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Ryan Gallagher is out as chef at Reds Wine Tavern

Gallagher at Reds (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Ryan Gallagher has left Reds Wine Tavern after only seven months as executive chef. The former Top Chef Canada contestant, who announced his departure via Twitter, was brought on as a heavily promoted component of the restaurant’s big revamp last year, when it shed its dated “Bistro and Wine Bar” designation and adopted a more casual menu (along with reclaimed wood and communal tables). Michael Hunter, who formerly ran Scott Conant’s kitchen at Scarpetta, has been tapped as Gallagher’s replacement.

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Trend Watch

January 18, 2013 | 10:33 am

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Trend We Love: Quail eggs, pickled, smoked, fried, boiled and raw

The pickled quail eggs at Skin and Bones (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Quail eggs have two principal virtues that distinguish them from chicken eggs: they’re tiny and they’re cute. They don’t taste all that different (though the yolk-to-white ratio is a little higher), but they make adorable snacks and appetizers, and come in handy when a whole chicken egg would overpower a dish. And while they’re by no means new, they’ve been popping up all over Toronto menus recently—fried, hard-boiled, pickled, smoked and raw. Here’s where we’ve spotted them of late:

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Restaurants

January 10, 2013 | 4:15 pm

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The Dish Toronto Restaurant Power Rankings: game on

Toronto is in the middle of a great restaurant boom. Over 150 restaurants opened in the last year alone, most of them hyped on Twitter, deconstructed on blogs (like ours) and ranked in countless year-end roundups. Tracking the ups and downs—the praise and the pans—has never been more entertaining. That’s why we’ve decided to launch our first-ever Power Rankings, a list of the restaurants with the biggest buzz, the longest lineups and toughest tables to snag. Below, the 20 restaurants that are dominating the foodie conversation in Toronto right now.

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Restaurants

December 17, 2012 | 8:30 am

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Weekly Lunch Pick: a deliciously messy burger at the revamped Reds

dec12-Weekly-Lunch-Pick-Reds-Wine-Tavern

(Image: Andrew Brudz)

Since relaunching in October, the two-storey Reds Wine Tavern is once again humming with business chatter and clinking glasses. Michael Steh’s haute cuisine has been replaced by the unpretentious local fare of new executive chef Ryan Gallagher, a Top Chef Canada alum who previously worked at Ruby Watchco.

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Openings

October 31, 2012 | 4:27 pm

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Introducing: Reds Wine Tavern, a revamp of the Bay Street power lunch destination

(Image: Gizelle Lau)

It wasn’t long ago that we watched as Ryan Gallagher brought his good-natured competitive streak to season two of Top Chef Canada, making it all the way to episode nine. In August, SIR Corp. announced that Gallagher would be leaving Ruby Watchco to find himself back in the Financial District (he worked as an insurance broker at Brookfield Place many years ago), as the executive chef at the relaunched Reds Wine Tavern. The two-storey restaurant, which opened back in 2000 as Reds Bistro and Wine Bar, shut down briefly in September for renovations. The result: a lively space full of—you guessed it—exposed brick, warm lighting and communal wooden tables that’s nevertheless still sophisticated enough for the district’s businesspeople.

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Food Events

September 29, 2012 | 10:30 am

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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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Food Events

August 25, 2012 | 10:30 am

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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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Restaurants

August 9, 2012 | 2:15 pm

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Top Chef Canada’s Ryan Gallagher to helm a revamped Reds

News of big changes at Reds Bistro and Wine Bar, SIR Corp’s signature Bay Street power restaurant: Michael Steh, who left a sous-chef gig at Splendido to take over Reds’ kitchen in 2006, is out as executive chef. Replacing him is Ryan Gallagher, who made it to episode nine in the last season of Top Chef Canada and worked until recently at Ruby Watchco (there’s a studly-chef photo of him, tattoos and all, on Reds’ new website). But the changes go further than that. The restaurant will be shutting down on September 1 for three weeks of top-to-bottom renovation. When the dust clears, the restaurant will have a new feel and a new name: Reds Wine Tavern. We spoke with assistant general manager Ayla Neilly to get the details.

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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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Food TV

May 9, 2012 | 4:34 pm

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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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