As we’ve seen with recent blog-a-log columns, seasonal produce means a whole whack of seasonally-themed posts from bloggers. Two prominent themes this week are strawberries (which are still around) and peas.

Dana McCauley starts us off with tips for growing peas from her gardening series. Then Ferdzy of Seasonal Ontario Food offer two posts on stuff to do with peas, first serve them with cream and garlic scapes, or with butter and mint.

Catherine of Sugar and Ink has a market report that features strawberries, and at Closet Cooking Kevin has strawberry and rhubarb jam, as well as strawberry cheesecake ice cream. And Eric of Do You Know the Muffin Man? whips up some strawberry sorbet with balsamic vinegar and marscapone.

Another summertime food is ribs, and K-chan of I Can’t Believe I’m Back in Toronto offers a review of the Etobicoke ribfest, as well as a guide to all the rib festivals in Ontario.

Also, Candice at Mmm, Tasty! reviews Wild Thing Café, Greg talks about the return of Unibrou at Beer, Beats and Bites, and Rob disses locavores at Hungry in Hogtown.

Multiple Organics
1545 Dundas Street West
647-435-5340

What are two well-educated young women to do when they find themselves with doctorates, but no where to use them? Why, open an organic food store of course!

Such was the case for Nupur Gogia and Carrianne Leung recently when they discovered that the only way to make use of their formal education was to leave Toronto, something neither of them wanted to do. Gogia was already part of an established family business, running the successful Raani Foods, and Leung wanted to stay close to her family in Toronto’s west end. With no retail background other than Gogia’s experience selling her famous samosas at St. Lawrence Market, the pair leased a storefront in the Dundas West and Dufferin area and opened Multiple Organics just over a month ago.

Continue reading Orgasmic Organics »

Another busy summer weekend coming up in Toronto and surrounding environs, although there’s at least one less event happening than originally expected, as the Toronto Night Market up at Metro Square Plaza in Markham has been postponed to July 11th & 12th. We’re also not sure of the status of the similarly named TOnightmarket which is supposed to be kicking off for two months of Saturday nights this weekend at Woodbine Park, as their website is still displaying a “Summer 2008″ Flash page with no further info.

Things that definitely are happening this weekend, however, include Beats, Breaks & Culture down at Harbourfront (yeah, it’s not really a food event, but we love Ladytron [pictured], so we had to mention it), AfroFest at Queen’s Park, and the Corso Italia Toronto Fiesta along St. Clair West. And of course, next Wednesday is the long awaited debut of this summer’s series of Harvest Wednesdays nights at the Gladstone Hotel.

The full list of happenings for the next week follows below, and as always, our Events page has more information on these and many other upcoming events in Toronto and area.

Continue reading T.O. Events for July 4th-10th »

It’s funny that we didn’t run into Steven Davey at Lula Lounge. He must have been visiting the place right around the same time we were to write his review today in NOW. And although we had some of the same dishes, it seems like our experiences were completely different when it comes to service. Davey also visits Manpuka, a Japanese noodle place in Village by the Grange. In his Fresh Dish column, he’s got info on Summerlicious, Harvest Wednesdays, the Slow Food picnic and Farmer’s Nights at Cowbell. Graham Duncan drinks a 50. We’re not sure why.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from other publications, the folks at Eye (again no byline this week in the online edition) seem to really like Spice Route.

At Metro, Barb Holland has some great ways to enjoy strawberries, there are some recipes from Everyday Grain-Free Gourmet: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by Jodi Bager and Jenny Lass, and Billy Munnelly recommends some summer whites.

And not in our usual Thursday round-up, but still worth a mention is the article by Rita Zekas in the Toronto Star about Toronto’s lack of women chefs, and Kim Honey shares her account of Dinner in the Sky (and it seems like pretty much every food writer and media outlet has their own version - mine’s on my personal food blog, and Shinan Govani’s can be found in his National Post column today).

Coquine
2075 Yonge Street
416-322-6767
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and wine: $100

If “Coquine” means naughty in French, it’s an inspiration not for the menu at this uptown bistro, nor for the service, both of which are excellent, but for the ambiance. The restaurant, in the former location of the Manor Arms pub at Yonge Street and Manor Road, is owned by Robbie Prete and Amir Karmali, former colleagues at Grazie (2373 Yonge Street), an equally loud and popular Italian spot just a few blocks north on Yonge. Prete and Karmali have obviously attempted to channel their former haunt’s success, reproducing the “busy room with beautiful people” vibe to great success. There is a certain buzz, an undertone of excitement that begins from the first step inside the crowded front room. For a quieter experience, diners can opt for the back room, all dark wood and white parquet floors, but this more intimate nook lacks the fervent action that makes Coquine so appealing. Still, seated in either space, diners are in for an evening of culinary excitement at the hands of chef Alejandro Bustamante, with just a little touch of naughty.

Continue reading A Little Bit Naughty, A Whole Lotta Nice »

Everything’s coming up roses at the Toronto Sun today, where Rita deMontis writes about edible flowers. Frank Ferragine offers info on which blossoms are edible, as well as some tips on preparing them - like candying them for decorations. DeMontis also has the scoop on something called the cake vase, which allows fresh flowers to stay vibrant and not dead while displayed on a cake.

Also in the Sun; sausages, and Elizabeth Baird is jamming, with recipes for jams, conserves and other ways to preserve the flavours of summer.

Continue reading What’s Cooking - Wednesday, July 2nd »

A quintuplet of rabbit ravioli is a welcomed lunchtime greeting from Célestin (623 Mount Pleasant Road) which features silky pockets of tender braised meat that are tossed in an arugula pesto and topped with shavings of parmesan.

Looking for light yet hearty fare during the summer months seems to be a paradoxical concept. On one hand the appetite seeks sweet and refreshing flavours from seasonal produce, but the stomach craves satisfaction that a mere salad cannot provide. I’ve found the perfect solution for such dilemmas are answered by a bowl filled with pasta, ones that aren’t heavy laden with meat and cheese, but carbs tossed with fresh produce. Utilizing the best and freshest market ingredients, our contenders below have much to offer during these ripe months of harvest.

Continue reading Summertime Finds: Getting Pasta Stereotypes »

In honour of Canada Day, I’m devoting this week’s column to a couple of beers from Waterloo’s Brick Brewery, one of Canada’s first craft breweries, as well as one of the largest remaining Canadian-owned brewing companies. (For those who don’t know: Labatt is owned by InBev, a Belgian/Brazilian conglomerate; Molson is part of the multinational Molson Coors partnership; and Sleeman was plucked up a while ago by Japan’s Sapporo.)

Founded in 1984 by Jim Brickman, Brick started out as a lager brewery, making it a bit of an anomaly in the ale-dominated microbrewing movement that was gaining steam at the time, but also a fitting choice given the German heritage of the Kitchener-Waterloo area. A series of acquisitions and contract-brewing deals led to them having a fairly diverse portfolio by the mid-1990s, ranging from their core lagers to the British-style Conners ales to the acclaimed Belgian-style witbier Celis White.

Continue reading Beers of the Week - J.R. Brickman Pilsner and Brick Red Baron »

In a city touted for its multiculturalism by every tourism campaign and boasting citizen abroad, calling yourself the most multi-culturally based area in all of Canada is a tall order. But that’s the word from the Wexford Heights Business Improvement Area, who is gearing up for this weekend’s 5th annual Taste of Lawrence Festival with an eye toward attracting both visitors and locals alike.

Frank Greco, event manager for the festival, anticipates a crowd surpassing the 125,000 guests who wandered amongst the free musical entertainment, midway and street performers last year. In the “food vendor alley,” as he puts, the focus has been on showcasing the flavours of the cultures seen throughout the area. “If you take a walk around here,” he explains, “you’ll see the retail look changing from one ethnic area to the other.” So getting these business involved, along with some outside help, only made representational sense.

Continue reading Something for Everyone at the Taste of Lawrence Festival »

TasteTO wasn’t the only publication to show up at Yummy Stuff for their grand opening on Saturday. Our pal Suresh from Spotlight Toronto was there as well, and he’s got a post about the sweet delights the shop has to offer. Suresh also has reviews of Waterfalls Tapas and Grill, as well as Veda TakeOut.

Over at Torontoist, Julie goes for a another Great Torontoist Challenge - this time dim sum. And Marc has an interesting piece on a couple of beverage companies and how people attending Pride (or anyone who doesn’t want to give their money to anti-gay organizations) might not want to support them by buying their products.

The National Post Appetizer blog holds a blind taste test with a number of Central Canadian beers - with the winner being Hockley Valley Dark. Joshua from BlogTO heads to Etobicoke for the Ribfest, and Eric of Menumental flips some burgers for Canada Day. David Lawrason of Toronto Life gets a little cheeky when he refers to the “river”-themed Vintages release as “Some Decent Wines We Put Together From Europe at About $20 So That We Could Spend Lots of Money on This Glossy Spread in the Catalogue.” Dude, isn’t that every release at the LCBO?

Christine of Gremolata travels to Holland Marsh to check out what’s growing within the mythical 100-mile radius, Noelle gives peas a chance, and there’s a piece on St. Andrew’s-by-the-Sea.

Sorauren Park Farmers Market
Sorauren Park, Sorauren Avenue south of Dundas street West
Mondays, 3pm - 7pm
May 26th to October 27th

The key to a successful farmers market? Ensuring that the community is onboard and that there will be enough customers to make it worthwhile. So the idea of setting up a market at Sorauren Park on Monday afternoons, when 300 kids (and their parents!) are in the park for soccer was a truly brilliant bit of marketing.

The Sorauren Farmers Market is another of the newbies this year, having held their first market day on May 26th. Prior to that, organizers had a couple of prepared food vendors set up in the park on Mondays to create a buzz with the soccer families. The close proximity of the Wabash fieldhouse provides washroom facilities as well as kitchen and dishwashing facilities, a boon for any market with the goal of being zero-waste, as this one is.

Continue reading The Market Basket - Sorauren Park Farmers Market »

Yummy Stuff
1660 Queen Street West
416-531-9732

All of the ladies who work at my vet’s office have been waiting with bated breath for the grand opening of the Yummy Stuff retail shop. For the past six weeks or so, while owner Morag Cleevely has been using the storefront as a industrial kitchen space in which to fill custom orders, the wafting scent of baking cookies and cakes has been travelling the three doors east past their office, taunting them with visions of frosting and pastry as they take their canine charges for a walk, yet leaving them frustrated and unfilled. While many neighbourhoods are becoming jaded by their selection of fancy treats, the folks here in Parkdale are excited by the prospect of our first real fancy bakeshop in, well, decades.

Continue reading Parkdale’s Got the Yummy Stuff »

Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas Street West
416-588-0307
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $34

“Hey, did you know Lula does brunch?” my husband asked, waving a colourful postcard that he had found on the sidewalk at me. “We should go!” And so we do, because we like brunch and because we’ve always wanted an excuse to go to Lula. As our musical tastes encompass jazz but tend more to west coast swing than salsa and because we come more from the “unscrew the lightbulb” school of dance than anything so complicated as having to remember steps, there’s never been a really compelling reason to go there. Except – duh – the cooking of Chef Derek Crinson.

Continue reading Sunday Brunch - Lula Lounge »

We hope they’re paying Corey Mintz the big bucks over at the Toronto Star, ’cause he’s been writing his cute li’l ass off for them since came on board a few weeks ago. In today’s paper alone, his byline appears on three articles, including a swooning review of the city’s newest Mecca of meat, Atelier Thuet:

Dinner is zealously carnivorous. A two-foot butcher’s platter ($30) is one of the best deals in town for $30. Every inch of it is covered in homemade sausages, at least a dozen - venison prosciutto, smoked pork neck, maple-cured pork loin - which our well-studied server rattles off like Rain Man at a spelling bee. A pair of thick terrines en croute, filled with rabbit, duck, pistachios and dates, sits at one end. The platoon of meat, with multi-grain bread and gherkins, aided by a pair of Blanche de Chamblis Belgian beers, is nearly a meal for two.

(Note: As Taste T.O.’s resident beer geek, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the beer is actually called Blanche de Chambly, and while it’s a Belgian-style wheat beer, it’s brewed in Quebec. Sorry, Corey!)

Continue reading In The Papers - Saturday June 28th »

As readers of this site and my personal food blog will know, I’m not much of a fan of recipe posts; to me they scream to the world that the blogger has run of of things to say, and has resorted to blogging about what they had for dinner. The one huge exception to this is posts about seasonal food items - I actually really love coming across recipe posts about local produce in season, because I enjoy seeing what each person has chosen to do with a particular ingredient. For the past couple of weeks, we’ve included a lot of asparagus posts here in the Blog-A-Log column, and as the asparagus winds down (which reminds me, I should blanche some and freeze it before it’s all gone!!), we move on to strawberries, which are all over the web this week.

Starting over at Closet Cooking, Kevin’s got a gorgeous strawberry and feta salad, as well as strawberry frozen yogurt. Eric at Do You Know the Muffin Man? has strawberry rhubarb muffins, and Ferdzy at Seasonal Ontario Food has strawberry agua fresca. Ferdzy’s also got a brilliantly green seasonal soup made from spinach, asparagus and peas.

Elsewhere, Dana McCauley’s got an interesting post about real breakfasts, while Liz at Blog From Our Kitchen has cinnamon raisin bread (perfect for breakfast!), and Jasmine at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict has a recipe for spiced blueberry maple syrup (also perfect for breakfast!).

And anyone still looking for recipes should head over to Gothic Epicures VinCuisine, where Dean has a whole pile of recent cookbook reviews.