Beer is coming to grocery stores in Ontario — at some point — and the LCBO is obviously doing whatever it can to shore up its head start when things become more competitive. The Ontario Minister of Finance, Charles Sousa, was at the Summerhill LCBO today to open the store’s new craft beer section that includes the government-owned retailer’s first growler-filling station. It may be happening slowly and much more timidly than I’d like, but change is afoot for how beer is sold in Ontario. You can read more about one of these changes — growlers at the Summerhill LCBO […]
Post City
standard First Look: New York superstar chef Daniel Boulud reopens Café Boulud
After two-and-a-half years Daniel Boulud closed his Toronto outpost, Café Boulud in the Four Seasons Hotel. Reviews had been alright, but clearly business wasn’t as brisk as expected. After a whirlwind seven-week renovation it reopened today with an entirely new look and retooled food programme. It was a very special treat for me to interview chef Daniel Boulud over lunch at the new Café Boulud. The rest of the First Look is here.
standard Food Crawl: From Maha’s to Left Field change is in the air at Gerrard and Greenwood
Call it gentrification, revolution or a slow progression, it’s clear a change is afoot in the budding ’hood of Bricktown. Unofficially known as Little India (and more officially known as the drab-sounding Greenwood-Coxwell), this east-end region surrounding Gerrard Street East and Greenwood Avenue has long been the place to find T.O.’s best Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi food, but the last year has brought a brilliant diversity of rule-bending restaurants to the area. Head over to Postcity.com to read the rest of my Gerrard Food Crawl.
standard Food Crawl: A culinary tour of the Junction
Arrive at Keele and Dundas West on a summer’s eve and you get to see one of the last spots in T.O. where neighbours get off the bus and grab an after-work drink together. The former city of West Toronto — the Junction to locals — has put its history of meat-packing and rail yards behind it, and now boasts two craft breweries and one of Toronto’s fastest changing restaurant scenes. Hit up these hot spots while spending a day exploring this blossoming ’hood. For the rest of the June’s Food Crawl column, on Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood, head over to PostCity.com.
standard Indie Ale House’s Barnyard IPA
July is just around the corner and even though the calendar says it’s summer we still haven’t been subjected to any truly blistering days. This comfortably warm weather strikes me as an invitation to get on my bike and venture out to one of the city’s thriving craft breweries for a beer you can only find at the source. Indie Ale House’s Barnyard IPA is delicious and unusual enough to justify the trip to the Junction. Click through to read the rest of this week’s First Draught on PostCity.com.
standard Great Lakes Pompous Ass
Are we all entirely enthralled with session beers like Great Lakes Brewing’s Pompous Ass? Just me? I really don’t think so, but just in case I’m recommending one again this week to help bring you over to my side. For the rest of this week’s First Draught head over to PostCity.com.
standard Amy Rosen on Toronto Cooks
The latest book from award-winning food writer, Amy Rosen, is a collection of recipes called Toronto Cooks (Figure 1 Publishing). Rosen chose her top 50 favourite restaurants in Toronto right now and asked each to nominate a few of their dishes to represent their establishment in the cookbook. My full Q & A with Amy Rosen on her new cookbook, Toronto Cooks, is over on PostCity.com.
standard NAO Steakhouse
Not very long ago, all of Toronto’s fine-dining restaurants served either steak, haute French, or fancy Italian food. The list of spots worth recommending to an out-of-town visitor included names like Winston’s, Barberian’s, and Prego Della Piazza. By installing their newest project, a steakhouse called NAO, in the building that was home to Auberge Gavroche, Charles Khabouth and Hanif Harji hope to connect with Toronto’s restaurant history. The full First Look on NAO Steakhouse is over on PostCity.com.
standard Spearhead Sam Roberts Session
Compared to “what is craft beer?” the slightly less nebulous “what is a session ale” is an easier question to answer. These are beers well-suited to a several-pint night because they are lower in alcohol than usual and have a balanced flavour profile. The idea grew out the British tradition where a session at the local pub has friends take turns buying a round (hence the lower ABV), so the beers usually are also made to stylistically nod in the general direction of England. The full First Draught for this week is over on PostCity.com.
standard Red Rocket Stout
A food and drink critic should have no absolute aversions. Short of an allergy or potentially poisonous pufferfish, if it’s on your beat, you should be willing to put it in your mouth. As Jeffrey Steingarten wrote in 1996, while reflecting on his own food phobias, “I feared that I could be no more objective than an art critic who detests the color yellow or suffers from red-green color blindness.” Beers with chilies are my yellow. The rest of this week’s First Draught is available on PostCity.com.