Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on September 14, 2008 at 2:46 pm

Is it just me, or is the cover of the October, 2008 issue of Toronto Life really drab and boring? I guess they're going for a silver and gold thing, but the silver looks more like grey, and the whole thing just isn't very eye-catching.

Going past the ugly cover, though, there's some good stuff inside. The not-yet-online Best of Fall cover feature includes lots of tips on what's hot this season in movies, books, shops, arts - and most importantly for this site, food & drink. There are Q&As with chef Anne Yarymowich about her new restaurant at the AGO (opening in November), and Paul & Selena Christo-Williams about their new Dundas West bar Red Light, plus quick "coming soon" blurbs about Mildred's Temple Kitchen, A Taste of Quebec, Oasi, and a new lounge space above The Citizen.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on August 17, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Zine Scene is Taste T.O.'s new magazine column, featuring a monthly summary of the latest issues of local food and drink magazines such as Edible Toronto, City Bites and TAPS, as well as the food and drink articles from Toronto Life. Here's what's on the racks this month:

In the September, 2008 issue of Toronto Life, James Chatto goes back to school this month with a feature article on the many improvements being made to the food and hospitality program at George Brown College. The most visible change to the general public will be the new restaurant, The Chefs' House, which will feature a unique bank of TV screens in the window showing passers-by the action in the kitchen, and where students will be often joined by well-known guest chefs. Expect it to be a popular spot to gawk and dine when it opens in October.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on July 20, 2008 at 7:56 am

The Summer, 2008 edition of City Bites magazine is out now, and while it seems a bit thinner than usual, it's still full of a good assortment of articles and features on Toronto's food & drink scene, including:

• A cover feature by editor Dick Snyder on sustainable seafood.
• Profiles of new gourmet grocery The Pantry by Benjamin Lee, and not-so-new gourmet grocery Diana's by Maia Filar.
• Nora Gubins on a recently introduced rating system for tea that's causing a bit of controversy.
• Adam Pesce's mini-memoir on his time as an unpaid kitchen bitch.
• A recipe for smoked pigeon breast from Stephen Temkin.
• A look at the multi-restaurant charity event Crosstown Kitchens by Gene Shannon.
• Signe Langford's round-up of five great neighbourhood butchers.
• Some tips for pairing Shanghai street food with wine from John Szabo (which will be useful if you're planning a trip to Shanghai sometime soon, I guess...).
• Stephen Beaumont's reviews of a couple of impressive high-end Canadian whiskies.
• A piece on how to smell wine from Konrad Ejbich.
• A chat about food and theatre with Avery Saltzman and David Eisner of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company.

City Bites is available free of charge at restaurants and food shops throughout the city, or as a PDF download from the magazine's website.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on July 17, 2008 at 7:40 am

If you need any convincing that you should never mix family and business, then Alec Scott's investigation of the behind-the-scenes battles at Pusateri's in this month's Toronto Life should do the trick nicely. The article (which is not yet online) paints a vivid picture of the struggle between the widow and sister of the late Cosimo Pusateri, and reveals how one of them was ultimately pushed out of their partnership in the high-end grocery shop via a court-ordered settlement.

Other food & drink content in this month's issue - none of which appears to be online yet - includes:

• James Chatto looks at the increasing number of private dining rooms in Toronto's fine dining restaurants.
• Sasha Chapman on why it's so hard to buy Ontario fish in Ontario.
• David Lawrason explains that rosés don't all suck, and reviews a bunch of good ones to prove it.
• Rachel Heinrichs compiles a handy check list of some of the best places to eat pig in the city, from pork belly at Crush to a whole baby piggy (oh, no - Babe!) at Trevor.
• Stéphanie Verge deconstructs the Zen-gria, a complicated but tasty looking cocktail at Spice Route.
• Alison Garwood-Jones checks in with the grow-your-own chefs at The Drake, The Royal York and George to see what they're doing with their harvest.
• Courtney Shea tries not to laugh like Beavis and/or Butthead at the name of the recently opened Queen West pub The Cock & Tail.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on July 6, 2008 at 12:13 pm

The Summer 2008 edition of Edible Toronto came off the presses a couple of weeks ago, and as usual, it's jam-packed with articles and features that spotlight the best of the local food scene in Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe.

Highlights in this issue include: a look at the sustainable seafood movement by Bonny Reichert; a visit to the Elmira Produce Auction by Carmen Everest Wahl; an excerpt from Catherine Friend's recent book The Compassionate Carnivore; an exploration of the history and revival of Red Fife wheat by Judith Finlayson; a culinary review of the Uxbridge area by Lauren Carter; a guide to some edible weed varieties by Dagmar Baur; and much more.

Edible Toronto is available free of charge at a variety of locations in Toronto and surrounding area, and all of the articles can also be found in PDF format on the Edible Toronto website.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on June 15, 2008 at 9:17 am

As amazing as it might seem, shopping at farmers markets and dining on local food was considered a novelty by many people as recently as a couple of years ago. But now, Torontonians have over two dozen farmers markets to choose from, and it seems that every neighbourhood has at least one cozy café or corner bistro specialising in fresh, local and organic eats.

In the extensive cover feature of the July issue of Toronto Life, former food editor Chris Nuttall-Smith explores the local food scene with a series of profiles and shopping tips. The multi-page feature includes interviews with wheat farmer Peter Leahy; egg farmers Norine and Harlan Clark; Mark Trealout and Laura Boyd of Kawartha Ecological Growers; and cheese queen Ruth Klahsen. In the sidebars, savvy shoppers will find details on some local exotic fruits; high-end meats; locally-made wine, beer and cider; and sustainable local fish. There's also a guide to the city's farmers markets, and ten tips for virtuous eating ranging from the serious and practical (grow a garden, make preserves) to the not-so-much (keep chickens in your yard, start a distillery).

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on May 20, 2008 at 2:04 pm

The weeping and gnashing of teeth about the imminent departure of Susur Lee to NYC continues in the latest issue of Toronto Life, with a page by David Sax on the "Susur Effect". Unfortunately, the online version is missing the main part of the feature, which is a photo of Lee surrounded by images and blurbs of all the things he is supposedly responsible for making successful and/or popular in Toronto. These include pork belly, tasting menus, sushi, fusion cuisine, fennel, Moroccan lamb stew, and Mark McEwan. Also, he invented restaurants. And food.

Also in this issue:

• Chris Nuttall-Smith previews the Toronto Night Market.
• James Chatto profiles Langdon Hall.
• Sasha Chapman investigates the state of gourmet bread in Toronto.
• David Lawrason suggests some summery wines that smell swell.
• Signe Langford deconstructs the char tartare at Nyood.
• Eric Vellend looks at a few classic dishes that are making modern comebacks.
• Rob Mifsud does a quick Q&A with chef Gordon Mackie of high-end health-concious eatery Four.

Posted by Sheryl Kirby in magazines, news and media on April 16, 2008 at 8:58 pm

For the record, despite what it says in Toronto Life's cover story by Katrina Onstad about hipsters with kids - I do not have any children. The lead article, which looks at the trend for 30-somethings to drag smaller versions of themselves everywhere, including restaurants, references a comment I made a year ago here on TasteTO about some hipsters I once watched almost lose their kid because they were too busy comparing tattoos. I was never contacted about the piece, either to be interviewed or afterward for fact-checking, and somewhere in the translation, the details from another commenter were attributed to me, so that all of a sudden, according to Toronto Life, I have kids. We've taken to referring to them as our "invisible children". But friends and acquaintances who have been calling and emailing, rest assured, all of our children are furry, walk on four legs, and go outside to pee.

Posted by Sheryl Kirby in magazines, news and media on April 4, 2008 at 2:05 pm

Yes, indeed, I do realize it's April. And that we kind of missed the boat on recapping a couple of local food-oriented magazines. We work on the intarweb here, people, we often forget that you folks still read things printed on paper made from our quickly-depleting forestry resources.

If you haven't nabbed a copy of City Bites yet, you might be out of luck, as the March/April issue is close to a month old. But if you have the patience of a saint, the most recent version is available on the City Bites site in pdf format.

In this issue...

• There's lots of ads. Hey you, advertisers, why not consider the intarnets?! No trees harmed. We even have carbon offsets on this site!
• Jessica Allen fights off the crowds of tinfoil-hat-sporting wine-lovers to check out some bio-dynamic wines
• Jeff Ruby shops at T&T Supermarket
• Signe Langford writes about Ambiance Chocolat, a new shop in Leslieville that works exclusively with Michel Cluizel chocolate
• Dick Snyder goes to New York City and eats and eats and eats
• Kathy Giudi looks at Ontario-made sheep's milk cheese
• Signe Langford visits Senses and Dick Snyder reviews Nyood and Sushi 930
• Zoltan Szabo finds values at Vintages
• Trish Kaliciak explores the smooth and crackly world of creme brulee
• Dick Snyder interviews Thirsty Traveller Kevin Brauch
• Julia Chapman eats her greens
• Stephen Beaumont drinks beer from a can - and likes it
• John Szabo looks at sustainable wines
• Konrad Ejbich looks back at 20 years of Cuvee Awards
• Leann Delap goes to, wait for it... The Old Spaghetti Factory
• Hot Docs director Chris MacDonald talks about food and movies

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on March 9, 2008 at 4:59 pm

It's the April issue of Toronto Life, and as any self-respecting Toronto foodie knows, that means it's time for James Chatto's list of the city's Best New Restaurants for the last year.

Anyone who has paid attention to the in-and-outs of our local dining scene for the past 12 months probably won't be surprised by Chatto's choices: from number one (Lucien) to number ten (Cowbell), the list includes pretty much every heavily buzzed restaurant that opened in 2007. And the few that didn't quite make the top ten cut - Foxley, Cluck Grunt & Low, Jacobs & Co., and Prime - are given a nice Honourable Mentions feature on the TL website.

There are also a few sidebars sitting amongst Chatto's feature in the magazine, including: a wagyu beef taste test by Sasha Chapman; a look at the signature cocktails of some of the chosen restaurants by Stéphanie Verge; some dining room decibel level measurements by Courtney Shea; profiles of four multi-location restaurateurs by Chris Nuttall-Smith; and a look at a few currently trendy dishes, also by Nuttall-Smith.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on February 12, 2008 at 11:24 am

It may not be replacing Prince Edward County as the top out-of-town destination for well-heeled Toronto foodies any time soon, but for winter excursions at least, Collingwood and surrounding environs seems to be getting a lot of attention all of a sudden. Joanne Kates reviewed three eateries in the area in the Globe & Mail this past weekend (although it should be noted that she panned two of them), and in the March, 2008 issue of Toronto Life, James Chatto takes a trip up north as well. Like Kates, Chatto visits Centro On The Hill and Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill - both outposts of well-established Toronto rooms - as well as a number of other restaurants, cafes and shops of varying levels of price and quality.

Vegetarians may want to skip page 97 of this issue, as well as this link, as they both feature a snap of butcher Ryan Donovan lounging with the carcasses in the cold room at The Healthy Butcher, the Queen Street meat shop where he mans the knives. The photo accompanies an article by Sasha Chapman on the movement towards ethically raised and environmentally friendly meat, as championed by the Healthy Butcher at both their original location and their soon to open uptown shop near Eglinton and Avenue Road.

Also in this month's issue:

• David Lawrason gives us some tips on what wine scores mean.
• James Chatto hypes up Delux, Corinna Mozo's recently opened bistro on Ossington.
• Signe Langford deconstructs a dessert from the Globe Bistro.
• Rob Mifsud hosts a schnitzel showdown between the breaded veal cutlets from Bymark and Country Style Hungarian Restaurant.
• In a blurb that isn't yet online, Kathryn Hayward previews the upcoming (and since last week, sold out) talk and Q&A with Michael Pollan.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on December 23, 2007 at 6:05 pm

Despite our best efforts, and much to the chagrin of trees everywhere, websites like Taste T.O. have yet to kill off the traditional paper magazine. I guess people still aren't comfortable taking their laptops to the bathroom. Which is fine by us, really, as we feel kind of icky about the idea of you reading the site while you're doing.... uh, that.

We still want to be helpful, though, so here are a few things that you can read instead:

So fresh that we haven't even picked up a copy yet, the Winter 2007/08 issue of Edible Toronto was released yesterday. Based on a skim of the contents on the website, it looks like a good read, with articles including: an introduction to fruit wines by Charmian Christie; a history of traditional winter puddings by Elizabeth Driver; a look at artisanal carrots by David Cohlmeyer; a feature on some of Toronto's top breadmakers by Daphna Rabinovitch; a roadtrip to Collingwood with Lauren Carter; and much more. Edible Toronto is distributed for free at many locations in the city and throughout the Golden Horseshoe, and all of the articles can also be downloaded from the website in PDF format.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on November 25, 2007 at 8:12 pm

We've been a bit lax in our magazine review posts lately, having missed sharing our thoughts on an issue or two each of Toronto Life and City Bites, as well as a couple of newcomers. So going under the (perhaps deluded) assumption that people actually care what we have to say about such things, we thought we'd do a quick round-up of a few local food and food-related mags that we've read in last couple of months.

Well, actually, we'll be starting with one that we haven't read, since as usual we have yet to receive our subscriber copy of the December, 2007 issue of Toronto Life, even though other subscribers - like our friends at Torontoist - have had theirs for weeks now. The self-important conspiracy theorist in me likes to think that they've equated the Greg Clow on the subscription label with the Greg Clow who writes snarky things about them here each month and have been holding the issues back accordingly, but I'm sure there's something less nefarious going on.

Still, it's very frustrating, especially when this issue has a fun looking cover story by Chris Nuttall-Smith on 100 things to eat that are made in Toronto or unique to the city. Not to mention that the subscriber-only CityGuide this month is the Food & Drink edition. At least a couple of the food and drink articles are online, including David Lawrason's look at some wines from Brazil and Uruguay, and a preview of tomorrow's 4th Annual Wine Tasting Challenge at the Four Seasons.

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on September 23, 2007 at 5:36 pm

The latest issue of Toronto Life is on the racks (actually, it's been on the racks for over two weeks now, but our subscription copy just arrived a couple of days ago - thanks for the great service, Canada Post!), and the food and drink related content starts towards the front of the mag this month, with a business feature by wine writer David Lawrason on La Clos Jordanne, a Niagara winery owned by two very large companies that is making wine rivalling some of the best vintages from around the world.

Back in the actual food and drink section, James Chatto's Dining feature is an insightful and picturesque profile of Baldwin Street. Or more specifically, the short stretch between McCaul and Beverley that houses nearly two dozen restaurants, from old stalwarts like John's Italian Caffe and La Bodega, to more recent arrivals like Thai Paradise and Mata Hari.

Also in this issue:

• Lucien, the new Wellington Street spot from partners Scot Woods and Simon Bower, gets the preview treatment.
• Lorraine Johnson offers a poignant look at her obsession with pickling and preserving, and how it connects to some painful memories.
• Rob Mifsud looks at a dish from Rain's Guy Rubino that pairs elements of molecular gastronomy with his high-end pan-Asian cuisine.
• Signe Langford is a woman after my own starch-and-fat-encrusted heart, as she hunts down the city's best mac 'n' cheese.
• Chris Nuttall-Smith previews last weekend's Slow Food Picnic. Which does a fat lot of good when the magazine arrives in the mail a couple of days after the event takes place...

Posted by Greg Clow in magazines, news and media on August 24, 2007 at 3:43 pm

Residents of Beaconsfield Village, Hillcrest, The Junction, Leslieville and Mimico, beware: In the latest issue of Toronto Life, your neighbourhoods have been declared "hot", so you may soon find your rents skyrocketing and your favourite bistro or brunch spot overrun with newcomers.

Speaking of which, the "hot spots" for food in each 'hood according to TL include: The Drake (Beaconsfield Village); Pain Perdu & Ferro (Hillcrest); Curry Twist & Cool Hand of a Girl (The Junction); Mercury Organic Espresso Bar & Sushi Marché (Leslieville); and Birds and Beans, Tatsu's Bread & The Village Butcher (Mimico). Don't say we didn't warn you.