily block a child’s air passage.

“If you were to design the perfect plug for a child’s airway, you couldn’t do much better than a hot dog,” Dr. Gary Smith, the lead author of the policy, told The Star.

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| Leave a Comment » February 24, 2010 | 9:20 am | Karon Liu

Rumours & Rumblings

Toronto group wants to tap trees to make maple syrup, City of Toronto not impressed

A typical Ontario sugar bush (Photo by Mac Armstrong)

Maple syrup might be as iconic a Canadian food as Timbits, but the City of Toronto is discouraging residents from tapping, the process by which the sugary sap is procured. It’s strange that the city would even weigh in on the issue; who has time to tap, then evaporate the sap, especially when maple syrup is one locavore-friendly food that is always available on grocery store shelves?

It turns out that enviro-activist Laura Reinsborough and her Not Far From the Tree initiative, which normally harvests fruit from backyards and the urban forest, wants to take up the task. Reinsborough, whose efforts made our list of Reasons to Love Toronto in 2009, has started the aptly named We’d Tap That project in the hopes that homeowners will offer five to 10 Norway maples for tapping; their sap will be collected and boiled down for a community party.

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| 4 Comments » February 23, 2010 | 3:14 pm | Matthew Hague

Restauran-TO

Corey Mintz to Toronto’s Guu fans: chill out

Guu's salmon natto yukke (Photo by Jen Chan)

Corey Mintz thinks Torontonians need to get a grip—at least on our obsession with Guu, the city’s offshoot of the Vancouver-based izakaya chain that has everyone from Ryerson students to West Coast defectees lining up for hours to get a seat.

Although the Toronto Star food writer is a fan of Guu’s Japanese pub grub (fried, salty fare that’s perfect with beer), he laments that we have not been “cool” about Guu’s arrival. “We have lined up, kvetch-blogged and snapped iPhone pictures, capturing all the lustre of Nick Nolte’s mug shot… In short, we have spazzed out over Guu.”

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| 8 Comments » February 19, 2010 | 10:02 am | Matthew Hague

Shop Talk

HBC’s Olympic mittens are the it item at the Games

HBC's Olympic mittens went from torchbearer uniform to best-seller (Photo by Delaney Turner)

While the ubiquitous red mittens haven’t reached the status of the blue Roots berets everyone wore during the ’98 games (which, in retrospect, were kind of a fashion don’t), the Hudson’s Bay Company’s woolly mitts have become the must-have item for the Vancouver Games.

The Star interviewed a bunch of Torontonians who are praising how the mittens, which are made in China, make them proud to be Canadian. News 1130 is getting people in a frenzy by declaring that last week’s shipment of one million mittens was the last, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. The Vancouver Sun dismissed rumours that the gloves are in short supply (there’s an entire wall of them at The Bay at Fairview Mall and a pile on the second floor at the Yonge and Queen location, for those who are looking). CTV even reports that the mittens’ popularity has already led to counterfeits.

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| 1 Comment » February 9, 2010 | 1:22 pm | Karon Liu

Gossipmonger

905 faces off against the 416 in fashion battle

Memo to 416ers: the 905 is not like the Jersey Shore (Photo via MTV)

They walk among us to learn our language and customs. They could even be in the next cubicle. They’re everywhere, and nothing can be done about it. That’s right; despite our best efforts, 905ers are infiltrating the city’s chicest restaurants and clubs unbeknownst to downtowners, writes Kim Izzo in her latest column for the Star, which chronicles her move from downtown to uptown.

Since November, Izzo has been documenting the pains of moving north as if she’s dealing with a terminal illness or moving to the other side of the world (Richmond Hill, to be exact). Now that she’s fully integrated into suburban society, she feels that 905ers get a bad rap from their downtown counterparts, who think people living north of Bloor have big hair, fake tans and souped-up cars. (When did Markham become Jersey Shore?)

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| 6 Comments » February 5, 2010 | 2:46 pm | Karon Liu