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.
Restaurants
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 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 Louis Cifer Brew Works
Erin Gamelin and Craig Abbott, the owners of Stout Irish Pub, have opened Louis Cifer Brew Works on the Danforth. The large, two-level space was once the home of Myth, Legion, and Davos. They are working now to finish installing a 1,000 hL brewhouse that will be managed by head brewer, Christine Nagy. For the full Introducing story on Louis Cifer Brew Works see the Toronto Life site.
standard Wahlburgers
Brothers Paul, Mark, and Donnie Wahlberg have a successful Boston-area burger restaurant, an Emmy-nominated reality show based on it, and as of November 15, a Canadian franchise location. The rest of the Wahlburgers First Look is on the Post City Magazines site.
standard Tempered Room
As of three weeks ago, Bertrand Alépée, one of Toronto’s best known itinerant chefs has a new home. His pâtisserie, The Tempered Room opened in Parkdale in the space on Queen West that used to be The Brown Sugar Bakery. The full First Look on The Tempered Room is available on Post City’s website.
