Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts

May 16, 2012

Street Food Block Party... the video


The photos were just the beginning, here's a video recap of the biggest food party in Toronto this year! It was the best of both worlds, Toronto Underground Market and Food Trucks Eats, together in one place. 

And a reminder that the next Toronto Underground Market, (TUM) is happening June 9th, but tickets go on sale THIS Friday, (May 18th). They will sell out, so get yours early. 

May 07, 2012

Street Food Block Party



Street. Food. Block. Party.

Hell yeah Toronto! Photo highlights from one of the biggest food parties of the year.  3000 people at the Brickworks eating food, drinking craft beer and local wines and having a great time.

A huge thank you to Hassel Aviles and Suresh Doss, (and all the volunteers) for their tireless efforts in promoting street food, food trucks and budding entrepreneurs in Toronto. You guys are amazing, (and inspiring) this nights proves that.

Video recap coming soon!

May 06, 2012

Terroir 2012


I had the pleasure of attending the 2012 Terroir Symposium, a hospitality industry event held at Arcadian Court in Toronto. Terroir brings together industry experts, chefs, restaurateurs, marketers and food writers alike to discuss current trends in the culinary world and what the innovators are doing.

Of course, the discussion was interesting and the speakers were engaging but when you host such a large selection of hospitality industry professionals for an all day event, one of the big questions that everyone wants answered is: What did they eat?

I put together a little highlight reel of the day's eats to show you. Bon appetit.

April 30, 2012

Love for the Toronto Underground Market

Rock Lobster Food, Sullivan & Bleeker Bakery Co. and Uber Toronto have teamed up to offer 5 lucky people, (and a guest) the chance to win a Toronto Underground Market preview lunch this Thursday. All you have to do to enter is tell them your favourite thing about TUM, (more details here).

I ended up with the day off work after a water tank exploded and soaked everything in the office. So with some unexpected free time on my hands, I put together a little highlight video of some of the reasons why I love TUM. The next event is a combo underground market and food truck event, being called Street Food Block Party. This is one party you don't want to miss.

April 22, 2012

The Secret Pickle Documentary

For the past 8 months I've been immersed in a New Media Journalism postgrad program at Sheridan College. For my final project, I created a documentary about the Secret Pickle Supper Club. The name alone should intrigue you enough to spend 10 minutes watching my video. It was enough to make me want to do a documentary on it. Enjoy!

April 11, 2012

The West Side Beef Co. Story

Ryan Donovan of West Side Beef Co. See more photos here.
It all started because Kurt Krumme was hungry. He was hungry for traditionally raised, high quality, affordable beef and it was surprisingly hard to find in Toronto. After his search yielded little in the way of results, he got some friends together, contacted a butcher and ordered a whole side of beef to divide amongst the group. What he ended up with was mislabeled beef, poor butchery and a large bill. Kurt believed beef should not be this confusing or difficult.

“I’d been doing some reading about where food comes from and I didn’t really like the answers. So I actually tried to order an entire side of beef.”
-Kurt Krumme
Shortly after this experience, Kurt ran into an old friend of his, Ryan Donovan, and relayed his tale of woe. Ryan responded immediately by saying he was now a butcher, he knew farmers and he could make this work. And he did.


Ryan got a side of beef from farmer Dennis Harrison at Dingo Farms. He butchered it himself, got in his car and drove it over to Kurt’s house where he was hosting a barbecue. Everyone was so impressed with the quality of the beef that they demanded Kurt and Ryan get them more. When other friends found out about it, they wanted some too. It soon became evident that there was a hole in the market that needed to be filled.

April 10, 2012

Food Truck Infographic

Everything's better in infographic form, right?


April 08, 2012

More Food Trucks!



I'm becoming a food truck chaser. It's like a storm chaser, but tastier.

In what was the second event put on by UeaT, 11 food trucks took over two of the University of Toronto campuses. Where was this when I was at U of T??? Check out the video above for highlights of the trucks at the St. George campus.

If you want to see more food trucks in Toronto, you can help! Tweet your councillor, tweet the mayor, email them both and don't give me any excuses about not knowing how to find their info, it's all right here  at the Toronto Street Food Project.

If you're looking to see where the trucks will be next, you can follow them on Twitter or find out about events at Ontario Food Trucks. You could also probably just ask me, odds are, I'll be there...

March 08, 2012

The Secret Pickle Supper Club




Good news for the Toronto food community, 2012’s first Secret Pickle Supper Club has just been announced. It will be taking place on March 31st at the mezzanine kitchen in the St Lawrence market.

This month’s Secret Pickle Supper Club will mark the dinner party’s 2nd year anniversary and will appropriately revisit the Spanish theme that began it all. Since the first dinner in 2010, the Pickle has been creating unique dining experiences around Toronto. Every dinner party has a theme, limited seating and a specially designed menu.

Spanish Plate from the 1st Secret Pickle
This time around, the menu will be heavily influenced by host Alexa Clark’s and Chef Matt Kantor’s  recent trip to Spain, where they attended an olive oil conference and tasted their way around the country. Tickets are on sale now!

I have a special interest in this particular Pickle as I'll be there filming to create a documentary on the supper club! It's going to be a really good time. The venue is amazing- the mezzanine kitchen overlooks the entire St. Lawrence Market and Chef Matt Kantor is plotting a modern Spanish menu which will certainly include some surprises.


I can't wait!

March 06, 2012

Come and Get It


Come and Get It is Toronto's latest pop-up restaurant, for a limited time only, at Queen and Spadina. I recently had the chance to chat with Chef/Owner Jon Polubiec about what he's up to and how long the pop up shop might last. Watch the video for the inside scoop and then head over to Come and Get It for an amazing lunch, a game of MarioKart on N64 and the pinkest walls you've ever seen in a restaurant.

Allow me to recommend the Chipotle Braised Beef Short Rib or the Hawaiian Pork Belly sandwich. And for the vegetarians, there's more than just salad! Come and Get It makes vegetarian gravy to satisfy your poutine cravings. It's all served in biodegradable take out containers and if you're eating in, you'll find condiments and napkins waiting on your table in retro lunchboxes.

You shouldn't need any more convincing to go check this place out, but if you do- Jon and the cooks at Come and Get It are pretty cute and always friendly! Say hi to them for me! ;)

Twitter @ComeAndGetIt416
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComeAndGetIt416

February 21, 2012

Khao San Road, Toronto


Amazing and addictive Squash Fritters with Singha
Because I had a Thai craving that needed to be satisfied, we arrived at 5:45pm on a Saturday night. The line up was already out the door. There are a very limited number of reservations at Khao San Road and the rest is walk-in only. This is both a blessing and a curse. It means you will get dinner eventually, but you will most likely have to wait. We were there for an hour before being seated.

Tables are often communal, depending on the size of your group and we were dining beside a lovely birthday girl and her two friends. So long as you’re not socially inept, communal dining shouldn’t be a problem.

Service was fast and extremely friendly. Considering they have to deal with a line out the door of cranky, hungry guests eager for a table, the Khao San Road staff does a great job of keeping smiles on their faces and being pleasant to everyone. They were even letting people order drinks in line, which was probably a nightmare to keep track of.

Once seated, we started with Singha beer and Squash Fritters, (Gra Bong). The fritters were mixed with ginger, lemongrass and red curry and I could eat those by the bucketful. They’re hot, crispy, seasoned just right and totally addictive. My only quibble is over the dipping sauce they’re served with, it’s on the sweet side and I’d like a little heat.

Green Curry
Our choice for mains was Khoa Soi and Green Curry, (Gaeng Kaew Wan). The Khao Soi consisted of egg noodles in a coconut milk curry with crispy noodles on top. For me, this is a little like the best of both worlds. I could eat noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner but when I go for Thai food, I’m always conflicted over whether I want curry with rice or a noodle dish like Pad Thai. Khao Soi is a little of both.

As for the Green Curry, it brought back memories of Thailand.  This was the best green curry I’ve had in Canada. It still can’t beat the ones I had in Thailand but that’s only because I associate the green curries of Thailand with sitting on a deck overlooking the water, with a warm breeze, cold beer and three of my best friends. That’s a tough combination to beat.

By the time dessert rolled around I was stuffed, but I’m stubborn and wanted to try it, so I ordered Sa Koo Ma Prao to go. Sa Koo Ma Prao is the only dessert on the menu and to be honest I had a bit of a craving for coconut sticky rice with mango. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I may like this even better. It was a cup of tapioca pearls in coconut milk with young coconut strips and a hint of vanilla flavour from pandan. Sometimes after a meal that consists of rice and curry, a dessert of more rice isn’t the most appealing thing so the tapioca pearls were a nice change of pace. It would have been perfect if it came with a few strips of ripe, juicy mango on top.

Khao Soi
 One thing that baffled me at Khao San Road, and my dining companion commented on it too, was the musical selection. Over the course of the evening we heard a mix that included Nelly’s Hot in Here and Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris. For a place with such good food, their taste in music is surprisingly bad.

Also, a word of warning to anyone who likes their food spicy, Khao San Road seems to cater to a Western palate that fears a good kick of chili. I ordered my food medium spicy and could easily have handled hot. It was by no means bland, but I found the medium to be more in line with my thoughts of what mild would have been.

Final verdict? Go to Khao San Road but go for lunch. The wait time isn’t as long, the portions won’t leave you totally stuffed, you’ll still get delicious Thai food and your wallet will thank you.


Khao San Road is open Monday- Saturday for lunch and dinner at 326 Adelaide St. West, Toronto.

February 18, 2012

Beer! Hogtown Brewers Launches in TO



One of my favourite things to ask people is to tell me a story. So when I heard that five rugby playing buddies had started making their own craft beer, I wanted to know more. Hogtown Brewers, has recently entered the market as one of Toronto’s newest brewers, and it all stemmed from a desire to make a local beer that they wanted to drink.

For cute rugby boys, they’re pretty smart too. All of them kept their full time jobs, they’re renting brewing space, (instead of dropping serious money on their own right off the bat) and most importantly, they’re listening to customer feedback.


(A little tease of Hogtown Brewers at the Toronto Underground Market)

I first met some of the Hogtown Brewers crew at the TorontoUnderground Market back in November. They were proudly, (if not slightly shyly) pouring pints of their Hogtown Ale and genuinely inquiring what people thought of it.  They welcomed comments and suggestions via an online form as well so that people who were too nice to criticize in person, could still give their opinion.

Then, their master brewer took what they had learned from the public and actually made changes. The goal was to create a craft beer that was flavourful but wouldn’t alienate people.  At the Toronto Underground Market, enough tasters commented that the beer was a bit too bitter that they decided to rejig the formula.

At the official Hogtown Brewers launch party at The Duke ofDevon they had made the necessary adjustments and the response from the public was overwhelmingly favourable. The beer was great, servers were decked out in Hogtown t-shirts and even the hors d’oeuvres paid homage to Hogtown with little pastry pigs on top of meat pies.





For now you can find Hogtown Ale on tap at The Duke of Devon, but keep your eyes open as they’re looking to expand to other restaurants and pubs in the city soon. 



Cheers boys!

February 16, 2012

Fancy Valentine's Day Breakfast



A gorgeous setting, gourmet food and a panel of talented experts are worth getting up early for on Valentine’s Day. Where did I find all of these things in one place? At the “Steak Your Claim as a Foodie” breakfast held at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.

Toronto is one of many cities taking part in Social Media Week around the world between February 13th and 17th.   The week features lectures, panel discussions, events and tweet ups all focused on emerging trends in social and mobile media across major industries.

On Valentine’s Day I got up extra early for 7:30am breakfast in the opulent setting of the Ballroom at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.  Chefs manned cooking stations at one end of the Ballroom and served a wonderful breakfast to hungry attendees. At one station, eggs were poached on demand to create lobster eggs benedict, at another a rich and spicy hot chocolate was served with Hawaiian malasadas for dipping. And who could resist the multi-tiered chocolate fountain?

February 08, 2012

There's Still Hope, Toronto



Despite the issue with food trucks that I wrote about a couple days ago, Toronto really is a great city for culinary activities.  There’s hope for Toronto because there are food loving people working to find creative ways to bring fresh, local food to the hungry public.

The Social Feed, is just one example of the recent trend of pop up dinners and supper clubs.  Held at a unique and locally focused restaurant each time, The Social Feed gives diners a chance to get out and meet new people on a week night. 

Meals are served family style, with everyone helping themselves to the platters of food that are brought out  Diners are encouraged to relax and share like they would in their own homes.  No need for glassware with your beer, the bottle will be just fine, thanks. 

Most recently, The Social Feed was held at Marben, (a personal favourite of mine) a downtown Toronto restaurant whose menu features housemade charcuterie and individual  cooks names attached to their signature dishes.

February 06, 2012

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Toronto

Torontonians are hungry for food trucks.  Literally.  In one of the most multicultural cities in the world, full of talented food producers, it should not be this hard to find good street food.  Hot dogs and French fries don’t count.

Yet, Toronto insists on stubbornly refusing to update by-laws which make it difficult to create change.  The current by-laws restrict food trucks from operating on public property in the downtown core, an area bordered by Bathurst Street to the west, Eglinton Avenue to the north and the Don River to the east. 

Food Trucks @ The Distillery District

But wait?  What about the fry trucks that park in front of Nathan Philips Square? Those have been there since before the dawn of time and have special permits with the City.  That is the only place they can operate.  There has since been a moratorium on new street vending permits for public property in the downtown core.  New food trucks don’t stand a chance, at least not in Toronto.

It’s a different story in Alberta, where Calgarians petitioned the City to eliminate outdated and misguided laws.  The mayor of Calgary was even on board with the movement and actively encouraged it.  As a result, the city loosened up on some of their old restrictions and Calgary’s food scene is now thriving.  In comparison, Toronto’s by-laws are antiquated and embarrassing.  But what is perhaps most embarrassing is an unwillingness to make changes.


 Some innovative Torontonians, however, are thinking up creative ways to get around the city by-laws, like partnering with property owners who have private space available.  This past summer, the city’s first Food Truck Eats event was held at the Distillery District.  Five food trucks, all selling high quality, gourmet food for $5 or less per serving, were present.  Organizer Suresh Doss, (@spotlightcity) predicted a turnout of 500 people.  Over 3000 foodies showed up and stood in line to get a taste of innovative food truck offerings such as wood fired pizza, Vietnamese sandwiches and Indian ice cream.  The vendors sold out in three hours. 

With the popularity of TV shows like Eat St., Torontonians have caught a glimpse of  the wide variety of food trucks that exist elsewhere in North America and they want more of it closer to home.  In a survey conducted by The Street Food Vendors Association, respondents complained that Toronto didn’t have enough variety of street food, needed more food trucks and needed to allow the food trucks to be mobile. 



For a mayor who clearly likes to eat, it’s surprising that Rob Ford and the Toronto City Council haven’t stepped in to help remove the barriers for new food trucks. That small change would make one of the world’s greatest cities, even better.  Or at least on par with Calgary.

A wonderful info graphic from Toronto Food Trucks, explaining why it's so hard...

How to Start a Food Truck in Toronto
Created by Toronto Food Trucks