Best of the City
Food and Drink
The best taco, beer, baguette, chocolate and more
Juice bar
Sunshine Wholesome Market
942 College St., 416-533-9582
This old-fashioned corner store with a modern eco-mandate has a truly awesome made-to-order bar of entirely organic and pro-local juices. Our top picks: the Cocoa Banana (with fair-trade cocoa and a choice of soy, rice or cow’s milk) and the Lean Green (cucumber, celery, lemon, apple and spinach or kale). The summery Tropicalia (mango, pineapple, OJ and coconut milk) also comes frozen, as a vitamin-packed Popsicle. Drink prices top out at $8.50.
100-mile produce
4 Life Natural Foods
257 Augusta Ave., 416-591-6800
Aside from the jar of fresh turmeric on the counter (which comes from Haiti), most of the produce in Potshothy Sallapa’s Kensington shop is sourced straight from locals. Nearly a dozen small farmers—including market veterans Ted Thorpe and Chick-a-Biddy—make regular stops here, delivering the city’s perkiest salad greens and a roasty Valencia peanut butter ($4.49 a pound) produced near Hamilton that makes Skippy taste like carpenter’s glue.
Charcuterie plate
The Black Hoof
928 Dundas St. W., 416-551-8854
When Grant van Gameren opened the Black Hoof last year, he became the first chef in this city to stake his reputation on charcuterie. Even charcuterie-crazed chefs predicted a dedicated restaurant would never fly. And yet crowds are still lining up for a table on this quiet block of Dundas West. And no wonder: the platter is constantly changing, and van Gameren is always one step ahead of his diners, dreaming up new cures and finding increasingly esoteric proteins to work with—air-cured horsemeat, anyone? Almost everything on the menu, from blueberry bison salami to rabbit rillettes, is made in-house. $16–$25.
Ugly lunch that’s actually delicious
Manpuku’s salami curry
105 McCaul St., Unit 29, 416-979-6763
On paper it looks rather revolting, but Manpuku’s salami curry is an ingenious and weirdly addictive bit of fast-food fusion. A bowl of white rice is topped with thin, savoury Japanese yellow curry sauce and pan-fried slices of salty salami, drizzled with ketchup and mayonnaise and finished off with chopped bits of sharp green onion. Pull up a stool and dive into it—with chopsticks. $7.
Kulfi
Tropical Treets
130 Bermondsey Rd., 416-759-8777
Unlike ice cream, the Indian frozen milk treat contains very little air, making for a dense texture and concentrated flavour (it also takes longer to melt). Especially delicious are the offerings from Etobicoke’s Tropical Treets, which whips up the cold custard in such subcontinental flavours as saffron, malai (or Devonshire cream), rose faluda (with strands of vermicelli) and our favourite, pistachio. Available at supermarkets and at the company’s factory store. $5.49 per litre.
Tacos
La Tortilleria
68 Wales Ave., 416-546-5516; 1040 St. Clair Ave. W., 647-344-2429; 1009 Dufferin St., 416-546-5516
This mini-empire sells Mexican staples, including warm, fresh corn shells (traditional white or organic blue) cranked out by two giant tortilla-making machines every day. Pick up a kilo for home, but stay awhile; the original Kensington location has a tiny patio, ideal for polishing off a plate of tacos (like savoury chopped steak or soft calabaza squash, $6.50 for three) drenched in piquant tomatillo salsa. Best coolant: Jamaica flower juice.
Booze delivery
The Beer Guy
thebeerguy.ca
With a Web site packed with beer tasting notes and alcoholic lore, the Beer Guy is our cooler restocker of choice for a weekend bash. The eight-year-old company delivers throughout the GTA: speedy and efficient drivers usually provide one-hour service anytime during LCBO and Beer Store operating hours. And they’ll pick up empties the next day. Delivery fee: $8 for three cases or three bottles of wine or liquor.
Noodle selection
T&T Supermarket
222 Cherry St., 416-463-8113, plus four other GTA locations
Taiwan-based T&T Supermarket has the city’s best selection of noodles, hands down. The mini-chain stocks flat ho fan and super fat e-fu, plus round udon, delicate green tea soba and wiggly sweet potato vermicelli. Noodles come in egg and egg white varieties, white rice and brown rice, not to mention wheat, buckwheat and whole wheat, too. Instant ramen, that student staple, comes in a whole aisle of esoteric flavours, such as kimchee, spicy tomato and abalone.
Beer
Mill Street’s Belgian Wit
At the LCBO
Year after year, Mill Street’s brewmaster, Joel Manning, outdoes himself, rolling out a new tripel or reformulating his pilsner. Come summertime, our favourite bottle is his citrusy Belgian Wit. Cloudy with wheat and laced with coriander, it takes the edge off Toronto’s sticky heat. Six bottles $12.55.
tipple for a lazy afternoon
Sidecar
577 College St., 416-536-7000
The city’s best bartenders have decided that a big jug of booze isn’t just for frat boys. This summer’s drink of choice is Sidecar’s three-quarter-litre pitcher of lemonade made from the juice of a dozen lemons, fresh lemon grass and ginger, and a generous slug of Bacardi Gold. Slurp on the back patio. $26.95.
Cheese appreciation class
Leslieville Cheese Market
August 4, 891 Queen St. E., 416-465-7143; August 6, 541 Queen St. W., 416-361-3111
We’re a city of amateur cheese experts, eager to sample the latest trendy, stinky curd. So it’s no surprise that the cheese appreciation classes at Leslieville Cheese Market have been filling up fast. Cheese whiz and accredited sommelier Julia Rogers talks both newbies and sophisticates through hour-long casual tastings, tailored to seasonal produce and matching wines and beers. This month, she’ll demonstrate how Canadian and international varieties of cheese can complement summer’s bounty. $20.
Food box
Kawartha Ecological Growers
705-439-3372
It’s not enough to have a favourite greengrocer these days; to eat well, you need a farmer in your back pocket, too. The options for Community Supported Agriculture—a subscription for a weekly box of goodies from the farm—have been mushrooming faster than a morel patch in May: you can now sign up for a grass-fed meat CSA (from the Stoddart family farm of Little Britain, Ontario) and a local cheese CSA (from Stratford’s Monforte Dairy) in addition to the more common fruit and veg boxes many local farms offer. Kawartha Ecological Growers sources from 20 farms to ensure each delivery offers a good variety. Some of its produce is grown from heirloom seeds; other items, like huckleberries and callaloo, may be foraged. Even jaded foodies are likely to find something they’ve never tasted. Members benefit from the company’s ties to Toronto chefs: you can swap an excessive amount of Swiss chard for some preserves or sausage links. $25–$35 per week.
late-night Burger
Burger Shack
233 Eglinton Ave. W., 416-487-1974
A favourite late-night haunt of chefs Mark McEwan and David Lee, the Shack is the antithesis of anything on Ossington. Be sure to order the charbroiled six-ounce homemade burger (regulars call them “homeburgers”) rather than the cheaper basic burger, which comes out of a freezer. In addition to the usual toppings, sweet sautéed onions are a welcome change from raw. The Shack is also one of the few places uptown that serves its burgers and excellent fresh-cut fries past midnight on weekends.
Banh mi
Rose Café
324 Broadview Ave., 416-406-9906
Rose Café is the Vietnamese sub stop for cash-strapped snack fiends with picky palates. Our fave: spicy shredded pork, stuffed into a fresh and fragrant baguette roll, along with coriander and cucumber, plus crunchy daikon and carrot and a squirt of mayo. A few tables are scattered between the piles of knick-knacks; a better plan is to walk north to Riverdale Park for a picnic overlooking the skyline. $2.
pakoras
Tangerine
7690 Markham Rd., Unit 4C, Markham, 905-472-2100; 30 Taunton Rd. E.,
Unit A108, Whitby, 905-655-9900
At the seven-year-old Tangerine, Bombay-born chef Edwin Chang has perfected the fish pakora: dotted with green chilies, fried in crisp-spongy red Manchurian batter and doused in fresh lime juice, each ball of flaky white fish is a tongue-searing trip around the world. $9.25 for 10.
Macaroons
La Bamboche
4 Manor Rd. E., 416-481-6735
There are two schools of thought when it comes to macaroons, those elegant meringue cookies sandwiching all manner of ganache. Do you like them dry and crisp (Italian-style) or so soft and impossibly fragile that they immediately collapse on the tongue (French)? We vote for the latter, which is why we’ve been frequenting La Bamboche for its ethereal cookies of lavender, blackberry, thyme and salted caramel. $2.50 each.
barbecue supplies
Petite Thuet
1162 Yonge St., 416-924-2777
No chef in this city knows meat better than Marc Thuet, as evidenced by the inventory at his little jewel of a shop in Summerhill: his sausages are better than anyone’s, his rib-eye is aged 60 days, his porcelait (milk-fed piglets) are creamy and sweet, and his smoked ribs are fall- apart tender. For the custom pannier, everything is seasoned and ready to grill, packed with the chef’s own barbecue sauce, his superlative breads and a few salads. From $35 per person.
Baguette
Thobors Boulangerie
627 Mount Pleasant Rd., 416-544-1733
A stick from Ace Bakery will do in a pinch (especially if you crisp it in the oven to combat summer’s humidity), but for the best baguette in the city, head to Thobors, where breads are baked throughout the day. Loaves are shaped by owner Marc Thobors, a Frenchman who for years was the in-house baker at Célestin. Never too chewy, these sticks don’t rely on sourdough twang for flavour; instead, they showcase the subtle taste of the wheat. From $1.95.
Chocolatier
Xococava
1560 Yonge St., 416-979-9918
Xococava is a sweet shop with mature content: such grown-up ingredients as chorizo, olive and trumpet mushroom make regular appearances in the glass cases. But the most delicious confection is the Pedro Ximenez, a 70 per cent dark Callebaut chocolate truffle flavoured with the eponymous raisiny Spanish dessert wine. And if that doesn’t seem adventurous enough, try pairing it (as chef-owner Chris McDonald did at a recent tasting at Coupe Space) with an aged beemster picked up from your local cheese shop. The salty caramel flavours of the cheese bring out the best in the truffle.
Hands-On Butcher
Cumbrae’s
1636 Bayview Ave., 416-485-5620
Stephen Alexander is constantly upgrading his meat counters, working closely with heritage breeders and raising his own wagyu beef to roll out a steady supply of earthy hanger steak (a cut that’s impossible to find at all but the most old-fashioned butchers). His latest field-to-fork project: feeding creamy Guernsey whey (a by-product of Niagara Gold Cheddar) to a herd of unremarkable York-Duroc pigs. Not only does the farmer get a better price for his pigs; the pork, which tastes so much more luxurious than the average commodity hog, is far more affordable than those pricey heritage breeds. From $4 per pound.
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Dear TL... the famous French cookies you mention are called/spelled "macarons" not "macaroons"... the latter the coconut laden cookies so often part of Passover meals...
July 28, 2009 | by reneemercuriI am a food fanatic and I'm always searching the internet for food ideas. I love my hamburgers the most of course . Can anybody suggest some variations of burgers?
http://www.originalmotorcycleburgers.com...
August 13, 2009 | by cookeehttp://www.always-dialabottle-toronto.co...
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July 22, 2010 | by dialabottleIn Toronto? need a beer or wine home delivery.
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is solution.
They will bring you anything from
LCBO or Beer store
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Il Porcellino restaurant
December 26, 2010 | by pametni