Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

Vote for CheapEats Toronto in the Canadian Blog Awards

The Canadian Blog Awards are underway and we’ve been nominated! But, it’s only Round One and you can only vote once per category.  So we need your support to make the Final Round.

• CheapEats Toronto has been nominated in both the Best Cultural and Entertainment AND the Best Local Blog categories

I'm delighted to see CheapEats, as well as a number of our bloggers and colleagues amongst the nominees!

• Andrea’s blog a peek inside the fishbowl has been nominated for the Best Family Blog
• My personal project blog, Mini Book Expo, has also been nominated in the Cultural/Entertainment category
• Our sister blog – CheapEats Ottawa has been nominated in both the Cultural/Entertainment category (yes… competing against both Mini Book Expo and CheapEats Toronto)
• Our friends over at BlogTO have been nominated for Best Local Blog. And while I’m not saying CETO doesn’t deserve it… but BlogTO deserves it more (I’m just saying)

Please take a moment and support CheapEats, our fantastic contributors and all the other great Canadian blogs that have been nominated by voting!

Round One Closes mid-day Saturday, Nov 29th!  So vote today!

Reservations 101

Reserved by Cafrine

There's a great article by Corey Mintz, the new Toronto Star's restaurant critic, on the Toronto Star website about the business of reservations.

...the average Toronto restaurant is open for dinner between 5:30 and 10 p.m. Torontonians will not, by nature, eat before 6 unless they are going to a show, or after 10 unless they are Spanish.

With such a small window of operation, a restaurant needs to maximize that time period. Empty seats are holes in their gas tank, draining fuel. If a table is booked for 7:30, it's next to impossible to use that table earlier or later. This is called a single seating.

Corey goes on to explain and discuss that "space and time are perishable commodities" and how restaurants do their best to keep tables turning and get people in, fed and out for the next seating. 

Interesting, since I just got off the phone confirming my online reservations for tomorrow's 11am brunch which had somehow gotten "lost".  

Read the complete article here... and then come back and tell me what you thought.

[Thanks to Paul Lin for pointing me at the article]

Would You Glow For Sushi?

In a today's New York Times article "Warnings Don't Deter Lovers of Sushi", New Yorkers are quite cavalier about lab results showing that tuna samples from 5 New York sushi restaurants - Gourmet Garage, Nobu Next Door, Sushi Seki, Sushi of Gari and Blue Ribbon Sushi - all had  unusually high levels of mercury.  Some of the people quoted chose non-tuna items, some chose tuna anyway and Roberta Berman of Staten Island was reported to have shrugged and said :

“If I become iridescent from it, I become iridescent from it.” She added. “I’ll glow in the dark.”

What would you do if the craving for sushi hit?

Technorati Tags: sushi, new york times, mercury, warnings, gourmet garage, nobu next door, sushi seki, sushi of gari, blue ribbon sushi

Shout out from BlogTO

The CETO Facebook Group just got a shout out from BlogTO in their 50 Essential Toronto Facebook Groups.  

Cheap Eats Toronto - The Facebook Group companion to the Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide. Administrator Alexa Clark keeps members up to date with links to Toronto food news and events.

Tim has done a great round up and the count increases as people are adding their own essentials in the comments.

As shameless aside, did you know you can also find Cheap Eats Toronto on Flickr?  CheapEaters are sharing photos of their CheapEats meals and fun from all around town.  We've also set up facebook and flickr groups for Cheap Eats Ottawa.  You know, just in case you are on the road and need a nosh in the capital.

Technorati Tags: blogto, link love, facebook, facebook groups, ceto, ceot, cheapeats ottawa, cheapeats toronto, cheap eats, 50 essential toronto facebook groups

Typepad Features CETOblog

Woo Hoo!   The CETOblog.com just got featured as part of Typepad Tour: Toronto:

Join us in a tour of five Typepad blogs that capture the energy, creativity, and humor of Typepad customers in Toronto.

Let's start this tour with a great meal. The Cheap Eats Toronto blog offers a veritable treasure trove of reasonably priced restaurants, extending the reach of the book by the same name (published by Plethora Press).  Keep reading...

They did a great write-up on our blog and the other four featured: Amber Mac, Booklust, Mommy Blogs Toronto and Toronto Real Estate Blog.

Thanks to Sean & Kate for the heads-up, and thanks Typepad for noticing.

Technorati tags: cetoblog.com, typepad, typepad tour: toronto, blogs, toronto, amber mac, book lust, mommy blogs toronto, toronto real estate blog

Giller Prize Founder Needs Our Short List

Jack Rabinovitch's remarks championing CanLit at the 2006 Giller Prize ceremony left me a little shocked.  In a show of support for CanLit and all the finalists, Mr.Rabinovitch, the Giller Prize Founder, said (and I paraphrase here...)

"... for the price of dinner for two in this town, you can buy all the books on the Giller Prize short list.  So eat at home and read the books!"

Jack, while your heart is in the right place, your stomach isn't.  You're obviously eating in the wrong spots.  So we're forwarding you a copy of CheapEats Toronto.  That way, you can have your dinner and CanLit too.

We congratulate the Giller Prize Nominees and suggest everyone hit their nearest indie book store and pick up the full list, which comes in at $106.75 (before taxes), so you'll definitely need CheapEats ($11.95).

Jason Turner's Cartoon Profile

In August I was approached by Lindsay Gibb, the Editor of Broken Pencil, asking if I would consider being a guinea pig for a new feature in the magazine. Each edition, starting with the one you see on the right, they will be inviting an illustrator to create a profile of someone they think is "profile-worthy".
   
Since this is The Food Issue, they thought I would be a likely candidate.  And since I'm always open to shameless self-promotion I agreed. Besides, it sounded fun.

Lindsay hooked me up with Jason Turner, the illustrator, who proceeded to grill me with challenging questions like: "Do you cook as well?" "How is the Ottawa book coming along?" and "what is your earliest memory of eating out."

Jason has done an excellent job, but it's still kind of odd seeing yourself in a cartoon strip.  Cool, but odd.  Especially when someone hits the mark as well as Jason did. Hey, he even caught me delivering CheapEats on my bike.

With Jason's permission  I've posted this frame, but you'll have to check out Broken Pencil: The Food Issue to see the whole strip. But make sure you pick up the right edition. Many of the Chapters/Indigo chain still have the last edition on their racks. (Which is also good, but not as food centric)  I picked up my fresh copy at Pages on Queen W.

As always, I have a couple of quibbles when profiles show me doing this alone. In real life, a huge team of people across North America work really hard to make CheapEats guides possible. I'd love to see a profile of the team, showing all the hard work everyone involved invests in CheapEats. But I guess I'll have to find a CheapEats illustrator to get that rolling   Hummm...

Tags:  CheapEats, CheapEats Toronto, alexa clark, broken pencil, cartoon, jason turner

The First Word on Food

Sunday October 22nd, that's tomorrow, will find me chatting about food with Lisa Moskaluk on CIUT's The First Word. [Listen online between 1pm-3pm]

The theme for the show this week is food and while I don't know who else they've got scheduled in, I suggested a handful of other guests who I know have something to say on the subject. 

Who'd I suggest? 

• Anne Pieponen - a CheapEats contributor who is opening a new bar/resto on College Street West just west of Dovercourt;
• Gurth Pretty - who just published Canadian Artisanal Cheeses, how cool is that?
• Johan Maes - the chef behind le Petit Dejeuner, yum yum yum!
• Stephen Chan - the managing director of the Bright Pearl who is pretty active in promoting Chinatown West and has helped with a couple of guides on dim sum.
• Karen Viva-Hayne - owner of Viva Tastings a small but growing catering company that has just opened a storefront.
• and since the Diwali-Eid celebration at the Gerrard India Bazaar, I thought it might be cool to have someone in to talk about the food of the season.

Reading this?  Think YOU should be on this list?  Tell me why and what your favourite food topic is.

Tags: ciut, lisa moskaluk, cheapeats, gurth pretty, canadian artisanal cheeses, le petit dejeuner, bright pearl, johan maes, stephen chan, karen viva-hayne, viva tastings, gerrard india bazaar, food  alexa clark

Eating Out Has Never Been So Inexpensive.

Thursday's Metro included a little article on CheapEats Toronto. On the same page is a phone of Jude Law, lots of Cadbury chocolate and an ad for My Name is Earl. That puts us in pretty good company if you ask me.

---

Eating out has never been so inexpensive

Jo Ann Dias for Metro Toronto

Want to eat out without the breaking the bank? Well there’s a new restaurant guide, CheapEats, that will help you do just that.

Based on recommendation from readers, 15 contributors investigated more than 365 eateries rating places on price, food, cleanliness and style.

Local celebrities’ picks can also be found in the book. Metro’s own Enza Supermodel Anderson’s pick of, Studio Restaurant gets a mention, along with the picks of Mayor David Miller, Gord Martineau and others.

CheapEats can be found at all major bookstores.

Bon appétit!

Lex on Street Meat

Yes it's true, I'm going to be CBC 1 discussing Street Meat with Jian Ghomeshi on Sounds Like Canada Friday. (unless something more interesting causes us to be rescheduled.)

I'm hoping the conversation will expand beyond just Street Meats since the hotdog cart is the strongest representative in Toronto's Street Meats category.  However there are plenty of other Street Treats to be had - empanada, puri, doubles, pupusas, roti, roasted corn and even waffle fishies filled with bean paste.  And I'm willing to wax poetic about all of them!

Jian & I will be joined by Mark Busse a food blogger (In The Kitchen) from Vancouver and Matthew Gibbon a donair & dog aficionado from Halifax.   (did you like that "Jian & I..." part? I did.)

One of the most interesting pre-interview questions that arose was "How do you define Street Meat?"

My response, initially, was that Street Food (and by extension Street Meat) is food that you buy from street vendors.  Street Meat in Canada generally being in one of three forms: meat-on-a-stick, meat-in-a-tube, or formed-meat.

But then the question then arose: do you define Street Food based on the venue or the food itself.  Is a hot dog still street meat if you buy it at a fast food joint? If you buy Coq Au Vin from a chip truck is it Street Food?   Do Bangkok Street Noodles stop being street if you get them at a sit-down restaurant in Toronto?

So, I'm forced to expand my definition of Street Food/Street Meat to food that is typically available from a street vendor in a make-shift or portable kiosk/stand in it's country of origin. Fast and portable, it's the original fast food. 

But what about the experience inherent in buying Street Meat? The joy of watching roasted corn being rubbed down by spice-dipped limes?  The calculated risk when chosing which cart to go to?  How can that be separated from the whole?

I'm looking forward to an interesting conversation about whether places like Ghazele's, Ghandi's & Narula's count.  Personally I'm torn since they are full establishments with a front door and a chair... but I'm willing to debate whether you judge "street food" based on the food or the nature of the place you get it.

Sounds like Canada?  Sounds like CheapEats to me!