“It’s essentially a dive bar — but with good craft beer,” says Katie Whittaker, owner of Kensington Market’s latest, well, dive bar. On the same strip of Baldwin Street that houses Detour Bar and the Hot Box Café, Thirsty and Miserable is in good company. Named after a tune from Black Flag’s (then) controversial 1981 album, Damaged, the bar offers up a mix of local, Québécois and Belgian brews in a laid-back atmosphere.
Bob Blumer, host of the Food Network Canada series Glutton for Punishment, is about to embark on his next adventure, World’s Weirdest Restaurants. The series follows Blumer as travels the world to sample some truly strange culinary destinations. We caught up with the television host to talk about his new show and his March 26 pop-up restaurant event at The Drake Hotel.
This week, we asked Ariel Coplan, Nyood’s brand new chef, to tell us about his breakthrough dish. Coplan, born and raised here in Toronto, learned his craft under the tutelage of Lorenzo Loseto at George Restaurant. After working at Café Grey in New York City, and Number One — a Michelin-starred restaurant at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh — Coplan returned to his hometown with his eyebrows intact (more on this below). Herewith, Coplan shares his favourite jerk chicken recipe with us.
Oreo cookies turned 100 today. That’s right — the first Oreo was sold on this day in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1912. Does anybody actually care about that? Well, Colin Mochrie made an appearance at the Toronto Eaton Centre to celebrate the occasion today, so the answer is, yes, some people actually care. Either way, now is a good time to indulge in some useless Oreo trivia. Below, five ways that the sandwich cookie has influenced our culture.
Here is how I know that I live in one of the most civilized countries in the world: if I want to have a newborn piglet wrenched from its loving mother’s teat, slaughtered, rubbed with salt, injected with brine, roasted for four hours and placed on a platter purely for my own enjoyment, all that I have to do is call Bestellen restaurant.
Anthony Rose, The Drake’s executive chef for the last six years, is to leave the famed hotel to open a restaurant of his own. Though he chose not to reveal any details about his upcoming endeavor, he did tell The Grid, “It’s just time to move on. In my career, I like to stay at places for a while and what I’ve done with The Drake over the last six years has been amazing, but I’m just ready to do something different.”
Last Thursday evening, a swarm of hungry foodies took over St. Lawrence Market, wining and dining their way through Recipe for Change, FoodShare’s biggest shindig of the year. Bringing together 30 of Toronto’s finest chefs — including Aaron Joseph Bear Robe, Brad Long and Rocco Agostino — the event raised over $50,000 for food literacy in schools, which aims to broaden the culinary horizons of Ontario’s youth.
It’s no secret that Toronto is completely inundated with espresso bars, but at least two downtown areas have managed to avoid indie oversaturation: the Financial District and the Entertainment District. Sam James plans to tap into the former with an upcoming shop on the PATH, and Dark Horse Espresso Bar has ventured into the latter with a fourth location, which officially opened on John Street this morning.
These days, it’s difficult to tell whether Toronto is more obsessed with tacos, hamburgers, Neapolitan pizza or espresso. A case could be made for any of them, but those who need proof that tacos are hip need only pay a visit to Grand Electric. In the time it takes to get a seat there, one could just as easily migrate all the way to the east end, where a new taco joint has opened up in the former digs of Le Rossignol.
Roncesvalles’ new East Coast-inspired Hopgood’s Foodliner may have a sparse dessert menu of only two items, but its crispy toffee bar ($8), which comes in a brown paper package tied up with string, is a sweet and salty delight that stands on its own. We caught up with executive chef Geoff Hopgood, who told us the secrets behind his chocolate bar (turns out, it has a lot to do with blended Rice Krispies, a paint sprayer and a delectable chocolate sauce).
This is a pleasant blend of Carignan, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Ruby colour with a spicy floral nose of blackberries; medium-bodied, elegant, fine mouth feel, dry and spicy. Food match: beef casserole, old cheddar.
Leslieville Cheese Market & Fine Foods, the popular gourmet food shop that first appeared on Queen East around six years ago, will be opening a fourth location later this month on Donlands Avenue.
