THE STOCKYARDS: seriously thorough.

the stockyards is exactly the kind of place that i love: small, unpretentious, and most importantly, run by people who are genuinely passionate about food – and are dedicated to their project.  too often one finds that establishments, particularly new ones (because most don’t last), are lacking something; they try to do too much at once and end up failing with most of their plates (ahem, reggie’s), or they’re uncreative in what they do, or they straight up don’t know their ass from their elbow when it comes to food.  the stockyards smokehouse and larder, however, is the real deal, making what proprietor and sandwich mastermind tom davis refers to as a range of peasant foods.   they’ve been at it for almost a month now, and the place is in need of very little tweaking.  i can guarantee it will be a destination spot for people city wide – i’ve already made the mission uptown four times in the last two week, and there’s still more good stuff to try.

if you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning, you’ll be familiar with what exactly a porchetta sandwich is.  in a nutshell (or ciabatta), it’s a traditional tuscan roasted pork loin, stuffed with fennel pollen/fronds, and slow cooked (in a warm corner of tom’s home-designed mobile smoker that he keeps behind the restaurant) for a number of hours.  the sandwich consists of thinly sliced juicy pork, crunchy cracklings (the skin, chopped up and seared hard before serving), and garlic aioli – also, for a buck fifty you get sauteed rapini on that bitch, which completes a beautiful overture of operatic sandwich proportions.  i don’t joke around or exaggerate when it comes to sandwiches – and this one really, truly, is the shit. as good if not better than the nyc version.  with other options to try, i found myself reordering this anyway, disregarding my duty to try everything on the menu.

secondly – let me tell you something, trusty readers:  i really hate it when the reputation of a place is greater than their product.  kaplansky’s, which has operated in the monarch tavern on clinton for about a year, was the first place to try and fill the city’s gaping void of a market niche for jewish deli-style smoked meat.  problem is, despite all the fanfare (the food-nerd blog arguments have been hilarious and prolonged), the product was just never THAT good.  i gave mr. kaplansky three opportunities to impress me, and each time the meat was dry and i found his home made mustard to be a try hard failure of ‘look-what-i-can-do’ over indulgence.   anyway – what kaplansky’s does alright, the stockyards does right.  when i first tried a sample of the smoked meat, fresh out the smoker, it was a bit of a mind-blowing experience.  when i came back to eat the sandwich, it was merely excellent.  just really flavourful and not too smokey, there was a good balance of juicy fatty bits and tender beefy goodness.  in all honesty, there was a bit of dryness to speak of – but this is the kind of thing that will improve as more people order it more consistently. and they will – especially when the st. clair streetcar construction finishes and folks can park nearby. because smoked meat needs to be consumed quickly for maximum juiciness (think how much product moves at schwartz’s), and takes four or five days to brine and smoke – it’ll take some fine tuning to figure out how much they need to make and when to start the process, to assure maximum freshness and regular availability.  AND – they explicitly use yellow, standard deli mustard, which is how it should be.  i’m a big fan of all different kinds of mustards (like, six in the fridge right now), but hot dogs and smoked meat need the classic american stuff.  

as meaty as the place is, they don’t make the mistake of asking for veggie hatred by producing a half-assed afterthought of sandwich for non-omnivores in the crowd.  this caprese sandwich was really tasty, with both fresh and smoked/stewed grape tomatoes up in there.  there’s ample fresh basil, and they grill the thing so the bocconcini gets melty and even more awesomer.  although it might be good as is to most, i gave mine a little bit of salt and went about demolishing the thing.  also,  they’re going to be hand-making their own mozzarella sometime soon, and you can be sure that’s going to bring the sandwich to a whole new level – although pizzeria libretto made a similar claim some time back and never came through…and their product remains top notch regardless.  

there are a bunch of items that i’m personally really looking forward to trying.  my good friend ian milne first told me about the place one night when we were working together at ferro, which is right down the street – and earlier that day he’d eaten the buttermilk fried chicken combo, which he said was incredible.  on two separate occasions that i’ve gone up, friends have had the pulled pork and pulled chicken sandwiches, both of which were consumed very swiftly.  and i’ve heard that the burgers are proper as well, although i will not attest to such a serious matter without sampling the goods myself.   they also do racks of ribs on friday nights, which you can imagine are no joke either – the smoker is real, and it’s large.  

in any case, the neighbourhood has slowly been discovering this place, and it will not surprise me if there are lineups out the door and a twenty minute wait in the near future.  with the beautiful new wychwood streetcar barns park down the christie street (which is a reason to go to that neighbourhood on its own) you should really go up there, get your food to go, and go hang out in the sun.  honestly, what could be better?  let’s just try to keep the hype on the downlow.

best in the city: fish sandwiches.

one thing i love about good food is that the sensory experience can transport you, drag you out of a shitty day – and in the best of scenarios, rearrange your mental rubik’s cube so things make sense.  sound a little deep?  perhaps.  but the fish store’s sandwiches will do that to a man.  

i was reminded of this the other day when my room mate and good homie kaewonder went up to the place and the dealt with a grouper sandy.  i’d always talked this place up to him, but it’s a proper twenty minute walk from our place, so the annual thaw had to happen before he ventured over.  in retrospect, this is kind of ironic – because the fish store and it’s bare-bones product is exactly the type of above mentioned establishment that puts your mind elsewhere – and in this case, it puts you in the sun, by the ocean, probably without shoes.  

this is a shitty photo to illustrate the selection, but it’ll have to do.  basically, the way this place works is that their fish supplier brings them a dozen different picks of what’s fresh in fish on the given day, and they set it up much in the same way any of the fishmongers in kensington do: on display for individual picking.  on the day in question i took these flicks (sometime last year), they had rainbow trout, wild salmon, halibut, pickerel, black cod, grouper, scallops and fresh shrimp. you pick your piece, and a cute old korean lady goes to work frying it up for you.

and their in-shop signage depicts quite accurately what the end product looks like.  they do a really simple fryup using some garlic and onions (sweated lightly), salt and pepper – and that’s it.  most importantly, they know well that the fish itself need only be on the heat for a minute. i mean, if they didn’t know how to cook their one and only product, they definitely wouldn’t be the best in the city.   they file the fish along with some tomato and lettuce into a crusty small baguette, and wrap it up for you to take wherever your little heart desires.  the only caveat to this: you do pay a premium for the sandwich, which isn’t gigantic ($8), because of the freshness of the fish you’re eating.  you will get more filled up on two mcfish sandwiches, which would cost roughly the same – but if that was more your thing, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.  if i could change one thing about the fish store, side dishes of any description would be on the offer – but to be honest, the falafel spot next door (ghazale) is also quite good, and has tons of stuff to choose from that would accompany your sandwich perfectly.  and espresso at il gatto nero just down and across the street would finish it all off perfectly.  without a doubt, college street has its gems..

BACK IN THE SADDLE.

 

it’s undeniable:  i’ve been sleeping…in fact, i’ve been sleeping a whole lot.  this thing was looking good, was entertaining to me and to some of you i think – and i just fell asleep.  APOLOGIES.  

but! we up and runnin again…so get tuned in.

vacation especiale: dessert.

i’m a big fan of investigating the official ice cream treats of any country i visit, and i made no exception on my recent trip, mentioned below.  and while i cannot say i ever saw any kind of confirmation that this was the official ICT, i can tell you that ‘trits’ are in every single tiny supermarket and shop that can afford to have a freezer.  and these shits are EPIC.

the picture pretty much says it all:  the fact that it comes in what is basically the same as tub of philly cream cheese – for protection – says that these treats are valuable to the people of this tiny, ecologically conscious country.  what we have is vanilla ice cream with chocolate ribbons, but it’s the top and bottom that really make it special; they aren’t graham crackers, but rather cookies of graham cracker crust, such as one finds on the bottom of a cheesecake.  a trits costs 650 colones, which is like $1.10, and is worth every single last cent.  if i could import them here i’d make a million bucks.

vacation especiale: ceviche snack pack.

so i was just in costa rica for a couple of weeks surfing (don’t hate!), and although i really didn’t expect the food to be any good, i was pleasantly surprised by the offerings this obscure, tiny little town presented, almost on a daily basis.  naturally the best thing to eat in such a place is the fish – and there was plenty of it.  there were a lot of different ways it was offered, but one of the staples of every ’soda’ (which is basically a beach or road-side diner), is a ceviche, for around two bucks. 

i really enjoy this, and was first introduced to it when i was serving at lee, some years ago.  as tapas became popular a few years ago, ceviche came along with it.  if you’re unfamiliar, it’s pronounced ‘cev-eech-ay’, and is sashimi-quality fresh fish, in cold citrus juice, whose acid delicately cures the it.  the flesh loses its translucency, is effectively cooked, and should only be flavoured very delicately.  if, for example, too much salt goes in, it’ll obscure the delicious fresh fish.  if you have a friend who isn’t into sushi on account of being scared of raw fish, ceviche might be a good way to ease them into it.  

aaanyway: in this particular case, there was this man who’d walk through the grounds of this surf hostel compound i was staying at, with a pair of coolers, yelling ‘CEVIIIIIICHAYYYYYYYYY!! MILLE-CINCO-CIENTO COLONESSSS!!’ that’s about three bucks, and these snack packs

were absolutely killing it.  these little bundles included a double pack of saltine crackers(known as premium plus up here in canuckistan), a pack of lime flavoured mayonnaise,and a pack of ketchup.  i saved the ketchup packets to accompany grilled cheese sandwiches later on, but everything else all put together was fantastic.  i bought this bottle of costa rican habanero sauce that was really quite serious (american customs confiscated a sealed bottle, the fuckers!??), and all put together this was one serious snack.  the fish and its brine was really cold and limey, spiked with lots of cilantro and red chillies, and balanced with a bit of cold mayo on the cracker.  really and truly, as good as snacking gets – especially on a blazing 37 degree afternoon in the middle of nowhere. 

HMS#2: CNC deliciousness factory.

who doesn’t love crackers and cheese?  communists, probably.  in any case, it doesn’t so much matter what kind of crackers or what kind of cheese, this is just one of the most classic snacks torontonian kids (and kids from most places in the western hemisphere) enjoy into adolescence, and adulthood.  i guess i’m somewhere at the beginning of the latter, so i do my cracker and cheese PROPER! here we have peppercorn laced carr’s water crackers, a chunk of delicious riopelle cheese (from isle-aux-grues, quebec), washington gala apple, and crispy fried onions.

also – so you know, i’m going away until the 25th.  so if you’ve taken to checking this thing, forget about it for a few weeks and i’ll hit the facebook group when i’m back on the updating.  stay cool, toronto – but keep warm too.

this is not a review.

when i was a kid, i thought my dad was a classy guy – particularly when he’d pop off a bottle of freixenet (pron: fresh-uhnet) indoors before saturday night barbecue dinner.  having grown up and studied wine a bit  - beyond gross consumption – i now know that despite being cool, he was also (and still is) just reasonable with luxury shit, and that matte black bottle of goodness wouldn’t have cost much more than a six-pack of upper canada, his beer of choice to mix with ginger after work for a shandy.  nowadays, spanish wine is all the rage, because it’s a good value and is known as easily drinkable, high quality vino.

as it has come into fashion, so has spanish food – tapas bars with a very broad range of qualities have come to toronto, and about half have some sort of quirky asian twist to the food concept.  in general though, i’ve found that they’re pretty good, and generally faithful to the bars of spain – i can claim to be informed on the subject since kc (see below) and i hung around the north of spain for a number of weeks two summers ago, and ate at a very broad range of bars – check my facebook for an album of photos specifically on food.  

anyway – cava is really the best i’ve tried that toronto has to offer when it comes to faithful reproductions of the best pinxo (pron: peen-cho) spots in the basque region.  katy and i specifically went to this town called san sebastian (or donostia to the locals), which has more places to eat per square kilometer than any other place on earth, and well as the most michelin stars psk anywhere -with the lone exception of the centre of paris.  the dishes that chef chris mcdonald  has put together are very close to what the best of the spots served, alongside 50 eurocent glasses of chilled tempranillo rosato, usually standing up at the bar.  i’ve never had so much foie gras as on that trip, in so many different ways.  and i guess because it was locally produced and there was so much competition for eaters, a foie dish was remarkably inexpensive – to borrow from stevie and coolio, it’s fair to say that we were living in a foodie’s paradise.  

cava really did bring back the feeling of that experience, and coupled it with attentive and informed service.  i fucking hate it when a server can’t pronounce the dishes he serves, but we were surprised to be served by a guy that katy and i went to junior high with.  big daps go out to alessandro pietropaulo for being the kind of server i prided myself in being; that is, a salesman/actor that is proud of the product, true to the script and not too cool to run around when need be.  further, the best savory dish we had was grilled octopus with hazulnut romesco sauce, grilled green onion and grilled oranges  - and the best dessert was the ontario pear clafouti, which had a beautiful and atypical meringue-like dome top; alex recommended them both.

finally – barcelona has a particular breed of chocolate shops that are all uber-moderne and produce fancy, intricate treats.  xococava next door is very true to that kind of spot, and the finishing touch to the meal was really good – dark chocolates filled with thick, salty caramel.  truly, truly next level.  

there are however, two small things that i don’t like about cava, which i’ll mention for the sake of balance in this non-review.  one: its location is terrible, in the same upscale strip mall where my dentist’s office is.  secondly, half the restaurant’s walls were totally bare, the main feature of the largest one being a red fire bell near the ceiling.  i’m just saying.  regardless…this spot is great.  make up an occasion, call for a booking, and go eat there.  

 

nb. i don’t take photos in darkly lit restaurants, so – sorry for the lack of visuals.

guest blogger + tundra burgers.

katy curtis is my girlfriend, and a lover of food just the same as i.  she’s the party responsible in our relationship for making sure meals get balanced, and at least some kind of vegetable is involved.  i wasn’t there for this particular occasion, but i’ve had them before, and while my personal belief is that a burger inherently contains meat, these are really good, and should make them. anyhow, here she is to tell you all about them – a.

 

i recently went to montreal for my first ever visit (which i loved), and stayed with one of the most mind blowing people anyone might ever encounter. this beacon of light is also my favourite person to cook with, as a common thread of resourcefulness, care, and improvisation unite us in our quest for large, healthy and delicious meals.  lilith and i are both known to hold our own at the grazing table, and like to push limits especially when we’re together. however, contrary to some of the decadence associated with certain streams of foodism, we cherish simple, salt of the earth, veggie home cooking. we often come up with our most creative ventures simply but way of what tiny bits of this and that we can salvage from our respective fridges. in short, being broke brings out our creativity in the kitchen.

so while together in that freezing cold city, we were both in need of serious burger love. in toronto, utopia will do the trick for this just fine, but when in MTL, a homegrown veggie burger will heat us up good; a much needed relief from the abundance of poutine and smoked meat. soooo, for the ultimate lentil burger, all you need is two tins of lentils (rinsed), garlic (4 cloves–yes count ‘em), a medium sized onion, cumin, curry, coriander, breadcrumbs (1.5 cups), eggs (3), oil (1 tbsp), salt, a nice big pan and two hands for patty packing. they seem kinda wet so squish together hard. while those are frying up, chop up some sweet potatoes for sesame seed fries… cut your potatoes into nice thin wedges, thinner wedges cook faster, which is usually desirable. coat your slices with a handsome wallop of olive oil and toss in a generous portion of sesame seeds. lay them flat on a pan and bake them until they are almost soft and then broil them up to get them crunchy. meanwhile, a next set of hands can get to work on shredding purple cabbage, carrots, and beets for some burgundy fall coleslaw. purple cabbage that when you slice it actually looks like BRAINS. brains and flowers. so beautiful you dont even know what to do. however, to keep things moving, throw in some raisins (and sunflower seeds if they’re around), and whatever dressing fits your fancy – we made a honey balsamic vinaigrette.

next: toppings, which are potentially the best part. the burgers like old cheddar, avocado, juicy tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup, dijon mustard, fried mushrooms and onions, olives and spicy eggplant (for some). meanwhile, the fries like a bonifide sour cream curry dip.  make sure everything stays on the table the whole time so that it all gets eaten, because it will.  trust me.

miscellaneous by weight.

so.  a little while ago, i mentioned i was gonna be starting a little feature called miscellaneous by weight, and low and behold, here it is.  personally (as you can surely tell by now) i’m curious to know all kinds of things about food, and also live close to a slew of chinese grocery stores along spadina avenue.  one of the great things about these grocery stores is that they all have stuff that i’m totally unfamiliar with, so i’m bound to find something interesting to learn about.  ‘miscellaneous by weight’ is how they label these things when there’s really just no describing the thing in english, and it obviously has no english name.  so what the hell is it?  if you know, please be sure to drop a comment on us all, because no one i’ve asked has any idea.  here are some photos of the thing and a description of what i found as it got dismantled:

the husk peels back not unlike a cob of corn’s, but reveals another one inside, complete with….

what the hell?  these weird little seed pod/flower things.  intruiguing.  are those the fruit?

then there were like, four layers of this, like the russian matryoshya dolls, smaller and smaller…

until i just got bored of peeling and went to work slicing.  apparently the thing is sort of artichoke-like once you delve deep.  i tasted all parts of it, and they all had this unfortunate drying effect on my mouth, like some sort of awful chemical.  i’m sure that it needs cooking of some description, so if you know that, please, fill me in as well.  in any case, if it’s currently unnamed in english, i propose it be called the daggerchoke, becuase it made me worry i might die from trying it, and because it looks like a spade of some sort.  anyway, hope someone out there knows what it is.

summertime snack plate.

my good sweet lord, how i’m loathing winter at this point.    if you’re not taking vitamin d pills at least every day, you must have a dark cloud following you around because this last week has been a real bleek snapshot of how horribly cold and dreary my dear city becomes around this time every year.  i met a lady on my bar at ferro last week who’s in town for a month long clown workshop (?!!), a native brooklynite, who is getting the impression that all the igloo imagery stereotypes americans seem to have about canada are more than a little bit true.  not that it matters what they think, i’m just saying.

anyhow, i must say – i’m glad i took these photos of this summertime snack plate, which reminds me acutely of how amazing Toronto is between april and october.  on my milkcrate backyard coffee table, a pile of food and crusty bread, a decent bottle of california cabernet i won in a wine-sniffing competition at work, crusty bread, and a book about about oysters through the history of NY, which i highly recommend – The Big Oyster: New York in the World of Molluscular History. you’d actually be surprised at how much influence the delicious creatures had on the immediate and exponential growth of one of the world’s great cultural (and gastronomical) epicenters, from the very beginning of the dutch settlement in 1615.

more importantly however, the contents de plate.  this one in particular was inspired by my friend flo leung (of the ever-astounding grace restaurant) who made a love-of-tomatoes post on her ‘this little piggy’ blog, which is linked in the sidebar below, to the right.  i read it, put on some pants, and walked up to kensington.  this was august i think, so these are likely ontario tomatoes, and i’m fairly certain the cheese is ricotta fresca, but it could also be soft, fresh feta.  the prosciutto was not of the highest quality as i remember, but was still soft and high in umami.  as were the sundried tomatoes, sitting beside marinated artichoke hearts, with chopped up fresh sage from my liliputian herb triangle that watches the traffic rush by on richmond street west, all summer long.

only 105 days until the first of may, when i will drink a corona for breakfast on the porch, in my boxer shorts, glad to have made it through another salt-encrusted, skin-thickening Toronto winter.