Dear reader,
This morning, I was flipping through our recipe books (I use that term very loosely as they’re actually a few Ziploc freezer bags stuffed with loose pages) to figure out what to make for lunches and dinners next week, and nine out of 10 recipes involved beans of some kind. We’re meat eaters, but we tend to save the steaks and burgers for when we treat ourselves to dinner out—at home, we champion the heck out of legumes and tofu. Related: my colleague Barry Jordan Chong recently introduced me to something called egg tofu, which is a combination of those two proteins, packaged somewhat unnervingly in a squeezable tube, but rich in protein and only a few bucks. Time to update the recipe bags!
But Toronto has no time for lentils right now: this week’s Table Talk is another beefy one. The city developed an obsession with Texas barbecue back in 2016, when early morning lines formed outside a nondescript building in an East York industrial park for trays of Adamson’s smoked meat. (The less said about the rise and fall of that particular business, the better.) Cherry Street Bar-B-Que opened in the Port Lands that same year. And a little while later, Beach Hill Smokehouse blessed the intersection of Main and Gerrard with the scent of burning maple. Fast-forward to 2024 and Golden Horseshoe BBQ—a pop-up run by an adorable mother-and-son team—is reviving Toronto’s lust for the Lone Star state’s specialities.
To further satisfy the city’s appetite for meat, Hot Pork, a new deli on Dundas West, is now open and churning out sandwiches stuffed with all manner of smoked animal products. (For any vegetarians or vegans who have felt left out of the last two newsletters, please email me at rfleming@torontolife.com and I will personally send you one of my favourite plant-based recipes.)
