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The Dish

Food Events

November 9, 2012 | 2:55 pm

GALLERY: The Stop’s annual What’s on the Table fundraiser brought out Toronto’s top chefs—and their biggest fans

What’s on the Table 2012

(Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

For philanthropists with a gourmet bent, What’s on the Table, the big annual fundraiser for The Stop, is kind of a big deal. Every year, a slew of the city’s top chefs come out to support the community food centre and hobnob with some of their biggest fans. The 2012 edition, which took place on Wednesday at the Artscape Wychwood Bars, featured chefs from Beast, Cava, George, GwaiLo, Hooked, Nadège, Noce, Parts and Labour, Paulette’s, Pizzeria Libretto and The Harbord Room, among many others. We spied former mayor David Miller enthusing with Cava’s Chris McDonald over their shared love of Spanish cuisine, and GwaiLo’s Nick Liu politely fending off nosy questions about where his still-not-yet-open restaurant will be located. In the end, after two auctions (one live and one silent), The Stop came away with $270,000 to support their mission of increasing everyone’s access to good, healthy food. The 500-odd donors, meanwhile, left with full bellies and rosy cheeks, having kibitzed with their chef-idols for a few hours.

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The Dish

Food Events

September 29, 2012 | 10:30 am

Weekly Eater: Toronto food events for October 1 to 7

Shuck U: Oyster 101 takes place at Hooked on Wednesday (Image: Gabriel Li)

Monday, October 1

86’D With Ivy Knight: This week, a “twisted foodie adventure” with Rodney Dangerfood, plus reinvention of the cosmo by GwaiLo cocktail queen Christina Kuypers. The Drake, 1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042. Find out more »
Monday Night Dinners at Local Kitchen and Wine Bar: Every Monday night, Local Kitchen serves up a $40 prix fixe menu of their Italian fare with half-price wine bottles and no corkage fee. 1710 Queen St. W., 416-534-6700. Find out more »
Piola’s Monday Night Mixer: Piola’s weekly aperitivo Italiano, with cocktail and beer specials and complimentary snacks. 1165 Queen St. W., 416-477-4652. Find out more »
Burger Mondays: Enjoy $5 burgers and $5 pints on Mondays, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Gladstone Melody Bar. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W., 416-531-4635. Find out more »
Grocery Innovations Canada 2012: Exhibitors and delegates from all over the country gather to discuss their plans for the coming year and the top trends that will hit aisles in 2013. October 1 and 2. Metro Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W. Find out more »

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The Dish

Food TV

June 5, 2012 | 11:19 am

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 13: you win some, they lose some

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Guess who’s coming to dinner? (Image: Courtesy Top Chef Canada)

Last night’s Top Chef Canada episode started in fine finale form, with the three remaining contestants—Carl Heinrich, Jonathan Korecki and Trevor Bird—offering backhanded praise to their opponents for the confessional cam (a sample: “I wouldn’t call Carl robotic, but…”), while psyching themselves up for the big competition ahead (the prize, lest you’ve forgotten: $100,000, a GE Monogram kitchen and some title or other). But the producers had one big trick up their sleeves before that could happen—such a big trick, in fact, that it necessitated a special 90-minute finale, a luxury even the U.S. version of the show hasn’t availed itself of. Find out all the nefarious twists and turns, including the return of the season’s designated villain, in our recap below.

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Food TV

May 30, 2012 | 4:47 pm

Top Chef Canada exit interview, episode 12: put a ring on it

This season, we’re chatting with each week’s eliminated chef after they get the boot (or, rather, after their boot-getting episode airs—this stuff was recorded months ago).

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The Dish

Food TV

May 29, 2012 | 11:26 am

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 12: fashion victims

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Jennifer McLagan joins the regular crew at the Shops at Don Mills (Image: Courtesy Top Chef Canada)

With only four chefs remaining in the competition, last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada started in style—with Carl Heinrich, David Chrystian, Trevor Bird and Jonathan Korecki suiting up at their condo, accompanied by appropriately gladiatorial music. Over the next 43-odd TV minutes they’d be confronted with a legendarily tough (and foul-mouthed) guest judge, and one of those perplexing elimination challenges that leaves a chef between a rock and a hard place. Find out who makes it to the final and who gets sent packing, below.

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The Dish

Food TV

May 22, 2012 | 1:31 pm

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 11: Italian stallions and KD virginity

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A bevy of guest judges showed up for an Italian feast at Fabbrica: Lorenzo Loseto, Carlo Rota, Rick Campanelli, Lidia Bastianich and Franco Stalteri (Image: Top Chef Canada)

Last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada kicked off with a little sentimental reflection by the chefs at their digs—the condo that is finally living up to its “luxury” billing now that there are only five occupants (cramming the original 16 contestants in there probably violated some kind of occupancy regulation). Trevor Bird hoped to God that he wouldn’t have to do dessert again (foreshadowing alert!), while David Chrystian announced to all of Canada that he was set to go home and propose to his girlfriend (good luck, David!). This week’s twists and turns, including guest spots from an R&B star, a former MuchMusic VJ and a legend of Italian cooking, in our recap below.

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The Dish

Food TV

May 15, 2012 | 12:11 pm

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 10: I got soul, but…

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Marcus Samuelsson and Dale MacKay joined the judges this week (Image: Top Chef Canada)

Last week, we complained that the one-two punch of a vending machine quickfire followed by a camping challenge made it feel a bit like a novelty episode. So it was with great anticipation that we tuned in to see last night’s episode, which featured Top Chef Masters champ and all-around chef hero Marcus Samuelsson, who, as Ryan Gallagher suggested, did push the chefs to try harder. It also featured a shot of a young Trista Sheen, who grew up in Flemingdon Park, in full-out cornrows. In other words: an excellent episode all around.

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Food TV

May 8, 2012 | 12:08 pm

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 9: roughin’ it

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Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (Image: Top Chef Canada)

Last night’s episode featured two guest judges (Spencer Rice, a.k.a. Spenny, and Roger Mooking, a.k.a. MC Mystic), one topless chef (David Chrystian) and a whack of inept camping from city folk stranded out in the country. In other words, it was one of the novelty episodes—and with only six chefs standing at the end, we hope it’s the last. Of course, it featured its share of hijinks, so we’re not complaining. A rundown of what happened, including the shocking revelation of which folksy instrument Mark McEwan plays in his spare time, below.

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The Dish

Food TV

April 24, 2012 | 11:18 am

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 7: modernist warfare

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Date night at judges' table (Image: Top Chef Canada)

We’ve often noted that the dishes on Top Chef Canada are a good deal simpler than the fare on the show’s U.S. forebear. Compared to, say, the ambitious yet elegant work of Top Chef Texas winner Paul Qui, the Canadian crop of grilled cheese sandwiches and roasted strip loin can start to feel a tad unambitious. Perhaps that’s why the producers chose to fly in Top Chef All-Stars winner and modernist cuisine avatar Richard Blais to judge last night’s episode. Did it work? Find out in our recap below.

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Food TV

April 17, 2012 | 11:49 am

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 6: double trouble

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“Hiya boss!” (Image: Top Chef Canada)

Six weeks into the competition, the gloves have finally come off. The judges are getting pickier, the challenges are getting meaner (see the quickfire below) and the chefs are getting more than a little testy (last week’s blowups with Elizabeth Rivasplata were child’s play in comparison). On top of all that, last night’s episode showcased the always entertaining Restaurant Wars, during which the chefs divide up into teams to see whose restaurant can screw up the least. We were pretty much glued to the screen.

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Food TV

April 3, 2012 | 12:03 pm

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 4: something offal

Matty Matheson welcomed the judges to Parts and Labour, including Chris Cosentino (Images: Top Chef Canada)

Last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada seemed perfectly calibrated to appeal to the foodie audience, from the chef skills quickfire to the guest judge spot by San Francisco’s offal king Chris Cosentino (whose trip to Toronto was memorably recounted on Twitter last year). And we’ll be honest: we fell for every last bit of it (more like this, please). The episode started with Gabriell Cruz anointing Victor’s David Chrystian as the “sleeping giant” of the competition (presumably because he keeps ending up on the bottom, despite owning a stake in his restaurant). But would that sleeping giant rise to take his rightful place? Find out in this week’s recap.

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The Dish

Food TV

March 27, 2012 | 11:30 am

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 3: the craving games

A very pregnant Thea Andrews returned for a guest spot (Image: Top Chef Canada)

Last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada accomplished a couple of rare feats: it brought last season’s host Thea Andrews onto the same set as this season’s host Lisa Ray without any sparks flying; and it managed to theme an entire episode around the appetites of pregnant women without being grossly offensive (even if it couldn’t escape being deeply corny). So, to the fine people at Insight Productions, we say: good on you. Oh, and the cooking? Actually, it was a few notches up from last week’s construction-site rigamarole, although it did include enough you-just-can’t-make-this-stuff-up bombs to keep us amused.

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The Dish

Food TV

March 20, 2012 | 12:13 pm

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 2: hokey doke

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Does meatitarian Mike Holmes look happy with Elizabeth Rivasplata’s black cod carpaccio? (Image: Top Chef Canada)

The original U.S. version of Top Chef tries to maintain a steely cool tone with the chefs run ragged and constantly at each other’s throats (witness the bullying of poor Beverly Kim this season). The Canadian version, however, has never been afraid of sustained periods of hokeyness—which might explain last night’s episode featuring celebrity tough-guy contractor Mike Holmes. We can’t say exactly what culinary expertise Holmes brought to bear on the competition. We can say, though, that Holmes’s wildly popular renovation shows all air on HGTV Canada, which is mostly owned by Shaw, which also owns most of Food Network Canada. So whatever else his appearance was, it was a fine display of brand convergence in the best Top Chef fashion.

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Food TV

March 13, 2012 | 11:37 am

Top Chef Canada recap, episode 1: and we’re baaaaaack

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Sarah Tsai looks like she’s got a tough decision to make (Image: Courtesy Top Chef Canada)

Let’s face it: season one of Top Chef Canada wasn’t perfect. Some people complained that the cooking lacked ambition. Others, including many of our esteemed commenters, found the slate of contestants a tad too lily white and male. And, let’s face it, not everyone was the biggest fan of host Thea Andrews. But here we are, eight months later, with a set of chefs that head judge Mark McEwan has said are higher calibre, a more diverse cast and, lo!, a new host, actress and one-time model Lisa Ray. So who knows? We’re already pretty excited to see how this season will stack up against the first (which, to be fair, we thought was pretty entertaining). Find out how the first episode went down—and how much product placement the producers were able to cram in—after the jump.

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Food TV

March 8, 2012 | 5:21 pm

The Toronto Top Chef Canada contestants go through the motions for us at a mock quickfire

Top Chef Canada mock quickfire

Head judge Mark McEwan with resident judge Shereen Arazm and host Lisa Ray

Season two of Top Chef Canada premieres this Monday, and to celebrate, Food Network Canada held a mock quickfire challenge at Victor (the home kitchen of competitor David Chrystian) for the Toronto-based contestants. Judges Mark McEwan and Shereen Arazm were on hand with Lisa Ray (in an ivory Pink Tartan sheath dress) playing host, as on the show. Chrystian had home field advantage, while Ryan Gallagher (sous chef at Ruby Watchco and erstwhile private chef for the Thompson family), Daniel Boulud–alum Carl Heinrich, Frank and caféAGO sous chef Elizabeth Rivasplata, Crush Wine Bar sous chef Trista Sheen and Sarah Tsai of the Toronto Lawns Tennis Club vied for the symbolic win (the real show, of course, was filmed months ago).

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