toronto – Page 23 – Sheryl Kirby

A Tour of St. Lawrence Market, Part 1

Recently in a Market Basket column, we explored the north section of St. Lawrence Market which hosts the weekly farmers market. But there’s a whole array of tasty stuff in the south building where vendors are set up at permanent kiosks and shops.

Open Tuesdays to Saturdays, the south market building, located at 92 Front Street East at Jarvis, is like the high street in a small town, with a selection of butchers, bakers, cheesemongers, greengrocers and bulk and dried goods stores. Many vendors have been at St. Lawrence since the 70s and 80s, making them a longstanding tradition for shoppers here.

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Sunday Brunch – Eggspectations

Eggspectations
220 Yonge Street
416-977-3380
Brunch for two with all taxes and tip plus coffee and juice: $40

Montrealers must really like their eggs. How else to explain the huge popularity of chains like Eggspectations with 7 locations in the Montreal area in addition to the 2 in Ontario, 4 in the US and 2 in India? The Toronto Eaton Centre location is constantly busy, at all times of the day, with a line-up and an average wait of about 10 minutes for a table.

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Harvest Wednesdays – Have You Been Yet?

The last week of August is always bittersweet. The smell of fall is in the air, the kids are getting ready to go back to school and Ontario produce is at its peak, with the abundance of the season available in farmers markets across the province.

For anyone who finds themselves at the Gladstone Hotel on a Wednesday night, the abundance of the season is also to be had in the ballroom café where Chef Marc Breton and his staff continue to serve up a seasonal 4-course prix fixe dinner featuring the best locally grown products that Ontario has to offer.

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No Substitutions! Keeping it Real at Terroni

One of the great things about the blogosphere is that anyone with access to a computer can have their say on any topic they’re interested in. The downside to this is that opinions are often voiced without anything to back them up, and bloggers generally aren’t much interested in presenting both sides of the story. A couple of recent articles about the southern Italian restaurant Terroni spawned a lot of opinions and comments (some good, most critical) about the policies that restaurant chain has in place to ensure the authenticity of the food it serves. The blogger, and readers posting comments, ranted about being refused everything from cheese to butter to water. Yet, oddly, it didn’t look as if anyone had approached the management at Terroni to find out why these policies were in place.

Since I’m always interested in the back of house intricacies of the restaurant business – the whys and wherefores of service – I sat down recently with Terroni owner Cosimo Mammoliti to find out what all the fuss was about.

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Where Can I Find – Red Fife Flour?

The “Where Can I Find?” column is a new bi-weekly feature here at TasteTO starting this week. We’ll research and track down hard to find items and let you know where they’re available. Got a question for the “Where Can I Find” lady? Drop us a line.

I see red fife flour showing up on restaurant menus that have a local food theme, but where can I get this product to bake with at home?

The hot ingredient this summer is most definitely red fife flour. Restaurateurs and bakers from Jamie Kennedy and Marc Thuet to St. John’s Bakery are using this wholly Canadian product, and articles about the history and near extinction of the grain are popping up in a variety of publications from MacLean’s and Toronto Life to Edible Toronto.

The short version – red fife wheat was first planted near Peterborough in 1842 by David and Jane Fife, and it became the backbone of the Canadian wheat industry, giving Canada the nickname “granary of the world”. Immigrants were given free seeds to encourage them to settle on the prairies and become farmers. Over the years, red fife fell out of favour as other varieties derived from the red fife strain became more popular because of shorter growing times and higher yields. The original strain was on the verge of extinction by 1988 when a seed-saver activist named Sharon Rempel got her hands on a pound of seed and planted it in Keremeos, British Columbia.

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The Greening of Queen Street

The lifespan of the average street tree is a mere 10 years. Those spindly things sticking up out of 3-foot square gaps in the sidewalk never have a chance. They’re not watered regularly, and so much of their root system is covered by sidewalk, it wouldn’t matter if they were. Add to that the indignities of bicycle locks, overzealous posterers and every dog that passes by and it’s no wonder the trees along Toronto’s major arteries look as if Charlie Brown is in charge of their care.

Except that a few folks along a stretch of Queen Street West have taken matters into their own hands. By pulling up the cobblestone or metal grates that usually surround a street tree and planting other greenery, such as herbs, and even rosebushes, then adding a rustic bit of fencing and a big ol’ stump for sitting on, these trees between Euclid and Claremont Street are having a fine summer.

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Sunday Brunch – Boulevard Cafe

Boulevard Café
161 Harbord Street
416-961-7676
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $50

I’m not much of a patio person. Mosquitoes, smokers, glaring sun, smokers, rain, and smokers all make dining al fresco a bit tedious for a curmudgeon like me, but I can genuinely say that I adore the patio at the Boulevard Café. Fully covered, and on the cold rainy Sunday we dined there, heated for our comfort, the pretty space surrounded by flower boxes and manicured trees and graced with linen tablecloths is the rare type of patio where nothing bothers me. It’s completely charming, right down to the small gang of hobo-like sparrows who scour the area for dropped crumbs.

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Smell That?

There’s much boo-hoo-hooing in the news about the lack of hot weather this summer. Specifically, there’s boo-hooing about the amount of rain we’ve had – apparently the most on record for a summer, and the summer’s not over yet. I’m sorry, I can’t commiserate. Other than the humidity (which would be with us even if it was hot), I’m enjoying the summer – and the rain. Trees are green, gardens are lush, lake levels are almost back up to normal after last year’s drought. And it feels as if we’ll actually have a real autumn, not like last year when we were all cooking Thanksgiving dinner in the 35′C heat, then two weeks later the snow started.

This past weekend was wet – and cool. A couple of days it didn’t even break 20′C, and nights have been down to 12′C or so. Which means mornings require a sweater or jacket to walk the dogs, and mornings after a night of rain have that subtle chill, combined with the smell of rotting leaves that invariably says fall.

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How Do You Like Them Apples?

Got fruit? Many older houses in Toronto sport a fruit tree of some kind in the yard. From mulberries to apples, sour cherries to pears, backyards across the city offer a trove of hidden seasonal treasure. But in the recent real estate boom, plenty of people find themselves moving into a property that includes fruit trees in the yard and don’t know what to do with the things. Especially when it comes to harvesting the stuff. Even if they manage to pick their fill, there’s usually a lot left over – some for the birds and squirrels, but even more that goes to waste.

An organization called not far from the tree aims to change that, allowing homeowners to share their harvest with local charities, and with volunteers who will come and harvest the fruit in exchange for a share of the crop.

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Sunday Sips – Wines of the Greenbelt

Wine is heavy. By the laws of physics, not more so than any other beverage, but since it’s best stored in glass bottles and since many of the world’s wine regions are far away, the environmental footprint created by shipping heavy cases of wine thousands of miles is often unappealing – and unnecessary. Especially since we have our own fantastic wine region within an area surrounding Toronto known as the Greenbelt.

The Greenbelt is a designated and protected area 1.8 million acres in southern Ontario that includes our prime agricultural land, and includes approximately 7400 farms. 90% of Ontario’s 500 grape growers are located in the Greenbelt so it makes sense that those growers, along with the LCBO and the Vintner’s Quality Alliance, would want to spread the word and let customers know that their wine is locally grown.

While Ontario Greenbelt VQA wines are available at the LCBO year round, until August 16th, customers will be able to find these local wines more easily. All Greenbelt wines will sport a bright green hangtag, identifying them as being made from 100% local grapes, and allowing customers to more easily make the choice to support local farmers and vintners.

Participating Ontario Greenbelt VQA Wineries include names like Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery, Peller Estates, Chateau des Charmes, Lakeview Cellars and more.

With Greenbelt wineries offering reds, whites and even icewines, this promotion has something for everyone. Plus it allows customers to cut down on their carbon footprint by eschewing imported products, support the local economy and maybe find a new favourite among the many great wines the Greenbelt has to offer.