Hmm... thanks for the input. I think Seabras Maresquiera should be okay. My meeting leans more on the side of a networking/social call than a bona fide business luncheon.

Thanks, coldbeer and OGguy, for the recommendations -- I'll look into those. I'm also wondering about Seabras Marisqueira... I see that they offer lunch. Atmosphere-wise, is it appropriate for a business lunch?

Hi Hounds!

I'm a Toronto Hound looking for a restaurant with solid food, somewhere around the Newark Airport, for a business meeting. I've looked at some other threads, but came away with options where I'm not sure if lunch is served at these establishments (some don't have websites so not even sure of opening hours)??? General criteria of my search are:

- Somewhere very close to Newark Airport, preferably just off of the I-95 or Rte 1/9
- Serves lunch (obviously :))
- Would prefer somewhere that has a nicer atmosphere, but am okay with hole-in-the-wall options as well, if that's what it takes to get good food
- No restrictions on type of cuisine or price

Any help you can offer is appreciated!

-Juniper

It looks like I should skip prioritizing the high-end restaurants for now and focus my time and resources on the mid-range options? It also sounds like tacos and burgers are now (or on the way to becoming) analogous to the "ubiquitous sushi" in the city?

So given that I am not sure how long my current stint in Toronto may last (it could be one month, it could be a year), I think if I hit up these 15 or so places, I will get a good feel for what has happened in the city's culinary scene over the past 2 years:

1. Enoteca Sociale
2. Guu on Church
3. Buca
4. Tacos from various locales around Kensington Market
5. Yours Truly
6. Khao San Road
7. Banh Mi Boys (you guys didn't seem to give this place much love in this thread, but other threads have indicated this place is a good find?)
8. Agave y Aguacate
9. Woodlot
10. The Gabardine
11. Ici Bistro
12. Burgers from various locales around the city
13. Barque
14. Porchetta & Co.
15. The Copper Chimney (it's not downtown, but it's TTC accessible -- some would consider it worth the jaunt?)

Still debating the relatively merits of Parts & Labour, Atlantic on Dundas, and Keriwa... Any opinions on these spots?

Hello again, Toronto Chowhounds!

I have not been living in Toronto since about May 2010. I have done a quick scan of the boards, as well as a scan of the other usual suspects for restaurant reviews (Toronto Life, Now Magazine, etc.) and I have come to realize that the list of new things happening/that have happened on the Toronto restaurant/eatery scene is quite overwhelming. Therefore, I am asking if you could be so kind as to help me prioritize my rediscovery of Toronto food.

Based on my research, it seems like I need to break things down into a few categories, and in each category please list your top 3 to 5 picks that have sprung up in the last 2 years (I would prefer if the selections were kept to downtown Toronto as I don't have a car). The categories are (and yes, I realize there may be overlap among these categories -- I'll leave it to you how you want to categorize a restaurant):

- High-end & Hotel dining (e.g., Has David Chang's opened up yet? How is Stock?)
- Sandwich shops & fast food (Bahn Mi Boys? Porchetta? Paramount?)
- Asian (Guu? Wabora? Amaya Express? Swish by Han?)
- Mid-range dining (Barque? Buca?)
- Other (open category for places that don't fit into any of the above categories)

As always, your help is much appreciated!

-Juniper

Hmm.... not sure how much kid appeal this may have as I suppose it depends on the kid to some degree?? At any rate, experiment and find out:

- fry sage leaves in butter until crisp and garnish soup with the leaves and drizzle of sage-scented butter
- crispy fried bacon bits (this one is surely kid approved, right??)
- toast cumin seeds, unsweetened shredded coconut, and sliced almonds
- croutons made from cinnamon raisin bread
- cheddar and chive croutons
- drizzle of oil infused with garam masala
- crumbled feta and wilted spinach
- dollop of plain yogurt, that you can then also enhance with other herbs and flavourings like mint, curry, lemon or orange zest, and so on

As to your ideas of incorporating apple, I would just add apples (or apple sauce) directly into the body of the soup so it becomes an apple and butternut squash soup. You don't have to add a huge amount of apple -- just enough to give the soup an added depth of flavour. Then all of the suggestions of mix-ins would work just as well or even better (like the cheddar and chive croutons!).

For me, it really depends on the way the fish is prepared and at what establishment. I will only eat the skin if it is crispy OR I'm at a restaurant where I can be reasonably certain that the kitchen staff are meticulous enough to ensure that all of the scales, bones, and membranes, and other stuff have been removed. I am not a fan of things that are gelatinous, gooey or mushy in texture (hence I don't eat bananas or Jell-O, for example). I'm also not a fan of biting into things on which I can choke, that will cut the roof of my mouth or gums, or where I have to constantly pick things out of my mouth. Therefore, if I leave fish skin on my plate it may be a sign that maybe not all was right with the preparation of the dish, otherwise it's a personal preference like it is a preference for some who prefer white meat to dark meat in poultry.

The lovely thing about London is that the fast food joints are actually fairly decent (unlike the greasy messes that they tend to be in North America). Perhaps consider grabbing your lunches at some of these fast food places and thereby allowing you spend just a bit more on dinner? Some of my favourite fast food places are Wasabi for DIY bento boxes and Japanese style curries, Pod for über healthy options, and Pret-a-Manger.

For dinner, I have not tried the ones you list above, but I really enjoy the homey atmosphere and food at Market Coffee House around Bishop's Gate (Liverpool tube station). They also have a GBP28 fixed price menu, which may be a good option for those watching their wallets.

For breakfast/brunch/lunch, I really enjoy The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell (Farringdon tube station). This place is quite busy, particularly on the weekends so reservations are most definitely required.

Also, there's a decent Asian chain that is popular with students because it's very affordable but with comfortable surrounds is Hare and Tortoise.

Hahaha... I love the logic in imagining what red wine should taste like!

Thank you! I'll have to give this a try sometime! :)

It's never even occurred to me to make my own Nutella. What an interesting idea. :)

Maybe shepherd's pie with salad as the main (you can make it a bit "upscale" by adding truffle oil to the mashed potatoes, for example, or doing a salad that incorporates fresh herbs), and then an appetizer of an assortment of dips with pita (tzaziki is very cheap to make, for example), and a dessert like poached pears with creme anglais, which is easy to prep for a large crowd. Alternatively, an apple crumble would be an easy and cheap dessert. Nothing earth shattering, but good, hearty, classic fare.

Hmm... very curious about the roasted green beans. I'll have to try that with a subsequent batch of green beans. I ended up making a Thai green bean salad before I was able to log on and read the replies to this thread.

YES! Totally agree. When I was in Milan, all of my Milanese friends were like, "you have to try a spritz (prosecco + Campari). They are great and it's what all the locals drink." Needless to say, I think it's an acquired taste...

I would LOVE your biryani recipe... :)

So I have a pile of green beans sitting in my fridge, but am looking for different preparations than my usual. I was hoping the hounds could help spark some creativity. As reference, my usual treatment of green beans include:

- Green beans and ground pork with black bean (or 5-spice) sauce
- Roasted acorn squash, green bean and roasted corn salad
- Green beans sautéed in bacon fat or butter, sometimes with roasted almonds or pinenuts
- Steamed or boiled green beans tossed in a lemon vinaigrette
- Turkish zeytin yagli yesil fasulye (olive oil braised green beans)

Any and all ideas welcome!

Thanks in advance.

There's plenty:
- Croissants
- Confit de canard
- Peking duck
- Hand-pulled noodles
- Biryani
- Fessenjoon
- Yogurt
- Cinnamon rolls
- Alfajores
- Mole

and the list goes on...

It's actually a combination of things....

First, rinse the rice very well before cooking it. Doing this takes away any excess starchiness that would cause the grains of rice to stick together. Basically, you want to rinse the rice until the water runs clear.

Second, you want to be sure you don't have too much water in your rice. You really want to steam the rice and not boil it, per se. You may need to play around with this depending on the brand or quality of the rice you have, and if you have a rice cooker vs steaming in a regular pot. Sometimes, I'll put a tea towel between the pot and the lid, which will not only seal the lid for a better steaming, but also absorb any excess moisture and prevent condensation to drip back into the rice. When you are storing your rice overnight, try to give it a chance to cool down before you put it into the fridge to prevent condensation from developing in the container. You may also want to experiment with refrigerating the rice uncovered to dry the rice out if you think it may be too wet.

Third, as you're preparing to cook, separate the rice clusters before cooking. When you're cooking, you want a really high heat and the oil has to be almost at smoking point before you throw your ingredients in. You want to essentially flash fry the rice to seal the surface so you get the gloss to it and prevent it from sticking to each other. Also, you actually don't want too much oil in the wok or else it will just get absorbed by the rice and make it mushy (you want just enough to keep things from sticking to the bottom. For that same reason, you also want to keep the mixture moving the whole time -- don't let any grain settle long enough to absorb too much oil.

Many years ago, I was told that I just HAD to try rooibos tea. "It has a slightly smokey honey flavour -- it's fantastic," said a friend whose taste I trust. I like honey, and smokey honey sounds lovely so I was eager to try it. I ordered it when an opportunity arose after a nice meal at a restaurant. I swirled the teapot around and poured myself a cup of tea, taking in the slightly smokey herbaceous scent. Wrapping my hands around the cup and with pent up anticipation, I took my first-ever sip of rooibos...

I promptly ordered another cup of tea -- this time Earl Grey.

Based on what people had told me and from the scent of the tea, I was not expecting it to taste like the after taste you get with artificial sweeteners. Wretched stuff.

It could also be that something tasted differently than you expected but in a neutral or good way.

Anyone want to share a story? :)

As an update, I tried the poolish in a ceramic bowl and the residue came off the bowl much more easily than in the stainless steel bowls I was using before.

Hmm... I do tend to rinse my stuff with very hot water. I wonder if that is the problem...

The poolish that I've favoured has been a 1:1 flour:water mixture. However, when I have experimented with other ratios, I get the same residue in my bowls.

I will try using different bowls and also cold water to rinse, to see what happens.

I've done that, but I still get a tacky film on my bowls. Does it have any thing to do with the fact I'm using stainless steel bowls? Would something like adding baking soda to the soak help?

I'm relatively new to the world of bread making and I have been experimenting with poolish. Not sure if this is normal, but the poolish gets really slimy. More importantly, however, that sliminess is really hard to clean off my mixing bowls (it leaves a tacky film on the surfaces of my bowls). I'm hoping there some magical solution to this, rather than me scrubbing like mad?

Thanks!

So I tried to make gnocchi tonight...

I had about 1 kg of potatoes cooked and mashed. Added a 1/2 cup of flour and one egg. Mixed it all together. It failed to really resemble a doughy mass, and it was instead incredibly sticky. I thought this was an indication that the mixture needed more flour. So I added a bit less than 1/4 cup of flour and mixed it all in. Still too sticky. Added another dusting of flour and incorporated it. The dough became even stickier than it was before!!

Any idea what went wrong??

With the rub that's on your roast, sounds ideal to make some curry from it. Thai beef salad (the cumin may add an interesting flavour to it all). Deconstructed taco salad. Shred and put into ravioli. Ragu-y pasta sauce. Sandwiches.

Unconditional Love: orzo, linguine, spaghetti, penne rigate, rigatoni
Conditional Love: capellini (only when tossed with olive oil or in puttanesca sauce), fettucini (only with cream-based sauces), elbows (only in Hong Kong café style soups or on kids' art projects)
Hate: shell-shaped pastas, farfalle, and orecchetti as they never cook evenly

As long as she's not vegan, then it should be fairly easy:
- Quiches and frittatas of various sorts served with salad and/or roasted potatoes
- West African peanut soup served with rice
- Ratatouille with multigrain bread
- Lentil and root vegetable stew and multigrain bread
- Grilled veggies and garlic yogurt sauce with whole wheat pita bread
- Grilled cheese and tomato sandwich with green salad
- Gnocchi with blue cheese sauce and green salad
- Spanokopita with salad

With regards to the squash, the easiest way to do butternut squash is to cut it half length-wise, scoop out seeds, brush with olive oil, place face down on baking sheet, pierce some holes in the skin with a fork, and roast for 20 or 30 mins. When the flesh is tender and done, just scoop the flesh out and do whatever you want with it (you can even directly serve what you've scooped out if you sprinkle some salt and pepper onto it).

Not sure whether this has been suggested, but if you want to include protein into a few of your meals, buying whole chicken is usually a good idea. Essentially, a whole chicken can make you 3 meals:

(1) Using the breasts, slice the meat and add to stir-fry, pasta, salads, etc.
(2) Using the legs, debone the meat (reserving the bones for later) and make a stew, curry, etc.
(3) Using the remaining carcass, make chicken soup and pair with homebaked bread, for example

If you really wanted to stretch it out, you could use just one of the breasts or legs at a time and come out with 5 meals.

In Toronto, a whole chicken from a reputable butcher and farm would go for around $13. Divide that by 3 meals for $4.33/meal or by 5 meals for $2.60/meal. That still gives you a lot of room to play with as far as putting together sides and accompaniments.

Also, if rather than looking at your cost per meal you look at it from an average cost per meal, that might give you the freedom to splurge a bit on one or two meals per week and then eat more frugally the remainder of the week. So you could do roast beef one night for the big eaters/carnivores in the group, and the rest of the week you could do vegetarian dishes or more simple preparations. What this would also allow you to do is to buy a big hunk of roast beef, for example, serve modest portions for one dinner, and save the remainder for open-faced roast beef sandwiches the next day, or use the remainder in a stew, or whatever. Don't forget that you can always use leftovers to supplement the next meal and thereby save you some money there as well.

Another recommendation would be to buy less popular parts of the animal, like oxtail for example. Oxtail is used a lot by the Chinese to make soups and stews, and also by those in the Caribbean to make curries. The Argentinians do a great red wine braised cow tongue preparation, and the French do a killer braised pig trotter (the Chinese also have a version of this as well).

(By the way, it may sound like I'm a carnivore and I am trying to push that agenda, but I assure you I read your concerns about the source of the meats you consume and I respect that. I just thought I would provide you with additional ideas on how to incorporate meat into your meals to give you more options for balanced menus.)

There are classic combinations of flavours that you can also riff on as far as variations on a theme (any pork, potato, cabbage combo, for example). But you know what? It's really whatever strikes your fancy. If you want to pair sautéed rapini with pot roast, go for it. Mac & cheese with grilled portobellos? Go for it. They may not be obvious or "classic" combinations, but if you and your family like the combination, then there's nothing that stops you from pairing things together as you like.

Both. Yep. Both. As I said, don't ask. I don't understand it either. :)