Feast of Fields 2009

Rated this place:

9550 Pine Valley Drive (Kortright Centre Organic Farm), Woodbridge, ON, L4H2Z6

Eating for a Good Cause - Feast of Fields: Feast of Fields in an annual fundraiser for Organic Advocates, a non-profit that facilitates connections between local farmers and restaurants. Founded in 1989 by superstar chefs Michael Stadlander and Jamie Kennedy Feast of Fields has been running annually for 20 years. Feast of Fields takes place somewhere outdoors, in a park or conservation area or on a farm (venues have included the Everdale Organic Farm, the Agriculture Museum in Milton and the Original Southbrook vinyard/pumkin patch) Chefs are paired with farmers and prepare a tasting portion of a dish using organic, local ingredients and set up a station where they can distribute their dishes, many chefs embrace the rustic outdoor approach and cook over open fires. Mixed among the food stations are many booths from Ontario wineries and breweries pouring tastes of their products. At around $100 per person this sounds like an expensive event but it really is worth it, you get to taste a lot of varied dishes from some of the city's top chefs, you'll always come away stuffed.

Globe Bistro

Rated this place:

124 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4K 1N1

My Fave T.O. Resto: Aside from the arrow marks on the hardwood floor you would never know this restaurant was a former bowling alley. The high ceilinged main dining room is elegant and welcoming, if you prefer a little more privacy ask for a booth on the mezzanine, not that the main dining room is crowded, unlike some places you will not feel like adjoining tables are intruding on your space.The Globe Bistro menu is locally focused, aside from the seafood almost everything on the menu is from local Ontario farms. The food is tasty and beautifully presented, the way the chef builds combinations is interesting and innovative. One of my favourite things on the menu is the constantly changing "Canada's Finiest Plate". I think one of the best dishes I've ever been served in Toronto was the twice cooked (24 hour sous vide followed by a quick sear) skirt steak with blue cheese foam.The food is great but the real best thing about Globe is the service, friendly, professional and attentive, service here is a notch above just about every other restaurant in Toronto, no employee will ever pass your table without at least glancing to check that you seem to be OK, in many visits I've never had to flag someone down for service. Globe is my go to restaurant for celebratory dinners but it's also nice to be able to just pop in and sit in the wine bar (with the same menu).

• favourite thing(s) at this place:
• service stars

Brassaii Bistro Lounge

Rated this place:

461 King St. W., Toronto, ON, M5V 1K7

Lunch: Brassaii has of late become my go to place for a casual business lunch. The 9 dollar "triple S" special of soup, salad and a sandwich is a great deal and there are many other bistro and diner classics on the menu including an excellent cobb salad and a hte brilliant inovation of adding a fried egg to their club sandwich. There's something for everyone on the menu and unlike certain places in the vicinity it's actually possible to have a nice lunch in an hour or less.

Riverdale Farm

Rated this place:

201 Winchester St., Toronto, ON, M4 X1B8

Place to just walk around:

• favourite thing(s) at this place:
• place to just walk around

School Bakery & Cafe

Rated this place:

70 Fraser Ave., Toronto, ON, M6K 3E1

Should be better: I really wish I could give this place a good review, the concept is good, the space, especially the patio is fantastic, the food LOOKS great, but that's about the end of it. We went for Sunday Brunch, when we arrived at 10:25 we did not have to wait for a table, we were shown right in. There are plenty of staff, if anything I would suggest this place is overstaffed but that does not translate into service, servers were perfunctory at the table and ignored repeated requests for water etc.. Aside from our initial drink orders at no time did any staff except the busboy approach our table voluntarily, we had to flag someone down.It was 10:50 before anyone in the dining room was served any cooked food. So some people have obviously been waiting nearly an hour. Very shortly our food arrives, my food and plate are stone cold, it's obviously been sitting around, a skin is visibly forming on the Hollandaise. I flag down a server and ask her to "have the kitchen run this under the broiler, it's cold", she zips off with the dish and is back in a flash with another one "they had another one made up", by this time my wife has tasted her meal and pronounced it good, but she notices that the green salad described on the menu is AWOL. My dish is better, but only slightly, lukewarm at best, and now the eggs are overdone, solid yolks, I did the math on my chances of improving things and decided I might as well make lemonade out of these lemons. I finish my meal & my wife is almost finished hers and a server approaches our table with what is obviously our actual order, steaming hot, complete with the missing salad, then notices we already have entree plates on the table, does a double take and disappears back to the kitchen. I'd love to know who's orders we got. When we left there was a queue out the door, poor suckers. We won't be back.