This week at NOW, Steven Davey likes Cowbell. Really. A lot. More than you can imagine. So much that he wants to marry it. There’s lots of gushing. Or maybe he’s just excited because his review is the first to be published out of all the mainstream publications, so he can actually say he likes the restaurant and not play that restaurant reviewer game of dissing a place just because the competition also likes it but published their review first. Or maybe he’s happy because he got to quote Christopher Walken while at the same time dissing Christopher Walken. People should not mess with Christopher Walken. I’d also quibble with the prices Davey quotes - complete dinners per person with tax and tip are closer to $75 per person, not $50. Did I mention there’s gushing?

Davey’s back to his lovably snarky self elsewhere in NOW with a less-gushing review of Teranga in Kensington Market. That’s more like it. Graham Duncan’s got three picks in Drink Up, all of which have black labels - how goth.

At Eye, they’re just getting around to hitting Greg Couillard’s Spice Room where Alan Vernon and Ryan Jennings seem to want the chef to know his place and get back behind the pans.

The night we dine, it seems he spends more time on the floor chatting with customers or personally making decaf Americanos at the bar than he does in the kitchen, one he shares with David Ng’Ang’a who runs the adjacent courtyard café, Manyata.

Which makes one wonder if Vernon and Jennings think that Jamie Kennedy, Mark McEwan, Mario Batali or Gordon Ramsay are all working the line in their many restaurants (simultaneously!) as well. That old joke “Who cooks the food in your restaurant when you’re not there? The same people who cook it when I am there!” is funny because it’s true. Maybe with so much scepticism about whether Couillard will stick around for this venture, the chef feels the need to allay concerns by showing his face at the front of house to assure Eye’s reviewers of his ongoing presence.

At Metro, Billy Munnelly discusses Prosecco, while Aonghus Kealy previews the Festival of Beer and sips some Red Stripe. There’s more about the beer fest as Kealy explores Ontaro Craft Brewers, as well as beer and food pairings. Not to mention Sandy Caetano’s piece on grilling with beer, and some recipes to get you started.

Also in Metro, there’s a recipe for grilled halibut, Jennifer Yang has tips for finding cooling foods from various cultures, and Chloe Tejada reviews Jules.