As Joanne Kates notes in her review of Le Pain Quotidien in today’s Globe & Mail, the recent opening in Forest Hill of the first Canadian location of this Belgian bakery and café chain was treated as nothing less than the second coming by many in Toronto’s foodie community. As far back as July of last year, the rumours of LPQ coming to Toronto were reported in a thread on Chowhound which quickly grew with stories of near-orgasmic experiences that people had with their pastries and sandwiches when visiting locations in other cities.

Since it finally opened last month, however, the discussion has taken a negative turn, with complaints about the food far outnumbering the complements. And based on her particularly scathing assessment, it’s safe to say that Ms. Kates is in complete agreement with the nay-sayers:

The menu majors in salads and sandwiches. Some days the self-proclaimed fab farmhouse bread is good, some days it’s dry. The sandwiches are questionable at best: Chicken curry salad sandwich would be okay if one could locate the chicken in it. Same for the so-called “grilled chicken Cobb salad” wherein the chicken is AWOL, the bacon is mostly soggy, and there is way more lettuce than anything else - not exactly the Cobb salad of my dreams

Dressings are questionable: The honey-mustard vinaigrette on berry and snap pea salad (again almost all lettuce) is too-sweet pale yellow cream, and the salsa dressing on shrimp salad is cinnamon-spiked cranberry - way too sweet to put on a salad. The shrimp taste just slightly off, and they’ve been sliced in half lengthwise - a tacky trick to save money.

Also in the Globe:

• Beppi Crosariol believes that Canadian wine is finally ready for its close-up (or rather, the rest of the wine world is finally taking notice that we can make more than just icewine here).
• Lucy Waverman cooks up a menu that features early spring treats like wild leeks and fiddleheads.
• Heidi Sopinka explains the connection between Jane Jacobs and butter tarts.
• In the Travel section, Stephen Beaumont explores a few of the more than 260 bars and restaurants in Dusseldorf’s Altstadt area.

Over in the National Post, Gina Mallet reckons that while they may be serving authentic Alsatian food at Atelier Thuet, that authenticity doesn’t automatically mean that she has to like it. Although she makes it clear that it’s not the peasant food pedigree of the dishes that turns her off - on the contrary, she gets a poke in at those who look down their noses at simpler fare in favour of haute cuisine:

I’ve often wondered why Alsace food gets a free ride from foodie [sic] who are quick to sneer at other peasant foods, such as poutine or England’s toad in the hole, shepherd’s pie and steak, kidney, oyste pudding [sic]. The answer is obvious. Alsace food is branded “French” — still the glamour food.

But remember, French cuisine only achieved stardom with Escoffier, who created a system, classic cuisine, that absorbed regional/ peasant food and took it into the international mainstream. In other words, fusion.

Also in the Post:

• Margaret Swaine reviews six wines from the LCBO’s current California Style promotion.
• Sean D. Fitzgerald checks out the unveiling of a mobile community kitchen designed by a group of U of T architecture students.
• Tammy Thorne profiles Jolanta Sobolak and her Good Catch General Store, a true gem in the heart of Parkdale.
• Jason Chow gets ready for Cinco de Mayo with some chicken mole poblano.
• A. Brouwer & A. Wilson convene a Shelf Life panel to put several store-bought cupcake mixes to the taste test.
• Bonnie Stern instructs us on how to make the perfect hard boiled egg.

In the Toronto Star, Amy Pataki enjoys Alice’s Restaurant, a simple neighbourhood spot just west of the busy part of the College Street strip. She finds a couple of minor duds on the menu, but the good stuff more than makes up for it:

There will be fans of the crab cakes ($12), fresh Dungeness meat bound with mashed potato, and [owner/chef John Pekka] Woods certainly has a way with fish. His house-cured salmon ($12) is coral silk, while seared trout ($19) is a lovely bit of pink balanced atop warm potato salad and tangy greens.

For my money, the winning dish is shrimp risotto ($22), a creamy tumble of starch that would be anathema in Italy. For one, the carnaroli rice is cooked past al dente; for another, an Italian chef would never add parmesan to seafood risotto. Still, it works. The shrimp is perfectly timed; spinach, chives and tomato add spring-like colour and flavour; and lemon juice balances the richness.

Also in the Star:

• Gord Stimmell gives a few food pairing tips along with his five wine picks for the week.
• Mark Bittman makes us crave a trip to the Yucatán (or at the very least, El Jacal) with a trio of taco recipes.
• Jerry Langton visits Four Seasons executive chef Robert Bartley in his home kitchen, where he has a nicer stove than many restaurants.
• Lynda Hurst interviews Taras Grescoe, author of Bottomfeeders, a new book that is a sort of Omnivore’s Dilemma for the seafood set.
• In the Travel section, Richard Ouzounian suggest six places to eat in LA.