Macleans, Restaurants and Whiny Temper Tantrums

For anyone in the restaurant industry, this week the buzz is all about Maclean’s Magazine and their Canada’s Best Restaurants edition, in which a team of food critics led by Jacob Richler picked the Top 50 restaurants in the country.

Richler knew what he was getting into – the first line of his introduction makes it clear:

However much work goes into such things, they are seldom praised and always attacked – and gleefully.

What has been surprising is just how vehement those attacks are. I’ve seen no glee, just a level of childish pettiness that is embarrassing for the entire restaurant industry.

It would be idealistic to hope that food writers and the chefs and restaurateurs they write about would aspire to a level of maturity and professionalism in their interactions. That they would approach the work of the other with a realization that the “enemy” is just trying to do their job to the best of their ability with fairness and integrity, and that other factors (editors and readers in the case of writers; business partners and staff in the case of the restaurant owners) sometimes come into play. A restaurant review should never be personal, and should never be taken that way. At its best, a review is the perfect example of a symbiotic relationship where food writer and chef help and promote each other’s businesses (a review – good or bad – gives a restaurant publicity, and a popular review helps to sell copies or push traffic to a website).

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Lucky Dip – Thursday, March 1st, 2012

In Toronto:

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Fionn MacCool’s (70 The Esplanade, plus others) will be offering an Irish-themed menu starting Monday, March 5th, running until April 29th. Look for colcannon pie, lamb stew, corned beef and cabbage and a prime rib burger with corned beef.

You should go:

Jamie Kennedy and Gilead Cafe (4 Gilead Place) host an “Order of Good Cheer” dinner on Monday, March 12th featuring Prince Edward County wines from By Chadsey’s Cairns. Hors d’oeuvres plus a 4-course dinner costs $75, with wine pairings an additional $25. Call 647-288-0680 to reserve a spot.

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Lucky Dip – Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

In Toronto:

The paper is down at Chantecler (1320 Queen Street West) and rumour has it that they’ll be opening on Thursday.

The Queen West location of Chippy’s (893 Queen Street West) re-opens March 1st. Owner John Lee tells Steven Davey of NOW about some new items on the menu.

There are no details available yet, but Mill Street Brewpub (55 Mill Street) announced yesterday that they’re opening a 3rd location – at Pearson Airport.

The Monk’s Kettle (3073 Bloor Street West) has a new menu, with items such as paella, flat bread and trout making an appearance.

The Four Seasons Hotel (21 Avenue Road) prepares for its big move across the Yorkville neighbourhood. The last day to dine at the Studio Cafe will be March 25th.

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Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – January 28th, 2012

 

Just opened – Pachuco

Kung Hey Fat Choy! – Lee Celebrates Chinese New Year

The Epicure’s Revue hosts Babette’s Feast

Scaramouche brings back Lobsterlicious

Splendido cooks up the love

New food for you

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Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – Saturday, January 14th, 2012

 

Win a dinner from Chef Kyle Deming and Sausage Partners

The Group of 7 Chefs gets a little odd

Restaurant news – Don Don Izakaya, Bohemian Gastropub, Come and Get It

Coming Soon – Gusto 101

Mucho Burrito now open on Queen Street West

Viva Italia at The Chef’s House

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Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – December 3rd, 2011

Splendido does lunch, European style

Restaurant closings

Cast your vote for Toronto’s best restaurants

The Rhino takes on the world

Trevor offers lunch in December

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Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote – Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Cafe Cinquecento splits

LCBO hots a gala dinner and fine wine auction

Rusholme Park Supper Club announces October events

What’s on the Table returns for the 7th year to benefit The Stop

Casey’s launches Fall menu

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Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – September 10th, 2011

In an effort to have this site be a place for all of my writing, I’m starting a new column that links to any other stuff I’ve written that has been published during the preceding week. I may try and go back and add older stuff, but much of it is time-sensitive, and thus not really relevant. At present, this will mostly be pieces I’ve written for Word of Mouth on Toronto.com as that is my main gig right now.

Go grazing with the master of food and wine at the Park Hyatt

Trump hotel to open high-end resto

The Melody Bar – not just for karaoke anymore

Hit the road, Matt

Eaton Centre unveils its Urban Eatery

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Stirring the Pot with Chef Scott Vivian

Born in Montreal to an Italian father and an Indian mother, Chef Scott Vivian has always loved food. Chef Vivian has earned praise from Georgia to Colorado to Oregon before coming back to Canada. In 2006, he took on Toronto via Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar. A year later he was promoted to Chef de Cuisine of Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner (111 Queen’s Park). In October of 2009, he had the amazing opportunity of becoming co-owner and executive chef of Wine Bar (9 Church Street). Chef Vivian will continue his support of local food procurement as he and his wife Rachelle open their first restaurant Beast(96 Tecumseth Street) in June 2010.

What inspired you to become a chef?

My deep passion and understanding of food and culture. I knew it the moment I stepped foot in my first professional kitchen.

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Cooking With Love at the Wine Bar

 

Wine Bar
9 Church Street
416-504-WINE

It seems clichéd to start a piece about a new restaurant and roll out the “food = love” metaphors. But in the case of the Wine Bar, it seems apt, given that the principals involved are two couples who have saved what has become known as a landmark dining spot from what might have potentially been a corporate overhaul.

When word came out in the summer of ’09 that Jamie Kennedy was selling his Church Street Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar restaurant due to financial troubles, nobody knew for sure what might happen to the place. Kennedy offered the place to staff members first, and Chef Scott Vivian (who had run Kennedy’s Gardiner museum restaurant) along with his wife, pastry chef Rachelle Cadwell (who had been head of pastry for all of Kennedy’s operations) decided to take over the place and make it their own. Along with Vivian and Cadwell, Ted and Mary Koutsogiannopoulos (who had previously run Joy Bistro) came on board to remake the restaurant, now simply called the Wine Bar.

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