downtownfoodie's Profile
Where to find less common/unusual greens in the GTA?
try uncle george's sprouts on the lower level of st lawrence market. they have lots of baby greens and a ton of interesting sprouts and seedlings that will add interest to any salad
Joanne Kates retires
I have read most of her reviews over the last 10 years and for the most part, I enjoyed them. I wish she would focus more on the food and less on the decor, and specifically on her preferences (to her credit, she was always upfront about her biases). It will be interesting to see who takes over and how their personal style compares.
ISO Maille pickles/cornichons
i bought some at the front street Metro (near SLM) a month ago
The Campagnolo Thread - Hits and misses?
great apps, miserable mains. we ate the menu and the apps were uniformly good with a few minor personal misses. the burrata was great, the tartare was a little over-smoked for my taste (why disguise the beautiful flavour of raw red meat?), and the olives were tasty, but almost cooked, rather than "warmed"...the texture was a bit lost. all the other apps were enjoyed, but have been reviewed well above.
the mains were a different story. halibut - overcooked (roasted artichokes with it were so good that they almost made up for that sacrilege). the pork was over-cooked and had no redeeming veg to make up for it. the agnolotti was pleasant, but the sweet on sweet was a bit much. maybe some spice, salt, or texture to contrast? the squid pasta was quite good, but if you fill any plate with 6 cloves of garlic, i'm always going to enjoy it at the time, but regret it later.
the service was exceptional, as were the baguette and gougere. we did enjoy our meal, but over-cooking two of the three proteins (the halibut criminally so) is an amateur mistake
Sushi Kai - multiple group buy vouchers?
Has anyone eaten at Sushi Kai? I'm just wondering because they have been offering steep discount group buy vouchers for almost a year now. We all know how that turns out over the long run...
St. Lawrence Market - "World's Best Food Market" in National Geographic List -
If you walk around the market for any period of time, this is not always true. The different quality meats at different vendors sell for wildly differing prices. Produce doesn't vary as much but there are definitely differences.
Where prices are similar, what makes you think it is collusion which is raising the price? I would argue that this natural reaction to proximity is more likely to lower prices. If the guy across the street is selling something comparable to one of your offerings at a lower price, you'd be a pretty thick merchant to keep pushing yours at a higher price...if you want to sell any, you'd lower your price, even if it meant cutting your margins on that one product if it helped you retain customers and sell more of your higher margin products.
St. Lawrence Market - "World's Best Food Market" in National Geographic List -
you posted multiple negative comments in a thread about a completely independent magazine with a history and reputation beyond reproach, giving a 1st place ranking to a market that many people, locals and tourists alike, love and visit regularly. when you ran out of negative things to say you went off on a tangent about how products sold there couldn't possibly be sustainably harvested. then you questioned the charitable record of the vendors. seems pretty clear to me.
possibly the reason you haven't seen many perishables at food banks is because of questions about the provenance of such items donated by the public. second harvest has a different model where they collect directly from vendors, and deliver directly to providers...thereby being able to better control the treatment of the perishables
St. Lawrence Market - "World's Best Food Market" in National Geographic List -
Your hate for SLM has become pretty clear in your other posts, but to question their charitable actions? Seriously? Wow...
St. Lawrence Market
Anton Kozlik's Canadian Mustard
Buster's Sea Cove
Carousel Bakery
Dilisio's Fine Meats
Domenic's Fish Market
Family Foods
Future Bakery
Golden Orchard Fine Foods
La Boucherie
Olympic Food & Cheese
St Lawrence Ice Cream & Pizza
St Lawrence Uppercut Meats
St Urbain Bagel
Stonemill Bakehouse
Whitehouse Meats
St. Lawrence Market - "World's Best Food Market" in National Geographic List -
I opened this thread up dreading the outpouring of "Toronto can't have anything world class" haters but was gratified to see that many here are proud of our great market.
Regarding prices...you can't compare prices of a downtown market to those of a suburban super store. These are small independent vendors selling their wares in some very expensive real estate...not huge corporations in big box industrial parks. Go pick up your dinner at Borough market next time you're in London...cost-of-living adjusted you'll still be in for some serious sticker shock. Even despite that difference, I think the produce (in the south market as well as the north farmers market) is reasonably priced for the variety and quality you get. Avocados that don't have to sit in a paper bag for 3 days when you get home for the same or less than Mr. Weston charges. Petit pan squash and baby courgettes...yeah they're expensive but if you love them...they're a treat worth paying for. Baby beets that you don't even have to peel with edible greens that are not wilted or rotting, yes please. I have my produce lady there who always throws in a little something extra, whether it's a pre-cut fruit salad toward the end of the day, some fresh herbs to go with whatever meat I have in my basket, or a bag of meyer lemons because they're in season and I just didn't notice them in a rush. I can't remember the last time the cashier at Sobey's tossed a snickers bar in my bag, just-because :)
Regarding selection...there are many amazing products available at SLM that we take for granted. I wandered around the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo in awe at the plethora of exotic seafood. There were so many products there that I'd never even heard of, but that's because we don't see them every day (and that market is essentially the wholesale point for much of asia's premium fish). When I was hosting visitors from Asia, we went up to Whitehouse meats and they couldn't believe that you could get multiple different cuts of buffalo, caribou, berkshire pork, wild boar, kangaroo, musk ox, camel, goat, rabbit, pheasant, partridge, duck, quail, cornish hen, guinea fowl, squab and ostrich. As Canadians we are spoiled with our selection of game meats...but go pick me up a nice kangaroo burger or a caribou loin from Loblaws!
Any updates on when the Butchers Organic is reopening?
website is down and phone is disconnected...
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
What an amazing film. I won't spoil anything from it except to ask if anyone else noticed that the name of the most junior apprentice who was responsible for all the most menial tasks was...wait for it...Takeshita. Simple things for simple minds :)
An Amazing ' Food and Riesling Pairing ' Experience at Splendido!
sounds incredible. if you ever do this again I could scrounge up a bottle of 1970 Wachenheimer Gerumpel Trockenbeerenauslese :D
Favorite Pressure Cooker recipes
let the tongue defrost completely and just bung it in the PC with whatever spices you want to use (you might want to bundle them in some cheesecloth so that you don't have to pick through for little pieces of star anise or cinnamon etc at the end).
use the minimum amt of liquid (i use a little white wine, some chicken/veg stock and depending on what i want to use it for, sometimes a good slug of cola...don't tell anyone).
blast it on high for 40mins and then let it come to regular pressure at it's own pace.
take it out while still hot and peel. i then strain the liquid, skim excess fat and pour back over the tongue while it cools to room temp.
refrigerate until you're ready to use it. remove from liquid and slice really thinly, while warming the cooking liquid on the stove. add the shaved tongue into the warm liquid to bring it up to temp and then pile it on some good hearty bread with some really good aged cheddar or other cheese (i layer them so the cheese melts into the tongue.
if i'm doing it for another use (just made an octopus and tongue terrine), then I cut right back on the spices and just use some light stock and water.
Favorite Pressure Cooker recipes
it's amazing for stocks as you've said, octopus, and tripe (don't over do or you will have amazingly flavoured stock and some jelly-like substance that dissolves when you try and fork it. i love it for tongue. makes the meat so easy to peel after, and really infuses the flavour of any spices that you add much better than slow braising (i use yellow and brown mustard seeds, caraway, and star anise).
note: a lot of recipes will omit this, but when doing any sort of larger meat, make sure you let the PC come down to temperature naturally with the meat sitting in it's own juices. maybe it's just psychological, but i feel it doesn't "stress" the meat as much with the sudden temp change and it stays more tender
Stock in Trump tower, opened yesterday.... anyone tried it yet?
great review...witty, well-written, and informative. i may read kates' when it comes out, but i doubt that i will enjoy her superlative-laden, nit-picking drivel as much :)
Niagara Street Cafe
+1 on the name change. why confuse the diner? we're right down the street so were there a lot. looking forward to regular visits to try the new food
The Infamous Scorpion Bowl
haha, never heard of this. can't help you with ottawa, but would love the same info for toronto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion_bowl
Deep Fried Pickles ISO
hooters :)
(what? it was the closest place to my house showing the UFC last week, lol)
A Mexican restaurant unlike any other in Toronto
"and for dessert, churros, the traditional Mexican street food with a modern Canadian twist, served poutine-style with marshmallows doubling for cheese curds and cajeta filling in for gravy."
that's too funny. i love churros, and i appreciate the creativity, but that just sounds like sweet on sweet on sweet. with a side of sweet.
100 Foods to Eat Before You Die - Toronto/GTA Edition
this is embarrassing, but my favourite baba ganoush is the packaged PC stuff at Loblaws. I'm sure it's far from "authentic" and it's probably chock full of chemical preservatives etc, but god damn it...it's vinegary/garlicky deliciousness :D
although absinthe is available in the lcbo, it's wormwood free...which is the only reason you'd want to try absinthe in the first place. there are much better anise-flavoured spirits out there. you have to go to europe, or supposedly some underground bars in NYC to try the real deal
most of the other stuff is pretty readily available in toronto with the exception of
Frito Pie - just looks nasty
Fugu - i'd rather order some delicious au toro and then go sky diving anyway
Phall - supposedly just invented to allow drunk londoners to outdo each other in acts of stupidity, so just go to ghandi, act young, drunk and dumb...and ask for a vindaloo roti as hot as they can make it
Som Tam - i had it in Laos, but i'm sure you can find it in toronto
Squirrel - we ordered it frozen from the southern US for a hillbilly themed barbecue a few years back. trust me...the list only needs to be 99 dishes long (98 if you aren't interested in eating swift spit)
chitlins you used to be able to get at chinese bbq restos, or uncooked in chinese groceries (fry in lard for proper flavour)
Full review [Le Select]
i agree with the positive comments about le select, as well as the assumptions about the price of the wine.
it is a neighbourhood resto, rather than a destination spot (we live right next door and have called and ordered french onion soup for take out...they let us take the bowls home and just return them the next day...). that said, they have always provided us consistent service and food at a very fair price
bulk jello/gelatin?
does anyone know where you can buy bulk jello powder in toronto?
Cheesewerks - Grilled Cheese at Bathurst and Wellington
i live upstairs and was excited to see what happened there. i give it less than 6 months
Chowfind: Matsutake (aka Pine Mushrooms) at Loblaws
good find. anyone seen these at any other loblaws? preferably closer to downtown? otherwise it looks like i'm tripping up to carlton :D
Bachelor party meals in South Beach
Thanks for the suggestions. Pubbelly menu looks great...i think we'll definitely hit that one night. Probably want one night on a great patio in a good location as well. As much as it pains me to say, food is probably less important that night.
