Your weekly digest of Toronto food news
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. |
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| —Rebecca Fleming, food and drink editor |
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These days, chef Matt Basile—formerly of Fidel Gastro’s food truck and popular Queen West brunch spot Lisa Marie—works as a restaurant consultant and leads live-fire cooking demos for Alchemy Grills. But when he has free time, he heads back to North York, where he grew up, to eat at his childhood haunts. |
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| | Estiatoro Milos—a 12-restaurant empire that began in Montreal, then spread to New York and as far away as Singapore and Dubai—just opened its first Toronto location. Visiting TIFF stars were the first to try its menu of Greek classics and luxurious seafood dishes. Now you can, too. |
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| Nick Kennedy—co-founder of Civil Liberties, Civil Pours and the massive new cocktail lounge in the Waterworks Food Hall, Civil Works—let us snoop through his home kitchen. It’s currently stocked with lots of beer, hot sauce, assorted pickles and plenty of leftover takeout. Take a look around. |
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| In the latest issue: dispatches from the front lines of Ontario’s broken health care system. Plus, a sneak preview of Poilievre’s Toronto, a bold next step for Chinese-food king David Schwartz, converted schoolhouses that blend history and style, and more. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today. |
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