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 »

Toronto’s artisanal bakeries are in for some competition.

Visitors to last fall’s Gourmet Wine and Cheese show might remember having samples of some tasty breads from a company from Montreal called Première Moisson. Run by company president Liliane Colpron and her three children, Première Moisson opened in 1992 and now sells over 350,000 loaves of bread each week through 15 of their own bakeshops as well as in supermarkets in Quebec.

Continue reading Bread Head »

The Bake Shop
195 Harbord Street
416-850-8039

The first time I walked into the Bake Shop I did a double take. For a brief moment I wondered if by accident I had walked into someone’s home kitchen. The set up of this quaint bakery is not typical of a shop. There is no store front, no back of house, and no divide between customer and shop keeper. Indeed, it does look like a home.

Continue reading Baked With Love at the Bake Shop »

Valentine’s Day is:

a) a day to celebrate love and passion
b) just another exploitive commercial event
c) a reminder of singledom
d) extra pressure on relationships
e) my birthday

I don’t know if anyone really looks forward to Valentine’s Day. Even though people always coo, “Oh you’re a Valentine’s baby that’s nice,” I can’t really believe that they mean it. Typically, what it does mean is that my coupled friends have plans, and I get pushed to the week before or after. If I do try celebrate punctually, restaurants and any other establishments that can cash in on the red and pink are usually too overpriced or fully booked. Over the years, instead of feeding any acrimony, a solution arose: the “birthday week”, during which I treated myself to a little something each day.

Forget waiting for candy and cards from Cupid. That’s why every year I gift myself with some I “Choo-choo choose” me, indulgences. The following are my treats for 2008. Sometimes bitterness, like in dark chocolate, can turn out to be something nice.

Continue reading Sweet Eats for Valentine Week »

As a kid bread used to mean symmetrical square slices of white bread to me - I didn’t know any better. It was just seen as a carrier for the better things in life, like meat and spreads. Nowadays, artisanal breads are giving the white loaf a run for their money, with so many bakeries popping up in our city providing us with lovely bread varieties. The best part is the availability in both independent food shops and the big chain grocery stores. As I enjoy doing product comparisons, I did a head-to-head among several baguettes in town to see who can live up to the “Parisienne standard” of the ideal baguette. This was a dream for my husband (a big bread snob), as that meant he could devour artisanal bread galore for several days sequentially.

Continue reading Baguette Bounty »

Harbord Bakery
115 Harbord Street
416-922-5767

We are standing around my kitchen table with an assorted selection of baked goods in front of us. I have just returned home from Harbord Bakery and we are about to start an enviable taste test.

“There’s so much here, I don’t know where to begin,” says Thea in amazement. Thea and Rich, friends who share my love of food, have been visiting for the week from Edmonton. They are more than willing to voice their opinions on all things edible.

Earlier in the morning I got up while they were still sleeping and walked over to the bakery. The warm smell of fresh baked goods was an inviting change from the cold wind outside that has now taken over Toronto. Customers bustled around the counters deciding what they wanted to bring home for Saturday brunch. With so many people around I was able to ask some of those waiting in line for suggestions. Locals were willing to share their Harbord favourites. Top picks were wide-ranging and included fruit flan, carrot cake and tuna salad.

Harbord Bakery, officially named Harbord Bakery and Calandria, is not just a bakery. Rather, it is a well organized and stocked one-stop-shop.

Continue reading Harbord Bakery Treats »

(Editor’s Note - As of June 2nd, 2007, New World Organics has shut down their retail business to concentrate on wholesale orders.)

New World Organics
161 Main Street
647-435-4885

The corner of Main and Gerrard got suddenly brighter with the opening of New World Organics three weeks ago. Oh happy day, a new neighbourhood bakery, and organic to boot! I no longer have to tempt the parking ticket gods on Queen Street to get my bread.

The Baker
When I walked in to the yet-unsigned space between Saks Fine Foods and Premier Doughnuts and Deli, co-owner and baker, Vicki Tretiak, emerged from the kitchen wearing a dark apron marked with Rorschach patterns of flour, while co-owner and husband, William (previously chef at Revival, the original Gio’s, and Peppino’s on the Beach), laboured on behind the scenes in the kitchen. Yes, the shop is very new, Vicki said with a beaming smile, but somehow, people have been finding them.

If you see Vicki and the name or the face does not prompt recognition, sample some of her stuff and let your sense of taste help you. Take a big bite of the scrumptious fudgey Dark Horse brownie and it will remind you of the Leslieville shop for which she created and supplied these treats. Or how about trying a slice of one of her organic breads to remind you of the kind of wholesome goodness she has been selling at the Riverdale Farmers Market. Then there’s the tasty muffins and squares that you will recognize as the Morning Glory treats she used to bake for said breakfast spot. Or perhaps order one of her signature lunch specials, the taste and presentation of which will remind you of her recent stint as chef at Le Café Vert.

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In southwest France, under the looming Pyrenees Mountains, sits the town of Bayonne. A thin channel cuts through the intimate downtown, patrons sitting at outdoor tables all along the water. Cobblestone roads weave here and there, revealing grand cathedrals, hidden restaurants, and boulangeries.

What I remember most about Bayonne was the action around these bakeries, and the image of so many residents walking home with a baguette. It was nearly everyone; you wouldn’t go home without first buying a baguette. It is the quintessential image of France.

In Toronto you might spot a baguette under a briefcase on the streetcar, or sitting in a basket strapped to a moving bicycle, but it’s not the same.

Continue reading Secrets of France in a Toronto Baguette »