The best holiday gifts for foodies

Dear reader,

Despite the fact that pumpkins are still deflating on many Toronto porches and a couple of fun-sized chocolate bars still manage to make it into my lunch every day, holiday season is in full swing. Carols are being piped through mall speakers, city hall’s tree is up and supermarket dairy cases are already stocked to the hilt with eggnog. (Are people really jonesing for it that badly?)

Toronto Life has not only jumped on board the bandwagon—we might even be steering it. And I won’t lie: I love it. Right now, I’m listening to a Cozy Christmas Jazz playlist and thinking about Swiss Chalet’s Festive Special more than is appropriate for 9 a.m.

Keep scrolling for 20 things to give the foodie in your life who already has everything (like a personal-sized jamón), the city’s best new private dining rooms (for party-planning purposes) and Toronto’s most extravagant seafood tower (as well as four other more reasonable ones).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pre-order a certain quarter-chicken dinner.

Step away from the fruit cake: we’ve put together a helpful list of 20 gifts—many of them locally made, all of them downright delicious—for the food-obsessed person on your list.

Cheers to the unsung heroes of the holiday season: the party planners. This list of a dozen sensational private dining rooms should take some of the stress out of venue-scouting for any shindigs, be they for family, friends or colleagues.

Nothing says festive celebration quite like a multi-tiered seafood tower. One of the city’s most impressive piscine platters is found at Clockwork, the Fairmont Royal York’s gilded lobby bar. The $550 (we warned you it was extravagant, didn’t we?) Sea and Be Seen is chock full of crustaceans, mollusks, ruby-hued tuna loins, caviar pearls and other subaquatic delicacies. Click here for a closer look.

In the latest issue: our annual ranking of the people whose courage, smarts and clout are changing our city—and the world—as we know it. Plus, the ultimate holiday gift guide, memories of 888 Dupont, a Q&A with prog-rock icon Geddy Lee, and more. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today.