Tag Archives: Toronto festivals

365 Things to Do in Toronto, Toronto, Toronto events, Toronto festivals, Toronto film

96. Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival

April 6, 2011 Heikki Walden

April 6, 2011

The Toronto International Film Festival may be the biggest event on your celebrity-watching, premiere-viewing, red carpet-walking calendar, but the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the world of films created for children.

Created by TIFF, Sprockets affords children and youth the opportunity to learn about the world around them through film.

Weekdays feature School Programming for students in elementary and secondary schools, but Sprockets includes two public weekends for those three and up, so start planning your weekend today! You and your kids will have the opportunity to watch films from around the world – films that may not be shown in Toronto again! For more information on Sprockets, including a calendar of screenings and the opportunity to purchase tickets, go to http://tiff.net/sprockets.

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66. Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival

March 7, 2011 Heikki Walden

March 7, 2011

Spring is in the air which means…it’s maple syrup season! You don’t have to go too far outside of the city to celebrate Canada’s most famous export – Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area (near Stouffville) and Kortright Centre for Conservation (just north of Woodbridge) are both participating in the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival from March 5th until April 10th. Activities include demonstrations, wagon rides, crafts and family activities, and of course, pancakes and maple syrup!

Admission is $9.00 for adults and $6.50 for seniors and children 4 years old and up. Pancake meals vary in price from about $2.50 for a pancake and a drink to $20.00 for a family platter. Canada produces about 85% of the world’s maple syrup, so get out there and show your Canadian pride (and celebrate spring!) by checking out the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival!

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39. Dieu Du Ciel! Beer Tasting Dinner

February 8, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 8, 2011

You know that certain types of wine complement certain foods, but did you know that the same is true of beer? Dieu Du Ciel! Beer Tasting Dinner is your opportunity to become a beer connoisseur! You’ll enjoy a ten course beer dinner at Beerbistro, where beer is not only on the menu, it is an integral part of every menu item!

Whether it’s the cheese and lager fondue, beer bread pizza, or mussels steamed in beer broth, beer-lovers will rejoice as they enjoy a feast, featuring beer from Quebec-based master brewery, Dieu Du Ciel! Many of the beers on tap for tonight’s event were crafted specifically for this event and are unavailable anywhere else in the world.

Tickets are $125 plus HST and gratuity; you can book by phone: 416-861-9872. For more information about this event, go to the Winterlicious website, and to learn more about Beerbistro, check out their website.

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38. Visit The Rosedale Diner for Winterlicious!

February 7, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 7, 2011

A family-owned restaurant in operation since 1978, Rosedale Diner is well-known for serving “real food to real people” – Winterlicious is your opportunity to sample some of this “real” (and delicious!) food!

The eclectic wares of this establishment are reflected in the prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner: as an appetizer, why not try a sweet pea soup with crispy leeks and chili oil drizzle? Or how about Israeli hummus with za’atar and warm chickpeas with extra virgin olive oil? Entree choices include everything from a brie and apple omelet with onion frits, curried chicken mango salad, Moroccan lamb shank tagine, a vegetarian moussaka, and “poutine au canard:” off-the bone duck confit and Québécois cheese curds with frites and demi-glace gravy! Assorted desserts will leave you completely satisfied with this Bohemian-style restaurant with an unmistakable Israeli flair.

Check out the Rosedale Diner’s website for more details, and don’t miss our interview with Dubi Filar, owner of the Rosedale Diner!

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35. Visit The Wine Bar for Winterlicious!

February 4, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 4, 2011

Serving local artisanal food, featuring produce purchased directly from farmers at St. Lawrence Market, Winterlicious at The Wine Bar is nothing short of delicious! A $15 lunch or a $25 dinner are both fantastic opportunities to sample locally-sourced wares.

Whether you choose the wild mushroom soup with white truffle oil and thyme, the pulled pork poutine with Monforte goat cheese, BBQ sauce and green onions, or the organic shrimp bisque as your appetizer, you’re sure to enjoy unmistakably local flavours. Lunch mains include an inventive purple beet risotto, mushrooms and smoked chicken on toast, and an open faced beef cheek sandwich, while dinner entrees include a delicious wild mushroom polenta, seared wild fish, or grilled Miami ribs. Dig into dessert – whether you select the rum raisin bread pudding with crème anglaise, the Lindt chocolate mousse with maple chantilly cream, or the house preserved fruit crème brule with almond cookie, you’ll find the experience unforgettable.

To learn more about The Wine Bar, check out their website at http://9church.com/, and be sure to learn more about the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood by watching our video interview with The Wine Bar’s chef, Bryan Burke!

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32. Visit Coppi Ristorante for Winterlicious!

February 1, 2011 Heikki Walden

February 1, 2011

Looking for some delicious Italian fare to brighten your Winterlicious experience? Look no further than Coppi Ristorante in Lawrence Park!

Serving natural and simple Italian cuisine since 1991, Coppi Ristorante’s dishes are “never adventurous but simple, never complicated but easy to comprehend, never too many spices, but one or two per dish.” This simple approach to food has commanded a popularity with Torontonians and tourists alike.

Enjoy a $20 prix fixe lunch menu, or a $35 dinner at Coppi Ristorante; choose an appetizer from selections such as the speck e pera (thinly sliced smoked prosciutto, served with sliced pear and goat cheese crostini) or insalata di finocchio e rucola (fennel and rucola salad with red pepper, pine nuts and pecorino cheese) and delight your senses with a delicious main such as salmone in padella (pan seared norwegian salmon filet with sauteed rucola and tomato and black olive salad) or tagliatelle al pesto di erbette (fresh tagliatelle tossed in a sundried tomato and herb pesto). Don’t forget about dessert! You can choose from the panna cotta agrume (citrus cream custard with toasted hazelnuts and mint pesto), tiramisu, or sorbetto al limone (lemon flavoured sorbet).

To learn more about Coppi Ristorante, check out their website, and be sure to take a look at our interview with restaurant owner Alessandro Scotto.

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31. A Passion for Dance, Opera and Dining

January 31, 2011 Heikki Walden

January 31, 2011

As part of the Winterlicious series of culinary events, Embrujo Flamenco Tapas Restaurant will host A Passion for Dance, Opera and Dining, “a brilliant combination of old music and traditional cuisine” from Madrid.

You’ll enjoy a gourmet, four-course meal featuring Spanish cuisine crafted from natural ingredients, while savoring the performances and sounds of the opera Carmen.

Dinner starts tonight at 7:30pm, and the performance continues until 9:30pm. Tickets are $69 plus HST and gratuity, and can be purchased by phone: call 416-778-0007.

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29. Fort York Food Fight! Chef Competition

January 29, 2011 Heikki Walden

January 29, 2011

As part of this year’s Winterlicious, several “culinary events” can be enjoyed across the city, including “Eat Pray Lovealicious” (an Italian cooking class at the Bonnie Stern School of Cooking), Taste n’ Tour Casa Loma Marketplace (an opportunity to tour Toronto’s Medieval Castle while dining on rustic fare), and today’s Fort York Food Fight! Chef Competition.

Getting started at 1pm, the afternoon gets under way with an “intimate interpretive food tour of Fort York,” which will help participants to understand the diet of Toronto’s early days. After, join in one of two workshops: Eat Green Through the Seasons, in which you’ll explore the ecological benefits of seasonal eating, or Growing Food Indoors, a foray into the world of alternative gardening. Following the workshops, you’ll witness a “food fight” between two of Toronto’s top chefs, Ted Corrado and Scott Vivian. Their challenge will be to create and prepare meals incorporating a secret, 1812-era ingredient available in the old days of the Town of York. The winner will be heralded as the Fort York Food Fight Champion and will receive $2500.

Join in the fun and learn more about the culinary history of Toronto! Tickets are $30 including HST and gratuity; tickets are available by phone at 416-392-690 ext. 221. Visit the Fort York Food Fight! Chef Competition website for more information.

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28. Winterlicious

January 28, 2011 Heikki Walden

January 28, 2011

2011 marks the ninth annual Winterlicious, Toronto’s culinary prix fixe event.

This is your opportunity to try a selection of appetizers, mains, and desserts from some of the city’s top restaurants, from $15 to $25 for lunch menus, and from $25 to $45 for dinner menus. Whether you’re sampling butter chicken from Amaya’s Bread Bar; Wood Grilled Cumin Chipotle BBQ Lamb Ribs, Black Bean Sweet Corn Salsa and Duck Fat Frites at Fred’s Not Here or a Lemon Lavender Tart with Milk Chocolate Cream, Toasted Meringue and Amaretto Custard at Sassafraz, your taste buds will thank you for participating in one of Toronto’s most popular winter events.

Reservations started on January 13th and menus are up for viewing on the Winterlicious websites so plan your culinary triumphs – after all, there are only fourteen days to partake in this event – with 150 restaurants to choose from, you have your work cut out for you!

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5. The Next Stage Theatre Festival

January 5, 2011 Heikki Walden

January 5, 2011

Starting today, the Next Stage Theatre Festival is the “best of the best” of the summer Fringe Festival.

Hear about a fantastic show this summer, but didn’t get the chance to see it? The guess-work of the Fringe is taken out of the mix in this winter theatre festival, as a panel selects eight shows to appear at Next Stage, based on the merits of the finished script and the companies’ past successes.

This year’s shows include At The Sans Hotel, Duel of Ages, Fairy Tale Ending (The Big Bad Family Musical), The Grace Project: Sick!, The Apology, Eating with Lola, Swan Song of Maria (A Tragic Fairy Tale), and Tom’s A-Cold.

Tickets are $15 for evening performances and $12 for afternoon performances; four play passes are available for $48, and you can see all eight shows with an eight play pass for $88.

Today you can catch Fairytale Ending and At the Sans Hotel at 7pm and 9pm, respectively, in the Mainspace, and you can see Swan Song of Maria at 7:15pm and The Apology at 9:30pm in the Studio Theatre. The Next Stage Theatre Festival continues until January 16th; for a full schedule of show times, go to the Fringe Toronto website.

These shows are held at the Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St (at Adelaide St West). Also, be prepared to benefit from the McAuslan Brewery Heated Beer Tent on site! Sweet!