C2C Dinner Series at Fuel House

I attended Fuel House's (@FuelHouseTO) inaugural C2C dinner last week. C2C, short for "Coast-to-Coast", is a dinner series that focuses on showcasing Canadian ingredients. Chef Peter Petruniak (@ChefPeteTO) of Fuel House is a local food advocate:


"I wanted to do C2C to really show the amazing produce that is grown in Canada.  Even before getting into this profession, I always try to eat local and make the effort to look for grown-in-Canada products. I also try to avoid eating at major chain restaurants. Supporting local has many benefits; it helps local farmers and small businesses, as well as reducing carbon footprint.  I will take a fresh Ontario peach over ANY tropical fruit; it is fresh and not ripening on a truck as it crosses the border.  I have read about many chefs who try to really show what their country has to offer. The best chefs Adria, Keller, and even Edward Tuson at Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island want to know where their ingredients come from.  Every chef should want that and every chef should know that food doesn't just come from the back of a truck.  With C2C I really want to highlight great Canadian ingredients while trying to stay as local as I can."

All Canadian wine pairings.

Daikon Radish & Horseradish Gazpacho - Radish sprout, fresh radish, honey, sour cream, chive

La Carnita

Exactly one year ago, La Carnita (@la_carnita) became Toronto's first pop-up taco stand. Owners Andrew Richmond and Amin Todai, of OneMethod Digital + Design, had the brilliant idea of selling street art with tacos on the side (this was to get around the city's health code regulations). Torontonians quickly fell in love. We fell in love with not only their mouthwatering tacos and exquisite art pieces, but also La Carnita's concept as a whole. Nobody has done before what La Carnita was doing in the city (and to the city). La Carnita was new. La Carnita was edgy. La Carnita was EXCITING.

With frequent pop ups throughout the year, ending with UNO, La Carnita's biggest and baddest art show event in April, it was evident that Toronto has an insatiable appetite for La Carnita. So when La Carnita took over the former Briscola space at College and Bathurst last month, it became the talk of the town. We all wanted to experience La Carnita's transformation from a pop-up stand to a restaurant.

You won't find a "La Carnita" sign out front...only their Meathead mascot.

Notice the cool "telephone wires" light fixture at the bar.

The 2,000 square foot space is beautifully decorated and decked out with graffiti and original artwork. The colours black, orange, yellow and white can be found throughout the restaurant.

Tasty Tour's Kensington Market Sweets Tour Contest - CLOSED

I'm giving away a PAIR of tickets worth $60 to Tasty Tour's Kensington Market Sweets Tour.

The Kensington Sweets Tour is a 2-hour guided tour through Kensington Market. The tour stops at six locations where you get to try different sweets and dessert samples. There will be discounts at selected merchants too!


Read about the Tasty Tour that I went on during Canada Day :)


HOW TO ENTER

1) You MUST follow me (@foodieyu) and Tasty Tours (@tasty_tours) on Twitter;

AND

2) Tweet the following sentence, exactly as shown, nothing before or after it: 

I want to win a pair of tickets worth $60 to @tasty_tours Kensington Market Sweets Tour http://bit.ly/O8MQuD #ILoveTastyTours

*Limit one entry per person*

CONTEST DURATION

Contest starts on Tuesday, July 17 and ends on Tuesday, July 24 at 12PM.

The lucky winner will be chosen randomly from www.random.org. I will announce the winner on Thursday, July 26.

GOOD LUCK!!! ^_^

Kinton Ramen

RAMEN FEVER!
Toronto has this right now we will continue to have this until...? Meh, who knows and who cares? I'm simply thrilled that more and more ramen places are popping up...it is about friggin' TIME that somebody puts a stop to the Ajisen-Kenzo ramen duopoly in downtown Toronto. I'm confident that I speak for the masses; we welcome you Kinton Ramen (Twitter: @KintonRamen, Facebook: KintonRamen), with open arms! Actually, our arms will stay so wide open that we will gladly fit FOUR more ramen restaurants by the end of the year, namely: Santouka, Momofuku's Lucky Peach, Raijin Ramen and a ramen shop by cook Chris Jang from the Ossington restaurant, Yours Truly (source: Toronto Star: Ramen soup competition heats up in Toronto). Exciting times ahead, guys. Exciting times.

First Guu Izakaya, then Guu Sakabar, now Kinton Ramen, Guu is slowly but surely expanding its empire in Toronto. Much like how the two izakayas were when they first opened (and sometimes even now) expect constant line-ups out the door at Kinton (it wouldn't be RAMEN FEVER any other way right? :P) No reservations, obviously.

Gold pigs behind the bar. Kinton sure loves their pork!

A very long and narrow space, the kitchen bar begins from the front of the restaurant all the way down to the end of the open kitchen. There are two communal tables; one at the very back of the restaurant and one near the entrance.

My friend and I sat at the communal table at the front. We had....

Cold tea ($2)

Gyoza - Japanese pork dumpling ($3.5)

A Special Canada Day Tasty Tour

Tasty Tours (Twitter: @tasty_tours, Facebook: Tasty Tours Toronto) is a guided walking tour dedicated to sweets; chocolates, cupcakes, pastries and various edible delights...you name it! It is an excellent walking food tour for those with a sweet tooth.

On each Tasty Tour, you get to learn about sweets history as well as visit various bakeries, chocolatiers, etc., in a Toronto neighbourhood. Best of all, you get free samples and store discounts along the way!

I was invited by Tasty Tours to join their special 2-hour Canada Day Sweets Tour (Kensington Market Sweets Tour and Trinity Bellwoods Chocolate Tour are Tasty Tours' regular tours). Designed specifically to celebrate Canada's birthday, this tour took us around Kensington where we got to try various Canadian treats. Here is my recap of the tour:

1st Stop: The tour started at Ding Dong Bakery on Spadina. Here is Audrey Ooi of Tasty Tours giving us a brief history of sugar and sweets and their presence in Canadian history.

Chinese egg tarts for everyone after our history lesson. Nothing "Canadian" about these but I'm not complaining.

2nd Stop: Moonbean Coffee Company

Vertical

After relocating to Liberty Village with what seems like a gazillion years working in the financial district, The Gabardine became the only reason why I would think about venturing into the financial district to eat. Well, I'll be adding Vertical (@VerticalTO) to the list now.

Located on the mezzanine level of First Canadian Place, Vertical is seen by many as a trendy spot for corporate lunches, dinners, and after-work drinks. In spite of the corporate / suits image, I was still eager to try out Vertical because I've been hearing a lot of positive feedback from friends about the restaurant. I went with my friend Ed (@PrettyBoyLarge) last week and ohhhhh my goodness, it would be an understatement to say that chef Giacomo Pasquini (@giacomo81) completely spoiled us! His 8-course tasting menu that night was so exquisite and so very, very delicious.  I'm eager to bring my friends and family to Vertical.

Inspired by his Italian heritage and training, Chef Pasquini, Head Chef of Vertical, has a seasonal menu which uses local and organic products; whole fish, fresh handmade pasta and naturally-raised Ontario beef are all specialties in his menu. Chef Pasquini is also a firm supporter of the sustainable movement and his menus have been endorsed by Oceanwise.

This is Vertical's main dining room. The restaurant also features two private rooms as well as a separate bar / lounge.

Vertical's new patio & lounge is pretty incredible; it overlooks the parkette and waterfall of First Canadian Place (facing King Street). 

It was extremely hot and humid that day that even I, who normally loves the heat, could not imagine eating on the patio. Kudos to these people. Honestly. 

The Winner of the "Bees, Mead & Cheese" Giveaway is...

@jasontsang


Congratulations Jason! =D Please send an email to info@ledolci.com and they will be in touch with you soon. See you at the Bees, Mead & Cheese class on Thursday, July 12 @ 7pm! :D

I also want to say a big THANKS to the 32 contestants who participated in this giveaway! 

Here's a snapshot of the Excel spreadsheet where I tracked the #beesmeadcheese stream from day one of the contest. The tracking was done using chronological order, as in, #1 was the first person who entered right the contest. To enter, the person has to tweet "I want to win a free Bees, Mead & Cheese class worth $80 from @LeDolci! http://bit.ly/MWZax2 #beesmeadcheese". Once the contest was over and everybody's entries were accounted for in my spreadsheet, I went to check if they actually followed me on Twitter (I also sent the below list of contestants to Le Dolci for them to check).

And for ONCE, all 32 contestants followed us both on Twitter (this has never happened before). Anyway, I went to "True Random Number Generator" from random.org to randomly pick a winner for me from 1 to 32.

Barque Smokehouse

Lunch post! I like to announce it like it is a bit deal because well...it is. I hardly eat out for lunch and when I do it is either a work lunch or with friend(s) who can never make it out to dinner. Lunch at Barque Smokehouse (Twitter: @barquebbq, Facebook: Barque Smokehouse) was with a friend who works nights

Opened a little more than a year ago on Roncesvalles, Barque Smokehouse is a very cool and modern looking space. Wide, long and spacious, Barque Smokehouse oozes style with its brick and concrete walls, thick butcher-block tables (several high-tops at the front and the rest regular height) and stylish black bar stools. Barque Smokehouse is not your average looking barbecue joint.

Several tables with young families and kids that day.

A Contestant on Food Network Canada's "Ice Cold Cash"

Last August, I wrote a post about how my friend Nancy and I were casted to be contestants on Food Network Canada's new food trivia game show. We were not given any information at all about the show until the actual day of filming. The show, we found out, was called Ice Cold Cash.

We both had to sign a waiver that day which basically says that we can't tell anyone about the name or format of the show and how much money we won. Anyway, the episode that we were on aired in May. You can click the link below to watch the episode online:

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/ontv/shows/ice-cold-cash/videos.html?titleid=272393

We were in the episode "Bouillabaisse". You will find us around the 15 min mark.

~Filmed at Dufferin Park~

~Watch to see how much $$$ we won~

This was definitely a very cool and memorable experience! :D Here are some interesting points I want to share with you: 

1) We knew we were being filmed so us acting surprised at the start is obviously all an act (this of course includes walking in the park and suddenly wanting ice cream haha)

2) Even if we knew the answer right away, we were advised to discuss it between ourselves to fill more air time. 

 2) Whenever there was background noise (i.e. honking, plane flying by) that covered our voices we would have to do another take (sometimes two or three takes). This meant we had to pretend it was our first time hearing that same question every time...which also meant that we had to discuss, answer and act surprised / happy on each and every one of those takes too!

4) For the question we were stuck on, Nancy and I actually discussed it for quite awhile. Our  guess was going to be "Spain" *whew*

5) The cash was only for show; we received a cheque in the mail a week later!

The Winner of the Lobster Love Contest is...

@kellyldewolf


Congratulations Kelly! =D Please email me at foodjunkiechronicles@gmail.com with the 

following information:


1) First & last name
2) Email address
3) Time slot: 6pm - 9pm or 9pm - midnight
4) Main course: choice of boiled lobster, lobster thermidor or lobster roll


. Congrats again and I hope you will enjoy Lobster Love at the Evergreen Brickworks!

I also want to say a big THANKS to the 112 contestants who participated in this giveaway! 

Here's a snapshot of the Excel spreadsheet where I tracked the #ILoveLobsterTO stream from day one of the contest. The tracking was done using chronological order, as in, #1 was the first person who entered right the contest. To enter, the person has to tweet "I want to win a PAIR of tickets worth $78 to @LobsterLoveTO! http://bit.ly/Qbr35v #ILoveLobster". Once the contest was over and everybody's entries were accounted for in my spreadsheet, I went to check if they actually followed me on Twitter (I also sent the below list of contestants to Lobster Love for them to check).

After weeding out the people that did not follow us on Twitter, I was left with 91 contestants (geez 21 people don't know how to follow instructions!) I went to "True Random Number Generator" from random.org to randomly pick a winner for me from 1 to 91.