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

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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

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Shut Yo’ Mouth – Stuff I Wrote This Week, Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Just Opened – Hush

Boulud comes to Toronto

Meat and beer (and Ron Swanson) at Little Kitchen

Against the Grain expands its beer menu

Nota Bene to run a Mo Bros wine auction

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SalivATE – April 2011

Okay, so I’m a little bit late with this one, but we surely ate some good grub in April. Check it…

Cardinal Rule (5 Roncesvalles Avenue) is a cool new diner on Roncesvalles just north of Queen, where comfort food really does get a fun twist. Above, meat muffins are wee meatloaves in a phyllo cup.

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Fondue Yu

I’m not sure how, but fondue passed me by in the 70s. My folks had all the other trendy appliances of the day; crock pots, electric frying pans, but the communal dining experience of dipping bits of food into cheese, oil or chocolate never happened in our house. When Greg arrived on my doorstep in 1994 he came with a fondue set, a leftover wedding present from his first marriage. It sat on a shelf in a closet until we sold it at a yard sale.

Sure, there was the occasional party where someone put out a fondue for guests to nibble at. These brief attempts at the process were frustrating – I’d end up losing more than I managed to eat. I assumed the tradition of losing your food in the pot and buying a round of drinks meant that the fondue was just an excuse to get drunk. Because booze and fondue go hand in hand.

A classic winter comfort food, this Swiss creation was invented to use up bits of stale cheese and bread during the long cold winters. A splash of wine, or maybe beer, thinned the melted cheese enough to dip bread and other items into it. The shared pot came from not only a lack of utensils, but a need to stay close to the warm fire, as well as a sense of community and sharing. And while the food cooked, more beer and wine was consumed all around.

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Sunday Brunch – Bier Markt King West

bierbread

Bier Markt King West
600 King Street West
416-862 1175
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $46

Our plan on arriving at the King West Bier Market location was obviously to have a breakfast of champions and drink beer with our bacon and eggs. Unfavourably cold weather thwarted that plan and we entered the basement brassiere shivering, trying to form the word “coffee” through chattering teeth.

The neighbourhood of condo towers has not yet discovered that the Bier Markt is offering brunch and the Sunday morning no-man’s land of King West was relatively still and quiet, as was the restaurant as we sat down. A weak bit of November sunshine trickled in through a front window, but the space remains a dark but welcoming grotto with stone walls and marble tables.

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