"toronto" news and stories

Black widow spider. Photo: Ian Waldie, Getty Images.

Talk about sour grapes!

Toronto resident Brett James was reaching into his refrigerator to grab his wife a snack when he found a black widow spider lurking under the bag of grapes he'd purchased at the local Whole Foods Market, the Toronto Star reports. He thinks the poisonous spider came in with the grapes.

"When I lifted the bag, the spider was underneath, just sitting on top of another bag in the refrigerator," James tells Slashfood. "I wasn't sure exactly what it was, and I had heard stories before, so something was in the back of my head that it could be serious."

He lifted the spider out of the fridge on a paper towel and put it in a plastic container. After poking around on the Internet, he said he identified it as a black widow, a spider whose venom can cause muscle cramps, tremor and chest pain.

A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country (and this week, beyond).

It's been a couple weeks since I last dropped a "What's On Tap" post for inquisitive craft beer heads who can't travel across the entire country, so I figured I would have to go an extra mile to make it up to you. Hopefully using that extra mile to cross the U.S. border will do the trick as we take a look at the draft selection at Volo in Toronto, Ontario, Canada!

At the risk of offending some of our neighbors to the north, Toronto is probably Canada's most cosmopolitan city. One can only expect they have a few beer bars to back up such a reputation. Checking in at my old standbys -- BeerAdvocate and RateBeer -- a number of pubs got high marks. BeerBistro looks like it's worth a stop. And Smokeless Joe not only sounds like a healthy guy, he sounds like he has a healthy beer selection as well.

But both sites have Volo positioned at the very top of their lists. Seems like they way to go, right? Let's see what Volo has on tap...

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The Gordon Ramsay food empire is finally making its way north into Canada! However, while he cites Araxia in Whisler, BC as his favorite restaurant, his first forays into the land of the maple leaf will be on the other side of the country in Toronto.

Toronto Life reports that in a talk with George Stroumboulopoulos on The Hour, Ramsay admitted that he will definitely open a restaurant in the city, and has already scouted a couple sites. Unsurprisingly, Ramsay wants to focus on "humble" local and seasonal ingredients, which is certainly in line with Toronto epicurian mentality. This will, however, be months in the making (a year or so) as Ramsay wants "to do it properly" and invest directly.

What it also means is that the T-Dot will see a lot of Ramsay in the future -- he even pointed out how convenient it will be to pop up from New York.

I better start saving...

If you love food and are itching for a winter trip, go no further than Toronto's Winterlicious. From January 30 - February 12, the city's restaurants will be overrun with hungry patrons looking for good food at a discount. It's an idea that sounds all the more irresistible this year, as budgets tighten, and it's a great way to get pricier meals in pricier establishments at more affordable prices.

For some foodie spots, the event is merely a way to get customers in with a selection of their normal menu. For others, it's a chance to get creative. Spice Route is following its name and offering foods flavored with spices derived from the 5 countries in the spice route. The Drake Hotel is holding food and fashion events that merge tasty brunch with fashion and swag bags. The Stop Community's Greenhouse is hosting a candle-lit dinner of local, organic, and sustainable food.

Over 100 restaurants are participating, and reservations start on January 15. Toronto.com has a rundown not only of the participating restaurants, but also the events and menus. Now I just need to choose what new places I want to check out ... although my beloved Beer Bistro might make me sway towards the familiar. Their menu looks stellar!

The only cartoon-themed restaurants that I've eaten at have been at theme parks and the only memorable one was Marvel Mania at Universal Studios, Hollywood. It has since closed down (probably because the food wasn't that great), but it was kind of entertaining to have Spidey hanging out at the dinner table. Perhaps drawing inspiration from that one selling point - that it is fun to sit with the characters - from such themed restaurants, a new cartoon-themed restaurant has opened up in Toronto that takes the theme further.

iMaid Cafe is a cosplay restaurant, which basically means that all the staff members are dressed in costumes and play a certain role. In this particular case, that role is of a maid from Japanese anime cartoons. "I call them maids not waitresses," said 24-year old Aaron Wang, the owner of the restaurant who is originally from Beijing. "They smile a lot and they are cute. I want somebody cute like the characters from cartoons -- big eyes, long hair and young."

Feedback from customers over the past few weeks has been nothing but positive, as both men and women come to enjoy the costumes and the atmosphere.

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