Tag: The Depanneur

Lucky Dip – Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

In Toronto:

The Cheese Boutique has announced the line-up for their annual Festival of Chefs, which takes place each weekend in May. The event features local chefs including Rocco Agostino (Enoteca Sociale, Pizzeria Libretto), Victor Barry (Splendido) and Rob Gentile (Buca) doing in-store demos and samplings. Check the website for the full schedule.

Just opened – Bazaar Global Food (692 Mount Pleasant Road), where Amaya‘s Hermant Bhagwani has transformed the old Lai Toh Heen location into a family-friendly restaurant with a globally-sourced menu. [Full coverage at The Grid.]

Woodlot (293 Palmerston Avenue) has been given the go-ahead to proceed with its tiny 5-person patio, but other restaurants adjacent to residential areas and seeking patio permission will have to wait. Campagnolo, Dark Horse (Queen West) and Cafe Stella‘s applications have all been deferred to March or April.

Vegetarian restaurant Buddha’s Vegetarian Foods (666 Dundas Street West) will be closed from February 23rd – March 7th for renovations.

Continue reading “Lucky Dip – Tuesday, February 21st, 2012”

Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote this Week – February 4th, 2012

 

Mill Street Brew Pub closed for renovations

More places to catch the super bowl

Restaurant news – Lil’ Baci, Focaccia, Ici Bistro

Cheesewerks lets customers meet their maker

Challenge of the Super Bowls

Marben to host iYellow Wine School

Souper Bowl Sunday

Speakeasy combines burlesque and dinner theatre

Pack a lunch for Lunch Money Day

Nota Bene to expand eastward

The Depanneur to host dinners featuring the flavours of the world

Restaurant News – The Real Jerk, Balzac’s, Little Anthony’s Italian

New menus – The County General, L’ouvrier, The Sister

A horse, of course

Fidel Gastro pops up at the Superbowl

Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – Saturday, January 21st, 2012

 

Cinquecento Trattoria shuts down

Fondue for You

Reconnect with George

McGugan’s brings a wee touch of Scotland to Gerrard St.

Niagara Street Cafe – still around

What about Bob?

The Group of 7 Chefs spread the love

Continue reading “Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – Saturday, January 21st, 2012”

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

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

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

Sandwiches and sticky toffee pudding – together at last

Foodie nights at Fabarnak

December events at the Rusholme Park Supper Club

Auberge du Pommier gets festive

Winchester Kitchen unveils a new menu

Malena lets guests dine on the fishes

Continue reading “Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – December 10th, 2011”

Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – Saturday, November 12th, 2011

The Windsor Arms goes vegan

Here comes Santa Claus, right past Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner

Restaurant news – Cafe Belong, Hrvati Bar

Street Fight on Mill Street

Is Parkdale about to get a taste of the Hoof?

Brockton General hosts a pastry chef dinner

Continue reading “Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week – Saturday, November 12th, 2011”

Mambo Vegan Italiano!

When I interviewed Len Senater of The Depanneur (1033 College Street) a few months ago, he was adamant that the space wouldn’t just be a cafe serving coffee and toast. That was to be its daytime persona, but he also wanted the space to be home to the Rusholme Park Supper Club, a pop-up type restaurant that hosted byob events. It took some doing, but now that The Depanneur is open and running smoothly, Senater has progressed to the point where they’ve started doing dinners.

One of the first in the October series took place last Friday, when Emily Zimmerman took over the kitchen to prepare a vegan Italian dinner meant to evoke the casual Beatnik gatherings of the 1950s when even the most basic of Italian cuisine was considered avant garde.

Guests paid $40 for a 1-day “membership” to the supper club, and brought their own beverages to the 3-course meal, which is how the Depanneur gets around licensing issues.

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The Gung Ho Food Race

At this moment, I am sitting on six… no, eight different bits of Toronto restaurant news/gossip that I cannot share. I can’t share them for a number of reasons, either because I’ve specifically been asked not to until the restaurant is ready to formally announce their news, or because what I know is unconfirmed gossip and I’m still working on fleshing out the story.

It is my job to find out (factual) restaurant news. And I love my job; I love the excitement that chefs and customers have when a new place opens, I love watching the buzz spread, I love seeing the reviews roll in. What I don’t love – and this is why I’m sitting on all of these secrets – is when we all jump the gun, or get way too excited about a potential new restaurant or project before it’s even opened.

Case in point: the David Chang thing. I’m as enthusiastic as anyone for a David Chang restaurant; he’s considered one of the best chefs in the world. But didn’t we all look pathetically desperate a couple of months back when gossip spread and then the news was confirmed that Chang would be opening restaurants here… in late 2012? Standing back and watching the frenzy from a safe distance, anybody would think that Torontonians had never eaten anything fancier than Kraft Dinner and bagged salad, so desperate were we for Chang’s noodles and pork buns. Could we even be trusted in a fine dining restaurant? Were we familiar with those crazy things they call “utensils”?

Continue reading “The Gung Ho Food Race”