Villa Restaurant

When it’s nice out, you just got to sit on a patio! So, me and my family tried a new restaurant (for us), called Villa, on Bloor Street West. It had been recommended by Marni Wasserman, and she knows her food, and what we are after on a menu!

They have a great little patio right out front of their restaurant, and they even took a reservation for us on a Saturday night – that is very, very rare it seems for restaurants in Toronto! The servers were very understanding when we talked to them about my sister’s nut allergy, and even cut our bread and poured our olive oil separately just to make sure there was no cross contamination. We were off to a great start!

We started off with a bruschetta that came with the chopped tomatoes in a small bowl to place on our gluten-free multigrain buns on our own. I don’t even like tomatoes, but I did like the dish a lot – there was the perfect amount of garlic and onions and just the right amount of fresh basil and a light dressing.

My dad ordered a Mill Street Organic beer, which is his favourite! And, even though my sister is holding the bottle in the picture on this post, don’t worry, she didn’t drink any of it!

Now for the main course – we ordered 3 pizzas and a pasta. You can choose one of their pizzas, or make a custom one with 3 different crusts (regular, spelt or brown-rice gluten-free) and at least what seemed to be 40 different toppings. My mom ordered a gluten-free crust with roasted tomatoes, zucchini and hot peppers (no cheese) and they had no problem making it crispy and she really liked it! My sister ordered a very different type of pizza (from what I’ve ever seen!) – she ordered a spelt crust, roasted sweet potato pizza, but made a couple substitutions from their menu. The final pizza she ordered had roasted sweet potato, caramelized onions, spinach, chevre and roasted red peppers and green onions, and she really loved it. Her favourite part was the sweet potato (she asked me to add that into this review). My dad ordered a spicy pasta with brown rice, gluten free pasta. I tried a few pieces and loved it, the flavour from the jalapeno peppers was amazing. Now, it took me only moments to build my custom pizza. It started with a spelt crust with tomato sauce and chevre with grilled red onions, wild mushrooms, arugula, roasted garlic, and wait for it…sliced avocado! That’s right, sliced avocado! I myself had never had avocado on pizza before, but as soon as I bit into that crispy crust pizza, I knew that I would be ordering it next time we go there. It’s like when I bit into the pizza that a grenade of flavour was in my mouth, and when it exploded with the fresh avocado, I was very happy!

I hope you all try Villa Restaurant too, because it’s a great spot for Italian food. Everyone in the family can be happy no matter what your eating habits are. My one request for them – please try and use more organic ingredients. It’s so easy since they could shop for so much at the farmers’ markets!!

 

My sister & her sweet potato pizza

My Avocado Pizza!

Mill St. Organic Beer

The freshest (cutest) juice you can get!

Master Juicemaker at work!

It’s no secret that a lot of big name brand fruit juices, don’t even really contain fruit by the time they are done packaging them! So avoid them or drink fresh juices. You will see by watching this video I directed and produced, that it’s not all that hard to make your own, my 4 year old brother will prove it how easy it is!

Now just a warning to you all, that the best part of the video comes AFTER the credits, so please watch the whole thing, including the segment called “Good To The Last Drop”.

Happy sipping and don’t forget to drink the real stuff!

WATCH IT NOW: My Brother, The Juicemaker

Pizzeria Libretto Outside on the Danforth

Me and my Special Pizza on the Patio

Loving the Arugula!

Who likes the pizza?

Today when I went to Pizzeria Libretto on the Danforth, I was in for a real treat! Me and my family realized that they have a newly opened patio that we could eat at! We sat outside in the bright spring sunshine and we really enjoyed it. The tables were smooth and clean and the chairs were really comfortable – patio chairs can be kind of uncomfortable and these ones are great!

We all ordered our usuals, except for me – because the waiter told me about the special pizza, which I needed to order as soon as he told me what it was! Do you see my happiness in the picture above with my spelt crust pizza topped with caramelized onions, scrambled eggs, crumbled sausage (really, the primary element of this edible work of art!), cheese, chives and chili oil.

You can read my full reviews about Libretto Osssington from 2009 here and Libretto Danforth here, but what a bonus it is to eat amazing pizza on the Danforth outside on their patio! (also, they have umbrellas to give you shade too)

Simple Bistro

Simple Bistro is a quaint and cozy little space on Mount Pleasant south of Eglinton. I had never been there before and was looking forward to trying another new restaurant. It’s a lot of fun to go out with my great grandfather for lunch on the weekend, but in addition to a nut-safe restaurant that serves local, real food and can do vegan, we also need somewhere that is good for him – serving eggs and bacon, so we were thrilled to find this spot!

Right when we walked in, we could immediately tell that the service was going to be good, since all of the waitresses had smiles of their faces and they talked very kindly to us. That’s a rare find, even though it shouldn’t be! I ordered a peppermint tea to start – so happy when it’s organic! It’s great that they serve hot water in a pot because I like steeping my  own tea at the table. It would be great if they could use loose leaf instead of the tea bag in the future, because it saves so much waste in packaging and tea bags.

I hadn’t had  meat in a very long time and decided to take the plunge and order the Simple Burger. What helped make my decision was that the waitress knew exactly the farmer from where the meat came from, and it came with Kozlik’s mustard on it – always a good sign! It was so juicy, which I think was a sign that it was very fresh. The french fries were absolutely amazing – thin and crispy, although, sadly, while I excused myself from the table for a few minutes to go to the bathroom, my family swiped a whole bunch of them!(By the way, I’m still holding a grudge over that). They serve very, very good housemade ketchup and an aoili of sorts too. I love dipping french fries into different dips, don’t you?

My sister ordered the eggs benedict and substituted the spinach for wild leeks (ramps), which they did happily for her and she loved it. It came with huge side salad and a little bowl of hollandaise sauce (because she asked for it on the side). My cousin and my dad ordered crepes that looked fantastic with wild mushrooms, and I would have normally tried them, but I had eaten SO much at Brickworks Farmers’ Market a few hours earlier (a massive crepe as per usual on Saturday mornings from Clements Crepes AND an impeccable grilled cheese sandwich from Ezra Title of Chez Vous Dining) that I was still bursting! Yes, I did eat two full courses for breakfast, I love the farmers’ market!! My mom was thrilled with her roasted veggie salad and and she loved that there was bee pollen in it. Meanwhile, back at my great-grandfather’s side of the table, he was digging into his french toast (bread was housemade!) with wild blueberry compote and cream. We all held our breath as the waitress served him his meal and put a little plate of bacon on the table, because he is very picky with how his bacon is cooked (he is 98 and allowed to be in my opinion), and he said, “this is cooked perfectly”! And, that’s all you should need to know to try this restaurant. Trust me!

I also was fortunate enough to get to meet the owner, Graham, and he was very nice and brought us desserts that were so rich and creamy, which included a s’mores sundae made of chocolate mousse with a chocolate ganache centre, 3 housemade marshmallows on top, and housemade graham cracker crust on the bottom. I really appreciated the plating arrangement of each dessert in a mason jar, which was very cool. I cannot wait to go back again, especially when I’m not so full so I can try more of their menu. Overall, it’s a great neighbourhood spot for brunch and I will return to try their dinner. I hope you all go and try it and can experience the wonderful feeling of knowing the people there are real and so is their food.

Look how happy my great grandfather is at Simple!

Rhubarb Dessert!

Salad with Bee Pollen

One of the best burgers I’ve eaten

100 mile Eggs benedict with salad & wild leeks

Smores in a mason jar!

Bunners Bakeshop in the Junction

So here’s the thing – I haven’t been to Bunners on Dundas in a while (sometimes it takes me a long time to actually write a review), and to get some details, I went to their website. Now I have a problem – I have no way of getting there right now, and I really want their cinnamon buns and butter tarts that look so gooey and delicious on their home page, which seem to be new since I was there last!

Bunners is an incredible vegan and gluten-free bakery in Toronto that everyone loves. We’ve even served their baked goods to people who don’t like vegan food, and they’ve loved it! The Creamies were the biggest hit, and I would recommend ordering them smaller for a party since they are normally gigantic! If you are after gluten free bread, their loaves are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside – it makes really good toast with sunbutter!

They can make soy-free icing on their cupcakes upon request, if that’s something you are concerned about! I just love all kinds of cupcakes. Some people eat the icing first, some people eat the cake first, but I like to eat the icing and cake in each bite!

It’s hard to recommend what you should get (check out their menu), because anything we’ve purchased and eaten from their display counter has been excellent. If you celebrate Chanukah they can make excellent donuts for you, and if you celebrate Easter, their Easter Cream Eggs are the sweetest and the best easter eggs I’ve ever had (I’ll celebrate anything for their desserts!).

The people who work there are very nice, and although they don’t guarantee that they are nut-free, they don’t use nuts.

It’s a perfect place to walk to for dessert after lunch at The Beet down the street!

The Beet

The Beet isn’t the fanciest restaurant in Toronto, but it has a nice atmosphere with a cafe-ish look. On their website it says the following:

The Beet was created to promote health for our customers as well as our planet. This is why we prepare all of our dishes with certified organic ingredients.

In an effort to reduce “food miles” and encourage a close relationship between the consumer and the farmers who produce our food, we use locally grown grains, dairy, meats and produce whenever possible. Our recipes are continuously adjusted to reflect what is in season and locally available.

Because of our deep commitment to the environment, The Beet was constructed using recycled and sustainable materials, from flooring to cabinetry.

Isn’t that amazing?

My favourite dish to get at The Beet, is the Huevos Rancheros which is two baked eggs with raw Quebec cheddar, sweet potato mash, and is topped with sour cream and avocado on a Canadian corn tortilla. My little brother had the vegan mac and cheese special, and they even gave him organic ketchup (so many restaurants don’t do that, so I especially appreciate that they do). My sister had a humungous smoothie and fruit and she got to have a Wild Blueberry Tonica Kombucha as a treat and was very happy too!

The service was excellent and the waitress was very, very nice, and thankfully was quick since my little brother was being very impatient when we were there. Luckily, my sister shared her Kombucha with him, so he stopped complaining for a bit!

Don’t get me started about normal kids menus at restaurants. They are usually filled with chicken fingers, macaroni, plain pizza and caesar salad plus pop, juice and some gross dessert. At The Beet, they have a kiddie menu, but it’s filled with fresh, real, organic, good food. They get an A+ for that!

The greatest thing about the Beet is that they serve everything from vegan, gluten-free to burgers and fries! How can everyone not be happy here? Another good thing, right after finishing your meal, you can take a stroll right down the street to Bunners Bakeshop (which is my next review – stay tuned) for a yummy dessert!

Eat Healthy and Feel Good About It!

Speaking at the community centre

When I was invited to talk to kids and their families at the Dufferin-Perth Community Centre, I knew automatically that I would design my presentation in Keynote since I love using it and I love computers. I was a little bit nervous when I walked into the room and saw how many people were there, but as I set up my computer and projector, I realized that there was nothing to be worried about because all of these people really wanted to learn how to eat healthy, and how I eat healthy. Since I am more used to my friends and people being not interested, I was so happy when all of the kids and their parents listened on and asked questions, too. I hope you’ll flip through the slides that I posted, although, it’s much more fun in person! A real highlight of speaking to this group was having them ask me for my first autographs ever! I brought all of the kids a Yummy Earth Lollipop, and told them it was coloured with beet and carrot instead of fake chemicals, and they all loved them…of course! Hopefully, they are all still eating better now, and trying new things!

Although I wrote and designed this slideshow for my talk at the Dufferin-Perth Community Centre, I would like to share all of my tips about “Eating Healthy and Feeling Good About It” with you all. (link below!) It includes my favourite restaurants and stores in Toronto. I would also like to speak again if anyone has an opening.

Click to read through and see my slideshow. Click the arrow to make the slideshow play!

http://www.slideshare.net/rystorm/eat-healthy-and-feel-good-about-it

Live Restaurant

Unfortunately we cannot go to vegan restaurants with my sister, because almost all of them use nuts (except Loving Hut, which is nut free). We had tried to go to Live Food Bar a few times, but they never had a table for us when we got there – which I guess is good, because they are getting busy serving really good, real food.
We were the first ones in the restaurant on a weeknight, dining early before my talk at the Dufferin Peel Community centre, where I was so excited to speak to other kids and their parents about eating healthy and feeling good about it.
The only problem with the menu at Live, was that there were so many good things, that I couldn’t decide which to choose. The appetizers were a really big problem since I wanted them all. We finally settled on a jicama poutine, which was excellent – it’s a raw dish (which means nothing is cooked, sometimes it can be dehydrated), and it was chili seasoned jicama, miso gravy, macadamia cheddar cheese, and cashew sour cream. I’ve decided to have a battle of the jicama fries between Carol Belmonte (her cashew cheese is better than anything!) and the chef at Live. In the meantime, I suggest you try both! Next time, I am definitely going to try the chickpea fries and the layered Mexican dip as appetizers!
I also really enjoyed the Chia Lemonade, I had never had chia in my drink before. My mom had a blueberry kombucha that she really liked, if you want a bubbly drink that is fruity, I suggest ordering that.
We also had a kale Caesar salad, which was really large, in a good way. The flavour was really, really good, and I liked the smoky, bacon-like flavour of the eggplant “bacon”. The sprouted grain croutons were amazing and a really nice touch. The Dijon Caesar dressing was certainly not devoid of flavour and there was just the right amount on it.
My main course was the “Bacon Cheeseburger” (it’s cooked, not raw) and was very tasty. It’s a chickpea patty, macadamia cheddar cheese, eggplant bacon, sesame hemp mayo, BBQ sauce, tomatoes and arugula on a gluten free bun with pickles and veggie chips. I loved dipping the veggie chips into the hemp mayo – if I wasn’t so full, I would have asked for more!
The portions are so big (again, in a good way), that I had to take the leftover jicama fries home, but couldn’t take them to school for lunch because of a no nuts policy. And, I sadly forgot about them the next day and they went to waste. I will not make that mistake again!
The desserts looked amazing, but we were too full and in a rush, so we’ll have to go back again to try a selection of them.
Live is a great casual spot, and more like a café than a fancy restaurant, and they have lots of their stuff to takeout.

"Bacon Cheeseburger"

Chia Lemonade

The Whole Deal

Jicama Fries

It’s Ramp Season!

I will be posting another restaurant review soon, but I got really excited about this, so wanted to share the local goodness with you!

It all started at dinner tonight with a slice of Monforte’s Waltzing Matilda cheese that I picked up at Brickworks on Saturday. I like combining foods, so I picked up a still-warm, sauteed ramp (thanks Meghan and Josh for sharing) and put it on top of the cheese and ate it – there was a party in my mouth!! My mom suggested that I wind the ramp around a thin slice of cheese and the party in my mouth grew a little bit in magnitude. THEN, I got inspired and decided to get really creative on my own and added a few drops of Vicki’s Veggies Smoked Hot Sauce and a drizzle of our homemade ramp, tomato and hemp dressing and placed it on top of a large bed of pink kale microgreens from Kind Organics and broccoli microgreens from the Big Carrot. Then, finally, I drizzled a little of our homemade roasted red pepper and hemp heart salad dressing around the outside and garnished it all with 5 croutons we make with sprouted Ezekiel Sha Sha Bread. By now, the party in my mouth turned into a full blown out fiesta! And miraculously, the entire Waltzing Matilda cheese disappeared quickly tonight!

Moral of the story: have lots of good foods in your fridge and get creative, it leads to total awesomeness. Beware that your tastebuds might get overloaded with flavour, in a good way!

The full blown out fiesta! photos by me

The beginning....ramp wound around cheese

The middle...getting decorative

My trip to the Green Living Show

Doug McNish and I going to choose food at Farm Fresh Fare Court

I always love going to the Green Living Show because I like walking around and checking out the booths – seeing people and products I already know and finding new ones is really fun. The food is usually great too!! It’s late at night now, but I wanted to tell you all about the show, so you can get there and know what to expect.

Here are my notes:

Why is the Fahrenheit Grill still selling hot dogs and fries and coke at green living show? That’s disappointing and totally gross.  I saw people eating there even though right beside it there was awesome chef’s food!

I tried a new cheese at Monforte called Waltzing Matilda, a water buffalo cheese with an ash rind. It was really outstanding with the herbs, and had a great flavour. I plan on getting one at the market tomorrow! They are (like always!) beside Evelyn’s Crackers – all of their flavours of crackers are great!

I tried the organic hummus from Sunflower Kitchen that was pretty good for something in a container.

You must stop by the Organic Garage Booth! The people are very nice, and the highlight was obviously RawFoodz. (I even convinced Jacqui from Gone Shopping to buy 3!) You can also get Silver Hills sprouted bagels – try the Herb’s Garlic ones, they’re really really good.

jacqui from goneshopping.ca loves to shop

I should admit that I ate more than just one sample of Daiya Cheese, I think I had around twelve, I just couldn’t help myself! It’s so gooey when it’s melted. Have you ever tried vegan cheese? I really, really love cheese!

Daiya!

It was great to try Giddy YoYo‘s Xtra Dark Chocolate – absolutely awesome, but their mocha bar is still my favourite of theirs.

As far as chocolate goes, you must try the Cheeky Monkey Bar from ZaZu Bean - the real banana flavour in it was absolutely incredible!

Jacqui bought a lot of ZaZuBean Chocolate Bars

I signed the petition to stop the Mega Quarry – you really should too, it really doesn’t make sense what they are doing with that Mega Quarry! (and I forgot to pick up my sign on the way out, oops!) If they don’t sell out, you should get an organic Foodstock shirt – they are very very comfy.

The Mega Quarry is going to ruin our food and water! Please help stop it and sign the petition.

Loved the dude in the fair trade banana suit. I do NOT want that job when I grow up.

Mr. Fair Trade Banana

It’s always good to see and sample Neal Brothers Chips and Popcorn.

Explain to me also why the Organic Council of Ontario with ONFC is promoting organics and organic tomato sauce while serving it in a paper cup with conventional white bread. I asked them and they didn’t really understand or care. That’s really annoying to me.

Vida Grains was amazing and so nice. I loved their Savory Fiesta Meal Booster. The woman working there (I forget her name, oops!) was so nice and I gave her some advice to label her product nut-free to boost her sales.

Sodastream flavour mixers (syrups) are really gross, but I love the glass bottle machine they sell. I imagine myself carbonating a big green juice! (my mom wouldn’t buy one)

Dinner was fun as usual. Buy voucher tickets and you can go and speak to different chefs and choose to get their dishes (or not). Most dishes are very small so you can have many. My highlights included:  LPK’s sweet potato donuts, Jamie Kennedy’s recipe of Mushroom Barley Soup, Magic Oven‘s Spelt Flatbread (Tony from Magic Oven is SO nice), I also really enjoyed the  incredible grilled cheese with Monforte Cheese on De La Terre Bread (you can get their bread at Sorauren Farmers’ Market).

Farm Fresh Fare Meal Tray

After walking up and down lots of aisles, I treated myself to a Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich from LPK that you wouldn’t ever believe is vegan and gluten-free!

My favourite booth of the show was Rise Kombucha. They have just rebranded and you might remember them as Crudessence. They have four flavours, and my favourite is the Lemongrass (formerly known as Clarte).  It’s really a great fizzy drink. Stop by for a sample and tell them that I sent you!!

rise kombucha!

Overall, I highly recommend going and be sure to take an old appliance or gadget and you can properly recycle it AND get in for FREE!