A Taste of Toronto at Fort York

Festival:  Taste of Toronto
Date:       June 15-18, 2017
Date visited:  June 15th
Location: Garrison Common Fort York
What:      Culinary Festival
Website:  https://toronto.tastefestivals.com/
IG:           @tasteofToronto
Twitter:    https://twitter.com/tasteoftoronto

Although this is a bit late and the festival has already ended a while ago I wanted to write a post about my experience this year at Taste of Toronto.

This year I only went once on the Friday night.  It was a very HOT muggy sunny evening when we arrived for the Festival.  The weather really affects these outdoor festivals.  It probably wasn't the best time for me to go to the show because it was after work on a friday after a very busy week but since my friend and I both work downtown it was easy to meet up after work and head over to Fort York.  I have to say that Fort York is not my favourite venue for an event because it's very hard to get to.  This time since I went from work I took the Yonge subway to Harbourfront to take the streetcar which dumped me at Lakeshore and I had to walk up to the entrance which moved to closer to Bathurst.  I probably should have waited for another streetcar going north on Bathurst but I walked and remember it was hot outside so by the time I got to the event I was pretty tired and hot.   TIP if it's in the same location next year take the streetcar from Bathurst station if you can.  It's easier.

Well this should give you a glimpse at my energy level and why I didn't fully participate in all of the Festivals attractions this year.  For the past couple of years I have tried to get into the Metro masterclasses and they have been filled up but this time we got the last 2 spots for Rob Gentile (Buca)''s Pasta making demo.  Hosted by Abbey Sharp while Gentile demonstrated a very simple pasta made from Semolina and water.  The dough was pre made but we rolled it out and cut it and cooked it and the sauce and were able to eat our spoils of the demo.  It tasted great but without the egg it was a bit tough. It really filled us up though so we weren't hungry enough to try all the food booths and by that time the lines grew pretty long.

 

We walked around checking out the menus and tried some of the samples like this Brie Grilled Cheese S'mores which was stuffed with Nutella and as soon as I took a bit it oozed out and landed on my white shirt.  Big Thanks goes out to Richmond Station's staff for trying to help me get the stain out with soda water.  it helped a bit but this white shirt seems to like food as much as I do.

We also went to one of my favourite returning Sponsors the huge Nespresso booth smack in the middle of the festival.  This year they had this fun little boat set up for pics.  I didn't even realize that we matched each other and the whole display.  We really enjoyed our Iced coffees so thanks Nespresso for always being there with delicious beverages and snacks.

The trend of the Festival this year was HOT BBQ's and pits.  I really felt sorry for these super hard working chefs who were in charge of manning the meat pits all weekend long.

We didn't sit in on any of the roundtable discussions or the cooking stage demos, although I caught a bit of Chef Carl from Richmond Station while I was at the Uniqlo booth.  It seemed strange for Uniqlo to have a booth there but they were giving out free under shirts that are supposed to keep you warm or cool, new super tech.  They also had something I really enjoyed,  they were making Hibiscus cocktails.  It was so refreshing.

Normally I spend a lot more time and get to chat with some of the Chefs I have met over the years but I didn't have the chance to see them this year.  I did wave to Chef Mark McEwan and I had a great chat with my friend Nancy who is an Ambassador for Blue Goose Pure Foods who had a booth set up there.  What I like about this festival is the fact that all of the best chefs in Toronto go there and I usually sit in on the demos and get to see what's up in the Toronto food world.  Every year new trends emerge and it seemed that this year it was all about meat and doing different things with it.  Chef McEwan's booth had crispy pigs ears, compared to year 1 where they had insane lines for their fried chicken that sold out.  There were some booths with really long lines and some didn't have any lineups so I think that's pretty telling about our discerning Toronto palates.

I would love to see this festival have a free admission so that there is more money to spend for the food booths or have a one price fee.  This year they got rid of their crown cards and you had to pay with credit or debit cards.  I had cash which wasn't accepted.  I understand the no cash policy but maybe there's a better way to accommodate all kinds of payments and maybe if it moved to a more accessible venue and I think people would hang out longer and try more food and attend more demos.
 

Mealshare - Buy a meal give a meal

Abbey Sharp (Abbey's Kitchen)  Registered Dietician, TV personality and blogger hosted an event at Pizzeria Libretto last night to launch a new program called MEALSHARE.  Abbey is an Ambassador for Mealshare so she invited some influencers to spread the word about the program.

Derek Juno who is Mealshare's VP of Business Develpment was on hand to explain the Mealshare program.

Mealshare is a really great initiative that makes it really easy for people to do something good without doing anything out of the ordinary in their everyday lives.  The program works when you go out to dinner at selected Mealshare restaurants and order a designated mealshare dish indicated on the menu Mealshare will donate a meal to someone less fortunate through a local or international charity.

Kathy from Parc, Derek from Mealshare, Abbey Sharp and Hilbert from Save the Children

A couple of the local and international beneficiaries representatives were present to speak about how the program benefits different charitable organizations. Kathy Allan from PARC - Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre and Hilbert from Save the Children were present to answer questions and support the program launch.

It doesn't cost a diner anything extra to participate.  The only thing required is to choose the menu item from a restaurant that participates in the Mealshare program.  More and more are joining the program everyday.

Since we were at Pizzeria Libretto Chef Rocco presented us samples of their featured item that will be the BUY ONE GIVE ONE Mealshare menu item.  Their feature was this DUCK CONFIT pizza.  They chose it because it was one of their signature pizzas.  It's made with Duck Confit, caramelized pear, rosemary and mozzarella cheese in a Neopolitan style pizza.

To find a participating restaurant in your are and for more information check their website:

www.mealshare.ca   

Some of the other Toronto restaurants that are participating include: Richmond Station, Terroni, Cafe Belong, Hawthorne, Glory Hole Doughnuts, Nana, Marben and many more.

All about food at the Delicious Food Show 2014

The Delicious Food Show 2014 takes place this weekend at the Direct Energy Centre at  Exhibition Place this weekend.  It's only in it's 3rd year but it's amazing how prestigious and large it's become in 3 short years.  Last year they featured the Queen of Lifestyle Martha Stewart and this year they brought in Superstar Chef Mario Batali and fellow American Chef Tyler Florence.

Our Canadian Chefs are no slouches either, and our own Amazing Chefs, Mark McEwan, Chuck Hughes, Roger Mooking are also at the show this year.  And for those of you that followed the Cronut frenzy last year the creator Dominique Ansel  and right hand to Martha Stewart, Lucinda Scala are also coming to the show for a demo.

The first day of the show started off with a bang.   I attended the Media Breakfast that was chock full of super talented chefs.  Mario Batali (The Chew), Tyler Florence (The Great Food Truck Race, Wayfarer Tavern) , Chuck Hughes (Garde Manger, Le Bremner) and Rob Gentile  (Buca) attending a press conference for the media.

Rob Gentile's restaurant Bar Buca provided a generous supply of pastries and coffee for breakfast, it was an incredible spread that I wish I could have tried a bit of all of it.

The Media were given a mini tour of the show where we first met up with Chef Chuck Hughes who told us about the Executive Series where he will be teaching a hands on workshops for about 20 people. Other Chefs doing their own demos are Tyler Florence and Mark McEwan.  

We were then greeted by BBQ King Ted Reader at his converted fire truck where he served up some beer samples from his truck.  He will be serving pork ball donuts and beer at the show.   We moved on to samples from Von Doughnuts, Parachute Coffee, a demo of Parts and Labour's Smore's ice cream bar and Manning Canning and a bunch of other vendors at the Foodies on Foot booth.  It was hard to keep up with it all there was so much to check out.

    

At the press conference the Chefs and representatives from Informa Canada announced that in September 2015 they will be bringing the Food and Wine Festival to Toronto.  This festival is huge in North America and will be a great addition to the ever growing Food Scene in Toronto.

Some other highlights of the Delicious Show are Abbey Sharp's Kitchen Stadium and the Sandwich Smackdown.  

Abbey Sharp (Abbey's Kitchen), dietician, host and blogger is also the host of all of the Celebrity Stage Demo's at the show again this year.

I have been to all of the Delicious Food Show's since the beginning and it is probably my favourite food show because of the quality of the Chefs and food demos and the participation of a lot of Toronto's top restaurants.  It's where the Chefs and food lovers want to hang out.   I think the move to the Direct Energy building this year was a great move with the show having enough room for people to comfortably roam the food isles and sample all the goodies.

Most of the media left shortly after the Press Conference but I loved the show so much that I stuck around the whole day to check out the whole show,  so I will do another post to get into more detail about some of the other things I saw there.

McEwan's All Access foodie's sip and nibble.

photo by Linda Matarasso

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to post anything about my evening recently attending Top Chef Canada head judge Mark McEwan's All Access 3.0 at McEwan's Grocery Store at the Shops at Don Mills.   Hosted by Abbey Sharp of Abbey's Kitchen.  A bunch of select foodies and bloggers were in attendance sampling donuts from Von Donuts, some excellent tender beef from Prince Edward County.  Mark McEwan's own pillows of love Gnocchi, Macarons from MAKARON, some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches and spring rolls, wine, specialty soaps and some Hot Bunz too.

photo McEwan group

Here's a photo from McEwan's Group website where you can see Top Chef Mark McEwan and me behind him and a bunch of other foodies listen to him talk about his experiences.  Chef Mark talked about how to make his excellent Gnoochi recipe and after giving everyone a chance to ask questions I spoke to him about my Food Revolution Day Workshop event the following week where I was planning on making potato Gnocchi but after tasting Chef Mark's Ricotta Gnocchi and speaking to him I decided to change it up and make them with Ricotta.  Chef Mark suggested that I should show my Workshop attendees how to make the Ricotta cheese from scratch and then make the ricotta gnocchi.   I made a batch of the ricotta cheese the day before but had a store bought on hand in case I failed.  I picked up Chef Mark's Rustic Italian cookbook and followed his recipe to make sure I had the right measurements for a recipe and then I doubled it up.   I made a huge mess in my kitchen but it worked out perfectly.  The next day I did the demo at the workshop and it was a lot less messy and it turned out great and everyone was amazed at how easy it really was.  I ended up using the store bought Ricotta cheese as a comparison to the freshly made one.   It was unanimous that the fresh one was 100% better.

 It was a fun night with people that all have a love of quality food and appreciated all the treats we sampled and we got to take home a goodie bag full of great stuff provided by Brands and Buzzing.

I am grateful for the excellent timing of this event even though I was exhausted from work and getting ready for my own event it was incredibly helpful chatting with Chef McEwan about tips for my gnocchi in my workshop and I provided recipes to the attendees so they can now all make their own Ricotta cheese and know how to make fresh gnocchi from scratch but there is always Fabbrica and McEwan's if they don't want to mess up their kitchens and still get the great quality Gnocchi.   I have to say that I have been to Fabbrica just after it first opened and had the gnocchi then and it was the best gnocchi I have ever had in a restaurant in Toronto.   The sauce is just the way I like it.   Classic simple Italian tomato sauce similar to the way I make mine.  I like to add a few chili flakes to mine but otherwise it's pretty much the same thing.

Besides the great food I got to meet fellow food bloggers and one that I have been communicating online with that I have never met face to face before.   So it was like a great cocktail party with friends.

I didn't get to sample the skull chocolates but I had to take a photo for a certain movie critic that I know who wears a skull ring.

I didn't have any wine but the rest of the food was really great.   I especially liked the grilled cheese and the beef.  Both melt in your mouth.

If you haven't visited McEwan's grocery store before because you thought it was too far away, you will be happy to know that he is opening another one in the TD Centre downtown soon.  The Bay streeters will be all over that place.

Thanks to Chef Mark and his team, Abbey Sharp and Brands and Buzzing for a fun event.  I hope there are more like it to come.