The Edible City: Toronto's Food from Farm to Fork edited by Christina Palassio and Alana Wilcox Coach House Books November 2009, 312 pages, $24.95 My initial interaction with The Edible City was (unfortunately) a little less than positive. Like many Toronto food lovers who keep abreast of the local scene, I bought The Edible City [...]
– January 21, 2010
Good Food for All: Seasonal Recipes from a Community Garden The Stop Simon & Schuster Canada September 2009, 160 pages, $19.99 Several months ago while standing in line at The Healthy Butcher waiting for my number to be called, I spied a stack of Good Food For All propped up on the counter. Being relatively [...]
– January 7, 2010
For some families, the arrival of the holiday season is heralded by houses made out of gingerbread, or dainty disks of iced and sugared cookie dough. For others, it wouldn’t seem complete without a hard-sauced plum pudding or airy pannetone concluding their festive meal. In my family, the occasion was always marked by the receipt [...]
– December 17, 2009
Sweet Flour Bake Shop 2352 Bloor Street West 416-763-2253 It’s been close to a decade since I regularly frequented the Bloor West Village and its surrounding enclaves. Sandwiched between The Kingsway and High Park, the combined neighbourhoods were once a preferred stomping ground. While this wide swath of the city is teeming with worthwhile destinations, [...]
– December 3, 2009
Kitchen Scraps, A Humorous Illustrated Cookbook Pierre A. Lamielle Whitecap Books October 2009, 208 pages, $29.95 I first encountered Pierre Lamielle innocuously, by way of his fantasy entry for Michael Ruhlman’s BLT meme. In lieu of preparing an edible version, he expressed his uncommon point of view via a crude but entertaining set of images [...]
– November 18, 2009
Several months ago (during an email exchange of potential story ideas), our exacting editrix Sheryl defied us Taste T.O. writers to find her better cannoli than those being made at Cafe Dip (594 College Street), presumably because she considered them to be cannoli par excellence. I sampled cannolo (singular of cannoli) at The Dip when [...]
– November 12, 2009
73 Stirs 73 King Street East 416-362-4342 Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and wine: $88 The first thing that struck me as odd while researching 73 Stirs was their unorthodox hours of operation. Unlike most restaurants, 73 Stirs is not open on the weekend. When I called to confirm if that was indeed [...]
– October 29, 2009
Earth to Table: Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann Random House Of Canada September 2009, 336 pages, $45 I’m a cookbook hussy. I have hundreds, but only twenty or so make my regular rotation. So, it was no surprise that when I attempted to buy Mark Bittman’s How To Cook [...]
– October 15, 2009
Cafe Diplomatico 594 College Street 416-534-4637 Complete meal for two with all taxes, tip and alcoholic beverages: $69 Preparing to review a restaurant that’s a Toronto institution is a harrowing affair. No matter what light the long-standing restaurant is painted in, you can rest assured that someone, somewhere is going to take issue with the [...]
– October 1, 2009
Poutini’s House Of Poutine 1112 Queen Street West no phone Complete meal for two with all taxes, tip and sodas: $20 During the past year a somewhat gloomy economic climate has encouraged a slew of boutique-ish comfort food purveyors into existence. Toronto is now home to a glut of fancy burger shops, countless cupcakeries, designer [...]
– September 17, 2009
Chicken wings are often viewed as a food of the everyman. They’ve not yet been co-opted by haute cuisine chefs, thus far escaping a similar fate as the hifalutin hotdog or bougie burger. It’s hard to beat the appeal of a well seasoned wing, so this week my aim was to uncover some of the [...]
– September 3, 2009
Modern life moves at breakneck pace and sometimes it’s hard keeping up. After a long day, even the best of us occasionally lack the energy to prepare a nourishing meal. Luckily, Toronto has no shortage of online delivery services, which I put to the test (while also giving myself a much-needed vacation from the kitchen!) [...]
– August 20, 2009
Little Tibet Restaurant 712 Queen Street West 416-306-1896 Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and lhassi: $70 Little Tibet has been a fixture on the Queen West strip for many years. As a precocious teenager spending too much time on the “hip strip,” I passed it often, yet never once though to venture in. [...]
– August 6, 2009
Food with intention. Those three words form the core philosophy behind Alba Lisa Gourmet Foods, an artisanal Mexican tortilla, soup and catering company owned by Alba Lisa Quinn and her husband, Ted. Their recipe for success is simple and endearing. Take one Canadian teaching abroad, add the lovely and talented Quinn from Mexico, pepper with [...]
– July 23, 2009
The Stockyards 699 St. Clair Avenue West 416-658-9666 Complete meal for two with all taxes, tip and non-alcoholic beverages: $55 If you like meat as much as I do, darlin’, this review is for you. Vegetarians, (on the other hand) might be more comfortable skipping to the second last paragraph which will address their dietary [...]
– July 16, 2009
The Palmerston Café 800 Dundas Street West 416-361-3333 Complete meal for two with all taxes, tip and cocktails: $80 Nestled at an unassuming corner of Dundas and Palmerston, the diminutive Palmerston Café is ushering in its second summer. Unbeknownst to my dining companion and I at the time of arrival, the café is in a [...]
– July 9, 2009
Friendly Magnolia 548 College Street 416-920-9927 When I first moved to Little Italy I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Spoiled for choice by the restaurants, cafés, bars and lounges peppering the lively College Street strip, they practically ensured I would never go hungry. That is, until I realized that the one thing [...]
– June 25, 2009
Odile Chocolat 829 Dundas Street West 416-538-1016 A dear friend once told me that the road to heaven is paved with chocolate. After chatting with Odile (pronounced O-deel) Chatelain of Odile Chocolat, I'm not only convinced that statement is true, but that the chocolatier is the one doing the masonry. Savvy cocoaphiles may recognize her [...]
– June 8, 2009
