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Weekly Eater: Toronto food events for August 27 to September 2

Outstanding in the Field comes to Whitty Farms on Wednesday (Image: Jeremy Fenske)

Monday August 27

86’D With Ivy Knight: A special 86’D at the Drake’s Sky Yard, celebrating the pairing of chardonnay with corn. Sample Rosehall Run’s chardonnay alongside grilled corn dipped in the Drake’s selection of fine butters. The Drake, 1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042. 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 »
Summer Pasta Making: Join chefs Scott Savoie and Shahir Massoud and learn how to make, sauce, and store the best fresh pasta, including various noodles (tagliatelle, fettuccine), stuffed pasta shapes (agnolotti, ravioli, tortellini) and the softest potato gnocchi you’ll ever try. 201 Weston Rd., suite #101, 416-565-1730. Find out more»
Cooking for Cooks: Jamie Kennedy pays tribute to those who do service with a three-course dinner for industry folk (although non-industry types can come too). Gilead Cafe, 4 Gilead Pl., 647-288-0680. Find out more »

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Top Chef Canada contestants to reunite for next Charlie’s Burgers dinner

(Images: Top Chef Canada)

Charlie’s Burgers, the no-longer-quite-so-elusive dining experience helmed by Franco Stalteri, has released (sparse) details regarding the next Toronto dinner. What we know: the chefs will be former Top Chef Canada winner Carl Heinrich (whose restaurant, Richmond Station, a partnership with Ryan Donovan, is set to open in September) alongside runners-up Trevor Bird and Jonathan Korecki; the menu will include tequila-laden snow cones, trout crackling, wild boar, peach melba and an undisclosed amuse bouche whose entire description reads “something good—by now, we hope you trust us.” Tickets are $225 for the August 12 dinner, which will take place in a mystery location downtown. Foodies looking to score a seat at the event should get their names on the anti-restaurant’s list of potential diners ASAP. Unsurprisingly, we’re told there are already plenty of RSVPs. [h/t Toronto.com]

The Dish

Food TV

June 6, 2012 | 5:22 pm

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Top Chef exit interview, episode 13: second runner-up

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). For the finale, of course, there were three chefs who were eliminated.

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The Dish

Food TV

June 5, 2012 | 11:19 am

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

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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The Dish

Food TV

May 29, 2012 | 11:26 am

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 12: fashion victims

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

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

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

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

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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The Dish

Food TV

May 8, 2012 | 12:08 pm

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 9: roughin’ it

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

May 1, 2012 | 12:47 pm

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 8: later, caterer

(Image: Top Chef Canada)

Last night’s episode started with some reflections from the chefs back at their, um, glamorous condo. Xavier Lacaze was amazed that he’d made it so far. Ryan Gallagher thought that Curtis Luk had been sent home too early. Carl Heinrich missed his girlfriend (it was her birthday). And Jimmy Stewart? He revealed that he still lived with his mom. “A lot of people might find that embarrassing,” he said. “Home will always be there. This will not.” Was that a sly forshadowing by the producers of things to come? Read on to find out.

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The Dish

Food TV

April 24, 2012 | 11:18 am

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 7: modernist warfare

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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The Dish

Food TV

April 17, 2012 | 11:49 am

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 6: double trouble

“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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The Dish

Food TV

April 10, 2012 | 11:20 am

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 5: the Thicke of it

The regular gang, see here cracking wise, was joined by Alan Thicke and the Distillery District’s Jason Rosso (Image: Top Chef Canada)

The opening of last night’s episode of Top Chef Canada revived a time-honoured trope from season one: chefs in their skivvies. This time around, it was Victor’s David Chrystian (last episode’s victor, as it happens) who launched himself, shirtless, out of his top bunk to quell a screaming alarm clock. The episode was also a return to form for the show’s fabled product placement division, with an entire challenge focused around a sponsor’s product, and a nice showcase for some cheffy temper flare-ups. Oh, and it featured a guest judging spot by “Canadian icon” Dr. Jason Seaver Alan Thicke, for reasons we can’t quite fathom—not that we’re complaining.

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The Dish

Food TV

April 3, 2012 | 12:03 pm

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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

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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

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Top Chef Canada recap, episode 2: hokey doke

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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