Christopher Butcher enjoys living in Toronto, Canada. In addition to managing the world-famous comic book store The Beguiling, he is a freelance writer, comics production artist, and the co-founder of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival. You can find him at his blog more-or-less daily.

You’ve got $10 to buy lunch – where do you go?

Well if I’ve got $10 for lunch that means chances are I’m at work at The Beguiling in The Annex (just around the corner from Honest Ed’s!). 9 times out of 10, my lunch choice is hitting up Roti Palace (744 Bathurst Street) for a goat roti (spinach, no hot sauce) with an order of doubles. I love their roti, so much so that I usually have to avoid having it more than once per week - I’d hate to get sick of it!

The budget’s unlimited, someone else is paying and the choice is yours – where do you pick for dinner?

Susur (601 King Street West). A massive tasting menu presided over by a comic-book villain? No contest. Of course, if I got to pick the after-dinner spot under similar conditions, I’d wanna hit up one of those terrible clubland ‘hot-spots’ and drink magnums of Cristal all night. Everyone should live in a rap video for at least one night.

Tell us some of the food shops you frequent when buying groceries to cook for yourself.

I’m really fortunate to have a great local fruit market, Bloor Fruit Market (666 Bloor St. West). Like everyone else in the Annex I’m also hitting up the Dominion (425 Bloor Street West) at Bloor & Spadina all the time too. Everything should be 24 hours, as far as I’m concerned.

When ordering in for a quiet night at home, what’s your favourite place for take-out or delivery?

I hate to say it, but lately it’s been Pizza Pizza (various locations - you know the number). They’ve got a new Tikka-Masala sauce on their pizzas that my husband loves and so any time ordering-out comes up, he just smiles at me and I know we’re having Pizza Pizza. If I had my druthers though, I’d probably order from Friendly Thai (678 Yonge Street) more often. They’ve got great hours, reasonable prices, and a not-too-hot green chicken curry that I enjoy.

Oh, no, relatives are coming to Toronto from out of town – where do you take them?

Italian is the one thing that everyone can agree on, and seeing as people in The Annex never leave The Annex, I’d probably take everyone to Rocco’s Plum Tomato (585 Bloor Street West) for pasta. They’ve got a great big dining room, a huge patio, and the restaurant design looks like your tackiest aunt’s closet exploded out onto the walls. Which means that rather than actually have to talk to your relatives, you can just let them comment on how weird the restaurant is (and how great the food tastes…).

Your favourite place to grab a couple of drinks and hang out where everybody knows your name?

Aw, man. I was on a first-name basis with the staff of both The Victory Cafe (595 Markham Street) and Clinton’s Tavern (693 Bloor St. West), but the summer-crunch (I’m one of the people running The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, August 18-19 2007) means that I’m barely there anymore, and have probably lost any status I once enjoyed. I’ll have to build that back up in September… with drinking.

What’s coming up?

As I may have mentioned, I’m one of the organisers of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, a comics and graphic novels event occurring here in the city August 18-19 at the venerable Old Vic Building at U of T. (It’s right across from the ROM, actually.) We’re going to have hundreds of cartoonists and graphic novelists on hand, plus tons of art, readings, panel discussions, a great big family-friendly area, and much more. Anyone who’s into comic books will find something to enjoy, and if you’re not? We can convert you on quality alone. You can find out more about the event at our website.