Material Archive

David Chang & Anthony Bourdain team up for: The Mind of a Chef

 

Found a fun new show to watch that I think fellow foodies will love. Check out the preview above. 

Dinner at The Grove

The Parsley root soup with snails, bacon & fried bread is awesome. Also, loooved the Pork Pie - it had great flavour. The Cod with smoked potato & bacon was good too. The fancy orange chocolate marshmallow "Viva Puff" for dessert was charming and fun. Go try.

Dinner at Sushi Kaji

 

It's truly hard to find anything negative to say about the food at Sushi Kaji. It really is exceptional in terms of freshness and flavour. The fatty tuna was easily the best I have ever had.

And yet, even after watching Jiro: Dreams of Sushi, that shows the world's best sushi master modestly situated in the basement of corporate building next to a subway, I was still bothered by the lacklustre airport lounge decor and location in an Etobicoke strip mall.

I know these things are not supposed to matter so much when you are in the presence of greatness. I also know that I forgive shabby locations all the time when certain other types of amazing street foods are involved.

But yet, I was bothered the entire time throughout the meal by the space design, like a little fly buzzing around my head. I just kept saying to myself, why must this place be so ugly? It felt unnecessary, distracting, inconsistent with the food, and worst of all – cheap.

Hoof Raw Bar: Toronto's Best Kept Secret

That little cube is pickled watermelon rind. The smallest and most delicious detail.

If Hoof Raw Bar was situated next to my office, I would literally eat there every single day – that's how much I love it. As it stands, I'm averaging every Friday for dinner. Last night I missed it, and I can tell you I felt sincere regret because I've come to really look forward to how good their food makes me feel.

Over the last month, I have visited HRB about 5 times, and in that time, have sampled every single item on the menu and like a perfect album, there isn't one song or note out of place. 

I realize I sound like a gusher, but it's so rare to come across an accessible restaurant where you can literally choose anything off the menu and you'll be happy – more than happy in fact. The flavour combinations are surprising and illicit conversations that attempt to deconstruct their layers.

Each time I have visited to date, I've seen a big group waiting next door for sister restaurant Black Hoof, and yet, Raw remains generally empty-ish until almost 1.5 hours later. That's probably why I've avoided posting about it. The place feels like a delicious secret still, without the silly line-ups like BH and Grand Electric.

Dishes that you must try: the shrimp toast with egg yolk cooked sous vide, salmon in a can with chips with pickled egg white, the squid salad cooked sous vide with flying fish roe, the smoked muscles, the ceviche, the cured board, and I could go on...

Also worth noting – they have a excellent selection of tomato-based cocktails (caesars, bloody marys and two other RHB originals).

Lastly, the staff have been consistently warm and generous – even gifting us a jar of the smoked muscles we raved about once.

If you love fish – go!
 

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!

 

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.

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 –