Dear reader, Jamaican beef patties should be Toronto’s official dish. Schoolchildren crush them outside corner stores at lunch. Bankers stuff them into their faces while riding the streetcar to the office. Hot young chefs sell fancified versions in their restaurants. We can attribute the patties’ prevalence in the city to mass migration. From the ’50s to the ’80s, hundreds of thousands of people came here from the Caribbeans seeking a better life. These new Torontonians brought with them stunning cuisine, unbeatable patois and a survivor’s spirit. I was lucky enough to attend a middle school in north Etobicoke with tons of Caribbean kids. They showed me that Toronto was so much bigger (and more delicious) than I had ever known. Table Talk’s top post this week is a menu tour of Kitchen King, a Carribean temple that’s taken over the food court at Yorkdale mall. Bahamian chef Donovan Smith (formerly of Miss Licklemore’s) brings jaunty takes on the classics: a Philly cheesesteak for the 21st century, oxtail lo mein, and a sandwich stuffed with jerk chicken and fried plantains.
Also in today’s newsletter: jumbo cocktails built for two. Plus, a new Mediterranean restaurant from the team behind Cano. For more of our food and drink coverage, visit torontolife.com or subscribe to our print edition. |
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| —Barry Jordan Chong, city and real estate editor |
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Donovan Smith was at the height of his career in the Bahamas, working as a private head chef for the rich and famous at the Four Seasons Ocean Club Resort in Nassau. But he had dreams of a bigger city and building a modern Caribbean food brand. After a brief stint at Miss Likklemore’s, Smith found a new home in the Yorkdale mall food court. Here’s what he’s cooking up. |
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| Large cocktails are usually associated with the drink-till-you-drop crowd. But Toronto bartenders are rethinking big drinks, swapping out college mystery punch for something lighter, slinkier and made for two. Here, the team at Doc’s Green Door Lounge show us what they’ve got in the mix. |
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| Mediterranean cuisine bonds Lyla co-owners Daniel van Welie and Amen Habtemariam, who first met when they were 18 years old. Van Welie went on to open an Italian restaurant, Cano, in 2017, and he hired Habtemariam soon afterward. Seven years later, they felt the time was right for a new project. |
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