Dear reader, Toronto loves a food festival. Maybe it’s because we have to hole up all winter long, so as soon as summer hits, all we want to do is eat outside no matter the conditions. Will I have to wait in lines? Yes, some up to a mile long. But will there be wasps? Of course, angry hordes of them. And will I have to use a portable toilet? Most definitely, each one a coffin-size sauna from hell. But, despite all this, we hand over our money and get in line. Like urban hunter-gatherers, we compete with our fellow festival-goers for food no health care practitioner would recommend—doughnuts topped with deep-fried pickles or grilled cheese sandwiches encased in cotton candy—when we could instead sit in an air conditioned restaurant, at a cozy table, and have a proper meal served on plates that aren’t made of paper and with forks strong enough to pierce a potato. There have been many food festival flops (Liberty Village’s mac-and-cheese disaster of 2015 comes to mind), but there have also been some successes. The Toronto Underground Market, held at the Evergreen Brick Works from 2011 to 2014, launched a slew of small businesses that went on to open brick-and-mortar locations, including La Carnita, Rock Lobster, Seven Lives and Fidel Gastro. And we had at least one good run of Smorgasburg, the popular Brooklyn-born market, which showcased more than 50 vendors from throughout the GTA. We at Toronto Life have rounded up seven food festivals, taking place between this weekend and September, that won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth. Also in this week’s newsletter: an updated list of the city’s best new patios, where you can find Shake Shack’s roving burgermobile this summer, a sneak peek at chef Nuit Regular’s newest project, what’s on the menu at NL Ginzburg—the new Italo-Jewish restaurant from the people behind Dreyfus—and more. |
