I grew up on Lebanese food.

I’m not Lebanese. But growing up in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, I might as well have been. The Island has, for its population, a sizable Lebanese community. A lot of the merchants on the Island are Lebanese, one of Charlottetown’s city councilors is, and PEI has now had two premiers of Lebanese decent.

My grandmother’s bridge parties consisted of her and five Lebanese ladies.

Now, the how and the why so many people from that area of the world ended up on PEI remains a mystery to me (although I’m pretty sure there is a book or two explaining it), all I know is I love Lebanese food. Not Israeli, Syrian, Cypriot or whatever. No, it’s Lebanese I love. One of the best restaurants in Charlottetown is Lebanese, Cedar’s Eatery, and I grew up eating there and eventually ended up running their upstairs bar.

I shit falafel.

Ever since leaving the Island to come to Toronto we have yet to find a restaurant, Middle Eastern in general, Lebanese specifically (but you knew that already), that has yet to match the wonder that is Cedar’s.

Continue reading In Search of the Perfect Hommous »

The raw food diet isn’t yet very wide spread in Toronto. There are only a handful of restaurants and chefs here catering to this diet/philosophy. But the appeal of this seemingly restrictive way of eating may increase with the infusion of gourmet raw cuisine into the city’s dining scene, particularly at the sweet end of the spectrum.

Raw food culinary artist Jessica Acs is hoping that the appeal of flavour and excitement will lead folks to try a healthy alternative to traditional cooking.

Continue reading The Sweet Raw Truth »

Arriving at Toronto’s first Le Pain Quotidien (508 Eglinton Avenue West) location late last month to meet the company’s chief creative officer, I had to wait outside as a contractor applied a restaurant logo decal to the front door. Dressed funny for a contractor, suit coat, Italian leather shoes.Turns out Le Pain Quotidien founder and chief bread maker Alain Coumont is a hands on kind of guy. He was in Toronto to help launch the latest addition to the bakery-café chain and its first location in Canada.

His empire began in Belgium 18 years ago and now has locations in New York, Dubai, London and Paris. The Canadian spot opens to the general public on April 9th. This is his third visit to Canada in anticipation of the launch. “I came here before to source the organic flour we use in the bread,” he said.

Continue reading The Good Kind of Pain »

Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. - Otto von Bismarck

I can’t testify to the accuracy of the above quote, at least when it comes to laws. But Mario Fiorucci, co-owner of the Healthy Butcher (565 Queen Street West), may be able to as a former Bay Street lawyer. And despite his years in the muck that is lawyering he still decided to open a butcher shop and actually make sausages.

And of course there is always the old saying about sausages and hotdogs – It’s all tits, lips, and assholes. That may be true at the big meat production companies, I can’t say, however the sausages at the healthy butcher are in no way representative of the factory-produced versions. In fact, to find out the truth about sausage making, simply sign up for one of the Healthy Butcher’s sausage-making classes.

Continue reading Wurst Night in Toronto »

For Christmas a couple of years ago I got Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy. I wanted to start off really easy. So it looked like I would be making his version of scrambled eggs, which is more of a creamed egg dish and was the easiest recipe in the book.

Except that it called for crème fraîche.

“Bloody hell,” I said in my best North County-cum-Glaswegian accent. “Maybe it’s easy for those who stock crème fraîche for our everyday-bacon-and-eggs needs, but what about the rest of us?” At that point I’d never even seen it in a store. For novice cooks, this can put the brakes on full. And for the record, it can’t be replaced with sour cream, I’ve tried and the results aren’t good.

Continue reading Crème Fraîche Isn’t French Sour Cream »

Per Se Foods
563 Queen Street West
416-594-0303

Ilene Fattore spent last Thursday trying to recover from the big Queen West fire.

The fire that wiped out most of a city block indirectly affected businesses further along the strip as far as Augusta. The hydro was out, freezers were off, food had to go. So the staff at Per Se Foods spent the day taking care of stock and refilling the ready-to-go counter from scratch. “We just opened up and every hour we’re closed counts,” Ilene said.

Continue reading Not that Per Se »

Just before the holidays a group of activists staged a protest outside of Pusateri’s. What was it they were protesting? Child labour? Underpaid employees? Unsafe foods from China?

No, they were protesting the sale of foie gras.

Foie gras gets a bad rap in the press. It’s an easy target. And because it’s an easy target some anti-animal-agriculture groups use it as a wedge issue in their campaigns against meat eating in general.

Some of the most vocal carnivores often draw the line at foie gras (The super-fatty liver of ducks or geese) for its perceived cruelty. Gavage (a fancy word for “force feeding”) is an unsightly process, but most of the meat we eat, even the green, organic free range stuff is the product of unsightly processes.

So what’s an omnivore to do?

Continue reading Foie Gras Ducks the Issues »

Katsu Sushi
572 Danforth Avenue East
416-466-3388
All you can eat buffet for two with all taxes, tip and beer: $45 (Mon-Thur: lunch $8.99, dinner $14.99; Fri - Sun: lunch $9.99, dinner $16.99)

Years ago my favourite Japanese restaurant closed without notice. It was a great spot for lunch, had a Japanese grocery attached, and was run by a Scotsman. Still, it served some of the best Japanese food around.

Since then there have been other sushi/Japanese restaurants but none as good. However, Katsu Sushi on the Danforth is pretty damn close.

The room is long and looks like it may have at one point been victim to a television makeover. But the back is beautiful, with a skylight and a tree growing in the middle of the space, touching the ceiling, and making the winter gloom seem not so, well, gloomy.

Continue reading Katsu Sushi »

Local, traceable, and meaty are in, while equatorial fruit and small plates are passé.

A quick not-statistically-accurate-at-all poll of a few city chefs shows that the buying local trend hasn’t run out of steam, although being able to intimately map a food’s source is quickly gaining ground.

Continue reading Tapas Out, Meat In »