Material Archive

Nice little video about Wayne Thiebaud

 

Love this man.

Going to see this film tomorrow: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

 

Excited!

Dinner at Chantecler

When I told people I was moving to Parkdale two years ago, I got a lot of sideways glances that irked me. Happy to say, as I predicted when I moved to Queen West 10 years before, the hood is awesome. Every week, some fabulous new place opens that reaffirms it.

This past Friday, @itbitme and I had dinner at newly opened Chantecler and are excited to report that it was really great.

We tried 6 different items from the menu and not only were they all good, but refreshingly different from anything else we had seen recently.

The potato gnocchi made with a creamy potato sauce accented with cured cod roe and dusted with seaweed powder was delicious and very comforting.

The pork neck, lightly dusted with white tumeric and served with braised lettuce and poached oysters and topped off with a house-made xo sauce, was very tasty and @itbitme's fav. He also really liked a torched mackerel dish served with slaw and toasts.

I loved the melt-in-your-mouth braised beef cheek served on a bed of parsley root and marrow mash, with sweet beet sauce.

The cocktails were also something quite special. We sat at the bar and watched them being made and they were as delicious as they were complex! An old-fashioned was finished with lavender smoke and the ice-cubes were like long sticks of butter.

I already know we're going to be fixtures here. And yes, thankfully they will be taking reservations!

Smörgåstårta Recipe (Sandwich Layer Cake)

How much fun does this look?
Check out the recipe here and here. 

Reminds me that @itbitme and I still have to try making a Timpano!!! 

A Philosophy for Life:

European Tour: Le Comptoir – the hardest reservation to get in Paris

Le Comptoir was the first restaurant we ate at when we arrived in Paris and all I can say is that it was a fantastic way to kick off our European Tour!

There wasn't anything we didn't love about it – the food , the service, the location and the price.

 

Skip ahead to 0.56 sec to see where Bourdain talks about Le Comptoir

If you keep watching the video - you'll arrive at Bourdain's visit to Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier – which we also had the amazing fortune of getting a reservation at. More on that later...



Photographing food with an iPhone is tricky – it really doesn't do the dishes justice, so I'll only post a couple images and simply say, please do yourself a favour and go here – you'll love it!

 

European Tour: Ladurée, Paris & London

If it's not wildly obvious already, I am obsessed with Ladurée. Why? Where to begin... it represents everything I love: amazing pasteries & chocolates, beautiful branding & packaging and an authentic legacy of doing it exceptionally well for 150 years.

While In London and Paris – I sought out almost every location to sample something new I hadn't tried before. My new favourite item is pictured above with the rose petal – it's called the rose & raspberry Ladurée Saint-Honorés and is every bit as delicious as it is pretty.

Of course, I shipped home all of my empty boxes so that they could assume their rightful positions on my packaging wall.

 

Happy NYE!

Running around – shopping, cooking, assembling party favors, etc.

Excited for tonight – will drink many pink bubbles... :-)

Look at what my cleaning lady recycled by accident:

Had this on my shelf since the 80s. Boo.

Two Weeks in New York City: Dinner at Lucali

Lucali is succinct in it's vision and offerring. It is a small, humble venue that has one hell of a brick oven that pumps out delicious pizza pies by the minute. As per usual with many small places in New York, they don't take reservations – so you come by, put your name on a list and wait 2 hours in a nearby pub.

The wait does suck, but, on the upside, you can bring your own wine, spot JayZ and Beyonce, and get a second pie really quickly after you've gobbled up the first yummy one you waited 2 hours for.

Lucali 575 Henry St., Brooklyn, New York

Two weeks in New York City: Dinner at Beauty & Essex

 

WHERE: Beauty & Essex 146 Essex Street, New York

MOOD: Cool / fun / nostalgic / clubby. The facade is a faux-ish (you can actually buy stuff) pawn shop that you pass through to get to the restaurant.

PRICE: Mains are between $16-29

WHEN WE WENT: Tuesday night dinner and it was hopping! Packed to the gills as though it was a Thursday night.

WHAT: We ordered almost one of everything on the menu.

TRY: Honestly – it was all reasonably good. The Lobster Tacos stood out for me.

SKIP: Butterscotch Pot de Creme – sounds more impressive than it tastes

SERVICE: Fine. I never expect much in a club atmosphere.

REPEAT?: Sure! It's a novelty that can be fun. The environment is aiming for something in-between fine dining and club so the result is naturally a bit mixed-up but fun nonetheless. Go with a group of friends.

MOST NOTABLE: The scene. If you want to see pretty / hip people, listen to music and eat dinner at the same time – B&E has it all.

ANYTHING ELSE?: You can get a box of donuts to go for when you have the munchies later.

Two Weeks In New York City: Dinner at Corton

 

 

Knowing the backstory behind anything always makes it a richer experience, so it was a special thrill to eat at Corton so soon after enjoying A Matter of Taste at TIFF. You can see my previous post about Paul here.

WHERE: Corton at 239 West Broadway, New York

MOOD: The look of the room is cool and dark – bit cave like at night with the lack of windows. Vibe in the room is quiet, intimate, yet friendly – not stuffy at all.

PRICE: The 9 course tasting menu is $155

WHEN WE WENT: Saturday dinner

WHAT: MB and I both had the 9 course tasting menu.

TRY: Whatever they put in front of you.

SKIP: Maybe only the chocolates, jellies and macaroons at the end because you might be ill from consuming so much. I indulged so excessively that by the end, I felt positively intoxicated with food. But, to be fair, I must disclose, that I did eat at Jean Georges earlier that very same day – so not entirely this menu's fault! I am a piglet! ;)

SERVICE: Consistent and pleasant but hard to understand the food descriptions at times given some softspoken staff.

REPEAT?: Without question, I will be visiting Corton on every subsequent visit to New York. It is a must. Side note: MB and I were walking through Tribeca a day after eating at Corton and saw Paul Liebrandt walking right in front of us (see photo above). I loved our dinner so much that I wanted to grab him and thank him personally but knew it would come across crazy, so I kept my distance and just smiled.

MOST NOTABLE: Being consistently surprised with every dish and the wonderful sense of discovery you feel as you try to recognize and deconstruct your beautiful and at times, abstract food. Paul's unshakeable commitment to excellence and creativity is so deeply evident with every new course presented – you can literally taste the devotion and artistry. The man is a genius. Am I gushing or what?!

ANYTHING ELSE?: Pastry Chef Shawn Gawle created a dessert that was so spectacular that I almost felt like crying while eating it. I realize how absurd and pretentious that sounds, but it was that good!

Please note that my photographs do not do the food justice!

Two weeks in New York City: Dinner at Mario Batali's Del Posto

WHERE: Del Posto 85 10th Ave, New York

MOOD: Traditional and formal

PRICE: Five courses for $115

WHEN WE WENT: Thursday dinner

WHAT: MB and I both enjoyed the 5 course tasting menu. I had:

• Beef & Truffle Carpaccio with Sunchoke Spuma, Sage Grissini & Sunflowers: Buttery!
• Tortello Puzzone with Taleggio Dolce & Black Truffle Butter: one of the best dishes I have ever had
• Spaghetti with Dungeness Crab, Sliced Jalapeno & Minced Scallion: In a word: delicious! Watch a great little video of how they make it here.
• Cacciucco with Burrida & Sweet Shrimp alla Buzara: the only item that I didn't hands down love as it was too salty for me.

At the end of the meal, a cheese grater was brought to the table holding various sweets which consisted of: chocoloate covered lollipops made with olive oil gelato, bomboloni - which are small doughnuts filled with vanilla orange cream, polenta crostata and candied grapefruit. All were wonderful but the candied grapefruit was especially surprising and smile inducing.

TRY: Tortello Puzzone – it nearly melted my brain it was so good.

SKIP: The Cacciucco if you are sensitive to salt

SERVICE: Very formal. An army of servers waited on us. One even brought a small chair for my handbag.

REPEAT?: YES. There's a reason Del Posto is the first restaurant in New York City to get 4 stars from the New York Times in the last 36 years – because it's exceptional.

MOST NOTABLE: The complex and intense flavours.

 

Some images are from here and here.

Homemade Oreos

Already receiving Christmas gifts and it isn't even December yet – lucky me!

Many thanks to Jaime for the amazingly delicious "Jaimeos"...

Two Weeks in New York City: Lunch at Jean Georges

WHERE: Jean Georges  at 1 Central Park West, New York

MOOD: The mood is calm and pretty – thanks in no small part to the lovely dining room – which is beautiful for a few very specific reasons: 1. The light quality during the day is great because the room has windows around 3 sides and when the sheers are drawn, what you see through them are lovely tree silhouettes dancing around in the breeze. This reason alone is enough for me to choose lunch service over dinner. 2. The seating and view is very comfortable in almost every spot in the room. The configuration and layout has been optimized for maximum comfort and view, resulting in almost no bad seats – which is pretty impressive! 3. The room is quiet even when it's full so you can really concentrate on your food and conversation.

PRICE: For the value and quality – I think this place is actually a steal. We had a 6 course tasting menu for $98.

WHEN WE WENT: Saturday lunch

WHAT: MB and I both enjoyed the 6 course Autumn tasting menu. Our choices from the vast list consisted of: Scallop Sashmi, Sea Trout, Yellowfin Tuna Ribbons, Sea Scallops, Peekytoe Crab Dumplings, Comté Risotto, Sweetbreads, Beef Tenderloin and two desserts – chocolate cake and a chocolate peanut butter ganache, plus macaroons, chocolates and marshmallows.

TRY: The tasting menu. The experience of eating over 3 hours in that lovely setting is a wonderful experience. A few stand out items were the Yellowfin Ribbons, the Crab Dumplings, the Sweetbreads and the Tenderloin.

SKIP: Nothing. Order all of it!

SERVICE: Attentive and formal.

REPEAT?: Absolutely! This restaurant is now in my top 5.

MOST NOTABLE: The quality of the entire experience. Loved it!

 

Adieu Oddfellows, Hello County General

I was sad to see Oddfellows go – big fan of their witch's cauldron breakfast and banana split. Luckily, something equally as good has taken it's place. 

MB and I visited County General just before leaving for New York and liked it so much, we came back again the very next day, right before our flight.

To be fair – we've only tried a few things...But the stand out item that brought us back so soon was the fried buttermilk chicken thigh sandwich – delicious!

Select photos via County General

My visit to Ladurée New York

Well, let's be honest, it's not like being in Paris. But, it is nice to be able to get a quick Ladurée fix while trapped in North America ;)

The store sadly does not carry any pastries, chocolates or Langues de Chat (which I expressly came for), but, it's packed to the gills with macaroons, tea, candies and even ice-cream.

I left with the most glorious oval box filled with everything I could get my greedy mitts on. :)

Stuffing my face with delicious caramels as I write this...

 

 

Evergreen Brickworks Picnic

You'd think the rain would keep people away from the annual Evergreen Brickwork Picnic – but not hard core foodies – oh no! :) My gang and I arrived early and there were already throngs of people lined up to get in at noon. Luckily, being friends with a sponsor got us to the front of the line and in no time we were gobbling up everything in sight from Ontario's best restaurants and merchants.

Almost everything was wonderful, but, of particular note, was Auberge du Pommier's cassoulet topped with foie gras! It was very rich & perfect for a cold rainy day.

This year was my first and I can safely say I will not miss it again going forward – very worth it and totally fun.

A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt

 

 

Quite enjoyed this little documentary about Paul Liebrandt. His absolutely tireless determination and passion made me perma-smile throughout the whole film. I never tire of watching people that care so deeply about something. And unlike the recent El Bulli doc, this one is full of commentary and personal disclosure.

Read a fun article about when Paul came to cook for Jeffrey Steingarten at his home for 2 weeks here.

August Restaurant, NYC

Based on this photo alone – I'm posting this so that I remember to go to August restaurant when I'm in NYC next month! 

Yes please & thank you: Baguette vending machine

"Enterprising French baker Jean-Louis Hecht offers fresh bread 24 hours a day thanks to his "automated baguette dispenser". via

The Perfect "Rustic" Martini Bar

I've seen these mix-it-yourself "rustic martini bar" photos endlessly on blogs for some time – only today did I find their source! From the lovely ladies at Sunday Suppers no less.

Recette filmée : Macarons

The CNE: A yearly tradition of pigging out

We ate: corn dogs, crisps, deep fried Twinkie, funnel cake with ice-cream, deep fried butter, lemonade, poutine and spaghetti. I am not kidding when I say I actually had a food hangover the next day – was slated to leave for an early morning roadtrip to Picton and I couldn't negotiate being vertical for several hours! Sugar is a killer!

Penguin's Great Food Series

If you enjoy reading about food – this series should be on your radar. I just picked up several books from it and am in the midst of reading "Murder in the Kitchen" – which is more my speed since I enjoy a great story versus just straight up cook book. Here's a synopsis:

"In this memoir-turned-cookbook, Alice B. Toklas describes her life with partner Gertrude Stein and their famed Paris salon, which entertained the great avant-garde and literary figures of their day.

With dry wit and characteristic understatement Toklas ponders the ethics of killing a carp in her kitchen before stuffing it with chestnuts; decorating a fish to amuse Picasso at lunch; and travelling across France during the First World War in an old delivery truck, gathering local recipes along the way. She includes a friend's playful recipe for 'Haschiche Fudge', which promises 'brilliant storms of laughter and ecstatic reveries', much like her book."

 

Modernist Cuisine – mostly no Photoshop

When I first saw this series of books, I assumed it was almost all retouching that produced the amazing cut-away photograpy – but alas, as this Ted talk shows, the majority of imagery is a result of actually sawing dishware and appliances in half! Pretty cool.

Watch several other videos on the book here.

Read a great article about Nathan Myhrvold, the book's co-author, and the former CTO of Microsoft, here.

High Tea at the Windsor Arms

Last weekend, a group of friends and I enjoyed High Tea at the Windsor Arms.

The Red Room we started out in was charming as all hell but very hot, so we had to move to a cooler area. Once re-seated, our tea arrived quickly and we were grateful! The rose tea we had was wonderful, as were the scones and Devon clotted cream. The sushi style rolled sandwiches were not remarkable though – a bit dry and flavourless. The petit fours were also not terribly inspired either, although pretty to look at. I would advise skipping those courses and simply focus your attention on what they do best – scones & tea!

Overall, a nice experience, with attentive service.

Next up for High Tea – MoRoCo & The Four Seasons!


P.S. There was a wealth of great art all around too – many great Charlie Pachters throughout the space.

 

It's the little things that make me truly happy:

Like sweet fresh shelled peas from the farmer's market...

Or making more homemade ice-cream –

Here's the first strawberry flavour @itbitme and I ever attemped and it was amazing...

 

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

Keen to see this! Might go tomorow – message me if you want to join ;-)

*** Update!

I saw it and really enjoyed it.

It's received many bad reviews criticizing it's lack of interviews or voice over, but for me it was a voyeur's delight. It's a style of filmmaking that allows you to simply observe without the lens or bias of an interviewer – you simply spend the entire time listening to the occasional exchanges Ferran Adrià has with his staff and watching them experiment tirelessly – drawing your own conclusions instead of being spoon-fed every insight.

My take-away – the man is very precise and understands that the core of what he is selling is something magical, creative and inspiring – an experience to remember.

Barque has bite

I've been to Barque Smokehouse twice, once for brunch and once for dinner and here's what I have to say:

• Call ahead – it's always packed
• Be warned, the cocktails are strong – the mint julep I had was so potent I couldn't finish it
• If you must choose between going for brunch or dinner, choose dinner as they do not serve the BBQ sampler at brunch
• Order the babyback ribs – after having the sampler with chicken and brisket, which was all good, they were still easily the best item on the menu

Enjoy!

My first homemade ice-cream sandwich

After the oreo cookie had some time to chill in the frigo – it was the perfect balance of soft and crisp so the result was really good!

Ice-Cream Project: Second Attempt

The addition of @itbitme to the mix improved everything tenfold – the consistency and texture of the ice-cream was perfect tonight! So rich and custardy.

Just packed some of it into ice-cream sandwiches for tomorrow – can't wait to see how they turn out! :-)

 

Bobbette & Belle: Go for the Whoppie Pie, Stay for Everything Else.

As mentioned in a previous post, Jules and I, (that's her in the first photo), popped into Bobbette & Belle last weekend to sample their macaroons, whoppie pies and raspberry lemonade – all of which were delicious! Toronto Life actually named their whoppie pies the best in the city – so I would recommend skipping the Starbucks versions and try a red velvet pie like the one I had above.

The shop's size and space is quite impressive and the decor is really beautiful – perfectly suited to hosting private parties, or having a gab fest with a friend.

Mini Mac at 416 Snack Bar

Ok – so I was sad when I arrived at 416 Snack Bar tonight and saw that the Ribwich was off the new menu – but faith was restored after I ordered the Mini Mac! A tiny, and significantly less harmful version of the original Mickey Dee's variety, the Mini Mac is a new fav. Go try it! Order 2, because you'll want another immediately after.

Louis Vuittton Travel Guides: The Perfect Gift

 

 

 

 

 

Faced with finding a fun gift for a friend this weekend, I remembered an old stand-by that always pleases. Louis Vuitton City Guides are a fool proof option for friends that love to travel in style – concise, compact, reliable, useful and so pretty.

I bought my first set in 2000 and carried the Paris edition in my handbag the whole time I lived in France.

Found some charming video excerpts here about Paris & New York:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bakerbots opens in Bloordale

 

Julie and I had a busy day – we went to Bonjour Brioche for brunch, Bobbette & Belle for dessert, furniture shopping on Queen East, antiquing at the St Lawrence North Market and finally, ended up at Bakerbots for ice-cream sandwiches.

Rosanne, who has been creating custom cakes for the last two years as part of her Bakerbots catering business, decided to open a retail outpost recently so that the public could sample her marvellous cookies, croissant, macaroons and cupcakes as they puttered around Bloordale.

The place is utterly charming and the food is scrumptious. In addition to the delicious ice-cream sandwich I had made with the "everything cookie" and "sweet cream" ice-cream, I went home with a care package of cookies and cream cheese carrot cupcakes – which already have a substantial dent in them – they will not last!

 

Bompas & Parr Jelly Mongers

 

 

 

My darling @itbitme introduced me to Bompas & Parr a couple of years ago – here are some videos that capture their approach to all things jelly related.

 

 

 

So if macaroons are already over and cupcakes are super passé, could the artisan jelly take their place as the must-have dessert du jour to serve at your next soirée? I say yes! BP will make you a custom mold for only £800.

 

 

Today was International Ice-Cream Day, so I made some.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted an ice-cream maker. Yesterday, I was in such a bad mood that I decided there was only one thing that could cheer me up. As it turned out, my timing was perfect. Today is National Ice-Cream Day in the U.S., which I conveniently internalized as a big sign that my decision to buy a very singular kitchen appliance was brilliant.

Then I set to work researching every recipe I could get my hands on and what I discovered, as usual, is that there are many different theories on how to prepare this classic dessert. 

My goal was simple. Make an incredible vanilla. So I not only bought a Madagascar vanilla bean, I also stopped by Dlish Cupcakes to ask Verg what vanilla extract he uses in his buttercream frosting and he generously gave me some of his to take home and try too.

The whole process was quite simple all told – that is if you forgo using eggs, which I did for this first try. I bought duck eggs for round 2 tomorrow! Which should yield a very rich, custardy version!

 

Brunch at La Société

 
Last Sunday, the city was very quiet on Bloor Street, as all the ladies who lunch and their hubbies were in Muskoka for the long weekend. This provided my friends and I a rare opportunity to experience La Société sans "scene" and just focus on what's really important – good food!

In an effort to cleanse ourselves of a very indulgent series of rich meals over the previous few days, we skipped the Croque Madames and opted for the fresh seafood tower.

As we waited for it to arrive, I toured the new space and was very impressed not only with it's size, but the lovely attention to detail with the decor. The ceilings, the wood panelling, the beautiful floor are all evidence of Charles Khabouth's commitment to making La Société feel like an authentic French Bistro and it's fair to say, he has succeeded.

During my walk, I also came across a chef photographing the seafood tower he had just finished assembling for my table and I was delighted to learn that he loves to document his work. This pride in his craft was evident in the tasting that soon followed – we gobbled up all the oysters, prawns, tuna, salmon, lobster and crab with big smiles on our faces. Our dessert of macaroons, jellies and truffles were also delicious!

Will return for dinner soon and report again –

Dear Ribwich, I Love You

It looks dirty and messy and it was the best e-v-e-r...

Made at home with love, sauce and smokey paprika by @itbitme and I – we rock.

The Burger's Priest

Ok – so I got three different things: fries, The Priest with an "Option" of a cheese filled, deep fried portobello mushroom added on top of the beef patty AND...the "Vatican City" – which isn't even on the menu, you have to just ask for it by name. It's essentially two grilled cheese sandwiches with two beef patties in the middle.

 

The "Priest" with the cheese filled portobello mushroom on top was really good. The meatiness of the mushroom paired with the beef patty makes for a very substanial burger. Vegetarians will love the meatless version.

The "Vatican City", (2 grilled cheese sandwiches with two beef patties inbetween) which almost seems like a dare – like a DoubleDown, is something at first I felt I had to try just to say I had...when in Rome as they say. But, the surprising part is that I would totally get it again – minus one beef patty – as the shear thickness demanded I eat it like a squirrel nibbling at an acorn. And nibble I did – all around and through the gooey and crispy grilled cheese right into the super yummy freshly ground beef burger patties – which were really well seasoned.

So my verdict? Amazing. I'm sad they don't have a more central location. Which is probably a good thing, or I'd be there way too often.

Burger's Priest

 

 

Distillery Food Truck Festival

 

I'm sure you could glean from my many posts and tweets that I had high hopes for the Food Truck festival at the Distillery.

Well... they obviously had good intentions but no idea how many people would actually show up or how to accommodate them. There were 2 hour wait lines for each truck – major turn off.

The above is evidence of the one concession stand I had the patience to stand in line for – which all told, was pretty good but rather expensive at $10 for 6 smoked chicken croquettes.

Our group quickly abandoned ship and decided to go to Burger's Priest – which was a brilliant idea courtesy of @itbitme. Post on that coming up!

Tomorrow: Food Truck Festival at the Distillery

Why is eating food out of a truck so fun? I don't know the answer but the idea excites me terribly. See you there!

Renard Gillard Brie de Meaux

In love with this little fox illo.

From Leslieville Cheese.

 

Your next cocktail should be:

 

Some of the most delicious cocktails I've enjoyed this summer have been at Campagnolo. This one was called the Harvest Cooler and it was a watermelon, cucumber vodka and lime concoction. Waaaaay too easy to drink!

Sometimes I think communicating this way would be much easier:

Ice-Box Cake at Parts & Labour

The main I had was waaaaay too salty to mention, but their dessert was another story. I have a serious soft spot for Ice-Box cakes and this one was an unexpected option, as most restos are still deeply entrenched in the donut craze. It was excellent – as was the strawberry shortcake. Now we need to get whoopie pies on menus and I'll be all set.

Cool Hand Luc: A Welcome Addition

When summer heat hits, I literally crave ice-cream daily. Thankfully a fun new ice-cream shop has opened on my route home from work on King West and I am pleased as ever about it. Cool Hand Luc is open nightly until 11pm to snare the after dinner crowd on the strip and I predict they will do well. The ice-cream is all from Kawartha Dairy and although not as distinctive in flavour concoctions as Greg's, still very satisfying! The best part of all though is that they intend to stay open all year round. Finally, someone that understands that ice-cream, although particularly enjoyable on a hot summer's day, is an all-year-round treat.

Visit to the Cheese Boutique

On Saturday, @itbitme and I were on a mission to buy the ingredients to make Spaghetti Amatriciana after having it at Campagnolo recently. Our very knowledgeable foodie friend @bloggerton suggested The Cheese Boutique as the place to buy guanciale – a not so easy-to-find Italian pork jowl bacon.

As a first time visitor to CB, I can say I liked it instantly. Not at all pretentious like Pusateri's, the staff were warm and friendly and the selection of fine foods was great and vast.

The most amazing part hands-down was the cheese vault that you can enter and explore. I stood in there for a few long minutes inhaling deeply... :)

 

Ice-Cream Sandwich Cake

 

 

I made an ice-box cake a while back and loved it. This version of an ice-cream sandwich cake feels just as silly and awesome!