TasteTO – Page 13 – Sheryl Kirby

The Premium Chocolate Experience

My first encounter with Michel Cluizel chocolates took place a few years back when I happened across the entire line of estate plantation bars in a shop in St. Lawrence Market. I ended up buying the whole line, setting me back about $50, and the experience completely changed how I think about chocolate.

Like coffee and wine, chocolate from different regions offers distinctive flavours and characteristics that denote the specific terroir in which the cacao is grown, making each chocolate unique.

This past week, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a chocolate tasting event at Cava where the various chocolates from Michel Cluizel were paired with spirits.

The tasting was led by Yves Farges, CEO of Qualifirst Foods Ltd, a family-owned company that has been importing specialty foods since 1957. The line of Michel Cluizel chocolates is their most well-known product, but with a philosophy of offering the best quality products as the guiding concept of the company, Qualifirst offers everything from truffles and foie gras to tea, coffee, preserves and vinegars, and the evening began with a selection of canapés prepared by Chef Chris McDonald of Cava, and featuring products from the Qualifirst selection that ranged from smoked sea salt to a vegan caviar.

Continue reading “The Premium Chocolate Experience”

Sunday Brunch – The Harbord Room

The Harbord Room
89 Harbord Street
416-962-8989
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $43

Restaurateurs spend a lot of money making their places look elegant. Only sometimes is that comfortable elegance actually achieved; more often than not many restaurants feel stilted, contrived and downright inhospitable, which is generally not the original goal. The Harbord Room, despite the best efforts by someone to force elegance upon its customers, manages to be a really lovely spot.

During a recent brunch visit we’re ushered through the main dining room to the patio where umbrellas shade customers from the early autumn sun, and sweet wicker chairs offer comfortable seating for some while a built-in bench seat is hard on the backside of others. Someone’s decision to plant uber-trendy grasses in planters in the back of the bench didn’t account for the fact they do tend to grow, and diners unlucky enough to get bench seats also found themselves fighting off a jungle of fronds every time there was a slight breeze. Of course, the annoying grass was unnecessary, and couldn’t possibly compare to the genuine charm of a gorgeous pear tree whose branches hung overhead, covered in ripening Bartletts.

Continue reading “Sunday Brunch – The Harbord Room”

Organics, Delivered

Recent chilly nights and the appearance of squash and pumpkins means that the end to farmers market season will soon be upon us. Within the next few weeks, farmers will be finished with this year’s harvest, and we’ll be left to fend for ourselves in the aisles of the supermarket, where Peruvian asparagus and spongy pink tomatoes cause much sadness.

But there are a few companies who have made a business out of sourcing local and organic produce throughout the year, and not only do they do all the legwork of tracking down clean healthy food – they’ll even deliver it!

Note that the information below is based on Internet and telephone research only. Wanigan is the only one of the companies listed that I’ve personally dealt with, and while I was always happy with their service, they don’t deliver to highrise buildings, so I can no longer use them.

For any readers interested in trying the places below, I’d suggest doing your research – they all have different policies on deliveries, payment, substitutions, etc., and while I’ve tried to cover as many obvious questions as possible, everyone has particular needs and circumstances that should be worked out individually.

Continue reading “Organics, Delivered”

Sunday Brunch – The Liberty

The Liberty
25 Liberty Street
416-533-8828
Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $35

We joke here at TasteTO about the “Restaurant Makeover Death Watch”; the jinx that seems to occur to so many places that participate in this particular Food Network TV show. But the truth is that many restaurants that participate actually go on to do well; not necessarily because of the publicity or even the new décor or menu, but because the process is a rejuvenation of sorts.

Such is the case with The Liberty, the longstanding café in Liberty Village. Already a successful neighbourhood lunch and dinner spot, a revamp of their menu on the show was quickly discarded after the film crews left, and even the renovated décor was tweaked to suit their needs better than the designer was able to.

Continue reading “Sunday Brunch – The Liberty”

Falling Flat

Tortilla Flats
458 Queen Street West
416-203-0088
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and margaritas: $80

This was supposed to be a review of Tattoo Rock Parlor. But when we arrived to an empty restaurant, then waited for a server who never appeared while bad rock music blared on the sound system, we bailed. “Let’s go to Tortilla Flats!” sez the husband as we found ourselves on the Queen West sidewalk. “I haven’t been there since about 1989!”

While sharing his sense of nostalgia and spontaneity, I was worried. Tortilla Flats doesn’t have the best reputation for its food, and the things we like when we’re twenty often don’t translate well when we’ve advanced to middle-age. But Tortilla Flats has a small spot in the nostalgic “remember when we were 20″ place in my heart, so in we went, hoping to be wrong.

Continue reading “Falling Flat”

Where Can I Find – Rugelach

My first encounter with rugelach was in the early 90s when I worked for a company owned by a Jewish family. During the Jewish holidays, they’d bring in platters of treats to share with the staff and the little rolled cookies had me coming up with all kinds of reasons to wander by the break room.

Yiddish for “little twist”, rugelach was originally made with a yeast dough, but American Jews introduced a dough made with cream cheese. The pastry is rolled around fillings such as chocolate, raisins, nuts or preserves such as apricot or raspberry.

Rugelach are supposedly easy to make at home, but while I consider myself an accomplished baker, I’ve never been able to get the cream cheese pastry to work well for me, despite trying a variety of recipes. As such, I’m always on the lookout for places that sell the things, because rugelach are quite addictive.

And while I’m sure there are any number of Jewish bakeries and delis in the north end of the city that make fantastic examples of this cookie (please feel free to share your favourites in the comments), I’m sticking to what is accessible to me, a car-free downtowner.

Note that as rugelach is considered a seasonal item, not all the places listed may have it at all times. While it should be readily available for the next week or so until the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah have passed, I’d advise calling ahead if it’s out of season and you really need a fix.

Future Bakery (93 Front Street East, St. Lawrence Market) – cream cheese or raspberry filling.

Harbord Bakery (115 Harbord Street) – offers a variety of flavours with chocolate being the most popular.

Wanda’s Pie in the Sky (287 Augusta Avenue) – a variety of flavours, likely seasonal as they don’t show up on their website.

What a Bagel (421 Spadina Road, and others) – carry the cookies year-round, with 4 flavours plus a sugar-free version.

Whole Foods (87 Avenue Road) – offers rugelach seasonally, sold pre-packaged, by the kilo.

Yitz’s Deli (346 Eglinton Avenue) – sold singly or by the kilo, there’s usually a nice mix of flavours including cinnamon and walnut.

I’ve also bought rugelach at Benna’s (135 Roncesvalles Avenue), but the person I talked to on the phone for this piece didn’t know what I was talking about, so I can’t guarantee they have them all the time.

Not Just Sprouts and Tofu

After the learning experience of last year’s visit to the Canadian Health Food Association’s Expo East Trade Show, we arrived this year well prepared. We didn’t follow the crowd and bring along an empty suitcase to carry home samples and info sheets, but we did show up at this massive health food trade show with empty backpacks and comfortable shoes.

Continue reading “Not Just Sprouts and Tofu”

Sunday Brunch – Peartree Restaurant

Peartree Restaurant
507 Parliament Street
416-962-8190
brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $30

Neighbourhood street festivals are generally not a good time to visit a restaurant for a review. Like other dining events, such as the seasonal ‘Licious series, the kitchen often isn’t at its best, forced to serve even more covers than usual as the hordes of people demand to be fed. So when we walked past Peartree on Parliament Street during last weekend’s Cabbagetown Festival and saw the make-shift patio that extended into the curb lane of the street, we were a bit concerned. Inside, the place was only about a third full, however, and we figured we’d give it a go.

The brunch menu we were offered was an abridged version of what is regularly served, but still included a variety of choices from variations on eggs benedict ($8.99 – $11.99) to classics like French toast ($8.99) and omelettes or quiche ($8.99 each). Wisely including a selection of burgers and sandwiches, as well as a pasta and a fish dish, Peartree covered all the bases and didn’t exclude the folks more in the mood for lunch.

Continue reading “Sunday Brunch – Peartree Restaurant”

Where Can I Find – Game Meat

This is not a ‘where can I find’ question! It is a ‘Why can’t I find’ question.

I was just wondering if you know why game is so hard to get in Ontario, relative to Quebec or even many places in the U.S. I know where to find it in town, but it is a pain; and mainstream markets never seem to carry it.

In Quebec the big chains like Metro even carry bear meat in season! Just wondering if there was some sort of law in Ontario that made selling game difficult or something?

There is indeed. Hunted game carcasses cannot be sold to the public, regardless of whether they are processed in a provincially licensed meat plant or not. Hunted game can be consumed by the hunter for personal use, but it may not be sold. As such, a lot of the more rare game meats such as moose or bear just aren’t available at the retail level.

Any other game meat available for sale throughout the province is farmed – whether it’s rabbits, deer, elk or bison, or more exotic meats – and is subject to the same laws and legislation regarding processing as more standard farm animal slaughter.

Continue reading “Where Can I Find – Game Meat”

A Tour of St. Lawrence Market, Part 2

As noted in Part 1 of our tour of St. Lawrence Market on Monday, the south market has just about everything needed to fill a pantry. But the fruit and vegetable stands, bulk goods and bakeries tend to mostly fill the perimeter and basement of the space. For most visitors to the market the first thing they see when they enter the main space of the upper level is meat. And that’s where we’ll begin part 2 of our tour.

Continue reading “A Tour of St. Lawrence Market, Part 2”