Posts tagged ‘toronto’

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June 11, 2011

Cool Hand Luc makes ice cream a hot item on King West

Luc Essiambre of Cool Hand Luc in Toronto

Luc Essiambre brings great ice cream to King West with Cool Hand Luc, which opened on June 3.

Luc Essiambre is the latest entrepreneur to give King Street West a little scoop of happiness. Last week, he started serving up ice cream at Cool Hand Luc, a lower-level shop a block and a half east of Bathurst that adds some wholesomeness to this clubby neighbourhood.

He said he doesn’t drink alcohol, which meant that “at night the only people walking the streets were me and the homeless.” He opened Cool Hand Luc in the same building where he lives at 545 King West to give the area something different as well as a place everyone can enjoy.

And who doesn’t enjoy ice cream?

The grand opening on June 3 featured free tastings from his selection of premium ice cream, frozen yogourt and sorbet. Luc gets his ice cream from Bobcaygeon-based Kawartha Dairy, working with the distributor to deliver the flavours he wants. The ice creams are all-natural, gluten-free and come from fair trade ingredients, he said. The vegan-friendly sorbets come from a distributor in Montreal.

“I worked in the ice cream business for six years, so I know what flavours sell,” he said after handing over a cone topped with a scoop of Wolf Paws (vanilla ice cream with chocolate butter fudge and brownie pieces … yeah, it was yum — and it’ll sell).

Luc said he eventually will transition to making his own ice cream, but for now wanted to make sure he could get the best ice cream he could, which is why he went with Kawartha Dairy, a family-owned company that’s been around for 74 years.

At Cool Hand Luc, a single scoop with a cone is $3.50, a double scoop $6.14 and a triple scoop $7.44. A kiddie scoop comes in at about $2.50. The store’s open daily from 11 a.m. til late, which is probably around 9 p.m. or so. In winter, Luc will offer soups, as well as keep some bins of ice cream around.

These are just some of the roughly two-dozen choices at Cool Hand Luc (as listed by Kawartha Dairy on its website):

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May 11, 2011

Dairy Queen sets one sweet world record in Toronto

Dairy Queen sets Guinness World Record in Toronto
Dundas Square is used to seeing lots of white stuff. Tuesday’s scene had nothing to do with snow or pigeons, though. Dairy Queen set a new Guinness Book of World Records mark for the largest ice cream cake ever. Here are some facts about the sweet feat:

  • 22 DQ workers built and iced the cake
  • It weighed 10,130.35 kilograms (about 22,000 pounds)
  • More than 9,000 kilograms of ice cream was used
  • It was made of 91 kilograms of sponge cake
  • On top was 136 kilograms of icing and crushed Oreo cookies
  • The previous Guinness world record — an almost 8,000 kilogram ice cream cake — was set in 2006 in Beijing
  • Dairy Queen built the cake to celebrate its 30th anniversary; it has made 52 million cakes since 1981.

The cake didn’t last long. It was sliced up and passed around to those watching with tongues wagging. Onlookers were asked to make a donation to Sick Kids Hospital.

Denise Hutton, vice-president of marketing at Dairy Queen Canada, told reporters: “It took nearly 100 people over a year to plan for this record attempt, and we couldn’t be happier with the result.”

[Thanks to Julia for the photo]

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April 2, 2011

The Daily J.P. Arencibia to Cooperstown Watch, Day 1: Opening Day hero

When Roberto Alomar trotted out to play catcher for the first time ever, it may not have made sense to most of us on Friday night. Why not have both he and Pat Gillick throw out ceremonial pitches prior to the game? But obviously the soon-to-be Hall of Fame second baseman took up a position near home plate to receive Gillick’s first pitch in order to pass the mantle of Greatest Blue Jay. Ever. to J.P. Arencibia, the 25-year-old surefire All-Everything catcher who seems destined for ultimate glory. Or at least to remind Toronto of Carlos Delgado’s early days as a power-hitting phenom who managed to swat balls over the fence with such eyeopening wow some of us were willing to overlook all those other times he swatted perfectly fine oxygen as if his 36-ounce Slugger was meant to be an oscillating device.

On Opening Day, Arencibia whacked the Jays’ first home run of the season to centerfield, plating two runs and making the most optimistic of the 47,984 in attendance think ahead to October and what might be.

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March 21, 2011

One night at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto

[My review for the Toronto Star on March 17, 2011 of the $6,000-a-night Ritz-Carlton Suite at 181 Wellington Street West in Toronto. Thanks to all the folks at the Ritz for making this happen.]

Like a lot of people, I wondered who would rent it.

At $6,000 a night, the Ritz-Carlton Suite at the luxury brand’s new Wellington Street location sounds outrageous and out of step with these times, when wounds of the recession remain fresh. The suite is intended for political dignitaries as well as business executives and celebrities who want to show off. So, when I was offered the opportunity to be the first person to spend a night in the suite, I first pondered what I would do with it, and then I thought of “Risky Business” and Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll,” the film’s signature song whose first few chords evoke musings of mischief behind closed doors.

I concluded that I should test the 2,500-square-foot space by using it for a party — one without Hollywood-inspired shenanigans. The suite has a full kitchen, dining room for eight and living room with a 50-inch LG HDTV. A handful of guests from different walks of life joined me.

The Ritz is exquisite, of course. Chef Tom Brodi, whose restaurant Toca (the name stands for Toronto, Canada) is on the second floor of the hotel, and his team prepared canapes that included bite-size bison tartar topped with a sunnyside-up quail’s egg and tasty portobello carpaccio with pinenuts, argula and parmesan.

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March 17, 2011

5 best Irish pubs in Toronto on St. Patrick’s Day

No, I haven’t had a pint in all of them. Of the many I have visited in Toronto, though, these five have earned repeat business.

  1. Watermark. Great location at Queen’s Quay Terminal with the best food of any Irish pub I’ve tried in Toronto. When it’s warmer, get a seat on the patio for a view of the activity on Lake Ontario and the bustle on the Harbourfront. For a late-night summer drink, the Watermark’s a terrific spot. Try the Lobster Club ($15). It’s my spot for St. Patrick’s Day this year. (207 Queens Quay West, 416-214-2772)
  2. The Roy Public House. It’s got a Deep-Fried Mars Bar ($6.95). With Guinness ice cream. How authentic is that? And it’s as gooey and sticky as you’d think. Although the Roy is pretty new, it’s décor in this old Leslieville building is antiquey, giving it some great ambience. For an Irish pub, it’s also got good service. (894 Queen Street East, 416-465-3331)
  3. Irish Embassy. Since the Real Sports Bar opened I haven’t been here as much, but the Irish Embassy is still a reliable place for a good pint and food that’s better than the usual pub grub. Aside from Thursday nights, when Bay Street jams in, you can usually find a seat right away or without too long of a wait. The best part is you can get food from the late-night menu until 1 a.m. (49 Yonge Street, 416-866-8282)
  4. The Unicorn. When I moved back to Toronto, one of the first places I wanted return to was the Uni. Although it’s showing its years, it still seems lively on the weekends, with some good music. There’s some nostalgia here for a lot of us who went to university in Toronto and that’s part of the appeal. (175 Eglinton Ave. East, 416-482-0115)
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March 11, 2011

2011 Canadian Music Fest: Zeus is almighty and Billy the Kid could make herself famous

It’s happening again.

The groundswell of support that’s lifted Arts & Crafts’ artists like Stars and Broken Social Scene to wide recognition in Canada and elsewhere has surrounded Toronto band Zeus.

Nina Gandolfo waited at the front of the Horseshoe Tavern stage all night Thursday to see her favourite band, which didn’t begin its set until 12:20 a.m. “The best band ever” and “they’re like the Beatles” and “they care so much about the music, there’s such warmth in it” were among Nina’s words of worship. She’s clearly the leader of the Zeusbolts (every great band needs a name for its followers; other contenders: Zeusters, Zeusheads, Zeusies). They are mostly twenty-something artsy types with sharp enough ears to realize they must turn off the radio in order to find good music.

On Day 2 of this year’s Canadian Music Fest, the Z-bolts sang and danced joyously to every song, and added the kind of energy that’s needed for a terrific show. Zeus have won over a number of critics, both locally and abroad. Their sound is rich and their musicianship worthy of their fans’ effusive praise. A cover of “That’s All” by Genesis was one highlight from this quartet that includes drummer Rob Drake and a trio of frontmen: Carlin Nicholson, Mike O’Brien and Neil Quin.

Formed a couple of years ago, Zeus has members who’ve backed up Jason Collett on nationwide tours. The band plays in Toronto a lot, so there’s ample opportunity to see them in small venues, for now.

Elsewhere on Thursday night, Billy the Kid, aka Kristen Pettinger, from Vancouver wowed fans at the Dakota Tavern. Canada has turned out many excellent female singer/songwriters in the past 10 years or so and Billy the Kid seems poised to join the ranks of Kathleen Edwards, Julie Doiron and Sarah Harmer with her melodious tunes.

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