hot for food

The first time I heard about Arepas was on an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay. He challenged the owners of Caracas Arepa Bar in NYC and lost, of course! Arepas are popular in Venezuela and Colombia and are essentially a cornmeal patty with fillings of meat, chicken, beans, cheese etc. After seeing this episode of Throwdown my mouth was watering at the site of these Arepas at Caracas. This picture here is the De Pabellón from Caracas, filled with shredded beef, fried sweet plantains, black beans, and cotija cheese. The Arepa that won Throwdown!

So I was thrilled to find out that Arepa Cafe opened on Queen West in Toronto in December 2009. I went last night. It’s a well designed, dine in cafe with friendly “authentic” staff. But honestly, the Arepas we ate were less than thrilling. Not what I imagined one would be like after seeing the tasty morsels made at Caracas. Because I opted to stick to vegetarian I essentially just ate a bland cornmeal patty with a slice of fresh cheese and a hunk of avocado. No seasoning, no flavor. Meh.

From my understanding Arepas don’t have many rules, other than they should be versatile. Which is why traditionally they’re eaten at any meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack. And they’re versatility means they could be a miraculous vegetarian meal option! So I think Toronto’s Arepa Cafe should take a cue from Caracas and start adding in more exotic ingredients… mango, spicy sauces, jalapenos, chorizo etc. And the cheese is cold in all the Arepa options… I don’t get that. It should be slightly melted in with all the ingredients. I tried something new, and ultimately I should have just stuck with the trusty Burrito. At $6 -$8 an Arepa, a Burrito at the same price would have been bursting with ingredients and flavor.

Move over Tim Horton’s! Get lost Krispy Kreme! Ugh the first and only time I ate one of those KK doughnuts I had heart burn for 24 hours and felt so fat I wanted to kill myself. Dramatic I know, but that’s what eating a doughnut can do to me. And I hate it!

The latest trend in treats are fancy, designer doughnuts. The same way cupcakes made a comeback, doughnuts will no longer make us think of truck drivers, cops, white trash, and fat asses. Genius marketing, really! I don’t know of a gourmet doughnut deli in Toronto, but I suppose it’s only a matter of time. They’re popping up everywhere in the United States of America… the land of food!

Glazed Donuts Chicago looks like the best in the biz, because they take gourmet doughnuts many steps further. Not only can you get unique and luxury tastes in a doughnut, but the weekly flavors are all seasonal, and all their doughnuts are 100% certified ORGANIC, made with natural sweeteners like honey and cane sugar, and contain no animal fats. Holy shit, sign me up! Well, sadly, one can only get these by literally signing up for a doughnut subscription and by living in Chicago. I’m probably better off!

To make you drool even more, here’s just a few of their doughnut delights: White Chocolate Lavender, Butternut Squash with Orange, Bing Cherry Balsamic, Pomegranate Thyme and Oatmeal Chocolate Stout. Whew…there’s sooooo many more.

So if I wanted to run a lucrative and cute food business in Toronto, I should start a gourmet doughnut shop! hmmmm….mmmmm. And what the hell… is it DOUGHnut or DOnut?

Apparently I am a total weirdo for being so blown away by seeing Orange and Grapefruit trees LIVE IN PERSON! Not only that, the neighbourhood I stayed in recently in Sarasota, FL had a ton of citrus trees… at least one on every property. So I went out picking (err stealing) a couple nights. I don’t personally think of it as stealing though because no one was picking their own fruit! WTF. It would have all gone to waste! Waste not, want not…whatever that means! Aren’t they magnificent!

A little dark, I know. But I couldn’t exactly go stealing/picking other people’s citrus in broad day light!

Here’s some other food related highlights of my time spent in FL.

1.) The REAL looking strawbs and GIGANTIC locally grown avocados at the Sarasota Farmers Market

2.) The fresh, delicious and local seafood consumed nearly everyday…I’m on seafood detox now. Missing pics of all the seafood I ate. But tried a Po’Boy Sandwich for the first time at The Ol’ Salty Dog. This one has shrimp and oysters. Also a grilled Mahi Mahi (Dolphin Fish) Sandwich. Here’s a Dolphin Fish… not a Porpoise as I feared for 10 minutes after consuming it!

3.) An excellent Cuban Sandwich (my first) consumed at a waterfront sandwich shop just steps from the Salvador Dali Museum, where I was that morning. Now I thought an authentic Cuban would have pulled pork, but I guess I was mistaken. The spicy mustard was delish and that pickle was to die for! There’s nothing so simple and tasty as a good crisp pickle that isn’t pickled to shit… BICKS!

4.) And of course a trip to Florida wouldn’t be complete without Key Lime Pie. I tried a few different kinds. This one from Barnacle Bills in Sarasota was the best out of the 3, EXCEPT for the fact that they used fake whipped cream. Ugh! I mean if you’re going to go to the trouble of making homemade Key Lime Pie why wouldn’t you just whip up some real cream for god sakes. Anyway I’m sure there are better ones at more fancy places which I will try another time, or maybe I’ll just make my own! FYI: Key Lime Pie should never be green. That means its dyed and key lime juice is actually more yellow.

Just wanted to share this…

Vancouver Slop asked me about my Top Slop – favourite restaurants in Vancouver – check it out here

I am waiting on the edge of my seat for The Foundation to open up here in Toronto. Unfortunately they don’t have a website but this is the Vancouver location at 2301 Main Street.

I’ve been craving their vegetarian fair for months since I moved from Vancouver. So much so that I had to try and mimic my faves at home. I just attempted my version of “A Tight Spin”, their Spinach Salad.  It’s pretty darn close, it’s just missing their signature Mango Vinaigrette. Although I’m fairly certain that if I just add some fresh mango puree to this White Wine Vinaigrette that I whipped up, it would be nearly spot on to what I get at Foundation.

The Foundation’s “A Tight Spin” Salad

Baby Spinach
Toasted, Chopped Walnuts
Crumbled Goat Cheese
Slices of RIPE Pear
Salad Dressing:
1/3 Olive Oil, 2/3 White Wine Vinegar, 1 TSP Dijon Mustard, 1 TSP Honey, salt & pepper

This basic salad dressing with a touch of honey had the right amount of sweetness to taste like the dressing The Foundation uses. Next time I’m going to puree some ripe mango and add a TBSP or 2 of that to this mix. It’s pretty easy, but the combo of fruit, nut and cheese, with the texture of spinach at its base is SO addictive!!

I am in search of the best AUTHENTIC Mexican in Toronto. So the other night was my birthday dinner with two close friends and I wanted real Mexican cuisine. I didn’t know of any places and asked a couple of other friends. Funny enough they too are in search of the best Mexican in Toronto. I ended up googling “best authentic mexican toronto” and Dos Amigos was one of the first results.

It’s a quaint little family run restaurant at 1201 Bathurst Street, between Dupont and Davenport. What I didn’t know is that Bathurst Street is completely f’ed North of Bloor so it’s not exactly the best place to go unless you’re in the that area and not sure how long the road work will last. Anyway that doesn’t matter. Dos Amigos had a thorough menu of highly authentic dishes. Except I decided to eat vegetarian that night and I was disappointed with my Enchilada’s. Not the restaurants fault, but I feel like if you’re going to eat Mexican it needs to be shredded pork tacos, or chicken enchiladas or something. MEAT! I’ll give into temptation next time. But I am obsessed with guacamole and that was a delicious starter. My friends’ meals contained shredded chicken and were reportedly incredible, and for dessert we had Churros with chocolate sauce. Those were to die for!

I would go there again, because its certainly better fair and a better atmosphere then popular, trashy spots like Sneaky Dee’s and Tortilla Flats (Unfortunately the only sit down restaurants I’ve been to in the city that serve Mexican, if you can even call it that. TexMex maybe?) but I feel like there’s better authentic Mexican out there somewhere in Toronto.  If you’ve found it, PLEASE let me know.

Here’s the review from blogto that convinced me to try Dos Amigos AND these people were smart and took photos before devouring their food… I forgot amongst all my girlfriend chat!

And here’s what’s in my Fave Guacamole recipe that I probably eat at least 3 times a week:

Avocado, frozen corn, diced red pepper, green onion, chopped cilantro, fresh lime juice, salt & pepper

Those are the base ingredients and it’s tasty just like that. But if I am making it for a group, I season it even more with  the following:

1 TSP cumin, 1 TSP chili powder, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 TBSP tabasco sauce, 3 TBSP olive oil, and 2 TBSP red wine vinegar.

I usually eyeball my measurements of the spices because I have made it so many times. Add more or less depending on how much guacamole you are making. Just taste test until you’ve reached your fav combo! Personally I think you can make better guacamole yourself then you can pay for in any restaurant.