If I were a foodie living elsewhere in Canada, I’d probably be a bit cranky about the fact that the regular restaurant review column in The Globe & Mail focuses almost exclusively on restaurants in Toronto. I know from experience that there are good restaurants in Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax, and I bet there are decent eateries in a few other Canadian cities and towns as well. But aside from the “Cheap Eats” series that ran while Joanne Kates was on vacation last summer, the country’s culinary scene outside of the GTA is all but ignored.

And just to rub it in a bit, the paper seems to send Kates off to review restaurants in New York City every few months. I know that a lot of Canadians live in Manhattan, but really, wouldn’t it be nice if “Canada’s National Newspaper” stuck to reviewing restaurants in Canada?

Anyway, on her latest NYC excursion, Kates checks out three bistros - a dining trend that seems to be just as hot down there as it is in our parts - and is relatively unimpressed by all of them. In fact, the highlight of her trip seems to be her swooning brush with a celebrity:

Market Table [...] is a sweet roomy bistro aglow with tall forsythia branches in a riot of yellow bloom, splendid against brick walls. If that were not enough eye candy, Gabriel Byrne, the gorgeous star of In Treatment (the hottest new show on TV, on HBO), is two tables down from us.

Is dinner more delicious because a movie star eats there? No, just prettier. Both crab cake and gnocchi are credible but not special, we can’t find the bacon on the so-called bacon-wrapped scallops and the blood orange salad is almost as appetizing as Gabriel Byrne: It (not he) is delectably decorated with batons of fresh heart of palm, pomegranate seeds and shreds of fresh basil.

Also in the Globe:

• A front page feature by Barrie McKenna looks at the growing global problem of food inflation, and includes a sidebar highlighting some of the of the scary statistics.
• Beppi Crosariol sips some of the organic and biodynamic wines in today’s Vintages release.
• Lucy Waverman seems to be channelling Rachael Ray or Sandra Lee this week, as she cooks with ready-to-eat and packaged products from Chinese grocery T&T.
• Norval Scott looks at the booming business of organic farming.
• Sasha Chapman explains that sometimes frozen food is better than fresh.

Over in the Toronto Star, Amy Pataki follows her peers from the Globe and Post in being disappointed by the high-end low-cal restaurant Four:

Roasted organic tikka chicken (650 calories) is a twist on that old slimming standby, skinless chicken breast. The passably moist meat is finished on the grill and sprinkled with toasted almonds. Too bad there isn’t more chili-spiked masala sauce to spice things up, but two tablespoons seems to be the official limit. Another way to save calories?

Smoked sablefish (584 calories) boasts nicely crisped skin and melting flesh. It deserves better company than the bland butternut squash overwhelming an otherwise promising succotash made with corn and edamame.

The bison burger (489 calories) is as dry as dust; and steamed halibut (475 calories) is a solid block of white adrift on a sea of mushy pearl couscous.

Also in the Star:

• Gord Stimmell picks a nice cross-section of five solid offerings from today’s Vintage’s release.
• Mark Bittman’s syndicated column features tasty booze-laden cakes.
• Megan Ogilvie’s “Diet Decoder” column, which generally deconstructs diet books with titles like Eat Grapefruit & Live To Be 100! takes an interesting turn this week and features Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food.

In the National Post, Gina Mallet checks out Sidecar, a new College Street bistro that’s bucking the trend of $30-and-up mains with a $20 prix fixe on Tuesdays. And they also make some mean cocktails, which Mallet likes just as much as the food:

Who can resist the titles, Jiggy Jiggy (Appleton rum, lime and ginger beer or Thai ginger lemonade, lemon grass, rum). I try two — the Cucumber Dill Caesar made with cucumber vodka ($8), which is sparkier than gazpacho, and the Tangerine Sidecar ($10): lime juice, tangerine, Cointreau and brandy that’s not too sweet and deceptively smooth. As I raise my glass, one of those old-fashioned champagne bowls modelled on the breasts of Diane de Poitiers, I feel the brakes come off. Ah, now I remember my Ogden Nash — “Wine’s fine, likker’s quicker.”

I must, in the line of duty, try another cocktail. The Painless Brazilian ($8) made from strawberry cachaca, lime and egg whites. Much more of a challenge than the deceptive Sidecar. Cachaca (ka sha sa) is distilled from sugar cane and assaults the taste buds with grappalike ferocity.

Also in the Post:

• Margaret Swaine puts the spotlight on six Chilean wines.
• Under the provocative headline “Joanne Kates, Wrong? We have proof!“, Shinan Govani dishes on the upcoming 27th anniversary celebration at the Bloor Street Diner.
• Kate Swoger and Jon Bricker eat some absolutely awesome sounding sandwiches at Uruguayan restaurant La Pasiva in North York.
• Bonnie Stern suggests three vegetarian dishes to nosh on during Earth Hour tonight (by candlelight, of course).