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06/30/11
There are few things in this life that could pull me away from my food. True story: in university, I had my student ID confiscated and my library privileges temporarily suspended for stuffing a ham and cheese croissant into my mouth in a frantic haste after a library security guard demanded I throw away my sandwich. But there is, and always has been, one thing that has the impetus to persuade me to set down my fork, and that is the sound of the ice cream man approaching.
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06/30/11
In Death Proof’s seedy Texan watering hole scene, Quentin Tarantino’s signature cameo character — this time a wily sleaze of a barkeep — feeds shots of mysterious green liqueur to his unwitting and saturated clientele. His response to a post-quaff barrage of gag-reflexes and slurred obscenities is an emphatic defense: “Chartreuse! The only liquor so good, they named a colour after it!”
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06/29/11
It was a good run while it lasted. For the past eight months, pop-up restaurant Drake BBQ has been cooking up some of the best pulled pork and beef brisket in the city. Over the weekend, The Drake Hotel announced via Twitter that it will be closing its takeout barbecue shop on July 2 to focus on its Dining Roadshow. We’re also told that some significant expansions will be taking place.
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06/28/11
I’m about to break three foodie rules. I’m going to talk about a chain restaurant, one that’s located on Yonge Street, and I’m going to tell you that you have to eat there.
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06/24/11
It’s an exciting time for Liberty Village these days. First came Liberty Belle Bistro, then The Beer Boutique. Now, a new restaurant from the team behind South of Temperance and Joy Bistro Bar is on the horizon. Williams Landing, tentatively set for a mid-July opening, is bringing with it a fresh and local approach to food, not to mention a spacious 175-seat patio.
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06/23/11
With the recent influx of good barbecue in the city, Torontonians have a bit less incentive to drive all the way to Whitby or Oshawa for a taste of Buster Rhino’s Southern BBQ. That’s not to say that many won’t still do it, but it’s looking like Buster Rhino’s is heading to Toronto anyway. “Everything’s looking very promising for this year,” owner Darryl Koster says of a possible move to downtown. “If I had any doubts, I wouldn’t be saying that.”
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06/22/11
Before sampling the inaugural offering of the newly-minted Spearhead Brewing Company, the Hawaiian Style Pale Ale, at a tasting at Allen’s on the Danforth, I had never had the opportunity to sample a true Hawaiian pale ale. I had been making jokes about the beer being made with pineapple that very afternoon. Turns out I was right.
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06/22/11
Straight operated as a nightclub in the Village for around three years, but customers increasingly wanted to get their dining on before getting their groove on. So owner Renda Abdo overhauled the place with some help from the design team at Commute Home (Nyood, Colborne Lane, Briscola Trattoria) and brought in executive chef Peter McKnight, a veteran from Wish, to create Smith. The restaurant opened earlier this month.
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06/21/11
Anyone who’s visited Snakes and Lattes during peak hours knows that what makes the cafe great — like unlimited playing time with an almost too-good-to-be-true selection of board games — is also what can make it nearly impossible to snag a seat. “We’re almost refusing more people than we take in,” says co-owner Ben Castanie. “Lots of people don’t even bother coming.” The good news is that the cafe is set to undergo a sizable expansion this summer.
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06/21/11
My first clue that Terroni’s long awaited and latest incarnation, Bar Centrale, was going to feature a drastically different menu than its original pizza-pasta formula was seeing carpaccio di cavallo — otherwise known as horse meat — on the menu. Is the Rosedale set really ready for horse?
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06/20/11
Those of us who were waiting for the highly anticipated opening of Black Hoof and Company (read: all of us) are probably going to want to give up on the breath-holding: co-owner Jen Agg announced yesterday that the opening will be delayed. For an entire year.
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06/20/11
Fish tacos are just starting to catch on in Toronto, but an upcoming restaurant on the Danforth is ready to take the Southern California staple to new heights. Brother and sister duo Albert and Amy Chow are in the final stages of setting up The Combine Eatery, a 1,400 square-foot, 65-seat venue that’ll offer Southwestern classics and other comfort foods.
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06/20/11
The Copper Chimney opened in September of 2010, and has quickly won the hearts of many Torontonians for serving classic dishes reminiscent of northern Indian cuisine. Haute Indian cuisine has been a lingering trend in Toronto for the last five years. Restaurants like Amaya, Aravind and Babur opened to rave reviews, offering dishes peppered not just with authentic flavours but with approachable western elements and influences.
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06/17/11
Father’s Day weekend is shaping up to be lager than life with Ontario Craft Beer Week, starting this Sunday. The week-long, province-wide celebration of Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB) will consist of over 100 events, educating us on such essentials as which chocolate pairs best with which beer and how bacon tastes with a pint (our guess: sweet).
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06/17/11
Anyone hanging out in Parkdale Wednesday evening may have stumbled across an interesting spectacle: a chain of rather hip-looking servers scurrying through Queen West’s traffic, arms brimming with plates of meticulously prepared food. A pop-up restaurant was, of course, to blame. In this case, it was Boxed, a roaming supper club by chef Matthew Sullivan (formerly of Spice Safar), who launched his concept at The Mascot Wednesday.
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06/16/11
Comfort food cravers and those with a soft spot for sweet treats vie for a table at this new upscale eatery north of Eglinton on Yonge. Owners Samara Melanson and Robert Lewocz, plus chef Paul Lampa, former sous chef at Coquine, were smart to exclude burgers from their diner-esque offerings — if there’s anything this neighbourhood doesn’t need, it’s another burger bar.
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06/15/11
Toronto’s entertainment king Charles Khabouth threw a lavish party last night to celebrate the opening of his latest venture, La Société. Before it opened its doors to Toronto’s most stylish (we spotted Greta Constantine’s Kirk Pickersgill, National Post’s Shinan Govani and Fashion editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra, to name a few), we caught up with Khabouth and partner Danny Soberano on the sunny patio.
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06/15/11
There is a lot to be savoured at the small food court behind Pancho’s Bakery in Kensington Market, including veteran chef Francisco Alejandri’s much-lauded Agave Y Aguacate. It’s probably the market’s worst-kept secret, and it's not hard to see why. Alejandri and his sous-chef Clea Stuart have been dedicating nearly all of their waking hours to the takeout-only spot. The duo launched a new summer menu yesterday, so we checked out some of the offerings.
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06/15/11
Summer has finally arrived, and Torontonians are seasonally preoccupied — even borderline obsessed — with seeking out sunbathed patios and the cool refreshments that they offer. Mainstream favourites like Bloody Caesars, mojitos and sangria are great and all, but don't you ever find yourself craving something different? Something wildly potable and subtly fruity, with digestive properties and a compelling history, perhaps? Well then, British favourite Pimm’s might hit the spot.
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06/14/11
This isn’t your average hot dog eating contest. This Sunday, meat-crazed Torontonians will partake in yet another culinary competition, this time in the form of a deli sandwich duel. The Stop Community Food Centre is hosting the 2nd annual Deli Duel, a smoked meat sandwich competition wherein Caplansky’s Delicatessen (the reigning champion) will battle against Goldin’s and The Stockyards for the 2011 title.
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06/14/11
Ask Tawfik Shehata to categorize the menu at Colborne Street’s soon-to-open The Bowery, and the executive chef’s answer defies geography. Sure, there’s some Mediterranean inspiration, as well as nods to Italy and France, but this isn’t fusion. “It’s just good food,” he says. Set to officially open in the next two weeks, The Bowery has taken over the space formerly occupied by Six Steps.
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06/13/11
When Claudio Nunes set up a home decor shop on Dundas West a few years ago, neighbourhood feedback suggested he could have chosen a more lucrative business. The area was, apparently, in dire need of some good coffee and ice cream. So Nunes moved his shop elsewhere and set up Eagles Nest in its stead. Opened last week, Nunes — who grew up in the area — says he’s earned the right to supply his hood with coffee: “I’ve drank a lot of espresso over the years.”
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06/13/11
In my opinion, Bosnian cuisine is a rarity in the GTA, and you’d be hard pressed to find a restaurant that serves authentic fare if you don’t know someone who's from the Balkans. Luckily, there’s Mak European Delicatessens, where tasty cevapi are not too far away.
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06/10/11
If the brotherhood of man had an official language, it would be sports talk. And if that brotherhood had a headquarters for ritualistic beer drinking and game-watching, it would be Danforth’s soon-to-open The Legion. With its high ceilings, fireplaces, shared tables, Greco-Roman architecture and charcoal-grilled steaks, the upcoming Greektown bar brings to mind a sort of Alexander the Great camaraderie.
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06/09/11
Don’t let the name fool you: Mersin Mediterranean Cuisine isn’t just your standard kebabs and shawarma. Owner Emin Kocacinar and his chef Mustafa Ogzur are turning out traditional Turkish eats in a casual dining space that does it’s best to replicate the sights and flavours of Turkey and create an authentic Mediterranean experience.
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06/09/11
As any food-loving denizen of Kensington knows, the former site of La Palette on Augusta has been enticingly papered up for several months now, with nary a hint of what’s to come. Turns out that Kensington’s erstwhile French bistro will be replaced with — of all things — a new French bistro, this time by Jean-Charles Dupoire and Sylvain Brissonnet of Loire Casual Gourmet.
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06/09/11
Kensington Market is no stranger to experimental music, so it’s fitting that Poetry Jazz Café, a new bar dedicated entirely to live jazz, has set up shop on the market’s arterial avenue at 224 Augusta. Its outer facade emblazoned with a dynamic mural of Miles Davis’ hand, Poetry now opens its doors five nights a week —Wednesday to Sunday — to house an eclectic melange of young jazz musicians and soulful, jazz-oriented, vinyl-spinning DJs.
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06/08/11
Yonge and Lawrence’s Gamberoni Restaurant has been around for over 25 years — no small feat — and in all that time, co-owner Mike Colombaro never spent much time thinking of expanding. That changed when a space in a building he owned nearby was vacated by Osteria Ristorante. Colombaro began prepping the site for a new tenant, but decided he might be better off just setting up his own spot. The result is Ruby Grill and Wine Bar, opened last month.
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06/08/11
For the first time in my life, the glory of summer afternoons will come packaged with a backyard garden unlittered with the corpses of flora and unrealized expectations. That’s thanks to Chef’s offer to overhaul my sad backyard “garden,” a proposition this black thumb couldn’t have been more happy to accept. That was how I felt two weeks ago.
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06/07/11
After offering seemingly too-good-to-be-true coupon bargains (like $99 for $400 worth of meat) on deal-of-the-day websites like Dealfind, The Butchers — North Toronto’s decade-old purveyor of organic and naturally-raised meats — is dealing with a business blunder. It simply cannot keep up with demand, and customers new and old are outraged. We spoke with owner Marlon Pather to find out exactly how this business-boosting scheme got so out of control.
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06/07/11
Ice cream, fries and hot dogs: the trifecta of trashy food items available to busy Torontonians hasn’t evolved much since the inception of the food cart itself. Meanwhile, other world-class cities like New York and Miami have long been famous for their selection of gourmet goodies, like authentic tacos, artisanal grilled cheese sandwiches and freshly popped kettle corn, all made to order aboard whimsically named food trucks.
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06/06/11
When the great economic crisis of 2008 hit, Dimitri van Kampen turned to alcohol. His foray into booze was far more creative than down-and-out desperate, though: the Toronto-born financial lawyer got into home brewing and discovered a passion for craft beer. That passion has taken the form of Spearhead Brewing Company, which will officially roll out its inaugural beer at bars and restaurants across the province on June 17.
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06/06/11
As passionate and as divided as food lovers can be about Thai food in Toronto, many will agree that the 20-year old Golden Thai restaurant has been a staple in this city, offering a versatile and consistent menu.
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06/03/11
With a name that translates to ‘beach cabin,’ visitors can expect a laid back atmosphere and fresh, local fare from The Annex’s newest resto, Playa Cabana, where Mexican cuisine and a range of tequilas are highlights. Owner and chef Dave Sidhu has created this Mexican eatery, quite literally, from scratch. “I wanted to create something that was authentic and had a real rustic feel to it,” says Sidhu. “Like a cabin on the beach in Mexico where you could get really fresh seafood.”
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06/02/11
It’s only been about two years since Helene Bergeron set up Juice & Java in the beaches as a cafe that’s just as much about its crepes and made-to-order sandwiches as it is about its coffee and smoothies. But whatever it’s about, it appears to be working: the cafe is expanding to College and Bay this July, and further expansions are likely, brand designer Craig McCallum tells us.
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06/01/11
The cupcake isn't just for bake sales and birthdays anymore. First, it was touted as a cheap and cheerful alternative to the wedding cake. Next came a series of TV shows: Food Network's Cupcake Wars, TLC's DC Cupcakes and W Network's The Cupcake Girls. Now Toronto has Crumbs & Co, a new custom cupcake delivery service. On June 11, owners Frank and Enza Torchia will mark the grand opening of their first shop in Richmond Hill.
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06/01/11
If you like sausages and beer (and really, who doesn’t?), then you’ll like WVRST, King West’s newest emporium of innovative eats and casual cool. Opened a couple of weeks ago, the beer-hall style venue highlights a dizzying selection of sausages — around 18 varieties — along with Belgian-style, double-dipped fries. For owner Aldo Lanzillotta, the appeal of sausage lies in its versatility: “There’s so many different combinations,” he says.
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