Starving Foodie guide to best places to eat during TIFF19

Guide to good eats near TIFF theatres.

This will be my 19th year doing Tiff and between my festival experience and my foodie life I have picked up a few fav picks for eats close to the festival.  I have been trying to do this list for the past few years and it changes every year especially since King Street West has changed so much because of the King Street Project.  Most of my choices are based on proximity and the food being tried and true.  Most are fairly reasonable and quick because sometimes you just don't have a lot of time to eat between films and sometimes you might have time to kill and want to catch up on the films you like over a decent meal, for myself I start craving a good meal after the first weekend because that's the busiest time.  These places aren't chosen for celeb spotting but more on where me and my fellow film lovers would actually go.

1. TIFF Bell Lightbox

350 King St. W,

Pizzaolo on John Street at Adelaide $5 for a cheap and quick slice
A&W on John Street south of King St. always has special deals so a meal under $10
Luma at the Lightbox 2nd floor- Great place for drinks and an appy between films
Montecito - lots of money and time to kill and get a great meal.  Director Ivan Reitman is one of the owners so you will find Ghostbusters items and lots of photos near the washrooms.

2. Scotiabank Theatre

259 Richmond Street West

Melt - 300 Richmond St. W, - Want a grab and go hand held bite?  It takes a few min for the grilled cheese but it's worth it.

Blaze Pizza - Open less than a year but this franchise is spreading around the city.  You can get whatever you want for around $10.

3. Princess of Wales

300 King Street West-

PAI-18 Duncan St. - This place is really popular so there may even be a line to get in.  This Thai resto is a hot spot for foodies in the know in Toronto.
FIGO - 295 Adelaide St W -  This place is lovely and has the best zucchini fritti. This is a linger with some wine kind of place.

Montecito - lots of money and time to kill and get a great meal.

4. Roy Thompson Hall

60 Simcoe Street

Ritz Carlton -181 Wellington St.W..   This is where industry meetings happen and a lot of people watching.  I really like the Truffle fries on the back patio.
Elephant & Castle -212 King St. West -  Consistency is key to this long standing successful resto.  This is where you might find my entourage team having dinner while a film is happening at Roy Thompson Hall because the food is good, reasonable and hits the spot.

5. Elgin/Wintergarden

189 Yonge Street

Richmond Station - Richmond St. W. if you have some $ and time this is a great bet for a great meal. Get the burger.
Pusateris - 176 Yonge Street. - Inside the Saks at the Bay is a great place to grab a roast beef sandwich by the inch or my fav Poke bowl or a freshly tossed salad and Greenhouse juice.  You may spot an incognito celeb even because of the Bay and Eaton Centre shopping there.
Sud Forno - 132 Yonge Street. - This is a fancy Italian eat in or take out place.  Not just a slice of pizza but a decent variety of salads and sandwiches and sweets.

6.  AGO - Jackman Hall

317 Dundas St, W.

Pizzaiolo - 289 Dundas St. West.  - I listed this twice because it's fast and cheap.

Village by the Grange Food Court - 109 McCaul St. -Mean Bao, Helene's  Magic Kitchen, Jerk King - a great variety of fast food kiosks.  I eat there during the week a lot.  This is a daytime place though.

7.  Ryerson Theatre

43 Gerrard St. E.

Banh Mi Boys - 399 Yonge Street - They have the best $5 fried chicken Bao. and the Banh mi sandwiches are great too.
Hot Star Fried Chicken - 374A Yonge Street - Craving a big hunk of KFC that you can walk down the street or stand in a rush line at Ryerson and eat.  This is a good deal for that but sometimes it takes some time to wait.
Salad King- 340 Yonge Street - This is a Ryerson Student favourite.  Eat in or take out.  

Asparabus farm tour

ASPARABUS TOUR

I have been trying to find the time to write this blog post for a while and regret that I couldn't find the time to post it while Asparagus season was in it's peak but I wanted to make sure I let you know how great this incredibly short season is.  Asparagus like strawberries has a very short 6 week peak season in the spring/summer.  I love this time of year because the weather is fantastic and my favourite foods are at their best.

I had the pleasure of getting invited to join the #AsparabusTour in June, hosted by the https://foodiesonfoot.ca/.  They are a great team of people that have been hosting this invite only Asparagus Tour.  It's a full day of all things asparagus that begins with hopping on a tour bus in downtown Toronto and on this tour we headed to Welsh Brothers Farms and Bonnieheath Estate Winery and Lavendar Farm.  

The Foodies Group have been doing these tours for the past 5 years and my blogger friends that have gone have told me how much fun they are so I was really excited to get invited this year.

I have been on other farm tours before and they are a lot of fun.  I have also been to Bonnieheath Estate before but it was nice to return and explore a little more.

We began our tour at Welsh Brothers Farms where we got to see the farm workers picking the Asparagus right out of the ground with this large tractor vehicles.  It still looks like back breaking work even though there are now large scale machinery to assist.  I was surprised to see how sparse the asparagus fields were and to find out that it is a large investment in time to produce asparagus.  It's not a yearly harvest but takes many years to get a good harvest of great asparagus.

My blogger buddies and I really enjoyed picking the asparagus right out of the ground and eating it.  You really don't have to cook it to eat them.  It's amazing how sweet they are when they are that fresh.  Some of my friends seemed surprised at how the asparagus grows from the ground.  I guess you never think about it when you pick up a perfect bunch of asparagus from the grocery store but there is a whole lot of work that goes into that perfect little green bunch of spears.

We had a chance to check out their processing plant.  There aren't that many steps but probably more than you would thing to get the bundles of asparagus ready.  The ends need to be chopped, they are sorted and packed into bundles and then wrapped with elastics and of course washed and packed in large boxes for shipping to the food terminal or grocery stores.

After our visit to Welsh Brothers Farms we headed to Bonnieheath Estate Winery where chef Tracey Winkworth who I have seen many times making Chef Chuck Hughes look good at trade show food demos.  Chef Tracey along with Liason College students whipped up an unbelievable spread of Asparagus focused dishes.  It was so amazing and we got to eat it outside at the back of the Bonnieheath Estate with a view of the lavendar fields.

I think my favourite dish was these Asparagus fries.  Crunchy goodness.

The dessert didn't have any asparagus but it had some lavendar wine in it as a nod to the Lavendar estate.  It was a berry bread pudding with the lavendar wine ice cream.

After lunch we did some food trivia and my team won a great prize and we checked out their little market store for some wine and cider sampling and to purchase some goodies.

We had the best day.  I got to hang out with my favourite blogger buddies and enjoy the farm tour and incredible local food and a beautiful day.

You should visit Bonnieheath estate during their lavendar season.  It's so beautiful there.

It may be late in the season and I am sorry I couldn't post this sooner to remind you to pick up local asparagus but I hope that you can still get some at your local farmers markets and also looking at these food pics and take a different look at your asparagus and prepare them in new ways instead of just steaming them because there are so many things you can do with them from the asparagus fries to a creamy soup.

For more info check out these links:

#Asparabus

Asparagus Farmers of Ontario

T @onasparagus

I: @ontarioasparagus

onasparagus.on.ca

Welsh Brothers Farm

T: @WelshBros

welshbros.ca

Bonnieheath Estate lavendar  & Winery

T: @bonnieheathfarm

I: @bonnieheathestate

bonnieheathestate.ca

Liason College Southcoast

T: @SouthCoastLC

I: liasoncollege

liasonsouthcoast.com

The Foodies Group

T: @thefoodiesgroup

I: @thefoodiesgroup

foodiesonfoot.ca

Canada Day Party quick and easy

July 1st is Canada Day and you can celebrate it Big or Small.  I have a few tips to have a small get together on a dollar store budget.   A couple of years ago we blew the budget at work but this year was scaled way back and it still worked out.

First thing to do is scope out your local Dollar store and pick up anything you can find with Canadian Flags on it or Maple Leafs or even Beavers or Moose if you like.


Must have:

Plates- If you can find Canada Day plates great, but if not just get red and white or just red even.
Cups - I found Maple Leaf cups at Party City
Cutlery - Just get clear or white to keep it simple.
Tablecloth *optional - you can use a Canadian Flag or just use a white tablecloth and add a big paper Maple Leaf on it if you like.

Food and Drinks:  There are lots of options including these things:

• Coffee Crisp chocolates
• Maple Leaf Cookies
• Tim Horton's coffee and donuts
• Crush drink
• Caesar drinks are Canadian
• Canadian Flag Cake
• Ketchup Chips
• Butter Tarts
• Canadian Craft Beer
• Wine from the Niagara Region

Make a simple dessert in a snap with fresh local strawberries and whipped cream by layering them in little mason jars.  Who doesn't love strawberries in cream when the berries are at their peak at the end of June.  Recipe for the butter tarts is in a previous Canada Day blog post.

Props and Decor:

This is where the budget goes from small to big.  You can go nuts on props and decor and here are some ideas if you can't think of what to get.

• Canadian Flag,  large, small, medium, hand held
• Hats with Canadian flags, from caps to headbands
• Signs,  you can use a lightbox or a DIY bristol board sign that says Happy Canada Day
• Canadian symbols,  you can get things like statues or stuffed toys of Moose, beaver.
• Canadian pillows with whatever designs inspire a Canadian Vibe.  I have a Sorry Pillow from Colin and Justin designs
• Maple syrup bottles.

Games:

• Canadian Trivia - Music, Famous People, Geography
• Word Search games
• Jeopardy like questions, someone can be Alex Trebek who is Canadian.
• Justin Bieber or Drake Trivia, that could take a while.
• Basketball games because now that we are the Champions and the Basket was invented in Canada it's the perfect game.

Music:  Pick your vibe, 80's, country, current, chill etc.

• Shania Twain
• Justin Bieber
• Drake
• Michael Buble
• Sarah McLaughlin
• Tragically Hip
• Honeymoon Suite
• Loverboy
• Platinum Blonde
• Glass Tiger
• Jann Arden
• on an on .... you get the picture.

Whether you have a party or just get together with friends you can still celebrate Canada Day in little and big ways or however you choose to do it.

Here are some past Canada Day fun with friends.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!