Dear reader,
I don’t care if it’s supposed to feel like 25 degrees later today—it’s fall, my comfort-food mode has been activated and I’m leaning hard into carbs. Since I managed to attend both Polish and Ukrainian festivals in the same weekend earlier this month, I’ve basically been mainlining potato products. I’m in my beige food era and I’m going to embrace it until my middle-aged body stages a revolt. In the meantime, bring me your loaves of bread, dumplings of indiscriminate fillings and noodles from around the world, so that I may consume them with abandon. Healthy proteins and vegetables can wait.
Chef Matt Basile knows what I’m talking about. He recently took us for a tour of his childhood haunts in Midtown and North York—and unless you count the iceberg lettuce and tomatoes in a Greek salad or the deep-fried cabbage in a fritter, there’s nary a veggie in sight. Instead, there’s blistered naan, golden-brown onion rings and chewy bagels. In this edition of Table Talk, you’ll get to read about everything else he ate during his nostalgic restaurant crawl.
Also in this week’s newsletter: what’s on the menu at Estiatorio Milos, the new Greek restaurant in the Financial District that first opened for the stars during TIFF. Plus, the recently redone Biff’s Bistro and a peek inside the home kitchen of Civil Liberties’ co-founder and cocktail-maker Nick Kennedy.
For more of our food-and-drink coverage, visit torontolife.com or subscribe to our print edition.
