restaurants – Page 18

Opulence For the Common Man

cafe Taste
1330 Queen Street West
416-536-7748

Deserved or not, Parkdale has a reputation for being a bit dirty and gritty, less known as a fine wine kind of place than Fine Old Canadian Sherry. Wine guy Jeremy Day has set out to change that and for the past year or so has been running a warm and welcoming little wine bar that has not just made Parkdale a destination for good wine, but has embraced the community in the process.

I spoke with Day via email, and while I don’t normally like running straight up Q&A articles, his answers were so well thought-out and eloquent that it seemed only fair to run his replies in full.

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Revealing the Charms of the Windsor Arms

The Windsor Arms
18 St. Thomas Street
416-971-9666

“The Windsor Arms has a reputation for being a bit stuffy,” said Executive Chef Stephen Ricci. And then I cocked my eyebrow. And then he caught me cocking my eyebrow. And then I was forced to explain.

Historically, while the 80-year-old hotel does have a reputation for being very “old money”, in recent years that reputation has changed from stuffy to a more modern take on high society, which roughly translated still means rich, but now comes with the glitter (or tinge, depending on your point of view) of celebrity. With a guest list that has included such non-stuffy names as Jennifer Lopez and Drew Barrymore, the Windsor Arms is still saddled with the reputation of being unattainable to the common folks; of being the type of place that everyone talks about, but that no one has actually been to.

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Flipping the Hunter Gatherer Misconception at Coca

As is the case in any field where an individual demonstrates an area of expertise or even interest, this area of interest can become what that individual is known for, whether they like it or not. This is especially true of chefs who pioneer certain ingredients or techniques. Martin Picard of Pied de Cochon in Montreal will always be known as “that foie gras guy”, just as Ferran Adria will always be known as the pioneer of molecular gastronomy.

Based on the reviews I had read of Coca (783 Queen Street West), and the general trend of tapas (or small plates, if the restaurant isn’t serving specifically Spanish dishes), I had always assumed that Chef Nathan Isberg was one of those chefs who was all about the meat. I’d actually never eaten at Coca because I assumed the menu was heavily meat-reliant. So I was surprised to run into Isberg at the Green Carpet Series – An Evening of Local Cuisine last month, standing proudly behind a table of vegetarian tapas.

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Eating Well in the Afterlife

I loves me some Mexican food, so the first thing we did when we hit the Day of the Dead festival at Harbourfront Centre yesterday was to grab some grub. Our favourite folks from El Jacal were there serving up their awesome nachos, which meant we ended up ignoring the tasty-looking tacos from Mariachi’s, but we were just too full to eat any more.

Seating indoors was packed, so we ended up on an outdoor patio in the cold, but even that couldn’t quell our desire for nachos and tortillas and flautas and oh… the lovely wonderful churros. They weren’t hot from the fryer and I had to ward off hungry sparrows, but they were still amazingly fluffy and sweet, rolled in cinnamon sugar and doused in chocolate.

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It’s Hip to Be Square

Art Square Café
334 Dundas Street West
416-595-5222
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $33

I have a thing for tiny little tucked away cafés. They’re the kind of place I’d open if I ever became a restaurateur; someplace cute and cozy with great food and no pretension. The only problem with cute little tucked away cafés is that it’s hard for people to find them. Hidden behind a bright gallery space, Art Square Café likely gets overlooked more than it should.

We arrive for brunch on a Sunday morning to find only about half of the dozen or so tables occupied. Of the customers, all are students frantically studying for the last of their mid-terms.Every occupied table holds at least one open laptop amidst cups of coffee and plates of crepes in various stages of consumption.

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The 21st Century Comes to Chinatown

E-Pan
369 Spadina Avenue
416-260-9988
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and soda: $50

I have a special place in my heart for Chinatown. Particularly on hot summer nights when the smell of black bean sauce, fryer grease, half dead crabs and that special rotting garbage smell of durian all combine to remind me of my youth. Twenty years ago, I wandered these streets, young, naive and fresh off the plane from the land of pork chops and two overcooked veg. Living in Chinatown was a huge culture shock, and my roommates and I delighted in wandering Spadina and Dundas West, watching the restaurant ladies pushing bins of raw chicken feet from the many slaughterhouses, and bringing home odd fruits or noodles, seeking guidance from our neighbour Mei Ling on what to do with the stuff.

We managed to eat at a lot of restaurants along the Spadina strip as well. The fluorescent lights and plastic table cloths were de rigeur at all of these joints, and not much has changed. The food is always cheap and usually good, but ambiance is generally low on the list in this part of town. Which is why I was so surprised by E-Pan.

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My Little Dumpling

Yu Shan Dumpling Cuisine
771 Dundas Street West
416-869-0606
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and beer (no dessert): $40

I’m always jonesing for the dumplings from that other dumpling place over on Huron Street, but never seem to make it over there. So when I found myself at Bathurst and Dundas recently, and in need of sophonsification, there was Yu Shan Dumpling Cuisine. That wasn’t there before, I thought, as the streetcar rolled past.

That’s because the space was formerly the Side Door Grill, abandoned after a round of Restaurant Makeover and a boiler explosion. The story circulating on local forums is that the landlord, once the previous tenants left, decided to try her hand at running the place herself.

With a fancy renovated front of house that really is more bar than “dumpling house”, all Jenny Tiao needed were some great dishes. And who doesn’t like dumplings?

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Out of Africa

africaplate

One of the coolest things about Toronto’s many cultural neighbourhoods is how they’ve evolved over the years. One group of immigrants moves out, another moves in to create their own community in their new home. During years of overlap, communities exist side by side and somewhat intertwined.

The most recent example of this cultural mosaic is Bloorcourt Village. This short stretch of Bloor Street West from Christie Pits park to Ossington Avenue was at first a predominantly Greek neighbourhood, pre-dating Greektown on the Danforth. Some vestiges of this still remain in the area today with restaurants such as Menalon (841 Bloor Street West) and Astoria Athens Restaurant (865 Bloor Street West) serving up traditional Greek cuisine and the quaint Greek Corner Grocery (859 Bloor Street West) still selling tins of olive oil from home.

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Hail to the ‘Dale

gatefish People don’t really think of Parkdale as being a foodie paradise. And yes, if you’re looking for high-end health food items, organic meat or artisanal bread or cheese, you’d be mostly out of luck. But as one of the most multi-cultural neighbours in one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world, we’ve got a lot of variety working in our favour.

Most folks tend to think of the ‘Dale as a low-end neighbourhood full of nothing but greasy spoons and burger joints. For sure, we’ve got two of the best. The Gate (1206 King Street West) sits at the corner of King and Dufferin and offers up filling breakfast, burgers and some damn fine fish and chips. Peggy, the waitress who’s been working the tables here since the late 60s when she came to Toronto to be a go-go dancer, tells regulars to help themselves to coffee. Further west along Queen, The Skyline (1402 Queen Street West) is about as retro as you can get in terms of diners, with that famous neon sign out front, and fast and efficient service inside from the flurry of activity that is Doris, once voted “best waitress in Toronto”. Other places that serve up a mean burger or all-day breakfast includes Harry’s Burgers (160 Springhurst Avenue) and Stavros (1530 Queen Street West).

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Turning the Tables

I’ve had this book sitting on my desk for so long that I’ve partially forgotten what the damn thing’s about. But it’s been sitting here because I’ve been meaning to write about it, because I not only enjoyed it but found it incredibly useful. Food bloggers will likely recognize the name Steven Shaw as the founder of eGullet, the foodie website.

As a restaurant critic and food writer, Shaw shares his insight into the restaurant biz with chapters on everything from how to get a reservation, everything you needed to know about the Open Table system – live in fear people, Open Table is like identity theft for diners – plus how a restaurant kitchen is run, and even how the supply chains work.

As an internet foodie himself, Shaw also has strong feelings in support of food bloggers and discusses how the internet is changing everything about food writing. He also looks at the changing evolution of the restaurant business, from a shift to high-end cuisine to chefs like Tom Collicchio opening sandwich chains, or the creation of a restaurant from scratch such as Grant Achatz’s Alinea.

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