The Edgy Veg Cookbook launch

I got an invitation to the launch of Candice Hutchings new Cookbook the EDGY VEG at the YouTube space downtown.  Although I had never heard of Candice who has a YouTube channel with her recipes I was curious to find out about what she has been cooking up.  She claims to make Vegan food that will satisfy a carnivore.  Candice wrote the cookbook with her husband who isn't a vegan so she was trying to come up with recipes that would satisfy his tastebuds and that they could both be happy with.

I have to say that the Youtube space is a very cool little spot and they had Activated Charcoal lemonade as well as Kombucha Mimosa's for everyone to sample along with wine.

I was there with my fellow bloggers Natalie (Cooking Quidnunc) and Shuang (The Teleporta).  The room was filled with all kinds of people including Abbey Sharp from Abbey's Kitchen and Home Economist/tv personality Mairlyn Smith who we had a very nice chat with.

I can't say that much about the food because I only sampled 2 things,  the Pulled Jackfruit Slider which was really good and was meant to be a substitute for pork.

I also had a small bit of the "cauliflower chicken wings"  basically a tempura like batter dipped cauliflower with a chicken wing sauce.  I love cauliflower so I also enjoyed this bite.

We didn't stay very long so I think we missed a few things.  I saw that there was a Vegan chocolate Mousse that we missed.  

But I did like what I tried and would recommend checking out Candice's Youtube channel or picking up her new EDGY VEG cookbook at an Indigo bookstore near you.

Watch: youtube.com/edgyveg

Read:  theedgyveg.com/

Follow:
Instagram: @edgyveg

Facebook: /theedgyveg
Twitter: @edgyveg

Scaddabush in Scarborough

Location:  Scaddabush Scarborough
Address:   580 Progress Ave, Scarborough
Website:   http://www.scaddabush.com/
When:      Aug 3, 2016

I got a very last minute invitation to attend a media dinner at the new Scaddabush Italian Restaurant in Scarborough, ON.  I said yes because I was curious about the food because they have been popping up all over the place in Toronto.  The hard part was that I was working in downtown Toronto and had to trek it out to Scarborough from downtown on an extremely hot day.

The restaurant is located just outside of the Scarborough Town Centre so you can drive there which I would have preferred to do if I was able to.  You can also take the LRT to McCowan station and walk over from the station, and the Go bus will get you there too.

A small group of food bloggers were invited along with a group from the Scarborough Bluffs Food Bank to sample a huge amount of food from the Scaddabush menu.   They wanted to show us some of their favourites.  The people from the Scarborough Bluffs food bank were there because the proceeds from the sales of Scaddabushs' Charity Bread are donated to the food bank.  It's pretty great that a simple thing like selling bread in a restaurant can help people that can't afford to even go to the restaurant and buy that same bread.  It makes a lot of sense and they have donated a lot of money to local food banks through the sales of their charity breads.

The restaurant is big and has great lighting for people but wasn't as good for showcasing the food but they do have a patio.   When you walk in you are greeted by a giant head beside the host station.  I am not sure what that is for but it got my attention.

There are lovely chandeliers to light the room and the seats are all mixed I suppose to symbolize an extended Italian family dinner.

One of the popular features of the restaurant is the Mozzarella bar where they make fresh mozzarella and serve it in a few different ways.   People can sit at the bar and watch the staff make the mozzarella.

They also make their pasta and breads fresh from scratch each day.

We sampled a huge amount of food.   We started with 3 different kinds of charity bread and 3 different preparations of the mozzarella.

We tried a pizza topped with a raw egg and a pollo chicken pizza.  The pasta dishes we sampled were the Pollo chicken which was everyone's favourite pasta and we also tried their squash ravioli and lobster pasta.

To top it all off we were presented with 3 amazing desserts.  I think this was my favourite part of the dinner.  The 3 dishes were a very flavourful Tiramisu, zeppole donuts with a nutella dipping sauce and a classic cheesecake topped with berries.

My photos don't really show the food properly but hopefully you can sort of tell what it looks like.

I wouldn't say this is a traditional Italian restaurant but more of a North American style Italian restaurant.  The food is really rich and decadent so make sure you have a big appetite when you go there.  We all waddled out of the restaurant.  Not pictured that we tried were their 2 types of meatballs and the 2 different salads that we sampled.

I think it's a nice place to go with a big family or for a birthday because the ambiance and the staff are fantastic and you don't have to go somewhere else for dessert.  It's also a great place to go after a day of back to school shopping at the mall.  Yeah you know that time of year is coming up.

Hope you check it out and enjoy.   My tip... order the Pollo pasta and the Tiramisu.  I think those were my favourites.

Front Street Foods - Pop Up Market

 FRONT STREET FOODS POP UP MARKET

Event:                      Front Street Foods/Adelaide

Place Location:       Adelaide Place
(150 York Street / 181 University Avenue,
2^nd Level Terrace)

Date:           June 13, 2016 – August 5, 2016
Time:          11 AM – 8 PM (Weekdays Only)

The second annual Front Street Foods opened recently at Adelaide Place (150 York Street / 181 University Avenue, 2nd level terrace), with dishes and delicacies designed by 20 local chefs, restaurants and food entrepreneurs. From sweet and savoury, to lush and succulent, this carefully curated culinary market will be open for the public to enjoy weekdays between June 13, 2016 and August 5, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. With the move from last year's Union Station to an upper level patio closer to the Financial and business district, the market now caters more to local Toronto business people and locals in the know.  It is a bit hidden from public view except for the Front street foods sign on the side of the wall leading up the stairs.  Although it's not really accessible there are elevators in the adjoining office buildings.

I visited the market on it's first day open because I am working a few blocks away and thought it would be a great way to get something interesting for lunch.  The first visit was easy, not too many people.  The second visit was on a friday during prime lunch hour time so that wasn't the best time to get lunch in less than an hour.  I think we waited 20 minutes for Brock Sandwiches signature Buttermilk chicken sandwiches. Yes they were good but I think I would go at a less busy time if I want one again.
My third visit last night was an attempt to grab something to eat for dinner before I jumped on the subway to get home.  I stumbled up the stairs and after a couple of minutes of trying to figure out what I wanted I saw my blogger friend Vicky and then noticed she was with her mother who lives in Ottawa.  At first I thought she just stopped by with her mom to check it out but after chatting with her she told me it was actually a media event.  I think she mentioned it before but I guess I didn't pay attention to when it was because I had been there already and probably thought it was too late.  I didn't get an invitation to this one because I didn't know the PR agency but since I crashed this media event by accident Vicky suggested I speak with the PR people, so I did and they gave me a wristband so that I could sample whatever I wanted.  So I was able to try smaller samples of a few things and took home a donut and Fred's breads Asparagus pizza to eat later.  After wandering around I soon realized that half my blogger friends were there so I was really surprised that I didn't know about it.

Anyway, it was a happy coincidence and I must have blogger radar or food radar by now.  It was nice to hang out with a few of my blogger friends especially when I thought I was just going to pick up something to eat and go home.

The things to check out are the RACLETTE.. oozing cheese on potatoes with Kale salad.  The Fred's Breads are always one of my favourite things and I always have Station Cold Brew when I see them at events.  Something new and popular are the Sushi burritos from Fishd by Edo.  They also make Salmon and Tuna Poke.  I really liked the Tuna Poke. I have also tried the Paella from La Fiesta which was pretty good.  That was one of my lunch trips though.  The Rolling Pin are on hand with Donuts and you can get a donut cake but I tried the smores brownie and it was fantastic.  They even have oysters and beer on hand.  You can get breakfast from Bacon Nation or grab your lunch or meet for a drink and a bite after work.  A great meeting spot for the time starved downtown commuter.  When those trains get delayed this is a good way to kill some time.

Some of the vendors you can expect to see are:

• Brock Sandwich 
• Chimney Stax Baking Co. 
• Fish’d by Edo 
• Freds Bread 
• Fresh 
• Holy Chuck Burger 
• HotBunzz 
• Jake’s Lobster 
• La Fiesta 
• Raclette Suisse 
• Tacos 101 
• The Rolling Pin 
• Toben by Design 
• Railroad Coffee Co. 
• Station Cold Brew Coffee 

Visit frontstreetfoods.com   and torontomarketcom for a full list of vendors and more information.

Twitter/Instagram & Facebook - @torontomarketco

Getting Veggilicious at BENT with Chef Susur Lee

I spent a delicious afternoon today with Toronto's own Celebrity Chef Master Susur Lee at one of his 3 restaurants in Toronto called Bent which was named after his wife Brenda Bent who had a hand in designing all of Chef Lee's restaurants.  It's located at Dundas near Bathurst in the heart of a burgeoning chef scene.   Susur welcomed myself and a bunch of fellow food bloggers and made us feel like he was welcoming us into 'his home" as he said when he greeted us. We were there for a special preview of a new Veggielicious Menu tasting of some new items that will be at Bent from Sept 9 - 20th. He truly went out of his way to demonstrate the making of the meringues and all the other food that was presented to us. He was also curious to know our thoughts about a bunch of different things and also to know about our blogs and what we do.  It felt like a mutual appreciation society.   I have read that there are many chefs that don't like bloggers but that isn't the case with Chef Susur Lee.  He loved having us all there snapping photos of everything.  I think Susur is a very smart man not only in his cooking genius but in how to treat people and build your clientele.

When we first arrived we were handed a glass of champagne and then Susur explained what we were going to be doing.   First up he took us on a little walk down the street to where one of his neighbours grows a garden of special vegetables like special garlic chives and a special cucumber and other Asian specialties that Susur uses in the food at the restaurant.  Now that's what you call LOCAL.  Then it was back to the restaurant where he showed us how to make meringue nests and let us pipe our own nests..  I need to work on my piping skills... a bit shaky...  Then the food started to roll in one by one we all stared at the beautiful food while each of us got in close to take our blog photos.  If you want to eat in a hurry don't hang out with a bunch of Food Bloggers or you will have to wait.  My friends know that they can't eat until I take my pics.  It's kind of like my lord's prayer... I pray to the food gods that I get a great picture and the food is good.

On the Menu was:

Dip Three Ways



1. Hummus of Romano Beans w/ salted chilis and sherry vinegar, roasted olive w/ sumach and preserved lemon.

2. Spicy mustard seed tomato stew w/ walnut and curry leaf.

3. Caribbean eggplant babaganoush w/ cilantro



Tingly Chili Soba

Shredded local vegetable and soba cake, confit of shiitake, shiso leaf, nori crisps in a Taiwanese vinaigrette.

Chickpea Tempura Tofu

Pickled Brassica and Fish Mint, Shisito peppers, Korean sweet chili sauce, braised burdock root.


Wild Mushroom Quinoa Risotto


Roasted cauliflower, romano parmigiano emulsion & tempeh crouton







Dessert - French Meringue with Golden Licorice

Lemon curd, wild blueberries, peaches, passion fruit syrup & raspberry coulis.

Other items that we tried were:

Goat cheese Tacos
Chorizo chicken dumpling
Susur's famous Singapore Slaw Salad

Susur explained some other unique things in the restaurant like the really cool and kitchy back wall of tiny little momentos that his wife collected from travels and their kids childhood.  A legacy of little things that probably have a lot of sentimental value for their family.

He also talked about their Raw bar and then we had a couple of demos from their drink menu by their bartender Manuel.   He made a Karate Kid 2 cocktail using Sake and an Asian Ceasar drink that was really flavourful.  I am not even a drinker and I tried these drinks and liked them.  They had subtle and big flavours if that makes any sense.

Chef Lee is the master when it comes to striking a great balance of big flavours and you taste flavours you might never have had before but may look like a common thing and you still can't put your finger on how it's made.  That's the delicate balance of different flavours working together to create great dishes.  Susur Lee is highly acclaimed throughout the world but he is still learning and trying new things all the time.  That's the sign of a Master.  Most of the chefs and a lot of A list celebrities know how skilled he is and he has a large following of devoted Susur Lee restaurant fans.  I can now say that I have been to 3 of Susur's restaurants.  I have been to LEE, Luckee and now Bent.  They are a bit out of the way for me and somewhat out of my budget to frequent often but if I was able to I would be going for a visit often even if it was only for the delicious Singapore Slaw.

I was very blessed to be included in today's workshop/tasting session and I hope that I can be included in more of these in the future.

Bent also has a lovely outdoor patio and a great staff including Susur's own sons.   If you love high quality, interesting food and you might even be a vegetarian, then this is the place for you.

Susur said he would like to focus on more flavourful vegetarian dishes in the future and you need to go and try them and let him know that you like them so that he will continue to create great new dishes.

And here's some of Toronto's great Food Bloggers with Chef Susur Lee and a couple of staff members.