Degustation

Actually there are quite a few restaurants open on Sun for brunch/ lunch at Yonge and Eg. Some off the top of my head: Alize, la Vecchia, Amore, Grazie (Italian) Green Papaya, Sorn Thai (Thai/Vientnamese) Cha Liu (All day dim sum) Bloor Street Diner (French bistro chain) Summit House Grill, Redwood Grille (Contemporary) Quite a few pubs are usually open as well as Sunset Grill for all day breakfast. Not necessarily gourmet but some are decent noshing if you're hungry.

There's a Celebrity Chefs dinner at Eigensinn Farm on Monday, November 10, as part of the "Proud to be a Chef" event. Tickets are $275 Spirit of Hospitality

A couple of months ago, I had a nice meal at JOV. I selected the Trust Me! tasting menu with wine pairings which is a four course meal devised by chef Owen Steinberg with creations that are different from those on the a la carte menu. I opted to go with the 3-ounce pours ($20) instead of the 5-ounce ($33). Amuse: Tapenade of black olives and anchovies adorned with a sliver red pepper on a toasted round. First course: Lobster on apple coleslaw. A warm poached lobster claw topped with a dill sprig was perched on Spy apple coleslaw shaped in a round mold. The apple slaw had onions and was lightly tossed with mayo. The dish was dressed with a swirl of balsamic vinegar and clarified butter. Pleasant, light starter – the balsamic vinegar was a nice touch to sharpen up the dish. Wine: Butterfield Station Chardonnay, California Second course: Seared rhea liver resting on a small bed of red leaf lettuce with a scattering of diced tomatoes with a brown sauce reduction. The liver had a nice crust and was tender with a pink interior. It was slightly gamey – quite tasty and it had a more robust flavour than chicken liver. Apparently Steinberg purchases the whole rhea bird and he often sears the leg as an entrée and makes a consommé out of the neck. Since this bird is in the ratite group (like emu, ostrich), it is lean and thus has to be quickly seared to avoid overcooking. Wine: Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot Noir, California Third course: Roasted stuffed quail served with a pan jus. A whole roasted boneless quail was stuffed with a delicious pumpkin, onion and chestnut mixture, and was dressed with slivers of green onion and diced tomatoes. It was presented with a lovely combination of vegetables: roasted red peppers, a carrot triangle, green beans, a sliver of fennel, leaf shaped zucchini, pearl onions, all sitting on a bed of spinach with a pool of the pan jus. I normally don’t like quail, as it can be quite dry, boring and unsubstantial. However, in this case, each mouthful resulted in succulent, tender meat morsels that were nicely complemented with the sweet, flavourful pumpkin chestnut mixture. Wine: Coriole Sangiovese, McLaren Vale, South Australia Dessert: Lemon Shortcake Tart. A hard shortcake base was filled with light creamy whipped mascapone cheese that was topped with thin slices of caramelized figs. The presentation was completed with a scattering of blueberries, raspberries and a raspberry coulis. Wine: Late Harvest Riesling-Traminer – I can’t remember where it was from, Ontario probably. A very good cappuccino closed out a very wonderful meal. A sample of other items offered on the menu that evening: Daily Soup was Jerusalem artichoke with aged Brie Chanterelle mushroom, Yukon Potato and corn chowder House cured salmon with crispy leeks and goat cheese en croute Steamed shui mi dumplings Organic baby back pork ribs with hosing beer sauce and grilled pear. Napolean printemps – goat cheese, wild mushrooms, spinach, roasted sweet peppers and toasted almond in rice paper Potato crusted market fish with Asian vinaigrette and shitake mushrooms (skatewing) Bison tenderloin with black pepper and sour cherry jus Seared dry scallops with baby new potatoes hashbrowns and a fresh wasabi and oven-dried tomato butter Coq au vin with organic bacon and wild mushrooms Duck confit with wilted bitter greens and juniper orange jus I also really like Avalon so I think you would have a fine meal at either choice. JOV is open on Sunday evening if you are coming on a weekend. I've been to Susur a couple of times within the last couple of months and they were fine meals, with a couple of dishes that were not as stellar as the others but still very good. I think next time I'm going to ask that Wuxi pork belly not be part of my tasting menu -- I like it but it gets tiresome after a while.

In Toronto, there are two museum restaurants that people go to for the food, as they are headed by well respected chefs. The Agora restaurant at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is presided by Anne Yarymowich (formerly of Mildred Pierce). See here for sample menus or for a review. JKROM with chef Jamie Kennedy, at the Royal Ontario Museum is also very good but unfortunately is closing at the end of April due to renovations at the museum. Apparently he's planning to do catering afterwards. As well, it seems that he wants to have a seasonal restaurant (I guess a la Stadtlander's Eiginsinn Farm) using local wines and foods at his farm in Prince Edward County. I recently went to JKROM to sample some of Kennedy's wares before his departure. No notes - but here's the gist: I had to have for the last time, his very excellent frites with lemon aioli. Hot crispy fries dusted with thyme and salt accompanied with a very lucious aioli with lemon undertones. They were served on a plate in a huge heap, pouring out of a paper cone. Next came the goat cheese tart, which was a 4" quiche tart with asparagus and sliced grape tomatoes. Very silky, eggy tart with a lot of creamy goat cheese oozing through the centre. The entree was a pan fried vermillion snapper perched on top of swisschard, sun dried tomatoes, and roasted potatoes, with a tomato cream sauce. I finished off with a poached pear with creme anglaise scattered with a few blueberries and raspberries. Good bye JKROM.

Um, yes but we were hoping creative draping and arrangement of items would somehow hide it for a while...what were we thinking.

This happened to my little sister when she was about five. The toaster was sitting on the lower level of a two tier glass trolley. When the flames shot up, it heated up the glass surface of the top tier. Shattered glass went flying and the flames even shot up higher. I threw water on it (yes, a no-no for electrical fires, but I was 11 and panicking!), pulled out the plug, and surveyed the damage. My only thought was how to cover this up so mom wouldn't find out. We cleaned everything up, and hoped that she wouldn't notice that the trolley arrangement looked a bit different. Kids..

Yes I have heard that too, but I'm glad his pastries are available at locations that are closer to me when I need a fix. Re: Fleurdelys Patisserie (that's how he spells it), the owner -pastry chef Miro Musil trained at Lenotre before working at the Four Seasons. His meringues are apparently 90% fruit and only 10% sugar.

I've heard good things about Don Duong's stuff and his creations on his website looks gorgeous. He only has a workshop and showroom which was not intended for retail, but apparently the people keep walking in. He plans on setting up a retail place in 2003. I think his pastries are available at Pusateri's, Whole Foods and other places. Dessert Trends

Rahier seemed much warmer in the earlier days and there seemed to be a buzz when they joined up with Tournayre. Ever since the split it seems much colder and robotic. Tournayre has a nice friendly atmosphere that reflects their location in the Beaches. I was there during the Jazz festival last summer and the food was great and so was the staff. Alex Farms cheeses on Yonge sells Rahier baguettes, so I don't have to face the mob just for that. Fleur de Lys is not quite the same class but the shop is nearby and they're not too bad if you just want a croissant. The pastry chef, who trained in France had a dessert tasting just before Christmas to drum up business. Dufflet is just dreck...too sweet...no other discernible flavour.

At home, my dad tends to make most of his sweet and sour dishes with Chinkiang vinegar and sugar. He once added apples to the S&S pork dish which added a nice flavour and texture. The only time I've seen him add ketchup was to a S&S pork chop dish. I remember the first time I saw the bright red/orange S&S pork dish served in the restaurant, I was fascinated by the colour and I couldn't believe people actually ate that.

Gad, I almost forgot to do this. Unfortunately as time goes by, the lovely memories remain but the details faded, and it doesn't help that I only had chicken scratches as notes. Nevertheless.... As indicated in the previous post, I had a lovely seven tasting meal at Susur. Amuse was a small square soymilk custard topped with spicy, diced dried turnip, sitting on a spinach puree. From all reports it seems the soymilk custard tarted up in various forms is his standard starter. Magret de Canard and a foie gras sauce topped with peppercorns and a black currant sauce. Slices of tender, rosy duck breast were fanned out on top of a sweet potato pancake, pureed carrots, crisp green beans, and slice of squash. Pan seared foie gras perched on top of a thin slice of pineapple was placed in a light shortbread rhubarb tartlet. A spoonful of tamarind sauce and a lightly spiced stuffed chicken wing, which was sliced at an angle to allow it to sit upright, completed the composition. Wuxi pork, with corn and carrots, Duchesse potatoes. Memory lapse here. All I remember quite clearly is the fragrant aromatic spices associated with Wuxi pork. Tuna confit topped with 2 thin slices of chorizio, complemented with a carrot sauce. I also had an option of ordering an extra dish with this course, which consisted of two tiny chive accented pancakes topped with crème fraiche, chives, and sturgeon caviar. It wasn’t worthy of the extra price. The following course consisted of two items: 10 spice crusted Kung Pao scallops and 5-spice lobster. Two pan-seared scallops with its sides encrusted with a spice mixture were surrounded with a lacy tuille cage. They were accompanied with three tiny dollops of sauce; sweet brown Tamarind, green lemon chive; white – some soymilk creation? The fresh lobster tail chunks were scattered with flower petals with a spicy, gingery flavour. Though I normally adore scallops and lobster, I found the spicing to be too heavy handed for the delicate shellfish. The savoury dishes ended with a corn soup with black truffles and parsley. Rich and creamy with the crunchy texture of the corn. The dessert was a trio of delights, yet the details are sketchy due to very bad notes. A wonderful flourless chestnut cake with white cream and nut chocolate crunch; a chestnut tart with pear slices and sour cream(?); and a refreshing pear sorbet with blueberry sauce. A line of apricot puree sauce was dribbled on the plate to tie together the three items. I wish I had known about the Chinese New Year meal as that sounded quite special. Well, I 'll know to call about it next year. As indicated, two seatings are only done on Fri. and Sat., so you would be able to order the seven course tastings if dining at an earlier hour on the other evenings. I dined on a Mon. night at 7:00 pm and stayed for four hours. There were about three tables filled when I arrived and Susur strolled through the room on several occasions. The room subsequently filled up after that, and I believe the room was three-quarters full at its peak. The pacing was fine for a meal of this size, and I was invited to do the kitchen tour after the foie gras course. I was quite stuffed by the end, and had to linger over my herbal tea to allow sufficient digestion before I could stagger out.

Below are the bios of the participating chefs. They seem to have representation from various parts of Canada, though they may not all be that well-known. I wonder if some chefs from the best restaurants would have the time or inclination to paticipate in the show. Chef bios

Mmm.. I also like sweet soups like Red Bean Soup and Almond soup.

When I was growing up we usually had soup with every evening meal. There wouldn't be any other beverage on the table, as we would drink the soup at the beginning and at the end of the meal. It was expected that the children eat every grain of rice that was served in our bowls, but there were days that I wasn't that hungry (too much snacking before the meal or I just didn't really care for what was being served that evening). So it was easier to mix some soup with the rice and slurp it up, rather than trying to force down plain white rice. Most of these are homemade soups that are never served in restaurants, but are often considered to be medicinal: watercress; dried mushrooms and tofu; winter melon; lotus root; dried bean curd; mustard green; snow fungus; ginseng and chicken; beef and white turnip. Wonton soup was considered to be a treat (since it was time consuming to make) and was often eaten as a meal in itself with some vegetables on the side. Shark fin's soup was, of course, for special occasions because of the cost. I remember my Grandmother making us some chicken and corn soup which was considered a bit of a novelty soup - a fusion dish of the sixties. I never had sweet and sour soup until some friends had ordered it in a restaurant. To this day, when I return home, my mom would try to make many different soups as she is convinced that I am not taking care of myself by making these "restorative" soups.

I was at the Pacific Mall today (the largest indoor asian mall in North America or so says their website) and I stumbled across Meltykiss. Mmm, very smooth, deelish. I also got talked into buying some candy made by the Bourbon company in Japan. They were olive-shaped white chocolates with a grape -flavoured candy centre. Interesting but not worth the price - should have bought another Meltykiss.

I just bought a bag of wasabi flavoured shrimp chips made by Brilliant Food in Richmond BC...and one lead to another and...dang it, the bag was empty in five minutes. Addictive little critters. Anyhow, I was curious about the company and a Google search turned up this review on this nifty site. Check out the rest of the Chipworld links. I love the one about the road trip where the authors travelled from Massachusetts to Virginia for a family reunion and they indulged in chip hunting along the way. Their relatives were quite concerned when they saw the 53 unopened chip bags in their room. Wasabi Shrimp chip review

In the Chinese forum, there was a thread about items a novice would require to properly stock a Chinese pantry. I rely on my parents to be in the know about which brands to use in Chinese cooking because the quality does vary from brand to brand and it does affect the dish. I would think that must be true for Japanese products as well. After reading the Panko thread, it seems that there are certain brands that are exclusive to North America. I was wondering if we could come up with a list for a Japanese pantry. The following is a link to a store that I go to in Toronto, but I’m somewhat overwhelmed and intimidated by the different brands, and am unsure of what to buy. As you can see they have quite an array of Tsukemono (Pickled Foods) and seasonings. I knew to try the Japanese Mayonnaise because Jinmyo had mentioned it in various posts. What do you have at home? What brands do you recommend for some of the must-have pantry basics? Sanko Trading Co. Edit: It would be appreciated if a kind moderator can correct my typo in the title.

I buy that brand as well. It doesn't really taste that sweet and I use it the same way as regular(?) panko. The ingredients are: wheat flour, water, yeast, honey, sugar, and salt.

I just had a great meal at Susur and I will provide a post a bit later. As indicated by previous diners, the details about each dish are staggering and I think the only way to perfectly capture the information would be to tape the runners who seem to effortlessly rattle off the descriptions, when they present the plates. However, the good news is that Susur now has a website and you can see for yourself what his dishes are like. Since it was a fairly slow night (3/4 full for the evening), I was amongst the others who were offered a tour of the kitchen and the new back room. Upon entering the kitchen, to the left is a small recessed prep area, which is used for cleaning fish, etc. Beside the prep area is a small alcove where the servers prepare the bread plates. To the right of the entrance is the main kitchen area, with a stacked row of steamers, and stoves and ovens on one side of the long counter and pickups occuring on the other side. At the end of the counter is where the plating occurs. Opposite the plating area is the dessert space where they also prepare the house-made ice creams and sorbets. The most interesting design aspect was a skylight that is situated high above the middle of the counter space, providing a light, airy feel to the room. I was standing near the kitchen entrance, where most of the serving staff would normally be congregating for pick-ups. As I chatted with Susur and the maitre d', the staff quickly hustled about, politely excusing themselves as they moved around us. It was pointed out to me that on Saturdays and Fridays they have two seatings, the pace is frenetic and they can go through about 1,000 plates. If you enter the kitchen and walk straight ahead, you will get to Susur's new private dining room. It's a lovely, cozy space that seats about 25 people. The long table fills the middle of the space, and at one end of the room is a glass enclosed fireplace, and a wall of ceiling high (?) windows is just opposite the entrance. Susur indicated that sometimes they can put groups of six in that room on a Sat., if the main dining area is full. There is no extra charge for the room, as the same tasting menus are served. To answer Ajay's question, a 5 or 7 vegetarian tasting menu is also offered on the menu. It also follows the "backwards" style of presentation. Eggplant ravioli with tomato confit and black truffle sauce is an example of a substantial veggie dish. Many of the vegetables are steamed and the different sauces are an important part of the creations. Apparently, some patrons just opt for the vegetarian menu for a change of pace so I would suspect that the meal would be a very satisfying experience even without the meat component.

Bymark is not open for lunch on Sat. As Gordoncooks says, I think Didier Leroy is still doing private parties.

I love Avalon, it's always consistent. I haven't been to Centro since Marc left but apparently he is doing good stuff at the Fifth. Joanne Yolles who left Scaramouche to raise her family in 1994 after 11 years as the pastry chef, has recently returned to do sweets at Pangea. I don't know if Bymark does lunch on Sat. but I can check. Marc Thuet at the Fifth There was a blurb in Toronto Life about Chris McDonald of Avalon who apparently was going down south to cook for a sold-out crowd at Tapawingo in Ellsworth, Michigan. He was going to cook poached beef tenderloin with oxtail and two other star chefs from Seattle and Detroit was going to do appetizers. Chris brought his own oxtail but the US immigration stopped him because there was no mention of "chefs" on the NAFTA list of professions allowed to visit the US for that type of job. McDonald showed the official a letter that indicated that he wouldn't be paid but the response was: "Then you must be doing it for personal promotion and that's stealing the promotional possibility from an American chef". So Chris went home.

I haven't been but have heard some good things about it. If you are looking for something new, Mark McEwan of North 44 has opened up a new restaurant located downtown (Bymark, 66 wellington St. W. 416-777-1144). The chef is Brooke McDougall who was the sous from North 44. Joanne Kates gave it a favourable review in the Globe and Mail on Dec. 21. Since the review is not online, here are some excerpts: "Their octopus and squid starter is the tenderest octopus ever, spiked with chili and citrus for just enough kick. I can't buy mozzerella as fresh and sweet as the cheese he partners with charred and oven-cured tomatoes, basil oil, roasted garlic and sweet 25-year-old balsalmic. He makes soup with pureed woodland mushrooms and spicy housemade lamb sausage. Even the terrine of foie gras is better than elsewhere, a clever layered loaf served with intense roasted apple and even more exciting stewed figs. My kingdom for Bymark's ruby red, tender venison served with light brown sauce jazzed up with truffles, and sides of ungreasy ultra-crisp potato cake with a cabbage roll filled with meaty chanterelle mushrooms. We try Bymark's roast chicken because you can tell everything about a chef by the roast chicken. My mother's was never thus. I might have never left home if it had been. This bird is plump, moist, tender. We love the deep-fried sage leaves, the bits of sweet/salty Parma ham, the barely wilted spinach, the rich brown sauce. Aah, the erotic appeal of dessert. Back to the Canadian theme with maple creme fraiche on apple clafoutis. He revisits the towering food theme with a base of tiny diced perfectly ripe papaya and passion fruit under clouds of soft-centre meringue that melt in the mouth. Pear fritters are the lightest, least greasy of their kind, fruit and nut tart the most delicate." Apparently, Bymark does lunch as well, which makes sense to draw in the business crowd. Gordoncooks - where else are you going to try this time? Since you can get such better mileage with your US currency, I love to hear about your various noshings. Have you yet tried the Fifth with Marc Thuet at the helm? How about the trendy Crush - worth the hype? I'm also curious about Bouchon, which is a newish bistro with chef Jean-Pierre Challet formerly of Inn at Manitou and Windsor Arms.

I like mangos too! I haven't had mangosteens since I moved back to the States. Does anyone ever see them in the markets here? I usually get them in Chinatown, and the high-end produce stores also carry them. Occasionally I also see them in some small fruit shops.

Mangos and mangosteens.

I agree with Porkpa that Centre Street Deli is pretty good. I haven't been in awhile but I have heard grumblings from Jewish friends that they have strayed from the thick slices that they originally started with because the demand is for leaner, thinner slices (gasp!). Below is also a link to the results of a poll on TO's best smoked meat. I'm a bit leary of Dipamo's being number one though their BBQ stuff is quite good. Pancer's is not bad. Did anyone try the others? Centre Street Deli Best smoked meat in TO?