malcolmjolley

Amen. I find this all so boring. If only these energies were put to save the Caspian sturgeon, etc.

Zuppa's on Adelaide,right? Where's Mo Pancers?

This is great stuff! Thank you! The request actually came out of a discussion on Colman's vs. Keen's. (And from Gina Mallet's prediction that Colman's would be a hot food trend for 2006 - see this for more.) I suppose mustard is mustard, eh?

A Gremolata reader is looking for Chinese Mustard (either powdered or already mixed). I have not been able to reconnoitre any of the China towns, and am lazily posting in the hope that that there's a TO eGulleter that knows where to find...

Is this two lunch/brunches and two dinners? How much are you willing to spend on a plate or for two with tax and tip? Also, where are you staying, and what else do you want to do? And finally where are you coming from? (Wouldn't send you for sea food if you're coming from the coast, etc.) I love Mildred Pierce for all kinds of reasons, but otherwise sadistick's right: we can do much better.

How does one know one's meal wasn't prepared by the dishwashers? I always suspect Winterliscious is the week all the chefs take off to go to the Caribbean. Of course, I've never been so I'm completely talking through my hat and deserve to be shot down quickly... It certainly is very, very, very popular.

WARNING: I have a major conflict of interest, since Splendido is currently an advertiser on Gremolata, so treat my post accordingly. I think Spledido's star rising above most and deserves the top restaurant in the city. I loved the meal I had at Perigee, though my neck got a little sore craning around to talk to my wife, when we weren't watching the kitchen. But that was fun, so I don't know. Susur's cuisine is not my all time favourite, nor the room. But I'm awfully glad I went and I think it's indicative of the best the city's restaurant scene has to offer. In other words, there's a very good meal to be had at all three (and also Scaramouche, for that matter). Anyway, back to salesman mode: Splendido is publishing their January menu at their website, which I've pasted below. It's a collaboration done with the Italian Board of Trade in Toronto: Italian wine and principles meet Canadian ingredients.

Aren't La Cuisine... and the Italian translation/re-issue The Silver Spoon really just their national versions of the Joy of Cooking or even Mrs. Beeton's? Essentially general purpose manuals?

This is the same columnist who derisively referred to eGullet as a Gourmetocracy a year or two ago -- and clearly The eGullet Society is anything but exclusive to the food snob point of view. Maybe I am completely off base here, but I think she likes to point fingers and making snap judgements of anyone she pleases without having any ideological compass or having done any informed research whatsoever. ← I don't think this meant to be taken too seriously. [Full disclosure: Leah's a friend of mine.]

For a liberal Canadian take, see Leah McLaren's piece Saturday's Globe & Mail..

Fat lady defends Jamie Oliver

Haven't been for years, but Dos Amigos on Bathurst, north of Dupont, across from the TTC yards, made an excellent fresh margherita. And decent mole.

Le Papillion! Brilliant suggestion. Very retro! But classically good. And right next to the St. Lawrence Market. For a more casual, noisy, elbows on the table lunch, I sing the praises of Terroni, at least the one on Queen West.

The Farmer's Daughter has fresh edamame (or did last week) grown on owner Michelle Shabatura's family farm: http://fresheverything.ca/ She also usually shows up at the City Hall Farmers Market on Wednesdays. We did a little thing on her in June. It's a very cool concept she's got.

No way! So you pull up to the stand shuck an ear and take a chomp right there! I love it!

I refuse to eat corn on the cob except for the few weeks every august that I can buy it on the side of the road from the person who grew it (not hard anywhere in Southern Ontario). So far, the best I've had yet came from a stand just north of the hamlet of Greenbank on HWY 7/12, south of Lindsay. I'm ashamed to admit I can't remeber the name of the farm. A very good batch of peaches and cream (the varietal), rather slender, but I understand that's what's happened to most of the corn this year with the heat. Any other stands worth a mention out there (please include farms markets)?

Thuet is very much open. I just called and confirmed.

Malcolm, I thought she made the point that it's possible to shop well at both the high and low ends, so I don't think she was making the point that the poor can't afford good food. ← Fair enough. I just re-read her piece, and maybe I'm over reacting. I'm sure there's room in hyper-bourgeois salons for these sorts of debates, and good for her for questioning the local, regional, seasonal orthodoxy and making fun of us for worshiping the cult of the heirloom tomato. But it's hard to for me see how eating well, doesn't involve fresh produce whether I'm wedding "money to decency" or not.

Busboy, I wasn't trying to "attack" Julie Powell. Please let the record show that I have a lot of respect for her and the project. I can tell you I cried real tears of salt when I read her last post on the blog, after Julia Child died. I don't think the Op-Ed is her best writing, and although she has a decent point about looking down on folks who can't afford good food, it's a clumsy delivery and a silly argument: every one still ought to eat well, whether they have the cash or not. I guess that's why the implication that I was making an ad homimen attack stings for me: quite the opposite. I thought the piece was below her regular standard, and I guessed it was because it was put together because her publicist or someone told her she could get in the Times, or some such silly reason. Anyway, it's pure speculation on my part. So who knows? I wish her well. Not having a crystal clear and foodie-worthy argument in the NYT Op-ed page is hardly a crime against humanity.

If you ask me, someone's publicist saw that someone's book was about to be published and wanted to create a little buzz. Why not write an Op-Ed? Hmmm...now, what could we write about? And what position from a foodie would be more likely to be published. I think the piece is designed more to sell books, than to put forward any coherent argument. (LOL - love your post, ingridsf)

I'm afraid Preggo is over with a capital O. I can't think of anyone I know who has been there since 1997 - about the time they put in their cigar bar.

LCBO workers back strike: 84% of unionized employees reject latest offer

Actually, you don't pay so much for Food & Drink as the liquor and wine co's do. If the LCBO agrees to stock your product, and then asks you if you're going to market it, and then tells you that F&D is the biggest circulation drinks mag in Ontario, and by the way here's a rate card, do you think many advertisers say no? It's quite profitable, actually. That's why indendent mags get so upset with F&D, they can't compete with the impression* that buying ads gets you on the shelf. And there's not much point advertising a product that isn't for sale. JayT: Steven Paige's magazine is called Vines. Although I believe it was sold to another media co. a year or so ago. The editor, Walter Sendzik, has been quite outspoken on the subject of F&D and the difficulty of competing. BTW, the real reason the privatisation recommendation was so quickly scrapped is the power of the public service unions who staff the stores. There are not many cashier jobs that pay $40 an hour with full benefits and pensions. They will fight tooth and nail for every LCBO job, and with a strike deadline coming up next week, the provincial government is in no mood to send Ontarians off on a long weekend with no booze. Look for a generous settlement and a promise not to privatise. This sort of thing can lose elections! *Note, I am not saying this in fact happens, or accusing the LCBO of any wrongdooing. It's just that it's very hard to say no to an organisation with so much power, whether they actually abuse it or not.

Pam: I swear I just read somewhere that Winnipeggers drink more Slurpees per capita than anyone else on the planet. [And here's the edit, after the search...] From Tuesday's ROB: Full story here

Hey, excellent! Thanks! Will track them down!