Cheap Eats Toronto restaurant guide blog

Vintages Value List November 26, 2011

Season’s Greetings!

This is the 2nd last Vintages release before Christmas and the holiday wines are hitting the shelves.  That is not great news for you bargain hunters as the big guns tend to come out at this time of year and big guns = big $$$.  We still managed to taste a few great wines in the value range and we are even including some exceptional wines above the value threshold because they are fantastic and a bargain at the > $25 price point.  Besides – it’s pretty darn stressful this time of year and you deserve to pamper yourself with some extra special libations OR they will certainly make a generous gift for someone.

SPARKLING WINE

53215 Belcanto de Bellusi Extra Dry Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCg (Veneto, Italy) $17.95

A decent little sparkly number here.  It is ever-so-sweet with some oomph on the end.  A great evening starter …

Vintages Value List Release October 29 2011

HI!

The busy-ness continues and we had to engage in some speed tasting this week. We slurped and spit at a ferocious pace and it was hard because there are some real gems in this release at a great price!

 

White Wine

37648 ZENATO PINOT GRIGIO 2010 (VENETO) $13.95

Quite flavorful, features white pear, floral notes, mineral and crisp refreshing acidity following through on a generous finish.

158501 SNOQUALMIE NAKED CHARDONNAY 2009 (WASHINGTON STATE) $15.95

This Washington number is organic, sporting flavors of fresh ripe peach and some graphite, it is off dry and has an oily mouth feel. Pair with mildly spicy dishes.

Giveaway: Fielding Wine & Private Tour for 6

Earlier this year our post about Quaffing Locally included Fielding Estate Winery, so when they asked  if I would be interested in giving away a private tour & tasting for 6 at their vineyard AND 2 bottles of wine I said “Hell yes!” 

Fielding Estate Winery is located on the Beamsville Bench which, while a relatively small appellation, has a unique set of growing conditions which provide a natural complexity to the regions wines. It’s well worth a trip to Fielding, especially if you win a tour & tasting for 6!  Besides it’s a beautiful season for a roadtrip!

Since the Fielding Wines are great paired with food:

To enter: just tell me your favourite place to enjoy a glass of Ontario wine with dinner in the comments below.  I’d love to hear what you order too, that’ll get you a second entry in the draw!

Draw: will be held Wednesday Nov 2nd after 5pm.  The winner will be announced and contacted to arrange pickup of their prize pack.

BTW, you must be 19+ years old to win this contest.

Some more information about the prize:

Giveaway: 2 Pairs of Tix to Toronto Underground Market

Last time the Toronto Underground Market sold tickets they were gone before I realized they were even on sale.  This time I bought a pair for me and a pair to give away to one of you.  But now I’m on the road, so lucky you, I have 2 pairs to give away!

To enter: tell me your favourite place to get lunch in the comments below.  I’d love to hear what you order too, that’ll get you a second entry in the draw!

Draw: will be held Friday at 2pm, and the winner will be announced.  Tickets will be at the door in your name, so make sure to leave an email or twitter handle so I can reach you! 

Vintages Value List Release October 15, 2011

Hello Fellow Tipplers!
Hope you are all doing well and embracing the change of season – whatever that means to you!  For us, it means a pretty busy work schedule as we amp up for the busy holiday season here at the LCBO and we get back into the swing of things when people stop taking summer vacation and meetings are full and the ensuing task list fuller!  This preamble will be short and sweet, but we thoroughly appreciated being able to taste these past two weeks and there are some beauties on offer this weekend in Vintages :

SPARKLING WINE

163634 OYSTER BAY BRUT SPARKLING CUVÉE (NEW ZEALAND) $21.95
Made from 100% chardonnay this sparkler is packed with flavours of ripe peach, bitter peach pit on the mid-palate and lively acidity.  Fresh, lively and quenchable with anything. 

Hello & Goodbye to Nyssa

It feels like only yesterday Nyssa joined us for her internship and it’s already her last day.  Now to be fair it was an exceptionally short internship, but Nyssa got a lot done.

So it seems right to finally introduce her to you so you can say goodbye.

Who are you and where are you from?
I am Nyssa Tilford. I am, I guess, from Vancouver. But have been living in Toronto for the last 3 years.

What do you do at Plethora Press?
I post Photo of the Week and see if any of the restaurants have closed down and if they have I do a Red Pen Update. And I’m working on a secret project.

Office Warmed!

As you may have already heard, we’ve moved the head office of Plethora Press into Camaraderie.  Camaraderie is a great co-working space near St. Lawrence which has just opened up a couple of dedicated office spaces and we were one of the lucky few companies to be able to get one of them.  This means great market lunches and a whole new neighbourhood of lunch joints to frequent.

Along with the guys at EventMobi, Tamajii and the great group of people who work for and out of Camaraderie, we had an office warming party on Wednesday night. Yes, the tornado-warning office-warming party.

My friend, and photographer, Pat Anderson was kind enough to take some photos of the brave souls who said “Feh!” to the tornado warnings to come and help us break in our new office space.

Note: Pat also snuck in a photo of my cocktail recipe for the evening. I wonder what other confidential material she photographed… hmmm.

New Red Pen Updates

Here are the new Red Pen Updates:

Closed:

• Chennai Chef (page 52)
• El Camino Mexican Cafe (page 64)
• Indochine (page 82)
• La Lucciola (page 92)
• Musa (page 106)
• Thai Thani (page 146)
• Yung Sing Pastry (page 154)

For a complete list of all Red Pen Updates click here.

Maple Bacon Donuts

The CheapEats  Toronto photo of the week is Maple Bacon Donuts at Beast Restaurant taken by Robin.

“It’s a donut with BACON on it, & clearly bacon is one of the greatest things EVER to exist.” – Nyssa the Intern

Add your own photo to the CheapEats Toronto Flickr Group and it could be our next Photo of the Week.

 

 

Nyssa Joins The Team

Our new intern Nyssa Tilford has been working with us for only 2 weeks, but she's already getting stuff done in a big way.  In fact, she has taken on a project that has been waiting for someone just like her to come along.  More on that in Sept.

More about Nyssa in her intro post next week.

Welcome to the team Nyssa!

Porchetta with Rapini Sandwich

 

The CheapEats photo of the week is porchetta w rapini sandwich at The Stockyards taken by Gizelle Lua.

This photo was selected as photo of the week because of the bun – it looks so crunchy on top and yet soft inside.  And the fillings look oh-so tasty. 

Gizelle, was it tasty?

Add your own photo to the CheapEats Toronto Flickr Group and it could be our next Photo of the Week.

WagJag Launches Instant Deals with WagJag Express

Yesterday WagJag announced a new approach to deals - WagJag Express is a buy-now, use-now, flash sale approach to deals.  In addition, August is $1 WagJag Express month with deals across the city for $1.

Today’s $1 deals (most of which run from 11am-2pm)  include: Thai One On, Second City, the {eat}ery, Kama, Ultra Supper Club, Cool Hand Luc, Jetsun’s Burgers, Herbal infusions Tea, Get Spun, Carido-Go, Marcello’s Market & Deli, deKEFIR, 5th Elementt.

If you download the app today – August 3rd – WagJag will donate $1 to The Stop. 

We haven’t talked much about deal sites and group buying, but it is certainly polarizing and there are many of them out there demanding our attention – WagJag, Groupon, TeamBuy, FabFind.  Some restaurants and vendors say it’s a great way to get new customers, others find the deals are

Vintages Values List Release July 23, 2011

Hello Fellow Tipplers!

Hope you’re all well in this sweltering miasma we have experienced this past week. Reaching for wine is not the best hydration strategy in this heat – but it does help to pass the time as you sit and do as little as possible to stay cool. We reviewed our notes and found that we only have one white wine on recommendation this week. There is no reason why you can’t cool down your reds a touch to make them a little more refreshing on a hot, hot day. Regardless, there are some great bargains to be had …

SPARKLING WINE

169128 TENUTA S. ANNA EXTRA DRY PROSECCO (VENETO) $15.95

This sparkler greets the palate with fresh citrus flavors and acidity and a creamy mouth feel! Serve as an aperitif or in your favorite Bellini recipe.

MAUSBERG BRUT BLANC DE BLANCS CRÉMANT D’ALSACE (ALSACE) $17.95

Light and refreshing sparkler that is big on citrus aromas and flavours, complimented by zesty racy acidity that persists.

Vintages Value List Release July 9, 2011

Hello Fellow Tipplers!

Hip hip hooray – the release we have all been waiting for – wines with a score of 90+. OK, there are a few that are out of our price range, but there are enough on offer to satisfy value-seekers like us. What’s in a high score you ask : critics have deemed the wine worthy of a higher than average rating and we really should take heed as these critics do a lot more tasting than the average joe and have learned to discern great from alright. These scores (and recommendations from us for that matter) come with a caveat – you still might not like them as your palate prefers other flavours. BUT these wines with big scores are definitely worth checking out.

SPARKLING WINE

48793 LOUIS BOUILLOT PERLE D’AURORE BRUT ROSÉ CRÉMANT DE BOURGOGNE (BURGUNDY) $18.95

Pretty and chic - boasting raspberry aromas and flavors and some spice. Delicate and light bodied with a lengthy finish this is a dry and fantastic fizz. (David Lawrason, winealign.com, 90)

WHITE WINE

221879 LEONE DE CASTRIS MESSAPIA VERDECA 2009 (PUGLIA) $14.95

This sexy Italian shows off pretty floral aromas and flavors of orange, lime and lemon peel bursting with freshness and a soft oily mouth feel! (Antonio Galloni, erobertparker.com, 90)

Food Trucks Eats!

In a bold move that is intended to remind Torontonians, and City Hall, that the world of good food need not be restricted to fine linens and riedel glassware, Suresh Dosh of Spotlight Toronto is elevating street food and food truck culture in our city for one short afternoon with Food Truck Eats!  (The first of three Ontario Food Trucks events!)