smorgasbord

Smörgåsbord – Acadia Rocks the 7-course Tasting Menu

by  • March 26, 2012

When Chef Matt Blondin announced via Twitter that Acadia (50C Clinton Street) would be offering a $39, 7-course tasting menu, I’m pretty sure everybody’s first thought was, “How the hell is he going to pull that off??” But it turns out that Blondin is a pretty ingenious guy. Not only did he put together 7 courses for $39, they were actually really good and some, like the catfish breaded with pumpernickel with goat’s curd, pickled egg white and yolk and onion tops (above) has recently been added to the restaurant’s regular menu.  Follow along for the rest of what Blondin cooked up…

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Smörgåsbord – Keriwa Cafe

by  • September 1, 2011

We talk a lot about seasonal, local food, but the ultimate in this type of cuisine has to be the food of the First Nations people, who predate the rest of us by thousands of years. European settlers relied on help from First Nations communities when they arrived in Canada, but a lot of what we look at as being “seasonal and local” really isn’t at all, it’s comprised of foodways that were imported.

Toronto has never had a restaurant featuring Aboriginal cuisine that I’m aware of, so Keriwa Cafe (1690 Queen Street West) has both a clean slate, and a lot to prove. There is little precedent for Aboriginal dishes in fine dining, but can Chef Aaron Joseph Bear Robe make it high-end enough to bring in an upscale clientele (who will “rough it” into the wilderness of Parkdale for the novelty and trendiness factor, but need to be turned into returning regulars to keep the business running), and rustic enough to keep the cuisine true to its roots?

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Smörgåsbord – La Societe

by  • August 15, 2011

There’s probably no excuse for having photos of a meal on my computer for 6 weeks and not getting around to writing about a place. We dined at La Societe Bistro (131 Bloor Street West) in early July. I’m extremely happy to see someone putting some love and care back into the space. While I’m not your typical Yorkville restaurant-goer, I have fond memories of the space back in the 80s when it was called The Bermuda Onion and the upper patio was covered in sand, and my roommates and I would sit out there drinking Harvey Wallbangers and dreaming of owning that Gaultier dress in the window of Creed’s (damn, I’m old).

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Smörgåsbord – Acadia

by  • July 30, 2011

The story of the Acadians was part of the history of the place where I grew up. French settlers on the Bay of Fundy shore of Nova Scotia were expelled from the province in the mid 1700s when they refused to sign an oath of allegiance to Britain. The French settlers ended up scattered all along the eastern seaboard of the US, particularly in the rural areas of Louisiana, where many French-owned plantations made the settlers feel at home.

While many Acadians eventually returned to Acadie (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI) enough stayed in the Louisiana low country and adapted to the life there that the Cajun culture was born. Food, in particular, was still based around the rustic French food they knew and cooked up north, but began to encompass local ingredients and cooking techniques.

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Smörgåsbord – The Bowery

by  • July 25, 2011

We got to check out The Bowery (55 Colborne Street) a few weeks ago. Chef Tawfik Shehata is doing the exec gig both here and over at The Ballroom, with Chef Jason Maw running the day to day. Both chefs were on hand the night we dropped by with a couple of friends, and we tried a number of dishes that were very impressive. Above, the grilled octopus with tomato confit, nicoise olives, baby arugula, polenta and squid ink aioli. Nice tender bits of squid and the aioli was really interesting – it looks a little odd on the plate, but it has a great flavour of garlic and squid.

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Smörgåsbord – Fishbar, Smith, Park Hyatt, Creme Brasserie

by  • June 23, 2011

There’s been lots of eating lately, and no time for posting about the eating. June is a busy month in the food scene. Which is why it’s been weeks since Greg and I have been to Fishbar (217 Ossington Avenue), but I’m only now getting around to posting my pics. We stopped by on a Saturday night and sat at the bar where owner Mark Moore kept us entertained and well fed. Above: the salmon tartar; wild caught BC salmon, with soy, apple and shiso, paired with housemade crackers.

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Smörgåsbord – Wvrst, Stockyards, Pizza e Pazzi, Marben

by  • June 5, 2011

Smörgåsbord part 2 continues with the many meals of May.

We popped by Wvrst (609 King Street West) a day or so after they opened to grab a photo for my Toronto.com piece and found it to be a great place. The many sausages come either on a bun or as currywurst, where the sausage is sliced and served with rye bread and a tomato curry sauce. The above was a Kranjska sausage and was way delicious. Beside it, the Italian sausage with sauerkraut.

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Smörgåsbord – The Ballroom, Bloom, Cardinal Rule

by  • June 4, 2011

So, uh… we’ve been eating out a lot lately. For work… you know. In any case, I amassed a bunch of stuff throughout May, figuring that we’d do a SalivAte column over on TasteTO, but then we decided to change things around and I have all these pictures of tasty food… So I’m working through the smaller ones alphabetically and then there’s a couple more big ones – dinner with multiple dishes – and then I’ll hopefully be caught up. Maybe. In any case, please enjoy.

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