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

Union Summer - Pop Up Market

UNION SUMMER - POP UP MARKET

Pop Up Markets are springing up all over Toronto this summer.  The latest one that just opened this week is located in front of Union Station. Although this isn't a new space for a summer market it's now sponsored by TD with all new vendors.  The food vendors were curated by my food writer friend Mary Luz Mejia who is no stranger to the food scene in Toronto after curating and hosting events such as the Pan American Food Festival and Luminato's food festival at David Pecaut Square among many other events which you may have read in my previous blog posts.  I love attending the events she has put together because the people and the food are always Top Notch.

Last year it was Front Street Foods who created the Pop Up Market but have moved further north to Adelaide Place this year to cater to the downtown business crowd.

This market known as Union Summer brings a bright and colorful market to the otherwise grey landscape on Front Street.  To further liven up the space for commuters and tourists there will be live music every day.  This market unlike the Front Street Foods market will be open 7 days a week to cater to the mass of people that pass through and around Union Station.

I stopped by the first day to check it out to see how it looked and to pick up my lunch at the same time.   I went early before the crowds got wind of the food vendors.  I picked up some Gushi Chicken for $11.  I have had Gushi before so I knew I was getting.  The only difference was that it was served on rice this time.  I stopped in again today on my way home and had the Piggy Perogies from Loaded Perogi and the Bourbon Chocolate from Death in Venice.


The vendors will change up after 5 weeks so you can try all kinds of things all summer long.  This popup will last 71 days.

Where:
Union Station, 65 Front Street West – Sir John A. Macdonald Plaza

When:
Open daily from June 27 to September 5, 2016
Monday-Friday:     7am to 9pm
Saturdays:     11am to 9pm
Sundays:     11am to sunset

Licensed bar area open from Thursdays to Sundays, 12 to 9pm.
Alcohol serving hours may be subject to change due to weather or attendance.


Participating Restaurants:
Barsa TabernaBurger’s Priest
Loaded Pierogi  
The Carbon Bar
Death in Venice
Fancy Franks
Fresh Off The Boat
Grand Trunk Road
Gushi
Heirloom
Lahuna Poke

Mad Mexican
Mata Petisco Bar
Momofuku Noodle Bar
Oats & Ivy
Eva’s Original Chimneys
Pilot Coffee Roasters
Spacco
True True Pizza
Urban Herbivore
And more to come**!


Connect with them at:

http://www.torontounion.ca/
@TorontoUnion
#TorontoUnion
#UnionSummer

Taste of Toronto - the place to find all of Toronto's best chefs.

The Taste of Toronto returns to Fort York for the 3rd year and I have been to all of them since they started.  This year they moved it a bit closer to Fort York Blvd and changed the layout and provided a lot more seating areas which are always welcome.  The only thing they took away was the VIP area with private washrooms.  I miss that one.  I also missed the Best in Taste Awards presentation on Thursday night where judges Chef Chuck Hughes, founder of Charlie's Burgers, Franco Staltieri and Toronto Life editor Rebecca Fleming who chose the Best Dressed award which was awarded to  Mammakas for their Lamb spit next to their booth.

The winner of the Taste Award went to Ted Corrado of the Drake Properties for his massive 150 crown Chinatown platter.  During his cooking demo he said it was inspired by the after work trips with the staff to chinatown because that was the only thing open.

Second Place went to Miku for their blow torched Aburri Sushi.  I tried this and really loved it.  I have heard good things about this new restaurant and they seem to be true.  I will have to visit the brick and morter resto soon.

I was really happy to hear from Rob Bragganolo on Thursday night that he won the 3rd runner up Taste Award for his amazing Porchetta pizza which flew out of his booth the rest of the weekend.  I shared it with my 2 friends and we loved it.  Well done Rob.

Of course the Godfather of Toronto Chefs Mark McEwen was present with his McEwen Group restaurant Fabbrica for more great food.  I tried the interesting looking Calamari PoBoy on an Ace Bakery Charcoal Bun.  This thing was suprisingly great.  The calamari were crispy and perfectly seasoned and had a nice fresh slaw with a fantastic sauce.  Very filling and delicious.

Some of the dishes were very filling and even though I went 2 days in a row I didn't try as much as I wanted to.  I really wanted to try El Cabalitto's chicken empanada but it was a 20 minute wait for them to cook and I wanted to watch a cooking demo so I skipped that but I did have their fantastic Churro Nest dessert the night before.   The first thing I tried on thursday night was Barque's Burnt ends on a crispy rice base.  In the first year of the Taste Barque's ribs sold out.  I made sure I tried it first this time to make sure I wouldn't have to wait in a long line.  I had a chat with the Chef who remembered me too.  This thing had the perfect balance of sweet, spice, crunch, fat and topped with pickled onions made it a perfect bite of food.  My friends thought it was one of the best things we tried too. 

I also tried my friend's sticky ribs from the Drake,  oil poached tuna Little Sister and a bite of Alo's amazing butter biscuit.  My friends also had Fat Pasha's hummus plates.  I filled up on Little Sister's Babi Guling pork salad.  

This year most of the food was either $6, $8 or $10 but there were also special dishes that were kind of free for all prices ranging from $15 for Carver's amazing pizza to the $150 Chinatown platter and a bunch of other things at various prices in between.

This festival can get pretty costly with a $29 admission price and then having to load up a crown card with you have to start with at least $1 before you load up.  But what you get is all the best chefs in Toronto trying to one up each other and impress their peers and the public to attract people to come to their restaurants.

On the second day my friend brought her friend who was visiting from Singapore and really it was the best way for him to try all kinds of great food from Toronto in one place.  He really enjoyed the food.

 And as always it was great to see one of my favourite Chef's Chuck Hughes back for a cooking demo or as I always call them, his stand up routine and he also did a Metro Master Class demo.  Always great to see him because he is hilarious and always makes fantastic food too.

I was able to bring my friends to the show this year because I won 4 tickets from Nespresso, so thank you to them for fantastic free samples of coffee and the passes so we could all have fun together.  Even though a lot of my food blogger friends were all running around chasing food photos it was nice to hang out with my non food blogger buddies too.

A busy table was the Toronto Life Chef's Table, as you can see I couldn't even grab a seat at David Neinstein - Barque and Michael Hunter from Antler filling their tables.

The thursday and friday nights had beautiful skies and perfectly comfortable weather, although it got a little chilly after the sun went down on thursday night but Metro handed out some nice red fleece blankets which my friend Denise wore as her super woman cape around the festival.

 The lineups were minimal on most booths but long on a few the first couple of nights but I know they were all busy and some ran out of food on the saturday night when all the downtown condo dwellers are looking for food and something to do in the area.

 I saw a lot more families out this year on the friday night and I am not sure if there was an effort to expand that market but it seemed to be more than in past years.

While I don't love the venue and the difficulty in getting there.  The first night we got stuck in traffic trying to get there and the second night the streetcar dumped us off the stop before and we had to walk up the stairs and all around.  And the porta potties again are my least favourite thing at these food events but it's nice to be outside and have space but I am sure sunday afternoon with over 32 degree weather was a scorcher for the chefs and the people standing in the lineups.   I knew better and went early.

I saw a lot of familiar chefs, bloggers and industry people out and about and it's always fun to run into people you see at other food events so I had a great time and really enjoyed the food too.  Just wish my stomach and wallet could have tried more.

Hope to be back again next year.


INFO:
www.tasteoftoronto.com
@tasteoftoronto
#tasteofToronto