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The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com
Bannock’s holiday tourtière
This time of year, it takes a strong will not to indulge, whether it be in the beautiful pastries and cakes spilling out of patisserie windows or the drinks at a holiday party. We say, why even try? We’ve rounded up some of our favourites, along with a few other gifts that your food-obsessed friends are sure to love (including one salve for those who’ve indulged just a little too much).
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Every weekend we round up the highlights from the other websites in the St. Joseph Media family. Check them out, after the jump.
(Image: Christopher Stevenson)
Ice cream sandwiches have become the city’s chicest sugar rush, proving there’s no junk food too humble for the gourmet treatment
UPDATE: Organizer Suresh Doss has just tweeted that today’s event was just shut down part way through service. El Gastrónomo Vagabundo confirms it was due to a bylaw violation.
Ryerson students heading back to class today can look forward to an extra culinary boost to get them through the day: a mini Food Truck Eats pop-up truck just around the corner from campus. The truck will be in the parking lot northwest of Dundas and Church today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m..
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At 3 p.m., the lines continued unabated. (Image: Renée Suen)
Saturday marked the inaugural staging of Food Truck Eats, a street food event organized by Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto, which saw four street trucks and 10 vendors gather at the historic Distillery District. Although a conservative turnout of 500 was expected, more than 3,000 showed up for the long-weekend event (which ended up trending on Twitter). Despite the heat and long lineups, the crowd was abuzz—a sure indication of the city’s readiness for more liberal street food rules. We caught up with the various vendors—Cava, Geoff Hopgood, El Gastrónomo Vagabundo and more—to check out their wares and find out what they made of the day’s success. We also spoke to Doss, who gave us the heads-up on the next two events, which will take place at the on Aug. 20 at the Distillery and Oct. 1 at a new location to be announced, and will feature some surprise guests.
Rob Gentile (Buca), David Lee (Nota Bene), Andrea Nicholson (Great Cooks on Eight), Paul Boehmer (Böhmer), Teo Paul (Union)
Two thousand of Toronto’s food lovers and makers gathered at the ROM on Sunday for the 21st edition of Toronto Taste. The annual fundraiser—which raises money for Second Harvest—saw more than 60 restaurants and 30 beverage purveyors offering their best to the guests. Burgers and tacos might have been the plats du jour, but new restaurant openings seemed to be the hottest item on the plates of many chefs and restaurateurs we spoke to. Here’s what we heard from Buca’s Rob Gentile, Woodlot’s David Haman, Scarpetta’s Scott Conant, Splendido’s Victor Barry, Top Chef Canada contestants Dustin Gallagher and Andrea Nicholson and many more.
Woody Harrelson, Measha Brueggergosman as Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito and Adam Jacobs as Simba in The Lion King
1. THE LION KING
You wouldn’t think a theatrical adaptation of a Disney movie would run for so long (nearly 14 years), earn so many accolades (more than 70 awards, including a Tony for Julie Taymor’s direction) or turn out to be so good, but somehow The Lion King does all of that. Oh, and did we mention it’s gorgeous? The puppets, costumes and stage design have been consistently blowing young minds since the show opened. This limited engagement is only in town for eight weeks—don’t miss it. To June 12. $35–135. Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W., 416-872-1212, mirvish.com.
2. CHOCOLATE AND CHEESE PAIRING (FREE!) Read the rest of this entry »
We usually pair cheese with wine and chocolate with, well, more chocolate. But this free foodie event, hosted by chef Chris McDonald (of Cava and Xococava fame) and Jane Rodmell (founder of All the Best Fine Foods), pairs two of our favourite foods with each other. Expertly spiced chocolate tiles are partnered with their ideal matches from All The Best’s stock of specialty cheeses. To be honest, we’re just a tad skeptical, but if anyone can make this pairing work, it’s McDonald. April 23. All the Best Fine Foods, 1101 Yonge St., allthebestfinefoods.com.
We prefer to pass the holiday season by eating our way through it and forcing loved ones to do the same. So we’ve come up with 13 inventive edible gifts (and not a mini-muffin basket in sight).
See our foodie gift guide now >>
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Banana Split
Oddfellows
936 Queen St. W., 416-534-5244
Diners at the chic communal table struggle bravely to retain an air of ironic detachment in the face of three scoops of rich, smooth house-made ice cream—chocolate, vanilla and strawberry—sprinkled with berries and toasted nuts and perched atop halved bananas and a chewy brownie. $12. Read the rest of this entry »
This past Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of Toronto Taste, the annual event that unites Toronto’s food lovers and food makers for a day of innovative cooking, tasking and fundraising for Second Harvest. 60 of Toronto’s top chefs—including Jason Bangerter, Donna Dooher, Chris McDonald, Mark McEwan, Anthony Walsh and Anne Yarymowich—doled out top-notch cuisine to an estimated 1,600 guests at the ROM. We caught up with the chefs and asked them what’s in store for them and their restaurants this summer.
The nitro crème fraîche from Colborne Lane (Photo by Daniel Shipp)
Toronto’s dairy artisans are creating ice cream for grown-ups with quality ingredients and sophisticated flavours. Here, the city’s four best.
Now is the time of year when Toronto’s patisseries and food shops offer a tremendous selection of goodies that cater to the most specific tastes. To make sense of this yearly embarrassment of riches, we found some delicious items that are sure to be crowd pleasers and ideal gifts. Here, 12 ways to avoid the dreaded (and regifted) Pot of Gold.
• British chef Fergus Henderson, who espouses a nose-to-tail philosophy when it comes to eating animals, appears in a new video by the Guardian to demonstrate how to prepare an oft-neglected portion of pig—the entire head. Watch as the head is lovingly shaved, barber-style, before being infused with garlic and white wine and then roasted until crisp. [Guardian]
• Turns out that the “real reviews” from “real people” on Yelp may not be impervious to corruption. At least one U.S. restaurant is offering bribes of 20 per cent discounts in exchange for a review on the popular Web site. The review doesn’t have to be positive, but those willing to re-dine somewhere—and show their review to the staff—may find themselves slightly biased. [Gawker]
• Chocolate and meat are uniting in what appears to be a new trend. The Vancouver Sun cites nationwide examples of the two seemingly incompatible foods appearing in tandem: chorizo truffles at Xococava in Toronto, calabrese gelato (which includes salami) in Edmonton’s Oliver Square, and, in what may be the manliest new product to debut in years, Mo’s bacon bar by Vosges. [Vancouver Sun]
• Airlines are overhauling the meals they provide during domestic flights, the Wall Street Journal reports. Since 2001, many airlines have stopped providing free meals in coach class as a cost-cutting measure, opting instead to sell snacks with little nutritional value. Passengers can expect upgraded fare to include sushi, dried apricots and sage-infused Derby cheese. One can only hope that bacon bars will find their way onto that list. [Wall Street Journal]
• The FDA has concluded that a disgusting blob found by a Florida man inside a newly opened can of Pepsi was, of all things, a frog or a toad. [CNN]
We want Terrence Henry’s job. The Atlantic has asked him to explore North America in search of our continent’s best farmers, brewers, butchers and chefs. The goal is to create a map of the most innovative artisanal food around—not the fussy five-star stuff that usually gets reviewed. While we support his mission, we were surprised to see that Henry’s Google map presently lists only one stop in Toronto (at Lai Wah Heen). Once we compared that to his Montreal itinerary—14 planned tastings!—our surprise turned to competitiveness. We think no North American culinary tour would be complete without sampling Ruth Klahsen’s chèvre, say, or Colborne Lane’s liquid nitrogen ice cream. Or Ryan Donovan’s charcuterie from Cowbell. Or the fukiyose platter at Sushi Kaji. Or Marc Thuet’s bread. Or the bold chocolate concoctions at Xococava.
Oh, the list goes on. We encourage readers to post their favourite local innovations, too, both here and on The Atlantic’s site. After all, he said he was looking for suggestions.
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