Spring, that fickle tease, is finally upon us. Fittingly, Crème Yvette, a proprietary French liqueur that’s flavoured with violets and berries, is budding all over Toronto’s seasonal cocktail lists.
Last week, first-time restaurateur Neil Dominey opened The Fuzz Box, a Danforth shop that could be the first in Toronto to specialize in Nova Scotia-style donairs. Yes, Nova Scotia has a very distinctive donair, and whatever you do, don’t call it a shawarma. These gooey, meaty, awesomely trashy wraps were recently put in the limelight when Geoff Hopgood started making and serving them at Hopgood’s Foodliner.
In today’s marketing ploy news, Wendy’s has announced that it is launching a petition to make poutine Canada’s national dish. We can’t imagine what motivated the fast food giant to commit to such an endeavour, but we’re sure it’s not self-serving in the slightest. On a side note, Wendy’s is adding poutine to its menus across Canada.
Doing one thing well seems to be the motto for many Toronto restaurants these days, and now David Adjey is looking to get in on some of the action. The celebrity chef (Restaurant Makeover, Iron Chef America) is teaming up with Danny Farbman (What A Bagel) to open The Chickery, an upcoming Spadina restaurant serving chicken, sides and not much else.
No question, this is the best value Pinot Noir at the LCBO. The wine is ruby-coloured, offering cherry and red berry notes on the nose with a thread of minerality. It’s fresh and easy drinking, light to medium-bodied on the palate with just enough spice and fruit to make it a great bargain wine. Food match: mushroom tart, roasted chicken.
If there’s one piece of German beer trivia that just about everyone knows, it’s the 500ish-year-old German Beer Purity Law that once limited the ingredients brewmasters in that country could use. The law is no longer legally in effect — ingredients other than the original barley, water and hops are fair game — but it still holds a lot of marketing sway. This is why you won’t see a cherry beer from a German brewery.
The website of a new resto-bar opening in Little Italy says, “If you don’t know who Johnny Jackson is… don’t ask.” We tried asking anyway, and predictably didn’t get a response. Still, the website offers a hint as to what’s taking over the space previously occupied by Strangelove and the very short-lived Bloc 22.
Sure, seeing the words “melting pot” in conjunction with the GTA is disconcertingly cliché, but in this case it’s warranted. The Melting Pot, North America’s largest fondue franchise, is opening its first Ontario location in Richmond Hill this month, and the man behind the project is owner Corbin Tomaszeski of Restaurant Makeover and C5 fame.
The food Gods have been kind to Little Italy as of late, and there’s more yet to come. College Street is about to get its very own incarnation of Easy Restaurant, Parkdale’s retro-inspired daytime diner. Owner Peter Morrison expects to open his new venue by early May.
Torono’s insanely popular pop-up taquería La Carnita is a pop-up no longer. As Corey Mintz reports on Toronto.com, La Carnita has found a permanent home at 501 College Street, in the site of the just-closed Briscola Trattoria.
It’s time to (literally) raise the roof at the Rogers Centre this month, and celebrate the Blue Jays’ home opener; in honour of this occasion, we called upon deli king Zane Caplansky to help us find the GTA’s best ballpark-worthy hot dogs.
Tromba, the new tequila from young Toronto entrepreneur Eric Brass, is rapidly becoming a favourite among the city’s bartenders. Smooth and fresh, this tequila has been receiving deservedly loud praise and has inspired a slew of tasty concoctions from the creative minds and nimble hands behind bars at places like The Drake and Yours Truly.
