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05/31/11
The stork is about to land in Greektown, and it’s going to be delivering all sorts of goodies. Leaside’s pride of authentic french patisseries, Patisserie la Cigogne, is opening a new location on the Danforth (near Coxwell), slated to open in mid June.
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05/27/11
Baristas beware: coffee lovers may soon be renouncing their espressos for Toronto’s newest trend, tea. Steeped in years of tradition, tea culture is taking over the city, and rightly so, says Andrew Marrone, a tea sommelier (yes, that’s a real title) at the newly-opened t-buds. “The thing with our teas is that a lot of them are single estate, premium teas, and you can get a lot more nuances out of tea than you can with coffee,” he says. “We’re trying to get a complete tea experience.”
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05/26/11
As an East coaster, born and raised, I like to think that I know a little something about seafood preparation. Chef — an avid fisherman and fresh catch enthusiast — also considers himself knowledgeable on the topic. The difference between us is composition. Where I rate fish based on their bones (not boney = good, boney = bad), he of course, if asked for a recipe, will ramble on about Eric Ripert, chef and co-owner of New York's Le Bernardin (and apparent seafood god).
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05/26/11
Before Okko Fine Foods opened last week as Eglinton West’s latest gourmet food shop, it was a Turkish chain with a 25 year history. Now, owner Mason Clarke is focusing on Toronto (he’s sold Okko’s four Turkish locations) and on bringing healthy, organic and all-natural food to the neighbourhood. Manager Belcem Turhal chatted with us about the store while friendly staff attended customers nearby.
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05/25/11
Torontonians dissatisfied with the city’s current hot dog cart offerings may soon be in for a treat. Vancouver hit Japa Dog plans to bring its fusion of wieners and Japanese cuisine to Toronto for 2011, The Globe reports. The popular eatery, which opened in Vancouver in 2006, has since expanded to three carts and a fast food-style restaurant.
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05/25/11
When Montreal export m:brgr set up shop on King Street earlier this year, owner Jeff Dichter wasn’t too worried about the heap of competition nearby (nowhere else offers a $100 burger, after all). But the restaurant’s Toronto location has apparently bit the dust. Food blog It All Starts With Butter reported its closure today, and although we were unable to get a hold of Dichter immediately, m:brgr wasn’t open for service today and its Toronto phone line appears disconnected.
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05/25/11
Ask any indie barista who they think most influenced craft coffee in Toronto, and one name stands out: Stuart Ross, who founded Bulldog Coffee around eight years ago. Toronto’s coffee scene has grown exponentially since then, but Ross had expressed little interest in expanding himself. “Maybe, if the moon and the earth and the sun were all lined up, and everything was perfect, I’d do it,” he once said. Apparently, that grand celestial event has occurred: Bulldog is headed uptown.
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05/24/11
Toronto loves pork. So why do we have to eat it overcooked all the time? The USDA announced today that it’s safe to cook pork medium rare, or 145 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s quite a dramatic shift from the well-done 160 degrees previously preached by the organization and currently required by Toronto Public Health.
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05/24/11
If last week’s Twitter rumour that Greg Couillard might be making a Toronto comeback was an unbearable tease, brief satiety will be found tonight at Kensington Market’s Burger Bar, when the veteran chef takes over the kitchen to offer up some of the fare he’s been cooking at Chili Bang Bar in Mexico.
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05/20/11
What happens when you mix a career in personal training with a love of Indian cooking? In Marshall Tully's case, you get Muscle Masala, a nutritionally complete cookie packed with protein — 20 grams, to be exact — and punctuated with spices like cardamom, saffron and ginger. Tully recently started selling the preservative-free treat at a handful of coffee shops around the city, including Dark Horse Espresso Bar and Thor Espresso Bar.
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05/19/11
Move over Antiques Roadshow: there’s a new “tour” in town, and this one promises to be much tastier. The Drake Hotel has announced its Dining Roadshow, a "restaurant within a restaurant" concept that will see the dining room space changing seasonally in menu, theme, and decor. Executive chef Anthony Rose intends to create stylized menus that highlight the intrinsic attitude of each of The Drake’s restaurant incarnations.
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05/19/11
We never thought we’d be able to think of another reason to spend inordinate amounts of time hanging out at McDonald’s, but now the fast food giant is rolling out free Wi-Fi at its Canadian locations. Apparently, more than 90 per cent of McDonald’s across the country will be equipped with the service by the end of May.
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05/19/11
A famous bard once said, “If music be the food of love, play on.” That said, if Shakespeare were alive today, he’d probably be a regular at Midtown’s soon-to-be opened Spin Dessert Cafe. There, you'll be able to choose song-inspired dessert options such as Chris de Burgh's Lady in Red (a strawberry and vanilla two-scoop sundae) or Dave Matthews Band’s So Much to Say (a hazelnut creme and banana ice cream waffle).
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05/18/11
If you’ve ever found yourself daydreaming of eating at an authentic pizzeria in Rome, don’t book your flight just yet. Falasca SPQR, which opened at Yonge and Manor last week, is recreating all of the flavor of a proper Roman pizzeria right here in Toronto. Owner Alessandro Buccianti and head chef Alfiero Falasca (who has a world pizza championship title under his belt) are serving up a variety of pizzas, pastas and other Italian eats at their newly opened location.
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05/17/11
The controversy surrounding shark hunting and shark fin soup is no secret, but who would have thought Brantford, Ontario would be the first place in Canada to do something about it? Brantford is set to become the first Canadian jurisdiction to ban shark fin products in the hopes that other cities like Toronto will follow suit, The Globe reports.
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05/17/11
As the pendulum begins to swing in the T.O. dining scene from modest local fare and traditional dishes served in casual environs to lavish gastronomy and the return to fine dining, the extremes are increasingly palpable. Large-scale and scintillating restaurants are popping up in corporate alley at the foot of York Street like dandelions on our pesticide-free lawns.
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05/16/11
Fans of Cuisine of India, rejoice! After a nearly year-long hiatus, the restaurant is re-opening this Friday, May 20, at a new location at Yonge and Davisville. After functioning in its previous space at 5222 Yonge Street for over 20 years, the original Cuisine of India was forced to close just over a year ago due to condo developments that no longer accommodated the restaurant.
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05/16/11
Since it first appeared around four years ago, Craft Burger has been one of the key players in Toronto’s burger scene (Scaramouche’s Keith Frogget deemed a craft burger to be one of the city's best in a Post City taste test last year). So with Craft Burger's recent re-branding to Big Smoke Burger, fans are surely wondering: why change a good thing?
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05/16/11
Veteran restaurateur Franco Agostino is back at it with his newest incarnation, Bacco, which opened in Yorkville last month. Bacco is a sexy, sumptuous space: perfect for Agostino’s intentions with the restaurant. With a menu that promises to serve up seasonal Italian classics, the goal is to create a community eatery that will become a staple in the neighbourhood.
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05/13/11
Wine tastings are so last Tuesday. This Monday, Vintages is offering something you may have never encountered before: a sake tasting event, presenting dozens of sakes by nine premium producers. If you think sake is “just a novelty drink,” or if you’ve only had it served hot, then you haven’t had the real stuff. The good thing is that sake is finally catching on in Toronto. Here are some fun sake facts that might surprise you.
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05/13/11
The sun is shining and the asparagus is growing – so what on earth are you doing at the supermarket? Southern Ontario’s growing season is picking up and filling gardens, farmers’ markets and local greengrocers with fresh produce that hasn’t trekked halfway across the globe. If there was ever a time to pay attention to where your food comes from, lower your carbon footprint and support an Ontario farmer, it’s now.
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05/12/11
On a stretch of Parkdale largely dominated by expensive bistros, coffee shops, and antique stores, Cardinal Rule offers a refreshing and quirky alternative. Owners Marta Kusel (head chef) and Katie James (interior designer) have created a diner with just a hint of retro throwback and a menu that is at once familiar — like the Sunday dinners that Mom used to make — and innovative.
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05/12/11
It wasn’t so long ago — 2004 to be exact — when Silvio Ursini founded the first Obikà Mozzarella Bar in Rome. And if the restaurant’s subsequent spread is any indication, the concept is red hot: with locations in New York, Tokyo and Istanbul, amongst others, the 17th incarnation of Obikà will officially open at Brookfield Place this Monday, giving suits (or non-suits who venture into the area) a chance to sample some solid Italian ingredients.
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05/10/11
Today, the good folks at Dairy Queen achieved something that most only dream of: they constructed a world record-breaking ice cream cake — weighing over 10 tonnes — at Yonge-Dundas Square. The monstrous confection was transported on forklifts and then was consumed en masse by the throngs of bystanders. But this record is only one of a few gems that Torontonians have broken with skill, tenacity, and sheer dedication to the important things in life. Here’s a look at five of them.
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05/10/11
With summer weather around the corner, that ubiquitous grilling food of choice, the sausage, is sparking a gastro-competition at Marben. Twelve local chefs will test their sausage sass against one another to determine who is the Toronto champion, and Marben wants you to decide.
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05/10/11
Queen and Woodbine has seen a few eateries come and go in the red house that's now home to Red Moose Bar and Grill. Why the others didn’t stick around may be a matter of karma, but Red Moose owner Arul Nagulendran intends to outlast his predecessors by offering great food, great service, generous portions (“even the appetizers”) and a bit of something for everyone.
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05/09/11
Acccording to owner Geoff Polci, Crema Coffee Co.’s soon-to-be-opened location in Greektown happened by accident.
“Actually, a friend lives in the area and looked at the spot and saw it was for lease,” Polci says. “We called the landlords, had a look and it's just a fantastic place, a great space.”
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05/09/11
Ever since Jerry Sakorafas and Jennifer Bateman-Hatch opened Smokin Hick's BarBQ late last month, they’ve been constantly busy without the help of any advertising other than the best kind, word of mouth. Everything at Smokin Hick's is made from scratch, including sauces, and the meat is smoked on-site. “This is all stuff we feed our family,” says Bateman-Hatch. “Nothing fancy.” On cue, a customer walks in and says, “We heard about your beans, and the pulled pork.”
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05/06/11
Somewhereness is a celebration of Ontario wines, wherein some of the province’s top wineries will showcase their finest and latest offerings. After a keynote address by international wine writer and educator Ian D’Agata, winemakers will present their wares. Whether you’re a know-it-all or a novice, the evening could be educational and fun (depending on how you approach it). Below, three ways to enjoy Somewhereness 2011.
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05/06/11
Nettie Cronish has been a steadfast vegetarian for over 40 years, but that didn’t stop her from co-authoring Everyday Flexitarian, a new cookbook for both meat eaters and vegetarians. The Toronto chef, teacher and author learned some lessons in flexibility when her kids turned to the carnivorous dark side. We caught up with her to talk about the conundrum of eating meat ethically, her new book and the benefits of having an “enlightened pantry.”
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05/05/11
With seven years in the coffee business under his belt and having placed second overall in the Canadian Eastern Regional Barista Championships last year, Sameer Mohamed has got coffee boiled down to a science. And as every good scientist knows, the proof is in the numbers. A major variable in brewing, according to Mohamed, is temperature – hence the name of his new cafe, Fahrenheit Coffee, opened earlier this week on The Esplanade.
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05/04/11
With twelve years of restaurant work under his belt — first at Licks, then as a manager at Johnny Rockets — Raza Jafary has made quite a few friends in the food industry. So when he opened up Burger Brats in the club district two weeks ago, many of those friends followed him willingly as employees, a testament to the young restaurant owner’s good will. He’s also crazy about burgers.
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05/04/11
Toronto’s food scene may be on the verge of going underground (figuratively speaking) but how about literally underground? Like TTC underground? After all, nothing could be more appealing than the thought of dining on black garlic and morels while on the screeching, jolting subway. Well, the coast is clear for Toronto to experiment with fine subway dining because New York City has done it first.
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05/03/11
Hassel Aviles is on a mission to put food underground. And no, she's not planning on sowing a garden. Instead, the born and raised hogtown girl is well on her way to setting up Toronto's first-ever underground food market.
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05/03/11
Since hot dogs are pretty much the only thing street vendors can legally sell in Toronto (still), our streets are flooded with them — usually Shopsy’s; always grilled. But according to Sam Santino, owner of The Big Chill and the newly-opened The Little Dog, a properly done hot dog is always steamed.
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05/03/11
Chef is something of a purist when it comes to cuisine. Or so he likes to say when not searing sushi rice patties and reducing coconut milk with karffir lime, star anise, lemon grass and other pan-Asian ingredients for our traditional Sunday roast chicken dinner. Japanese is one of his favourite foods — something we share. And, in the spirit of sharing, I decided, after frequent visits to Guu Izakya with Chef and his friends, to suggest we try a new spot — simply for variety’s sake.
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05/02/11
Two years ago, Carol Belmonte parlayed her talents as a personal chef into building a thriving raw food delivery business, Belmonte Raw. And while her customers might be disappointed to learn that she's phasing out her popular boxed-lunch delivery service, the good news is that she’s making way for the opening of her first retail location on Queen East, set to open this June.
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04/29/11
For those of you tired of staring at a wall of logos in a glorified walk-in refrigerator (better known as The Beer Store), you’re in luck. The beer-distributing mainstay is thinking outside the barrel and opening a beer boutique in Toronto’s Liberty Village. Store-goers will be able to enjoy in-house samples while browsing through their favorite beers, much like at the LCBO (or most grocery stores in the States).
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