This is a really intense and flavourful wine for the price. Small wonder it won a gold medal at the Concours Mondial competition in Brussels. Dense ruby-purple colour; a nose of black raspberries and vanilla oak with a mineral-herbal note; on the palate, it offers a candied raspberry flavour. It’s full-bodied and well-structured with ripe tannins. Food match: pepper steak, osso bucco.
The espresso market has traditionally been cornered by Starbucks and specialty shops, but coffee connoisseurs are now being courted by some unlikely competitors: McDonald’s and Tim Hortons. Is this venture into espresso-based coffee a sacrilege? Probably, but things could be worse. Here are five reasons why it’s not such a bad thing.
A funny thing happened to me this weekend: I was ridiculed for ordering vodka.
My usually passive strains of Polish blood erupted in indignation.
“What fresh, elitist hell has this city become?” they screamed.
Replicating an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria in Toronto isn’t easy. The focus is always on quality above quantity. It requires a massive, wood-burning oven, imported from Naples, with a highly trained pizzaiolo at the reins. Servers need to be meticulously educated. Which is why John Chetti and his partners, the owners of Queen Margherita Pizza, aren’t quite prepared to expand that brand just yet. What they are ready for is an attempt to change the face of delivery pizza in Toronto.
A delicious stand-up sipper. I usually don’t look to Australia for Riesling, but this wine surprised me. Straw colour; developing petrol notes on the nose; lime and grapefruit with a honeyed note; slight spritz on the palate with a sweet and sour flavour; initially off-dry and then dries out on the finish with lively citrus acidity. Food match: pork chop, Thai dishes.
This kind of came out of nowhere, but the ROM has a new executive chef: Corbin Tomaszeski. The announcement was made in a press release sent out this morning. In addition to his 20-plus years of experience as a chef (his latest gig was as executive chef at Holts Café), Tomaszeski is also known at a television personality from shows like Dinner Party Wars and Restaurant Makeover.
Celebrity chef heading to Dundas Street West to open a restaurant with his kids
For the past year and a half or so, Bill Sweete and his team held an interesting trifecta on College Street with Sidecar, Toronto Temperance Society and Negroni. This past summer, the latter of those venues had undergone a modest renovation and a menu change to become Carpano. But despite a positive reception in the area, Carpano has closed, Sweete tells us, and it’s been sold to a couple of “young restaurateurs.”
Less than a year into the pie-making business, Bigabaldi’s pizzeria has already closed its doors. Co-owner Bradley Davidson cites a lack of foot traffic in the area along with the plethora of cheaper chain pizza options nearby (there are four) as reasons leading to the closure. But New York-style pizza lovers fear not: Bigabaldi’s is preparing to return to the Toronto market in a few months.
Cakes are delicious, but they can also be pretty funny. Just ask blogger Jen Yates, whose blog, Cake Wrecks, catalogues the most hilarious — and horrific — cakes you’ve ever feasted your eyes on. A prime example of how a successful blog can transform someone from obscurity into a pop culture phenomenon, Yates is making her first-ever stop in Toronto to promote her newest book, Wreck the Halls: Cake Wrecks Gets “Festive”, at Indigo Yorkdale tomorrow.
Nigel Finley is a Nova Scotia man, so he grew up around some of the best, freshest seafood in the country. “It’s in my blood,” he says. That’s a good thing, because he’s heading up the kitchen at Catch, an upcoming seafood restaurant by The Rushton’s Frank Pronesti.
In the midst of the ceaseless commotion that is Chinatown, there’s a new hidden nugget of zen where you can ensconce yourself in a plush beanbag chair, crack open a novel (or a laptop, if you must) and dig into a steaming bowl of noodle soup for under $7 (taxes included).
