Street Food Block Party... the video

The photos were just the beginning, here's a video recap of the biggest food party in Toronto this year! It was the best of both worlds, Toronto Underground Market and Food Trucks Eats, together in one place. 

And a reminder that the next Toronto Underground Market, (TUM) is happening June 9th, but tickets go on sale THIS Friday, (May 18th). They will sell out, so get yours early. 

Terroir 2012

I had the pleasure of attending the 2012 Terroir Symposium, a hospitality industry event held at Arcadian Court in Toronto. Terroir brings together industry experts, chefs, restaurateurs, marketers and food writers alike to discuss current trends in the culinary world and what the innovators are doing.

Of course, the discussion was interesting and the speakers were engaging but when you host such a large selection of hospitality industry professionals for an all day event, one of the big questions that everyone wants answered is: What did they eat?

I put together a little highlight reel of the day's eats to show you. Bon appetit.

Love for the Toronto Underground Market

Rock Lobster Food, Sullivan & Bleeker Bakery Co. and Uber Toronto have teamed up to offer 5 lucky people, (and a guest) the chance to win a Toronto Underground Market preview lunch this Thursday. All you have to do to enter is tell them your favourite thing about TUM, (more details here).

I ended up with the day off work after a water tank exploded and soaked everything in the office. So with some unexpected free time on my hands, I put together a little highlight video of some of the reasons why I love TUM. The next event is a combo underground market and food truck event, being called Street Food Block Party. This is one party you don't want to miss.

The Secret Pickle Documentary

For the past 8 months I've been immersed in a New Media Journalism postgrad program at Sheridan College. For my final project, I created a documentary about the Secret Pickle Supper Club. The name alone should intrigue you enough to spend 10 minutes watching my video. It was enough to make me want to do a documentary on it. Enjoy!

The West Side Beef Co. Story

Ryan Donovan of West Side Beef Co. See more photos here.

It all started because Kurt Krumme was hungry. He was hungry for traditionally raised, high quality, affordable beef and it was surprisingly hard to find in Toronto. After his search yielded little in the way of results, he got some friends together, contacted a butcher and ordered a whole side of beef to divide amongst the group. What he ended up with was mislabeled beef, poor butchery and a large bill. Kurt believed beef should not be this confusing or difficult.

“I’d been doing some reading about where food comes from and I didn’t really like the answers. So I actually tried to order an entire side of beef.”

-Kurt Krumme

Shortly after this experience, Kurt ran into an old friend of his, Ryan Donovan, and relayed his tale of woe. Ryan responded immediately by saying he was now a butcher, he knew farmers and he could make this work. And he did.

Ryan got a side of beef from farmer Dennis Harrison at Dingo Farms. He butchered it himself, got in his car and drove it over to Kurt’s house where he was hosting a barbecue. Everyone was so impressed with the quality of the beef that they demanded Kurt and Ryan get them more. When other friends found out about it, they wanted some too. It soon became evident that there was a hole in the market that needed to be filled.

More Food Trucks!

I'm becoming a food truck chaser. It's like a storm chaser, but tastier.

In what was the second event put on by UeaT, 11 food trucks took over two of the University of Toronto campuses. Where was this when I was at U of T??? Check out the video above for highlights of the trucks at the St. George campus.

If you want to see more food trucks in Toronto, you can help! Tweet your councillor, tweet the mayor, email them both and don't give me any excuses about not knowing how to find their info, it's all right here  at the Toronto Street Food Project.

If you're looking to see where the trucks will be next, you can follow them on Twitter or find out about events at Ontario Food Trucks. You could also probably just ask me, odds are, I'll be there...

Fresh Pasta in 1 Minute

Want to learn how to make fresh pasta in 1 minute while simultaneously watching me make a fool of myself? Of course you do! Click the video...

Fresh Pasta
2 cups flour
4 eggs
Glug of olive oil
Pinch of salt

Come and Get It

Come and Get It is Toronto's latest pop-up restaurant, for a limited time only, at Queen and Spadina. I recently had the chance to chat with Chef/Owner Jon Polubiec about what he's up to and how long the pop up shop might last. Watch the video for the inside scoop and then head over to Come and Get It for an amazing lunch, a game of MarioKart on N64 and the pinkest walls you've ever seen in a restaurant.

Allow me to recommend the Chipotle Braised Beef Short Rib or the Hawaiian Pork Belly sandwich. And for the vegetarians, there's more than just salad! Come and Get It makes vegetarian gravy to satisfy your poutine cravings. It's all served in biodegradable take out containers and if you're eating in, you'll find condiments and napkins waiting on your table in retro lunchboxes.

You shouldn't need any more convincing to go check this place out, but if you do- Jon and the cooks at Come and Get It are pretty cute and always friendly! Say hi to them for me! ;)

Twitter @ComeAndGetIt416
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComeAndGetIt416

Beer! Hogtown Brewers Launches in TO

One of my favourite things to ask people is to tell me a story. So when I heard that five rugby playing buddies had started making their own craft beer, I wanted to know more. Hogtown Brewers, has recently entered the market as one of Toronto’s newest brewers, and it all stemmed from a desire to make a local beer that they wanted to drink.

For cute rugby boys, they’re pretty smart too. All of them kept their full time jobs, they’re renting brewing space, (instead of dropping serious money on their own right off the bat) and most importantly, they’re listening to customer feedback.

(A little tease of Hogtown Brewers at the Toronto Underground Market)

I first met some of the Hogtown Brewers crew at the TorontoUnderground Market back in November. They were proudly, (if not slightly shyly) pouring pints of their Hogtown Ale and genuinely inquiring what people thought of it.  They welcomed comments and suggestions via an online form as well so that people who were too nice to criticize in person, could still give their opinion.

Then, their master brewer took what they had learned from the public and actually made changes. The goal was to create a craft beer that was flavourful but wouldn’t alienate people.  At the Toronto Underground Market, enough tasters commented that the beer was a bit too bitter that they decided to rejig the formula.

At the official Hogtown Brewers launch party at The Duke ofDevon they had made the necessary adjustments and the response from the public was overwhelmingly favourable. The beer was great, servers were decked out in Hogtown t-shirts and even the hors d’oeuvres paid homage to Hogtown with little pastry pigs on top of meat pies.

For now you can find Hogtown Ale on tap at The Duke of Devon, but keep your eyes open as they’re looking to expand to other restaurants and pubs in the city soon. 

Cheers boys!

Interview with Chocolate & Zucchini

Back in November, (ugh, where has the time gone?) I was fortunate enough to meet Clotilde Dusoulier, of Chocolate & Zucchini fame.  She was in Canada to be the writer in residence at the Stratford Chef School. While she was here she also managed to make her way over to Toronto and give a talk at George Brown College, (where I did my Chef Training) and sign books at The Cookbook Store.  

Clotilde was nice enough to answer some questions I had for her about the changing role of the chef and her experience with the students at the Stratford Chef School and I'm finally getting around to sharing those answers with you.

In other exciting news, today is the first day I’m doing a video post! I’m back in school taking a post grad in New Media Journalism and one of the things that I’ve found myself surprisingly drawn to is video editing.  I’m having a lot of fun with it and I hope you enjoy the video of Clotilde! 

Inspired by my meeting with Clotilde, I made some yogurt scones with a recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini.  To make it a little more fitting, I opted to make them Chocolate Chip Yogurt Scones, but feel free to use whatever mix ins you’d like.

Yogurt Scones, (from Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini)

215 grams (1 2/3 cup) flour


30 grams (2 rounded tablespoons) sugar


1 teaspoon baking powder


a good pinch salt


30 grams (2 tablespoons) butter, chilled


125 ml (1/2 cup) plain yogurt


2 tablespoons milk


2 to 3 tablespoons chopped nuts or dried fruits, or 1 teaspoon citrus zest, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 2 teaspoons orange flower water, or the flavoring of your choice (optional)

(Yields 8 small scones)

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Dice the butter and blend it into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry cutter, until no visible lump of butter remains. Add the yogurt, milk, and whatever flavoring ingredient you want to use, and blend them in until the dough forms a ball. Handle the dough as lightly as you can. Avoid overmixing, or the scones won't be as tender.

Pat the dough into a flattish round, about 3 cm (a little over an inch) in thickness, and cut into eight wedges with a knife or a pastry cutter (alternatively, use a cookie cutter to make eight neat rounds). Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet, giving them a little space to expand. Bake for 15 minutes, until the top of the scones is set and lightly golden.

Serve warm, with an assortment of spreads, such as clotted cream, butter, jam, honey, nut butter, apple butter, maple syrup...