Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

Reservations Start Today for Winterlicious

Winterlicious is a great excuse to stray outside into the cold of winter and outside the strict CheapEats rules to try some of Toronto’s higher-priced restaurants. 

This year’s Winterlicious is running from January 30 to February 12, 2009 and has 150 restaurants offering 3-course prix fixe menus ranging from $15-30 for lunch, and menus ranging from $25-45 for dinner.

Remember if you pay with your American Express card they will donate 5% of your purchase to the Canadian Association of Food Banks

Winterlicious Almost CheapEats (lunch $15 or dinner $25)

1055 Plakutta Restaurant

1055 Yonge Street, 416.482.8485
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

7 Numbers Danforth

307 Danforth Avenue, 416.469.5183
Menu $25 Dinner

93 Harbord

93 Harbord Street, 416.922.5914
Menu $25 Dinner

Acquolina Ristorante

579 Mount Pleasant Road, 416.545.1220
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

Alice Fazooli's Italian Grill

294 Adelaide Street West, 416.979.1910
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

Alize Restaurant

2459 Yonge Street, 416.487.2771
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

Amaya's Bread Bar

3305 Yonge Street, 416.487.1100
Menu $25 Dinner

Amaya the Indian Room

1701 Bayview Avenue, 416.322.3270
Menu $25 Dinner

Archeo Trattoria

Distillery District  55 Mill Street, 416.815.9898
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

Arriba Restaurant

Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown 1 Blue Jays Way, 416.341.5045
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

Autogrill Restaurant

495 Eglinton Avenue West, 416.489-0961
Menu $15 Lunch, $25 Dinner

(and that’s just the “A”s, keep reading!)

Food & Wine Show

The Gourmet Food & Wine Expo is on this weekend at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Toronto, ON
Fri, Nov 21, 2008 - Sun, Nov 23, 2008

It’s touted as Canada's premier food and wine appreciation event! Over 1200 wines, beers and spirits from around the globe, gourmet creations from some of Toronto's best restaurants, and several tasting stages featuring exciting seminars from professional sommeliers and celebrity chefs.

Tickets are $15 general admission for a one day pass. You can buy your tickets online from TicketMaster to avoid some of the lines onsite.  You might still be able to get a $3 disount by clicking here

Sampling Tickets for $20 are also available online through Ticketmaster. Not sure what that gets you, but you’ll need at least $20 worth… trust me.
For more information click here www.foodandwineexpo.ca

Be the Griller of Glory

As many of you know cooking with fire and beer are 2 of my favourite things.  So I am very excited to announce that I'm one of the judges at Rickard's Griller of Glory BBQ cook off August 28th in Yonge-Dundas Square.  

Rickard's is looking for Toronto’s best backyard griller, and the contest is open to anyone with a recipe featuring Rickard's Red or White. 

 

To enter:

1. Email your best beer grilling recipe featuring Rickard's Red or White to grill@rickards.ca
2. In your email submission, include:
• a photo of your creation
• a 1-2 sentence description
• a name for your recipe, using "Rickard's" in the title
3. The deadline to get your recipe in is Friday August 22nd!

It's that simple to become one of 3 finalists I'll be judging in the cook-off in Yonge-Dundas Square on August 28th. Oh, and Rickard’s Griller of Glory winner will be walking away with a prize pack including a new Napoleon Gourmet Grill. 

I'll be judging alongside Phil Nyman of Phil's Original BBQ who has whipped up a video with some secrets of grilling with Rickard's.

Rickard's Griller of Glory: Phil Nyman's Beer Grilling Tips - video powered by Metacafe

More details are available at www.rickardswhite.ca.

C'est What Festival of Local Wineries

I just got the following note about C'est What's Festival of Local Wineries TONIGHT - Wed June 25th.    

I know that C'est What has a reputation for craft beer but our love of all things local extends to wine as well.

On Wednesday June 25 from 5 to 10 p.m. we will be featuring a fine selection of almost forty different vintages for you to sample. Representatives from Calamus, Dan Aykroyd, EastDell, Harbour Estates, Henry Of Pelham, Hillebrand, Reif, Silver Peak Wine Cellars, and Vineland. will be on hand to help you increase your VQA IQ.

Admission is free, samples are $1.50 each or eight for $10 (all taxes inc.)

Cheers, George
C'est What Brew/Vin Pub-Restaurant
67 Front St. E. (at Church)
Toronto, ON

It's short notice, but if their recent Porters & Stouts Tasting was any example, this should be a excellent opportunity to sample a range of wines and learn a little at the same time.

Technorati Tags: toronto, c'est what, wine tasting, local wineries, festival of local wineries, dan aykroyd, calamus, eastdell, harbour estates, henry of pelham, hillebrand, reif estate, silver peak wine cellars, vineland

Toronto Taste

You'll just have to come to Toronto Taste and find out.

Join Toronto’s most inventive and altruistic chefs as they create some of the most memorable dishes you’ll ever have the privilege of tasting at Second Harvest's

Toronto Taste 2008  

Chef's are giving their passion and skill (and donating all their ingredients) so you can enjoy gourmet fare and equally impressive libations – all to support Second Harvest – Sunday, June 8th, 2008.

Here are some photos from Toronto Taste 2007.

Tickets are $225 and even with the tax receipt for $125 this is not a CheapEat, however it's a great event for an even greater cause.

For tickets and more information Click Here

or help out by:

• donating to Second Harvest
• buying a raffle ticket 
• volunteering at Toronto Taste.

Technorati Tags: second harvest, toronto taste, toronto taste 2008, toronto chefs, toronto restaurants, food events

[For disclosure purposes: I am on the Steering Committee for Toronto Taste 2008. ]

A Taste For Life - April 16

On April 16th select Toronto restaurants are participating in A Taste For Life by donating a portion of the cost of meals sold to Fife House a not-for-profit agency that provides 75% of the supportive housing to people living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto.

With 6 CheapEats Toronto restaurants participating, you can get a great meal without breaking the bank and still support these great organisations. But why not splurge a little, it's for a good cause.

7 Numbers     416-469-5183 - 307 Danforth Avenue
(check their profile on page 131 of CheapEats Toronto)

Allen's Restaurant     416-463-3086 - 143 Danforth Avenue
(pg 32 of CheapEats Toronto)

Clafouti Patisserie     416-603-1935 - 915 Queen Street West
(pg 54 of CheapEats Toronto)

Ginger     416-413-1053 - 546 Church Street
(pg 74 of CheapEats Toronto)

Mitzi's Sister     416-532-2570
1554 Queen Street West
(pg 103 of CheapEats Toronto)

Queen Mother Cafe 416-598-4719
208 Queen Street West
(pg 121 of CheapEats Toronto)

Reservations are strongly recommended!!

Check out the other participating restaurants below:

This Food That Wine Book Launch

It seems we've been talking about wine a lot lately on the CETOblog.com. I'm doing it again, sort of...

CheapEats Ottawa celeb Stacey Metulynsky, of FoodTV's This Food That Wine & Groovy Grapes, just announced the launch of her first book - This Food That Wine written with her FoodTV co-host Angie MacRae.

I'm a big fan of Stacey's personally and professionally, and I'm eager to get my hands on a copy of her book. 

Stacey told me recently that "Angie and I will be holding 2 book signings & tastings to officially "launch" our book - one in Toronto, one in Ottawa"

The Toronto launch is on Wednesday at the Summerhill LCBO.  If you are interested in attending, here are the details:

TORONTO: Summerhill LCBO
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 5th
Times: 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Summerhill LCBO - 10 Scrivener Square (Yonge St., south of Summerhill Ave.)
Details: come for a nibble and a sip, and get some holiday shopping done at the same time.  Books will be for sale onsite and we'll be featuring recipes from the book paired up with eco- friendly wines from plantatree wine

This Food That Wine is available now and you can order your copies online

Technorati Tags: this food that wine, book launch, stacey metulynsky, angie macrae, chris knight, lcbo, summerhill lcbo, summerhill, wine tasting

International Chef's Day BBQ - Oct 20, 2007

On Saturday, chefs from all across Toronto will be in Yonge-Dundas Square from 11am-3pm as part of the Escoffier Society of Toronto's  BBQ celebrating International Chefs Day.

Come and taste specialty dishes ($1-$3) with all the proceeds going to help Second Harvest deliver fresh food to those in need in Toronto.

October 20th, 2007,
11am-3pm
Yonge-Dundas Square
Admission is free and open to the public.

A little quote from the press release we received:

"This event will not only offer up samples from the Escoffier Society of Toronto's talented chefs but also help Second Harvest at the same time" says Toronto Mayor David Miller. "We have some of the finest restaurants and chefs in the world and I'm pleased that they are lending their talents to this cause."

Technorati Tags: toronto, international chefs day, international chefs day bbq, second harvest, escoffier society of toronto, david miller, food festival, events, yonge-dundas square, chefs

East End Eats Out - Oct 12-28, 2007

Remember last year's Leslielicious?  Well this year it has grown and become East End Eats Out.  From October 12th to October 28th, 2007 select restaurants in Leslieville, the Beach, the Danforth, Cabbagetown and the Distillery present specially created prix fixe menus, wine pairings and taster plates.

Although nothing but the "taster plates" at Pan and SOMA really fall into the CheapEats price range, it still may be worth the splurge since many of the prix fixe are more adventurous than those we've been seeing lately at Winterlicious & Summerlicious.  Besides, some of the prix fixe even include wine - like Ci Vediamo's which has their menus designed "for Red Wine Lovers" and "for White Wine Lovers" also available at $20 without the wine. 

Food Building Favourites

It's okay, you can admit it.  We all have our favourites. Those treats we crave all year and can only get at the CNE.  The media use them to remind us of the tastes and smells of the EX (the good ones anyway), and most of us leave with our bellies full and talking about how much bigger, better or cheaper they were before.  But we all know we'll be craving them again soon and spend another year fantasizing about our favourite treats. Tiny Tom's Donuts are one of my "must have" treats. I watch them roll off the conveyor belt, get scooped up and shaken in cinnamon sugar, and my mouth waters as they are handed to me, still warm, in their brown paper bag... oh baby! This year the folks at the CNE sent me a full list of the Food Building vendors.  So for those of you who haven't made it out to the Ex yet, here is the full list (plan accordingly) MEALS & SNACKS 99c¢ Spaghetti Ali's West Indian Roti Shop (CETO pg. 96) American Original Seafood Angel Garden Chinese Anouosh Mr. Shawarma Bourban Street Grill Café' India Grill & Wrap California Burgers Campfire Grill Charlie's Farms Shish Kebob House Chicago Fries, Steak & Salad Coaches Corner (Perogies) Curly Q Fries & Finger Foods

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