March 2010
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Te Aro

I ran into Thiago, the barista from La Merceria, at Manic Coffee yesterday morning. I hadn’t seen him in a while and he told me he no longer worked at La Merceria, that he was now learning the roasting side of the business at a place called Te Aro. I confessed I had never heard [...]

Summer saturday

It’s September and the farmers’ market was at its most colourful. The harvest is in and the variety of produce was phenomenal. We brought home:

sweet peppers (yellow, green, red & purple)
corn
shallots
fresh garlic
basil
melons (yellow watermelon & cantaloupe)
purple & yellow carrots
tomatillo (ok, this one was from Kensington, but still)
heirloom tomatoes
salad greens from Kind Organics
tomato sauce  & pickled [...]

Sam James Coffee Bar

Sean, the new owner of our favourite bike shop, told us to check out his friend Sam’s new coffee shop on Harbord street. Heeding his advice and always eager to try a new local place, we cycled over. Turns out his friend is Sam James, considered one of the best baristas (if not the [...]

St Andrew’s Farmers’ Market

There is no shortage of farmers’ markets in Toronto. But despite my interest in fresh, local produce, I haven’t been able to find one that is both conveniently located for me and on a day that I can go. At the beginning of the summer I thought I could go to the farmers’ market at [...]

Dark Horse Espresso Bar

I had heard much about Dark Horse Espresso Bar, so when Alan and I found ourselves with a little over an hour to kill last Saturday and with a transit pass on hand, I suggested we hop on the Queen St Streetcar and make our way for a quick coffee at this Riverside cafe. I [...]

Sylvester’s Cafe

Located on the top of the GSU building in a little alley with the grand name of Bancroft Ave, Sylvester’s Cafe is one of U of T’s best kept secrets. When I first started my PhD, one of the first things I was told is that despite its size and central location, good food is [...]

Starbucks at Kensington?

I live in a very centrally located neighbourhood in downtown Toronto. I’m within a 15 min walk to just about anything – movie theatres, hospitals, schools, universities (two of them), shopping malls, you name it. There are at least four 24h grocery stores within two block of my appartment. The only thing that I don’t [...]

Saturday morning at Kensington

As I’ve said many times before, Kensington Market represents my idea of what Toronto and ultimately, Canada, means for me. It’s a place where old and young, rich and poor, every ethnicity, rub shoulders in peace. But despite the recent wave of gentrification, it’s not a place for everybody. It’s not manicured and some would [...]

Coffee at Louie’s

I keep saying that I LOVE going to Kensington Market for coffee on Saturday mornings. It has became our Toronto tradition. As I mentioned in a comment below, even at the depths of my comps’ blues, we still made it to Kensington every Saturday morning, summer and winter. So I decided to post here what  [...]