The STOP Night Market a perfect night.

There are a handful of really fun events that I really look forward to.  The Stop's Night Market is one of them.  It's my 3rd year in a row attending this really fun and tasty event.  This year they surpassed the fundraising goal and raised over $300,000.  That will go along way for many programs but they still need your help to do more.

It was previously held in the laneway of the old Honest's Ed's store.  I never got a chance to go to those ones because they would sell out instantly.  

For the past couple of years it has moved to a parking lot in the Junction.  There are a whole host of restaurants that reside within a short distance of the new location making it easy to attract some fantastic restaurants to this event.   This is where all the fun and creative Chefs with big hearts go to one up each other creating fantastically designed booths and amazing little bites of food and beverages.  Chefs on hand included Dustin Gallager (Top Chef All-Stars) (416 Snack Bar) and Trevor Lui (Kanpai Snack Bar), Ricky Casipe (Hawthorne Food & Drink), and restaurants included Carmen, Momofuku, Branca, The Drake Commissary, Pizzeria Libretto, Lasa, Nana and a lot more.  Over 30 restaurants and a dozen beverage providers each of the 2 nights.  Only a few vendors there for both nights.  Last year I was able to go to both nights and it was great because the food was very different both nights.

The food was really fantastic this year.  A couple of my favourites were Pizzeria Libretto's Cauliflower Arancini, The Tempered Room's short ribs, Carmen's Ropa Vieja, Ascari Enoteca's Broccolini Fritti, The Broadview Hotel's, Bay Scallop Ceviche., Abokichi's Tsokune and The Oakwood's Hardware's German potato cake.

What makes this event so fun as well as a great charity event is the fact that because it's held outside in a parking lot it's very casual and has mostly a younger audience looking to have some fun with their friends.  It runs over 2 separate evenings and the tickets are $100 for all you can eat and drink.

It starts by welcoming you through the gates with the Samba Squad drumming you into the event to get you in the mood to have fun.

If you arrive early you are given a wooden palate plate shaped like a fish.  It's fun and helpful to place your food and drinks on.  It's a lot of fun checking out all the different custom designed stands that are in competition for best design.  It adds a super cool factor and fun vibe to the event.

This year was the best so far for me because all of my foodie pals were there and even a surprise fill in by Denise who filled in for Food Fables who couldn't make it.  It's very rare to have us all at an event at the same time.  You have so much fun hanging out with friends and chatting with Chefs that you forget that it's actually a great charitable cause.  The Stop is a fantastic Charity that provides great programs including:

• A drop in program
• Urban Agriculture
• Youth Engagement
• Food bank
• Community kitchen
• Family beginnings

For more information visit their website:  http://thestop.org/

See how you can help by donating, volunteering or attending one of their events.

*Disclaimer- The ticket was complimentary but the opinions and photos are all my own.

The Stop's Night Market returns for it's 5th year.

The Stop’s Night Market Returns In June to Celebrate Its 5th Anniversary!

I attended this event for the first time last year and it was a blast.  Some of the best restaurants in the city participate in this event and create amazing vendor carts where they serve their food.  

A little tip though, ditch the stillettos and fancy outfits.  It's held in a gravel parking lot, so wear comfy shoes.
You can read about last year's event on this post I wrote after the event.

The event will be held in the open lot at 158 Sterling Road. On Tuesday, June 14th and Wednesday, June 15th, The Stop Community Food Centre’s most popular fundraising event will transform this new vacant lot into a bustling and aromatic market, bringing together Toronto’s most talented creatives from the culinary, design, performance, and graphic arts sectors to celebrate diversity, community, and the power of food. 

Tickets, each valid for one night only, are on sale now through the event website at nightmarket.thestop.org.  

The Stop’s Night Market will feature more than 70 of Toronto’s best chefs and more than 35 unique food carts, each created by local design teams. This year, cart designs will be subject to evaluation by a four-person jury, including Alex Bozikovic, architecture critic at The Globe & Mail; David Liss, Curator Advisor at The Museum of Contemporary Art_Toronto_Canada; Casey Mecija, multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and host of “The Doc Project” on CBC Radio One; and Vivek Shraya, artist.

All proceeds from The Stop’s Night Market support The Stop’s critical food access and community-building programs.

For a complete list of food and beverage vendors to date (subject to change), as well as design teams, see the event details below, or visit our event website at nightmarket.thestop.org.

About The Stop Community Food Centre

Located in Toronto’s west end, The Stop works to increase access to food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health and community, and challenges inequality. From its origins as one of Canada’s first food banks, The Stop has blossomed into a thriving community hub where neighbours participate in a broad range of programs that provide healthy food, foster social connections, build food skills, and promote civic engagement. Underlying all of The Stop’s efforts is the belief that food is a basic human right.

Visit the organization’s website at thestop.org. Follow The Stop on Twitter & Instagram (@TheStopCFC) and use The Stop’s Night Market hashtag, #TheStopNM. 

Updates are also available on the event Facebook Page at Facebook.com/TheStopNightMarket.  

Event Details

When: Tuesday, June 14 and Wednesday, June 15, 2016, from 7PM to 11PM

Where: Vacant Lot, 158 Sterling Road, Toronto (please note the new location!)

Tickets: $100 (includes all-you-can-eat-and-drink!), available at nightmarket.thestop.org.

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photo fun at the Stop Night Market

Big Night at the Green Barn for The Stop

I was a very lucky girl on Wednesday June 3rd, 2015 because I was able to attend the most beautiful event BIG NIGHT AT THE GREEN BARN which was held at Artscape's Wychwood Barns on Christie Street.  The event was a fundraiser for The Stop.  In case you don't know about The Stop they have programs that promote growing, cooking, sharing and advocating for healthy food.  They have a greenhouse on the site and a weekly Farmer's Market on Saturdays. There is a community kitchen and a classroom for youth education.  Chef Jamie Oliver even toured the space and thinks that there should be more facilities like it.

Since Jamie Oliver loves it so much I kind of think it's my duty as a Food Revolution Day Ambassador for him to promote their fundraising initiatives so that their programs can continue to grow and thrive.  

As a food blogger this was a no brainer for me. A great community program, a beautiful venue on an perfect spring evening and sharing some outstanding food made by some of the top Chefs in the city.  What's not to love about that?  I had one fellow blogger at my table but I didn't know anyone else but I still had a really great time.  From start to finish the attention to detail on this event was fabulous.

You arrive to a tent with some amazing appetizers.  I went back for a second cone of the hot popcorn  shrimp it was so good from Vertical.  There was also Prosciutto from Paganelli's and all kinds of appetizers from Terroni.  You were greeted by servers with trays of wine and there was Steamwhistle Beer also available.

As you entered the room there were fresh Oysters and sauces provided by Oyster Boy.  I am not a huge oyster person but they were really amazingly fresh and the sauces were perfect pairings.

There was also ice tea and delicious coffee provided by Island Coffee.

During the dinner there was an auction where the auctioneer kind of heckled the crowd to raise as much money as he could for the Stop.  Some of the items included a custom made suit and a dinner for 10 by Chef Mark McEwan who was also one of the Chef's on hand providing one of the components of the dinner.

There was a raffle with keys that the winning key would unlock a box that contained a prize to win a trip on Porter airlines.  I would have like that one.

The Dinner

The Antipasto was Mozzarella Arancini rice balls made by Chef Lorenzo Loseto from George Restaurant.  Oozy cheese.. what else is there to say.

The Primo was Rabbit Creste de Gallo a slow-cooked rabbit, peas, arugula and fresh pasta prepared by Ted Corrado from The Drake.  I only had rabbit once and I didn't like it but I didn't even taste the rabbit in this dish it just tasted like a terrific pasta and peas dish.

The Secondo was a Braised Short rib, mascarpone polenta, smoked tomato passata, roasted Thumbelina carrots and sauce.  This was provided by Chef Mark McEwan and Andrew Ellerby from The McEwan Group.  Everyone loved the tender short ribs.

Dolce the dessert was a Sicilian cannoli with ricotta cheese, chocolate and amarena cherries from George Tahari from Noce.  They were fantastic and light.

There was alos a Limoncello soaked sponge cake, filled with custard cream  that was made by Sorrento Ristorante but we are all so full by that point that I literally only had a spoonful.

I had a really great Cappuccino from Reunion Island Coffee to finish off the meal and I was totally stuffed.

It was a really great night and I hope that it was also a great night to raise lot's of money for The Stop's programs.  I know that the key sales were sold out so that's a great sign.  Everyone pitched in their time to make this event a huge success.  There were even a couple of volunteers from Tiff there so it's nice to see my film and food people in the mix.

Great job everyone.  I hope I am able to go again next year.

For more information about the Stop's programs or to donate visit their website www.thestop.org