Marlon Pather opened up The Butchers, an organic and naturally raised meat shop in 2001.
And the questions about when he would add seafood to his list of products hasn’t stopped since.
Nine years later, Pather is finally opening a fish shop — across the street from his butcher shop — at 2631 Yonge St.
In keeping with the environmental ethic of The Butchers, the fish market will stock sustainable seafood, mostly from the Ocean Wise program.
The opening is slated for Dec. 15.
J.P. Challet is my new BFF. He doesn’t know it yet, but after dining in his new bistro, Ici, I feel like we’re … close. He gets me.
Ici has been one of the most anticipated restaurants to open this fall. This is in no small part due to serious delays after a battle with Joe Pantalone and the local neighbourhood that fought to deny Challet a liquor licence for his charming space.
But, two years after signing the lease, Ici is here. It is real and the food is spectacular.
The sign in the window, Cuisine Nouveau Classique, tells all. Ici is Challet’s whimsical interpretation of classic French food. Inside, the space is, well, “intimate” would be putting it mildly. Most seats are bar stools and face the open kitchen or the windows. The decor is sparse, mostly grey with red accents.
Challet is all about making diners feel at home in a pressure-free, fine dining kind of way, from the affordable wines by the bottle and the three- or six-ounce options by the glass to the optional two-thirds portion on menu items. And I’m enjoying the vibe.
Before starters arrive, I order dessert. Grand Marnier soufflé is made from scratch and needs to be ordered ahead of time.
The Lorette salad and goat cheese tart ($9/$15) is a simple presentation of a frisée blend with some creamy celery root matchsticks playing second fiddle to a lovely, but tiny goat cheese and caramelized onion tart with a perfectly crisp and thin pastry shell. It’s very Parisian with a Dijonforward dressing. Superb.
The lobster bisque that is served with salmon quenelles ($12/$18) is velvety with deep flavour. The salmon quenelles are lightly poached and tender.
Foie gras torchon and black trumpet croquette ($18/$28) is silky smooth with sweet marmalade.
Hot crispy croquette is great textural contrast.
Now we enter the “nouveau” zone with shrimp pomme frites and rouille ravioli ($13/$19), a deconstructed seafood soup — without the liquid.
The plump shrimp are wrapped up with crisp shoestring potatoes and bathed in a light creamy herb sauce, but rouille is not substantial enough to fill ravioli.
The veal blanquette ($17/$29) is a free- form ravioli filled with veal stew where intensely flavoured mushroom liqueur slightly overpowers veal. Morels offer a delicate earthy note, and the two-thirds portion is very satisfying.
The duck magret apicius ($17/$29) is the star of the show: perfectly cooked with a subtle harmony of anise and honey.
My Grand Marnier soufflé ($16) does not disappoint and takes me back to my first job when I made them. Nicely browned, good contrast from orange zest and still wet in the centre. The Trio of Apple ($10) is a balanced caramel tatin with wafer-thin crust and crepe filled with steamed apples.
Both desserts have lightness and simplicity that only the French can seem to master.
J.P.’s menu is classic, but his interpretation is pure joy. It’s lowkey and the food is the star — like dining at a friend’s house who just happens to be a great French chef.
Ici Bistro, 538 Manning St., 416-536-0079 $100 Dinner for two
Post City Magazines’ food critic Christine Cushing graduated from George Brown and Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne in Paris. She stars in Fearless in the Kitchen.
Take time out of your busy schedule to give back this holiday season. Or, perhaps it’s you that needs a little help this time of year. Either way, here’s our top five ways to give or get some help this month.
Bring a food item when you go to see A Christmas Carol
Take a cue from the ghost of Christmas present and bring a non-perishable food item along with you to the Dec. 8 holiday performance of A Christmas Carol at St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church in Leaside. All food items go to the Flemingdon Park Community Food Bank.
For more information on the play, call 416-485-0329.
Bring some holiday warmth by donating old winter coats
Help this be a warm holiday season for those in need by bringing your old winter coats to Moms to be … and More at 1642/44 Bayview Ave. The store is running a winter coat drive until Dec. 15. As a thank you, all donators receive a $5 coupon valid at the location.
Call 416-489-3838 to find out more about the coat drive.
Make a donation and enjoy some Christmas carolling
Take in the Christmas spirit at Deer Park’s Yorkminster Park Baptist Church. On Dec. 18 at 2 p.m., the church will host the Christmas Carol Sing event. Choir, brass section and organ will be accompanied by international opera stars Isabel Bayrakdarian and Richard Margison and threetime Olympic medalist Karen Cockburn. A collection will be taken to benefit CP24/CHUM Christmas Wish.
To find out more, e-mail [email protected].
This holiday, learn how to waltz with your sweetheart
Celebrate the holidays by putting on your dancing shoes. Ballroom on Bayview (1578 Bayview Ave.) is hosting a holiday open house on Dec. 13, starting at 7:30 p.m. The night includes free group classes, and Christmas goodies and prizes.
Anyone interested in dancing can call 416-486-6174.
’Tis the season to listen to some Chanukah songs
Learn about and enjoy some Yiddish cultural music during a free live rehearsal of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir at the Barbara Frum Library (Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue). The rehearsal includes traditional Chanukah songs and happens Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
Contact 416-395-5440 for more information on the rehearsal.
Rejoice, all ye outdoorsy-types! Patagonia is set to open its first retail store in Toronto (and Canada, for that matter) on December 15.
While the intersection of King and Peter may be known as "granola corner" to many (okay, maybe just to us), Patagonia will be spreading its woodsy charm a little further west.
Indeed, the eco-conscious clothing retailer will be opening up shop in the Gurney Stove building (circa 1872), at King and Brant.
Patagonia will also be giving Toronto customers the opportunity to nominate a recipient for a $2,000 "environmental grant."
Traditionally, these grants are awarded to environmental groups and organizations in each store’s locale.
For Kenny Rogers, six years ago life got a whole lot more interesting. And that’s saying something for an iconic musician with 65 albums selling more than 120 million copies to his credit. But when a 72-year-old country crooner and his wife have identical twin boys, well, that’s something.
In between daddy-duty, pursuing a career as a fine art photographer and recording a couple of new albums, Rogers is back on the road and checking into Massey Hall tonight for a rare concert appearance that features holiday classics and hits from his more than 50 years in show business.
Younger fans will be surprised to learn the 72-year-old singer’s travels to Toronto extends back to the late-’60s and a variety show Rogers, then a member of the group First Edition, hosted from the city.
"I was there two months every year for three or four years, so I’ve always had a thing for the Canadian people," says Rogers, of the show Rollin’ on the River. "It was a variety show, the only one on the air at that time, similar to the Ed Sullivan Show. Everyone in the business at that time was on it."
Guests on the show included such luminaries as Ike and Tina Turner, Bo Diddley and Ronnie Hawkins.
Following the show’s cancellation, and the First Edition’s faltering efforts, Rogers left the group to pursue a solo career, won a Grammy out of the gate as Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the landmark song "Lucille," and the rest is history as the charming country performer went on to become one of the most recognizable and beloved country artists of the last 25 years.
Currently, Rogers has two recording projects underway including a new gospel-tinged album, For The Love of God, as well as a duets album tentatively entitled Killer Combinations.
"I’ve always loved duets," says Rogers, who works on the songs for the album first, then matches them up to artists he wants to work with. "Wyclef Jean is one person, we’re pretty close friends and we’re going to find a song that works for both of us." Other artists pegged for the record include such stars as Lionel Ritchie and Rogers’s long-time collaborator, and fellow island in the stream, Dolly Parton.
"She’s been the main stay of my career, we are such good friends," says Rogers. "If she calls in need, I’m there and it is the same with her."
On to the kids.
"You think you’re shocked!" says Rogers, laughing. "I just love it. It changes your life, to say the least. There are some projects as a photographer I choose not to do anymore just because I don’t want to be away from the boys that long."
Tonight’s Massey Hall crowd can expect to hear some of Rogers own favourites that include "Love the World Away," "Lady," and, of course, "The Gambler."
"They are all very important to me," says Rogers. "And they are great weapons to have when you’re doing a show."
Asian Course is a classy new bistro, all chrome and crystal shining like a culinary beacon amid a sea of strip malls and shopping centres.
The room is divided in two with plenty of room to spare in additional dining that is closed off during the day. Beautiful crystal and stainless steel chandeliers add ambience and a fountain made of glass and crystal adds to the sophistication.
Floor-to-ceiling windows provide an abundance of natural light, but cars, stores and parking lots do not make for the best view.
Billed as a pan-Asian bistro, Asian Course’s menu is exhaustive, to say the least, but seems to be more traditional Chinese Canadian than anything else.
At lunch, there are many specials from which to choose for a very reasonable $7.99 for a whopping plate.
Sweet and sour chicken boasts fresh ingredients, juicy breast meat and crunchy peppers and onions swimming in the requisite sauce that was plenty sweet but a bit one-dimensional. Salt and pepper fish was just that — fried fish bathed in more salt than the DVP after a winter storm. Can you say “overkill”? The fish, though, was well cooked and though fried was none too greasy.
Vegetable fried rice tasted of nothing but salt. Service was efficient, though they failed to bring a bowl of hot and sour soup ordered to begin the meal.
The menu is large and diverse enough to appeal to even the most fickle diner. Everything from hot stone and BBQ grill dishes to noodles and an array of dim sum options is available. There is also live fish, crab and lobster.
Asian Course should do well, despite the out-of-the-way locale across from the Promenade Mall on Disera Drive. But lightening up on the salt shaker, while maintaining the freshness of the ingredients, would be an improvement.
Asian Course, 30 Disera Drive, Unit 100, Thornhill,905-889-3888
High-profile lawyer and local resident Brian Greenspan has now become involved with the bizarre murder-for-hire case that rocked the local cash-for-gold industry last August. Greenspan has been giving advice to Jack Berkovits of Omni Jewelcrafters, who allegedly was the target of the murder plot.
“Obviously he is a victim and not someone who requires a great deal of legal advice and assistance," said Greenspan. “He wanted some criminal advice so he retained our firm.”
Greenspan is best known for some of the controversial celebrity clients he has represented such as Dr. Anthony Galea, the indicted medical specialist who has treated sports stars such as Tiger Woods.
As for the murder-for-hire case, according to police, Harold the Jewellery Buyer employee Maria Konstan allegedly hired someone to kill her workplace’s competition in the cash-for-gold industry. Berkovits works just across the street from Harold, on the corner of Glencairn Avenue and Bathurst Street. Berkovits has publicly stated that the alleged hired killer changed his mind, once he got to know Berkovits.
Konstan’s next court date is Dec. 1.
Patrick Chan is heading to Beijing to compete in the International Skating Union Grand Prix of Figure Skating final, Dec. 9 to 12. The North Yorker recently secured his spot in the world championship by winning silver at the Cup of Russia in Moscow and gold at the Skate Canada International in Kingston, Ont., where he also landed his first competitive quadruple jump.
“I was thrilled to land my first quad jump in international competition in Canada,” said Chan, who skates out of the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club at Yonge Street and Wilson Avenue. “Winning gold was a bonus.”
Although Chan admits he’s not the best at long-distance flights, the final circuit stop in China might be the first time he lands a quad during both his short and free program at the same event.
“There’s a lot of skaters in the world that land a quad, but it’s getting it in the program and doing it in a competition setting that is probably the biggest hurdle,” said Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada’s high performance director, “just that confidence of being able to put a quad in your program and yet be able to do all the other technical things without jeopardizing any other elements.”
A vacant bungalow that had been transformed into a life-sized bright-green iconic Monopoly house was recently torn down.
Local artist An Te Liu was commissioned to create the piece, Title Deed, during the height of the economic crisis as part of an art exhibit on six houses that were slated for demolition on Leona Drive.
“I immediately saw a resemblance between my house and a classic iconic Monopoly house,” he said, adding that he modeled his design after an ’80s version of the board game. “On the one hand, there’s a light playful side, as with Monopoly, but then there’s the serious, cutthroat side of it as well.”
The house, which he said took roughly two months of labour and four coats of paint to complete, is now the site of a housing development by Hyatt Homes.
“It’s gone. All I have left is the number that I pried off of it,” Liu said.
“The site is almost unrecognizable, except for the fire hydrant.”
The uncertain fate of five local school buildings targeted by the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) real estate arm as potential surplus properties has local residents on alert for potential development.
“The TDSB is examining all its properties in light of the fact that we have aging buildings and require considerable capital dollars to reinvest in our schools,” explained Gerri Gershon, TDSB trustee for Ward 13.
One of the sites is the former Fairmeadow Public School, near Old Yonge Street and York Mills Road. Since the board has yet to reveal if the recommendation includes the adjacent six acres, surrounding neighbours are worried about potential development on the green space.
“We are very concerned about what type of development may take place on this very large piece of property in the centre of our neighbourhood,” said Cindy Weiner, president of the St. Andrew’s Ratepayers Association.
Gershon said no final decisions have been made yet but that there is a meeting scheduled for Dec. 6 at Owen Public School.
Another school site that could be sold is Anthony Public School near Dufferin Street and Wilson Avenue, currently leased by the Maki Baum Treatment Centre. Dr. Nehama Baum said the centre wants to purchase the property from the TDSB, but as a charitable organization with a set budget, it won’t be able to afford a bidding war with developers. As outlined in the Education Act, other school boards have an initial 90-day priority period to buy the property before the centre can officially make an offer. If the building is sold to someone else, Baum said the TDSB will help the centre find another location. Since most of the students at Maki Baum are autistic or have developmental and mental health issues, Baum is concerned about how the move would affect her students.
“For this population that needs very intensive treatment and a specialized educational involvement, for them to move to a different location will be very detrimental,” she said.
The other school sites that could be sold include Appian, Kenton and Lester B. Pearson.
Michael Shneer remembers being shocked the first time he went to American self-serve frozen yogourt shop Menchie’s. “I saw these huge crowds lined up out the door,” says Shneer. Last month, he and his brother David brought us our first location in Yorkville (511 Bloor St. W., 416-645-0222).
Although North 44 has long been a top Toronto restaurant, chef and owner Mark McEwan says it didn’t start that way. “There were terrible over-budget issues: it took way too long to build it,” says McEwan. “I made all the mistakes you do the first time around.” However, 20 years after opening, the restaurant is still going strong (2537 Yonge St., 416-487-4897).
Rio Souza first fell in love with the bold shirts from Credo while on a trip to Barcelona. "I kept seeing people wear these shirts with vibrant, dynamic colours," he says. Determined to bring more fashion to the Toronto menswear scene, he approached Credo’s owner. Last month Souza opened up the shop’s first international location (114 Cumberland St., 647-352-6272).
Alvaro Baena is no stranger to flowers. After all, the owner of new floral shop Gilded & Green grew up on a rose farm in Colombia. His family-run shop continues the tradition, offering more than 20 types of flowers, including roses. The store follows an open market concept, meaning customers can customize their bouquets (3232 Yonge St., 416-488-8987).
While Cheaters Tavern has been gone for some time, bottle service will soon be available at the spot that once housed the iconic strip club. A temporary LCBO location is set to open there in February, while the nearby Davisville LCBO searches for a new home (2087 Yonge St., 416-365-5900).
The most expensive musical of all time — Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark — will open on Broadway next month. At the centre of its web is Rosedale’s own Michael Cohl.
Cohl is more commonly known as the man responsible for the marketing empire that surrounds the Rolling Stones. However, last month, Cohl stepped in as producer for the somewhat delay-plagued $65 million musical based on the tale of one Peter Parker.
“He’s had a lot of success in the music industry as a rock promoter, but he’s a newcomer to Broadway,” said New York Times theatre critic Patrick Healy, regarding Cohl. According to an article by Healy, the deep-pocketed Cohl stepped up after former producer David Garfinkle was unable to raise the funds necessary for the production.
Healy said Cohl is just one reason anticipation for the musical is so high. He also cited the lush budget and the talent involved with the production, which includes U2 and Across the Universe director Julie Taymor. “There’s a huge amount of curiosity and fascination with what’s going to come with Spider-Man, what it will be like,” said Healy.
Opening night for the musical is Jan. 11.
