Once again we are on the brink of another weekend of Festival of Chefs at Cheese Boutique. This is what they have lined up:
On Saturday, May 17th from 12pm til 4pm, it's Massimo Capra of Mistura.
You've seen him on the Food Network's "Restaurant Makeover", you've read his column in the Globe and Mail-- or perhaps you're just in love with his moustache. I know I am.
Sunday May 18th it's the talented Michael Steh of Reds Bistro and Wine Bar Red's is unique in it's collaboration with CheeseB, who provide not only a fine selection of cheeses to the restaurant but also training seminars to staff on Advanced Cheese Sciences-- good to know, if you are ever in the financial district and have a hankering for some fine Cheese.
It's going to be a tasty weekend, hope to see you there!
May 14, 2008
Upcoming Festival Weekend!
Festival of Chefs May 10-11 2008
Another Festival weekend has passed and it went-- ahem--swimmingly!
On Saturday, skies blue and sun shining, Jamie Kennedy fans came in droves-- and were rewarded with his Asparagus and Wild Leek Gratin with Toscano Cheese Velouté. Over 400 were served by 3pm, at which time the food ran out, leaving another hour for the chef to meet with patrons.
Jamie Kennedy and Fatos Pristine
Michael Bonacini and Jamie Kennedy
Thunder Oak Gouda in all it's glory
Patrick McMurray & co. posing with Afrim Pristine 
Raw oysters were Village Bay of New Brunswick, fresh to order,simply shucked and slurped right up.
Numbers:
1100: oysters shucked by Patrick that day.
33: oysters Mr. McMurray has shucked in one minute-- a world record.
1.9 million: his lifetime amount of oysters shucked-- give or take.
9 months: time that elapses between oysters enjoyed on Mother's Day and subsequent new arrivals resulting therein-- according to an Old Oyster Tale, anyway.
Consider the Oyster - A Shucker's Field Guide
A lovely book of shells and their stories
available at Starfish
43°39’05.41”N 79°22’25.63”W @ 269’ above sea level
Wine for the weekend was provided by Henry of Pelham, represented by Paul DeCampo.
May 8, 2008
Festival of Chefs: Part Deux
Week two is fast approaching and this is what's on the roster:
On Saturday (12-4pm) CheeseB hosts culinary consciousness proponent Jamie Kennedy, chef/owner of Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, and on Sunday things get fishy with Shucking Maestro Patrick McMurray, owner of Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill. Pescitarians rejoice!
To top it off, they are promising us warm rain-free weather this weekend... it's going to be fun and yummy and, as always, inspiring-- see you there!
May 6, 2008
Festival of Chefs Weekend #1
This years festival went exceptionally well! Patrons were rewarded for braving the elements on Saturday with some good comfort grub-- a succulent beef brisket topped with sauteed wild mushrooms, on home-made spatzle. This was courtesy of Anthony Walsh, from Canoe Restaurant.
The weather did an about face on a sunny Sunday with Centro on the roster-- Bruce Woods whipped up some White asparagus and sauteed Shitake mushrooms (as if we could get sick of mushrooms) and truffled pecorino, with a micro green salad.
Chef Anthony Walsh with Canoe sous-chefs gathered for a photo with the Pristines.
CTV News Anchorman Ken Shaw visits Cheese Boutique with family and enjoyed chef Bruce Woods creations
Marc Bolduc of "The Vine" doling out glasses of wine.
The bad news--the weekend is over and I have to go to the gym now to work the food off. The good news is I have all week to work out and get ready for the coming weekend
May 2, 2008
May–Festival of Chefs 2008
I so live for this.......
The first weekend of the Festival is finally upon us, and CheeseB will host the illustrious Anthony Walsh of Canoe Restaurant from 10 am until 4 pm tomorrow, and then the fabulously talented Bruce Woods of Centro on Sunday.
Be there or miss out on gourmet fare!
If you miss it this weekend--no worries, the cheese blogger will dig into your Pavlovian impulse with the pics to come. And there is still a whole month of weekends to go!
The line-up can be found at cheeseboutique.com or in the posts below.
See you there!!!
Apr 22, 2008
Media Day Festivities
A huge success for Cheese Boutique at last night's Media Day event! Beautiful weather encouraged a massive turn-out-- estimated at between three and four hundred guests-- and what seemed like a constantly revolving door as people arrived, mingled, and feasted.
Local winery Malivoire kept glasses full, and everyone was lining up for a plate of succulent roasted pig.
In the words of an attendee of the event: "It was awesome!"
Couldn't ask for a better kick-off to the upcoming May Festival of Chefs
-- the event of the year-- every May weekend!
Some press from the event has started to come out.......
The Star
The Toronto Sun and with video
Apr 3, 2008
Festival of Chefs Build Up!!!!
Ahhh Spring.
The Annual May Festival of Chefs at CheeseB is now in preparation for a milestone 5th year with a ramped up agenda.
For starters, there is going to be an extra day added to the roster. 10 Chefs and their representative restaurants will highlight some established favourites as well as introducing some destinations that Toronto has embraced.
For those that haven't experienced the Festival before--here's a quick rundown:
Every Saturday and Sunday in May, Cheese Boutique will host some of the finest establishments in Toronto and the Chefs behind them. The invitation is a chance for patrons to experience what Cheese Boutique offers through the hands of masters.
Cooking Demonstrations: Patrons can interact with the chefs, and receive complimentary samples of their cuisine.
Wine Pairing: Conducted by Sommeliers
The Roster:
May 3: Anthony Walsh, Canoe
May 4: Bruce Woods, Centro
May 10: Jamie Kennedy, JK Kitchens
May 11: Patrick McMurray, Starfish
May 17: Massimo Capra, Mistura
May 18: Mike Steh, reds bistro
May 24: Ted Corrado, ROM c5
May 25: Jonathan Gushue, Langdon Hall
May 31: Keith Froggett, Scaramouche
June 1: Lino Collevecchio, Via Allegro
This year Cheese Boutique is in conjunction with American Express. American Express will offer a charitable donation of 5% of your total purchase using your AMEX card to benefit the Canadian Association of Food Banks. All participating restaurants in the festival and including its host, Cheese Boutique, are part of this campaign for a donation up to $50,000. Please visit AMEX for more info.
This year, CheeseB has planned a Media Launch to kick off the festival in grand style. A celebrity chef's who's who hosting this year's lineup as well as alumni chefs from past year's for a cocktail celebration... The kick-off party goes down on April 21st, 6-8 pm at Cheese Boutique!
Evidently the store is going to be open that Monday night--should be an entertaining shopping experience if you can make it out :-)
A little reminder of festival's gone by--click to go back to 2007.
Mar 23, 2008
The pursuit of pleasure--a podcast
I've always felt that radio has this endearing quality that TV misses out on.
Radio is history and has these moments of connecting with people from across the globe with shared ideas.
It's magic falls on the unobtrusive yet inquisitive approach of its host, to engage the listener with speakers that can fill your mind with colour to a place or concept you want to know about.
All you need is Cheese has a podcast site with an audio series about fine Canadian Cheeses and the people who love them. Brought to you by the Dairy Farmer's of Canada, the newest episode features the 'cheese-keeper' Afrim Pristine, in act 3, talking from the "bat-cave."
Click on this link to review. Then click on "Listen to Full Episode to Hear".
