Just because things are quiet this week doesn’t mean the web isn’t still ripe with drama. Tim at BlogTO outs Globe and Mail restaurant critic Joanne Kates by posting photos of her to his site. Comment reaction is mostly negative. Yes, Kates has too much ego for her own good, but making it difficult to do her job isn’t very nice. Besides, as has been documented regularly, a restaurant recognizing a known critic doesn’t really make for much difference in terms of food quality. Also at BlogTO, Vanessa reviews Senhor Antonio Tapas and Wine Bar.

At Torontoist, they’re counting down the heroes and villains of 2007 with Urbana Coffee making the hero list, and the cranky service of Jet Fuel Cafe as well as the entire Taste of the Danforth festival winning the villain awards.

James Chatto of Toronto Life is in merry old England visiting Mum for Christmas where she takes him out to restaurants he can’t afford on his own. Hmmm… maybe a gig with Toronto Life isn’t the answer to every writer’s dream. Also at Toronto Life, David Lawrason lists his favourite wine moments of 2007.

At Gremolata, “gourmet guru” Malcolm Jolley lists his food predictions for 2008, which include “freshness” (so no more aged beef or vintage wines?), as well as French and Chinese food. Hey, he’s the guru, right?

Eric Vellend has his Top Tables picks for 2007 at Menumental, it’s a two-parter from December 27th and December 28th with Splendido winning out as his favourite overall restaurant.

Dufflet Pastries
1917 Queen Street East (Beach location)
416-699-4900
Dessert and a glass of wine for two with all taxes: $30

Luscious dessert by the “Queen of Cake” paired with a carefully chosen tipple? What a sweet idea. Dufflet’s Beaches retail cafe location is licensed and has extended hours until 11pm from Thursdays to Saturdays, offering dessert and wine pairings “inspired from the cafes of France and Italy”.

It’s not the first time that a sweet-centric spot with a license to imbibe came on the scene - most of my highschool days were spent at various joints of the defunct Just Desserts chain - but it is one of the few places that promises thoughtful pairings of double decadence. As someone who has maybe gone so far as eating a brownie with coffee and Bailey’s, I was intrigued by the notion of drinking wine with the final course.

Continue reading Wine and Dessert Pairings at Dufflet’s »

The papers are pretty light today, particularly in the food and drink coverage, due to folks being in holiday mode. So it’s a quick round-up this week:

In the Toronto Star, it looks like their website department must be taking it extra easy over the holidays, as the recipe is missing from Susan Sampson’s article on anchovies, and half of Gordon Stimmell’s wine column is missing as well. And for those looking to avoid some post-party clean-up on New Year’s Eve, Peggy MacKenzie reviews a selection of disposable dinnerware (or as we called them when I was a kid, “paper plates”). The green-minded amongst us will be happy to see that the two bio-friendly options take top marks.

In the National Post, Bonnie Stern offers some recipes that use the “nasty bits” (assuming you consider chicken liver, marrow bones or off-cuts of steak to be “nasty”).

In The Globe & Mail, Joanne Kates dishes up her 10 best & 10 worst restaurants for 2007, while Lucy Waverman borrows recipes from chefs Lynn Crawford, Anna Olson and Anthony Sedlak to create a decedent New Year’s Eve dinner. In the Globe’s Travel section, Mandy Trickett eats some lutefisk, the infamous lye-aged cod that’s a Christmas tradition in Norway, and an AP wire story on Alain Ducasse’s new Eiffel Tower restaurant includes the chef’s claim that the prices of roughly $100 per person at lunch and $200 at dinner - before wine - are “accessible to everyone”. Time for someone to give Mr. “I Have 16 Michelin Stars” a reality check, I think.

The bloggers have been quiet this week. The holidays are like that, I guess. Too much eating, not enough time for writing. As expected, many of our selections for this week are holiday-related.

At Cream Puffs in Venice, Ivonne makes a gorgeous buche de noel, right down to the little meringue mushrooms. She also shares my philosophy that the last week of the calendar year is for cleaning up and clearing out, so she’s also got a post about her baking courses from the fall.

Eric creates some gorgeous chocolates at Do You Know the Muffin Man? - those blueberry cinnamon truffles look amazing.

At Beer, Beats and Bites, Greg introduces us to TAPS magazine - a new Canadian beer mag that is actually about beer.

And it wouldn’t be the week before the new year without a round-up of some kind, so over at Save Your Fork, I’ve got a list of my Top 5 food trends of 2007 that should die, die, die!!

Note - The Blog-A-Log moves to Saturdays starting next week. We are also looking for Toronto food bloggers interested in being interviewed about their blogs for a new bi-weekly feature. If you’re a Toronto food blogger interested in being featured, please drop us a line.

More round-up style “the year that was” articles in the weeklies today, as Steven Davey of NOW reminisces about restaurants that have closed in ‘07. Except for Gypsy Co-op, which actually closed in December of ‘06.

They’re looking back at Eye, as well, where Corey Mintz rounds up Eye’s Top 10 restuarants of 2007.

And at Metro, they’re looking ahead, with a list of places to ring in the new year.

Martin Grove Fish & Chips
5 Lavington Drive, Etobicoke
416-244-7630
Take-out lunch for two (including soft drinks, no dessert) with all taxes: $19

I don’t usually get a craving for deep-fried food around two in the afternoon. But on this particular day of hardcore holiday shopping and extra calories incinerated while wandering the malls and lugging heavy packages – not to mention plenty of action with my snow shovel early that morning (and not in a good way) – I decided that a late lunch of some hot greasy goodness was a well-earned indulgence.

So off I went to Martin Grove Fish & Chips.

Continue reading Ignoring the Wisdom of Bourdain »

It’s that time of year - round-up time - where everyone, particularly in the media, looks back at the year that was. Over at the Toronto Star, Susan Sampson and Jennifer Bain hand out the “Golden Whisk Awards” where they select their favourite recipes of 2007. Gordon Stimmell joins the round-up fun with his best bottles of 2007.

Also at the Star, Josh Rubin recommends Mill Street’s barley wine for New Year’s eve sipping,  there’s info about Emeril Lagasse’s break with the Food Network, news about that chemical in microwave popcorn, and some new product reviews in In Store.

Continue reading What’s Cooking - Wednesday, December 26th »

Marinated duck’s tongues are finger lickin’ good and can be found at Dynasty Chinese Cuisine (131 Bloor Street West) or The Grand (655 Dixon Road, Etobicoke), the later serving them encased in aspic with wolfberries.

This is the second part of a series dedicated to dim sum. In part 1 dishes served in steamed wrappings were featured. This post will focus on the bites that are braised, baked and fried. So grab a cup of tea and be prepared for another feast.

Continue reading An Ode to Dim Sum, Part 2 (of 2) »

From everyone here at TasteTO - we wish you and yours the very best for the holiday season. May it be full of joy, happiness and really, really great food.

You’ve got to give props to Julie Reitsma of Torontoist. Her series of food challenges take her into some forbidding territory. This week she compares fast food salads, all of which look kind of scary. And while it’s not completely food-related, I’m including Torontoist’s piece on Baldwin Street, as it references a number of area restaurants.

At BlogTO, Tanja’s got a series of drool-worthy dessert photos in her review of Novecento, and Frank tucks into a bowl of pho at Que Ling.

Eric Vellend remembers his roots and his Grandma and recounts an Estonian Christmas at Menumental, while James Chatto gets to sneak in to a fancy wine tasting he wasn’t invited to at Toronto Life.

At Gremolata, Eric Wood defends pricey cheese, there’s a reprint of Ivy Knight’s Acadian Christmas post from last year, Evan Mitchell and Brian Mitchell have a piece on winespeak, and Malcolm Jolley reviews Guigal’s 2003 Côtes du Rhône.

Dessert Lady
20 Cumberland Street
416-924-3223

Here is a spell of winter magic: Trudging through the slush and tumbling over snowbanks in suddenly-white Toronto, cold, nose running, face wind-burnt and opening the door to the Dessert Lady. The powerful scent of shortbread slams into me like a wave. The wind turns to warmth. And winter is long gone two steps into this cozy Yorkville shop.

For three years, a sibling team has been creating artful goodies that run the gamut of everything sweet. Chef Mandy Kan, whose studies began at Manhattan’s renowned French Culinary Institute, has honed her skills in Florida (Ritz Carlton) and Toronto (Superior Restaurant, Summerhill Market). Now she’s got her own shop of innovative desserts.

Continue reading An Inspired Sweet Tooth »

Despite our best efforts, and much to the chagrin of trees everywhere, websites like Taste T.O. have yet to kill off the traditional paper magazine. I guess people still aren’t comfortable taking their laptops to the bathroom. Which is fine by us, really, as we feel kind of icky about the idea of you reading the site while you’re doing…. uh, that.

We still want to be helpful, though, so here are a few things that you can read instead:

So fresh that we haven’t even picked up a copy yet, the Winter 2007/08 issue of Edible Toronto was released yesterday. Based on a skim of the contents on the website, it looks like a good read, with articles including: an introduction to fruit wines by Charmian Christie; a history of traditional winter puddings by Elizabeth Driver; a look at artisanal carrots by David Cohlmeyer; a feature on some of Toronto’s top breadmakers by Daphna Rabinovitch; a roadtrip to Collingwood with Lauren Carter; and much more. Edible Toronto is distributed for free at many locations in the city and throughout the Golden Horseshoe, and all of the articles can also be downloaded from the website in PDF format.

Continue reading Periodicals For Your Perusal »

Steam Whistle Brewing
The Roundhouse
255 Bremner Boulevard
416-362-BEER

I walk down Front Street in a quick stride with my partner Paul by my side. It’s his birthday and I’m keeping him in the dark about our plans. We pass the Rogers Centre and the CN Tower – he is out of guesses. “You have to walk faster,” I say as the clock nears 5pm. We are almost late. With only minutes to spare we arrive at our destination. “We’re going to brew beer?” he asks confusedly as I open the front door to the Steam Whistle Brewing Company. “No, silly, we’re going on a brewery tour!”

Continue reading Touring the Steam Whistle Brewery »

2007 has undeniably beer the Year That Local Broke in the food scene, so it’s fitting that one of Joanne Kates’ last reviews of the year for the Globe & Mail should be L’Unita, an Italian spot recently opened in the affluent Av & Dav neighbourhood that populates their menu with as many local and seasonal goods as possible. Plus, they serve up some pretty authentic Italian eats:

Mains are simple, straightforward and beautifully executed: Brick-pressed grilled chicken is moist, its flavour intensified by the pressing, its red onion relish a sweet/sour delight. But the red wine risotto Venetian style (for a mere 20 bucks!) says the most about L’Unita’s kitchen. It’s deceptively simple - risotto made with red wine, rosemary and onions. But careful technique has produced rice with al dente grains and sauce full of flavour. On the side is a marrow bone with a tiny spoon for scooping this unctuous forbidden fruit, and atop the marrow bone is pesto of garlic and parsley, to zing together the simple flavours. This is clean cooking and molto Italiano.

Continue reading In The Papers - Saturday, December 22nd »

A perfect snack or mini-meal. Pan fried radish cakes are tossed in a hot pan with spicy XO sauce. The former, a slightly gelatinous cake, is mildly sweet and its pillowy soft interior is dotted with specks of salty Chinese dried sausage and shrimps, the latter, is a luxurious and fiery combination of conpoy, cured ham and red chillies. This version of “stir fried turnip pate with supreme spice sauce” can be found at Dynasty Chinese Cuisine (131 Bloor Street West).

Dim sum means “to touch the heart,” and like Spanish tapas, is composed of many small dishes. Similarly, these bite-sized treats can be served hot or cold; they are also steamed, baked or fried. Originally a Cantonese custom dating back to the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), dim sum is linked to the Chinese tradition of drinking tea. Hence the term “yum cha” (to drink tea) is often referenced when partaking in this mid-morning meal.

Continue reading An Ode to Dim Sum, Part 1 (of 2) »