Pusateri's opens Food Hall at Saks Sherway Gardens

 Pusateri's Food Hall Opens at Saks Fifth Avenue at Sherway Gardens

I started my day today at the brand NEW Pusateri's Fine Foods Food Hall at the also recently opened Saks Fifth Avenue store at CFSherway Gardens.  It's a bit of a trek for me but I wanted to see what the pairing of 3 power brands would look like.  I stared off with a latte at the Nutella Cafe where there were all kinds of treats made with Nutella and crepes and an array of other pastries.  I tried the strawberry Nutella crepe and a bit of apple strudel.  Today was opening day and they were still buzzing around trying to get everything ready.  It takes a village to open a store like this.  Everything is set up in perfect alignment and a feng shui master would be so happy in this space.  Attention to detail is unbelievable and my fellow blogger buddy said it was so perfect she didn't want to touch anything.  I am sure that's not what they want but at the same time it means that everything is in the perfect place.

The whole space has an amazing flow and bright and airy.  Much lighter than the other Pusateri's which are not as spacious.  

A grocery shop like this is a dream store for me.  It's the Best of the Best from local producers and the top products from around the world.  I spotted my favourite Kusmi Teas from Paris and they have Forno Cultura, Blackbird Baking Co. and Fred's Breads and more local products like Nugateau to come.

Manager John Mastroianni

John Mastroianni, Pusateri's Manager stated that they look for products without GMO's, antibiotics and all the nasty stuff you don't want in your food and seek out the best they can get with unique and staple items.  The funny thing is that John is married to the girl I used to live next door to many years ago.  

Pusateri's owner/founder took a bunch of us media types for a little tour of the store where they explained some of the products and sections like their Prociutina as in this photo explaining how they age and slice their prociutto's on site.

There is so much high quality food sections available for people that are willing to pay for the best quality and products that are hard to find in one place. This is the first mall that has a grocery store attached to the mall as they say.  I don't know about that but it is unique for sure.  It's nice to be able to pick up dinner after running errands at the mall.  There is the smaller Pusateri's at Bayview Village but it pales in comparison to this one.  The Manager John also told me that they will open an even bigger one in the Path at the Bay/ Saks at Yonge and Queen Street soon.  That's the one I will probably hit up when I need some specialty items since it's subway accessible.

  

There is a Sushi Bar, a Fish counter, meat counter, packaged deli meats, a bread section, a full produce section, lots of desserts and a huge array of prepared foods that you can grab and go when you just don't have time to cook or just don't want to.   From proteins to sides they have you covered.  Don't go hungry or you will buy enough food to eat for days and days.

The Whole Pusateri family was on hand to cut the Panini to welcome everyone to the new store.

And the future generation of Pusateri knows good food when they see it and little does this little man know that he is being subliminaly trained to step into the future of food.

Pusateri's was the first to really cater to a high end clientele in Toronto starting up in North York and then other's have tried to step in as well but either way the competition is great for the people who live in the city that don't want to travel all over the city to find the best food they can get.

I just wish my income matched my palate so that I could shop there more often.

Sherway Gardens is still growing and there are more big things to come and as for Pusateri's there is also more to come.  Check them out and bring your appetite and your wallet.

For more info on Pusateri's http://www.pusateris.com/
For more info on CFSherway Gardens  https://www.cfshops.com/sherway-gardens.html
Fore more info on Saks Fifth Ave. http://www.saksfifthavenue.com

Follow Pusateri's at @pusaterisfoods
Follow Saks at Sherway Gardens @saks_sherwaygdns

Hashtag  #pusateriatsaks  #mypusateris

Sobey launches 1st Nutella Cafe in Canada

Who:            Sobeys

What:           Nutella Cafe launch

Where:         22 Fort York Blvd

When:          November 13, 2015 

Why:            Launch of the 1st Nutella Cafe in Canada

I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to mosey my way downtown to visit the Sobeys at Spadina Ave and Fort York Blvd.  I had to be there at 7:30am.   I got there a bit late and missed the ribbon cutting ceremony but those pastries were calling my name so I made sure I got there in time to try them.

Sobeys launched their 1st Nutella® Cafe in Canada at this location today and were out in full force with a crack team of red jacket decked out staff to give out samples of pastries.

Inside the Sobeys people milled about and we watched as a couple of ladies swirled crepe batter on an authentic crepe maker and then filled them with Nutella® spread and fresh fruits.

My morning breakfast consisted of a Nutella® crepe and I also had an arogosta.  They were so delicious.  Besides the pastries they also have coffee of course and you can get a cappuccino for $2, a lot less expensive than your usual cafe's.

Also available are artisan breads made with Nutella®, including bombe, aragosta, zeppole, pizelle and all butter croissants and danishes.

Crepes are made to order fresh  and grab a coffee and you can do your grocery shopping while sipping away and the Crepes come in pizza style single serve boxes to take with you too.

Today, November 13th they are sampling all day until 7pm so if you read this today then head over there quickly to try some.

They are delicious classic Italian and French pastries and some are things you don't see in one place so it's a great place to visit before you head over to a dinner party.

If you do don't forget to take a selfie with your purchase and tag is #NutellaxSobeys so that they Sobeys people can see you enjoying your treats.

About Nutella®
Nutella® was created in 1964 thanks to Mr. Michele Ferrero; it was based on the recipe for Glandujot developed in 1946 by his father, Pietro Ferrero- confectioner and founder of Ferrero -- in Italy's Piedmont area.  Nowadays, the popular hazelnut spread is available in around 160 countries worldwide.  In 2014,  Nutella® celebrated its 50th anniversary.  It has been sold in Canada since 1968 - 47 years.

*Disclaimer - I was given free samples but the opinions in this post are my own.

New Organic Garage Store opens in Vaughan

One of my favourite Organic Stores in Oakville - Organic Garage  just opened a second store in Vaughan.  I am super excited about this because I fell in love with Organic Garage when I filmed Heather who was the subject of a documentary I was working on about making environmental changes in diet choices.  Heather lives in Oakville so we filmed her trying to find products without wasteful packaging and also as close to local and Organic as we could find.  It was a challenge for Heather but Organic Garage had a lot of great products for Heather to switch to.  I liked how the store had a large variety of Organic products at prices that were competitive to your usual grocery store.   The Oakville store is a tiny little efficient store in a little strip mall in Oakville.   The new Vaughan store is just off Bathurst at New Westminster, it's just north of the Promenade Mall for those of you that live in Vaughan.  It takes over for a previous Organic store called Planet Organic I think that's what it was called.  I went there a few times and found the prices very high and the selection not that great, although they had a whole counter of prepared foods.  Organic Garage is a compact, efficient set up with great people running it.   They also have a huge boot at the Green Living Show in Toronto that I like to always stop by at to say hi and see what they have.  The people that run the store are really great and it's a pleasure shopping there.   On my visit today I saw Randi who takes care of all the marketing and she was surprised to see me there.  She thought I lived in Oakville near Heather I guess, I live in North York so this store is a lot closer to home.  But she was very happy to see me there.  It's always nice to support great shops with people that care about their customers.

On today's shopping trip I picked up a few things I like to get Organic and a few of my favourite things.   The things I like to buy organic are the Granny Smith Apples and the bacon and the turkey luncheon meat.   My favourite things I picked up were Camino Espresso chocolate, ShaShaBread cookies and Mad Mexican tortilla chips.  I also needed some white wine vinegar so I picked up a new kind to try and I also picked up some 100% buckwheat noodles that were on special.  I was inspired by a dish Gordon Ramsey made on tv before I left the house.    TIP:  Don't watch the food network or go to the grocery store hungry unless you want to buy a whole bunch of things you weren't planning on buying.

I also picked up a few other things like Organic tomatoes, another vegetable that is good to buy organic and I also picked up some bok choy because I could buy individual portions instead of a whole bag of them like they sell in Asian stores.  I find I use a few and then waste the rest.  This way I could buy 3 which is all I need to make a great Asian Soup.  By the way this bag of food was under $40, and I probably would have spent about $60 if I would have bought the same at Whole Foods.  I didn't even shop for deals, I just bought things I wanted.  They have a weekly flyer that they send by email to their mailing list if you are looking for the specials.

I hope that Organic Garage does well in these 2 locations and is able to open more stores in the future.  The only thing that I miss that Whole Foods has is their huge Cheese Section... yeah I am a cheesehead.    So I guess I will still have to hit more than one grocery store to fill my fridge and pantry but I hope to be able to shop at Organic Garage a lot more and get fresh Organic produce at a reasonable price closer to home now.