P i s t a c h i o

The Media Panel at the fourth annual Terroir Symposium at Hart House really got my goat, but not in an entirely bad way. The talk gave me what I think is an exciting idea.

We heard a misguided complaint that the media talks only about new restos, which Time Out New York‘s Gabriella Gershenson was able to quickly explain away by iterating the media’s singular purpose: to report what’s new. Next question.

Still, it made me think of A.O. Scott’s weekly video paean to late-great movies. Last week he did Polanski’s Chinatown, with footage. Yup. The knife-to-the-nose scene. Although I was hoping to see Faye Dunaway being slapped through, “My daughter, my sister, my daughter.” Oh well.

Then it hit me.

Why not get people to tell their favourite stories about long-gone Toronto restaurants, and bring them briefly and meaningfully back to life?

What old restaurants are worth remembering and talking about? Which restaurants have great personal meaning for us? Which of them have put an indelible mark on the city’s culinary scene even though they’re gone?

I asked around informally and heard Fenton’s mentioned again and again. Also, Winston’s, L’Hardy’s, Pronto, Three Small Rooms….

For my part, I often think about The Copenhagen Room, where Toronto had its first ahead-of-the-curve experience with “ethnic” cuisine [discounting but not dismissing Italian and Chinese food -- I'm talking the '70s here]. The open-faced sandwich was the gourmet poutine of its day, and you heard that here first.

But back to the panel for another minute. There was a sad detour down a sorry side road.

Can we please stop comparing ourselves to NYC? Or to Vancouver for that matter?

Apple & oranges, people.

Yannick Bigourdan begged us to stop the comparison at the first Terroir. Clearly, it’s a habit hard for us to break.

On the panel’s plus side, kudos to Mitchell Davis for talking about Milwaukee as a food town. His recipe for making a city famous in gastronomic terms: “a citizenry passionate about its food.” We’ve certainly got that in spades.

A nod to Bonnie Stern for reminding us that there’s a difference between a restaurant city and food city.

To the esteemed Alan Richman, thanks for saying that the countryside is where we’re getting some of our best food and dining experiences today.

Sasha Chapman, the city’s treasured food scribe, thanks for saying that, at best, we have to be critical if we’re going to be credible.

…

More Terroir HIGHLIGHTS:

Indefatigable barristas Sal and Nick from Pantera for pressing out espressos, foaming up cappuccinos and pouring lattes pleasantly all day.

The broth in the dumpling course at lunch. With all the girlie I’ve got in me, I’m gonna say it: DIVINE.

“The cauliflower writes the menu.” – David Kinch, who farms specifically for his restaurant.

Joshna Maharaj asking us to make the local food movement more welcoming to imports like spices. “After all, we’re all imports.”

Jason Bangerter on what his kids get to eat [which would explain why they spit out hot dogs at a neighbourhood barbecue].

The “old-school” debate on tipping. I’d love to see that format become a regular. The university setting screams for it.

Rory Gallagher on tipping [or not tipping] Julia Roberts on her last movie performance.

Finally, the touching standing ovation for Arlene Stein, who conceived Terroir and gives any restaurant or food city a good reason to want to compare themselves to us.

Top image via SwissMiss via @designglut

Can’t find a date for this poster, but it can’t be any more timely.

via ReadyMadeMag via FFFFound

Design: R.O. Blechman

Animattion: Willis Pyle.

Music: Arnie Black.

for CBS 1966

Thx @badbanana via Dave Eibsen.

Thomas Rentmeister
untitled, 2007
sugar, cart
102 x 545 x 485 cm
dimensions variable
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2009

Part of Eating the Universe: Food in Art exhibit at Kunsthalle Dusseldorf

To Feburary 28, 2010

Via EatMeDaily

God is in the details

– Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

This Swiss building is called the Cocoon, and it took my breath away the minute I came across it today. I’ve been working from home for nearly five years and really love it, but I’d get professionally suited-up and ride public transit during rush hour [both of which I hate] if I could work here.

Based on the visceral and emotional buzz I got just looking at pictures of it, I’m convinced that I’d be more creative and productive in this space, that my abilities would soar, that my mood would be mostly positive and that my general health would improve.

See more photos of this building here and be moved, too.

Eric Reguly’s latest column,  The Future of the Supermarket,  is about his recent find in Turin, a retail application of “eco-gastronomy” called Eataly.

“It is an unlikely blend of food bazaar, farm stand, educational centre, museum, eclectic dining experience and political and environmental movement – though one anchored firmly in the world of commerce,” writes Reguly, which is exactly how we’d like to see eco-gastronomy: the Whole Foods model with value added.

The chain is expanding briskly in Italy and then heading into Japan and Manhattan.

It may take a while, but having had Whole Foods trod a sturdy, dependable path for its growing market, we’re going to Eataly here, too.

Image via ffffound through mint.

I follow Seth Godin religiously, and religiously is a good word to describe it, because I don’t always want to hear what he has to say, which is why I’m a lapsed Catholic, I guess.

First of all, he posts daily, which is envious. Take a day off already. It’s hard to keep up.

Second, the reason he can be a tough slog is because he sets a high bar, and I don’t always feel up to the task. I try. I appreciate his idealism because it’s from the school of best practices. His vision hangs on helping his followers establish strong and lasting businesses. He has great ideas around authenticity and doing right by our customers and clients. I’m down with that.

Today, I had a laugh. Turns out Seth grew up in South Buffalo watching Irv Weinstein report fire after fire after fire on Eyewitness News. We also had Eyewitness News in Toronto while I was growing up. Gags about Buffalo perpetually burning were rampant in those days, and it’s fun to be reminded.

This morning he opens his blog with just that, as part of looking at what’s wrong with cable news. He writes that business, like lousy cable news, is often quick to focus on urgent rather than important, noise over thoughtful analysis, opinions over facts, among other points of interest.

I’ve always seen him as a proponent of business responsibly asking: “Is this good and right for my customer?” I’m down with that, too.

Cable news today? Jon Stewart and his crack team of ersatz reporters make “important” funny, and  “great” funny has to be good and right. This is what Stewart et al hit four nights a week.

I am religiously down with that.

These are sweet. More of these, please…

[via Seesaw Design]

Cold soup is a very tricky thing, and it is a rare hostess who can carry it off. More often than not, the dinner guest is left with the impression that, had he only come a little earlier, he could have gotten it while it was still hot.
- Fran Lebowitz

Thanks to Doug Tee for Tweeting this today.

Creative ideas like this really get me going. Architecture and design are already riding the container revolution. Restos are a natural application.

And the Economist announced today that Canada is only 14th among the world’s most innovative countries [thanks Sean Moffitt]. There’s got to be a miscalculation. Don’t get me started.

Logistics? Not worried. If the same brights are on it, no problem.

Here’s the Globe’s report.