The Spice Trader
805 Queen Street West
647-430-7085

To walk into The Spice Trader is an anomaly in the nicest of ways. Part Parisian emporium, part Moroccan bazaar, it is all earthy wooden shelves, warm shades of green and a black & white art deco floor wrapped up in the scents of far off places. Its contrasts work well though, this balance of exotic yet charming, creating the kind of scene where cell-wielding power suits can shop in blessed harmony beside hemp-clad hippies.

Continue reading The Spice of Life »

Selsi Salt Bar
92 Front Street East
St. Lawrence Market, Lower Level
416-854-9088

Food and Wine magazine hails St. Lawrence Market as one of the top 25 food markets of the world, and we Torontonians honour it as such. A jewel of our fair city, bursting to the weekday seams with students and construction workers indulging in the generously piled $5 veal sandwich, it is one floor meats, cheeses and fish mongers alike, over another floor of gourmet snacks, treasures and uncommon goods. The market is more than a food institution; it is our icon.

On the east side of the lower level, beside a walkout to the street, is a kiosk well stocked in both gourmet calibre and the exceptional find. Selsi Salt Bar isn’t unique in that it carries salt, but unmatched in that salt, with all its different colours, flavours and boundless varieties, is the main product.

Continue reading Our Lady of Salt »

Culinarium
705 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto
647-430-7004

In the uptown enclave of Yonge and Eglinton, peppered with high-end foodie destinations from bakeries to gelato to dim sum, there is a new kid on the block, with a unique take on the upscale food experience. Offering Ontario-only food products, Culinarium, which recently opened on Mount Pleasant at Soudan, is a gourmet grocery store, the retail division of a company called Savour the Flavour. Their mission is “to provide authentic local food experiences by retailing Ontario’s finest locally-produced products and connecting those passionate about food with local food-producing communities via edible events such as cooking classes, tastings and farm tours.” After spending some time with Kathleen Mackintosh, the store’s founder, it’s clear that Culinarium’s unique mission is one driven by a true love of food.

Continue reading A Community Centre for Foodies »

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 »

Bakery18
Atrium on Bay, 20 Dundas Street West, lower level
416-979-7168

In the land populated by doughnuts, coffee, or the ubiquitous bagel, a young player rises up to open minds and stomachs with new possibilities. Bakery18 is a two-year old business run by the granddaughter of the creator of Jin Cheng Bakery Ltd. (3636 Steeles Ave E Unit 138) that originated in Taiwan nearly 60 years ago. At its helm is the youthful and bubbly co-owner/store manager, Vivian Chen, who has helped to open three stores in the family business empire.

Continue reading The Smell of Sweet Success »

The Green Beanery
565 Bloor Street West
416-954-9223 ext.253

Each day, on my way to and from work, I walk past a large brick building on the southeast corner of Bathurst and Bloor. Locals and pedestrians constantly peek into the wide windows of the soon-to-be-opened new location of The Green Beanery.

The much anticipated coffee shop has been gearing up to open at this prominent Annex location for months. While there is still no concrete opening date, this non-profit coffee bean purveyor (it proclaims to offer the largest selection of beans in town - a pretty bold claim for a city the size of Toronto) will be a welcome addition to an otherwise garish corner, on a street with too few independent coffee operations.

Continue reading Green Beans In Time for Spring »

The pre-packaged take-out salad is a fickle beast, typified by soggy iceberg lettuce with a well-loved grilled chicken breast, a few nuts or slices of red pepper, and a choice of any number of healthy and not-so-healthy dressings. At price points above most other menu items, fast food salads are not the ideal choice for the food-lover in search of a lunch that is wholesome, fresh and fast. Nonetheless, there are a few options that combine grab-and-go convenience with finer food quality. Between the mainstream and high-end supermarket salad bars, and the new “build-your-own” salad restaurants, the exacting herbivore need not compromise on value and freshness. Looking at the variety and quality of the goods, the bang for your buck and the grab-and-go factor, it’s clear that there is now a lot of choice for greens on the go. But how do the competitors stack up?

Continue reading The Great Salad Toss-Up »

Being raised in a town devoid of much Chinese food outside of the family restaurant, it was always a joy when my parents made the trip to Toronto to bring back a bunch of goodies, especially if it was from a Chinese bakery. I would be eagerly anticipating the rice flour steamed cakes and coconut buns from Kim Moon Bakery (442 Dundas Street West), a longstanding soldier that continues to thrive in the Spadina/Dundas Chinatown.

Continue reading Egg Tarts and Beyond »

Messa Bites
681 Mount Pleasant Road
416-485-5832

Every occasion calls for a cookie. That’s certainly the going train of thought in the Costa household, where wife Vera and husband Michael bake biscuits for any and all times of year. Want 200 cookies with wedding dresses or clover leaves on them? Maybe Canadian flags? Cupid? Frogs? Company logo?

The new Costa creation, Messa Bites, would likely welcome the challenge. They add personal flare and imaginative design to a batch of cookies or other sweets, made with all-natural ingredients. “Our motto is to ‘give them something to talk about,’” says Vera Costa. “That’s exactly what we want guests to do at a party. Imagine taking home an edible place card or matching your child’s invitation with a cookie favour.

Continue reading Using Cookies as Canvasses »

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 »

It’s time to wax poetic about one of my favourite pastimes. There is no greater sense of excitement for a snacker than to scour the supermarket shelves for scrumptious treats; this is even more thrilling when those items are from SE Asian snack vendors or supermarkets. From cookies to candies, chocolates, nuts and pastries, to crackers and chips, or even dried fruit, vegetable and protein matter, these pre-packaged delights may bring comfort to those familiar with the flavours or have others question their inventive origins. Perhaps it’s time to take another trip to the stores lining Spadina, those that dot the insides of Market Village and Pacific Mall, or are a beehive of activity for grocery shoppers (T&T Supermarket). Take a quick look at what can be found in the aisles!

Continue reading Got the Munchies? Head for the Aisles SE Asian Style »

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 »

Craving Chocolates
119A Roncesvalles Avenue
416-538-1212

Valentine’s Day is commonly thought of as the biggest holiday of the year for chocolate sales, but statistics show it actually ranks third or fourth after Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Due to shopping habits related to the day, however, Valentine’s generates more one-week candy sales than any other holiday. Apparently shoppers are better prepared for the other holidays (something about women doing the bulk of the shopping as opposed to men), and Valentine’s Day purchases are more last minute. Which is a shame, because it means an awful lot of people are getting big ugly boxes of sub-par candy, when a little planning could mean a better product.

Tucked away behind a flower shop on Roncesvalles Avenue is exactly the kind of place where people should be buying their Valentine’s chocolates.

Continue reading Craving Some Valentine’s Chocolates »

La Fromagerie
868 College Street
416-516-4278

Robert Burns’ shop is tailored toward a nice hike in the mountains of France where he was once married. Not the correct footwear and walking stick one may need, but rather the food. Take several types of cheese, a couple of baguettes and several French saucission. He doesn’t sell the other integral ingredient, red wine, but that can be purchased on the way to the hillside.

Yet La Fromagerie is in fact near no French mountains, or mountains at all for that matter. This is College Street and the red streetcar going by clearly indicates this is Toronto. The hike required is only the one back home. And it’s probably only a block or two away, as this cozy cheese shop has a neighbourhood feel to it. Instead of laying out a picnic gazing across lush valleys, the reality is more like gazing across the living room floor at the television. Continue reading From the Mountains of College & Ossington »

Good Catch General Store
1556 Queen Street West
416-533-4664

The success of any retail business is based on its ability to respond to the surrounding community. Can you give the customer what they want? A business that sees itself as part of the community can take that relationship one step further, as it not only supplies the regional customer base with goods, but gives those customers a central place to meet, shop and be a part of things.

In the olden days, that would have been a local general store. In 2008, it’s also the general store, or at least that’s the case in Parkdale.

Continue reading It’s All Good at the General Store »