Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later: Colborne Lane has finally gotten a medicore review, courtesy of Gina Mallet in the National Post. She and her companions think that the place it hitting .500 or so when it comes to the food, but the most telling and amusing part of the review is her jab at molecular gastronomy:

It was after [Ferran Adria] spotted instant-foaming Reddi-wip in a supermarket that he had his aha moment and went back to his kitchen to foam a potato — a spurt of spud never before imagined.

Liquid pea ravioli followed: Adria mixed fresh peas, mint and water, calcium chloride (the stuff that keeps cement from hardening) and sodium alginate (the stuff that makes McDonald’s apple pie gluey) to produce a fresh, intense taste previously accessible only to rabbits. Now budding chemist-cooks are buying foaming kits from Canadian Tire and sending abroad for the correct chemicals. I wonder when the first chemical home kitchen will explode.

LOL to think that after all the trashing of the ingredients in processed foods, no nutritionist has uttered a peep about the haute chemical kitchen.

Yeah, we’ve been wondering the same thing…

Also in the Post:

• Jason Chow figures that the midway point between St. Patrick’s Day and Passover is a good time to write about the food that unites the Irish and Jews: corned beef.
• Bonnie Stern is also preparing for Passover with some wheat-free desserts.
• Someone writes about wine in a box, and someone else writes about Calphalon’s knife skills class, but since the stories on only available to subscribers, we’re not sure who wrote them or what they had to say.

Over in the Globe & Mail, there’s a ton of foodie stuff this weekend, starting with Joanne Kates’ generally positive review of Imperia, a new Italian place recently opened in Yorkville by low-key restaurateur Franco Agostino:

Agostino’s passion visits itself upon a host of Italian classics that are too often screwed up. Salad of octopus with potato is a classic southern Italian appetizer that can be pathetically bland in the wrong hands. Imperia’s rendition is a stand-up-and-salute delight composed of wondrously tender charred tentacles atop sweet little fingerling potatoes dressed in vinaigrette with just enough mint and chili to be exciting.

The mushroom salad, another classic that is often tasteless, is composed of thin slices of portobello and brown mushrooms with shaved fennel and baby radicchio in a dressing happily scented with truffle oil and seedy mustard.

Also in The Globe:

• Beppi Crosariol samples all 77 of wines that the LCBO offers in tetra packs and other “environmentally friendly” containers, and declares all but of a few of them to be sub-standard.
• Amy Verner reports on the recent launch in Canada of Ina Garten’s line of packaged foods, The Barefoot Contessa Pantry - although we can’t help but wonder why someone would be willing to spend $15.99(!!) for a brownie mix that makes nine squares, and that even requires several additional ingredients that aren’t in the box.
• Lacy Waverman offers up some recipes from David Chang, the chef/owner of NYC’s Momofuku noodle house.
• In the Globe Toronto section: Peter Cheney looks at the increasing popularity of the “nose-to-tail” approach to meat-eating amongst Toronto’s more enlightened butchers and carnivores; Julie Traves visits a well-appointed new lounge/café in Leslieville, The Comrade; and José Lourenço asks a bunch of restaurants why the hell they won’t offer a half salad/half fries option to their diners.
• In the Globe Travel section: Cinda Chavich recommends a half-dozen culinary tour hot spots, from Chile to Asia to Newfoundland; Stephen Beaumont gives the low-down on some wine, beer & spirit festivals taking place around North America this spring and summer; Jessica Johnson visits a bunch of the world’s best food shops & markets; and Patrick Dineen suggests several food tours and cruises.

Finally, in the Toronto Star, Amy Pataki suggests six steps to improve Six Steps, including this one that we think all restaurant servers should take to heart:

Warn us about the prices: This applies to all specials and such daily changing offerings as grilled whole fish. Six Steps has three whole fish on offer one night: branzino, Arctic char and snapper. It’s only on the bill do I realize the Arctic char – fresh enough, but spongier than it should be – costs $40. Cue sticker shock.

Also in The Star:

• Stuart Laidlaw reports on the good work being done by Toronto’s Raging Spoon and Montreal’s Part du Chef, catering companies that are run and staffed by people with mental health conditions.
• Marion Kane dishes a bit of dirt from the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, and tests recipes for Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta.