In the Papers - Saturday May 31st
Posted by Greg Clow in in the papers, news and media on May 31, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Earlier this month, Taste T.O. was inadvertently the first place in town to review Garden@Eleven when Amy Grigg went to check out its previous incarnation, Eleven, and found that not only had the name suddenly been changed, but chef Brad Moore was gone and replaced with Pat Riley (ex-Perigee).
A few weeks later, and former Taste T.O. contributor Corey Mintz turns in the second review of Garden@Eleven for his debut as the Toronto Star’s restaurant critic, replacing Amy Pataki for the next year while she’s on maternity leave. And it also ends up being the final review of the place, as it was shut down this past week without warning, either because the property has been sold (as Riley tells Mintz in a follow-up interview) or due to $75,000 in unpaid rent (according to a thread on Chowhound).
Despite the drama, Mintz still goes to the trouble of reviewing some of what he ate, which he finds good but not nearly up to the standards set by Riley at his previous gig:
[O]n a menu absent of surprises, each dish came with a deft little touch; like the sharp parmesan custard of almost matzo ball density lying in a bath of chilled, sweet pea soup.
Or the cool, white, poached asparagus, mildly sweet and lemony, cuddled end to end with blanched and grilled green asparagus. When a flawlessly poached egg was pierced, its gooey centre made a dash to marry with a pool of aioli (laced with a non-intrusive air of truffle).
More asparagus (Riley had a rule at Perigee that if there was an ingredient prominently featured in one dish then it was off limits to the others) accompanied a mound of pulled pork so smoky it saturated the whole body.
Generous, six-ounce portions of salmon or pickerel were well- executed, and cutely paired with elements like sautéed olives, roast purple pearl onions, artichokes, crunchy fingerlings and lemon yogurt sauce. But, really, from the guy who once served us chestnut gnocchi with crab apple sauce?
Also in the Star, Gord Stimmell suggests five New Zealand wines from the latest Vintages release.

A is for Asparagus. I haven’t gotten around to eating much of spring’s first vegetable yet, I’ve been too busy getting my fill of fiddleheads (most notably a crab and fiddlehead quiche) and freezing batches for the winter. But it seems as if every other food blogger in Toronto is digging into the asparagus. At Closet Cooking, Kevin whips up quiche as well - an
Between food shortages (and their consequent price increase) around the world and local food diets that keep avocados from ever entering our dishes again, it’s a relief to find a program that lets dining out turn into a good deed.
One of the most popular and talked-about screenings at last October’s
It bears pointing out to the powers that be at NOW that it is neither hot, nor technically summer. Yet this issue appears to be the “Hot Summer Guide”, so maybe NOW’s key demographic is full of schedule-oriented control freaks who need to plan their summer a month in advance. In any case, Adria Vasil has tips on 
Dear City of Toronto, What the fuck? No, seriously… What? The? Fuck??? After all the whining and complaining and the pitiful desperation to be just like New York City and be all multi-cultural with carts selling street food representing the various nationalities that make up our city, the Toronto Star is now reporting that 


Fine dining is not dead in Toronto, and Eric Vellend of Menumental proves it with his
Just An Old Fashioned Butchery & Seafood
