Volume Two, Number Two | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | A Good Food Media website | News & features from the good food movement

Grilled Cheese
Toronto's grilled cheese restaurant scene heats up as Kelly Jones surveys the best bread, cheese and heat source combo across town. More>>

To Your Health: Ann Martin's Organic Wine Tips for January
GFR's Wine Editor, Anne Martin looks at organic, biodynamic and natural wines. More>>

BREAKING NEWS: Chef Michael Smith Cooks with Paul Finkelstein's Screaming Avocados for Haitian Earthquake

Chef-turned-highschool-teacher Paul Finkelstein's famous Stratford, Ontario Screaming Avocado Cafe students are getting help for their Monday Hart House Dinner from TV chef and author Michael Smith, and have decided to turn over 50% of the proceeds to the Canadian Red Cross's Haitian earthquake relief effort. Smith, reached by phone from PEI on Thursday, told GFR that he agreed to help Finkelstein's students cook the dinner as he realised he would be en route to Vancouver to begin prepping for his stint cooking for Olympic athletes. Smith met Finkelstein five years ago while filming a segment of Chef At Large at Stratford's Northwestern S.S., where Screaming Avocado students cook with ingredients they grow themselves from red fife wheat to three heritage breed pigs (both are being served up on Monday). Finkelstein explained by phone Thursday that his students asked to donate the proceeds to Haitian relief, shifting the focus of the fundraiser in the wake of this week's terrible news. The balance of the funds raised will support his student-run cafe and school agricultural programs. Finkelstein explained that this year the Screaming Avocado program was increasingly feeding hungry Stratford students caught in the economic downturn, providing healthy nutritious meals to students in need. Ever-committed to local food in the educational system, Finkelstein plans to plant student gardens in 14 Stratford area elementary schools this spring. Smith said he looked forward to working with Finkelstein's students in part because he is looking to emulate the Screaming Avocado's emphasis on "nutritional literacy" in his home province of Prince Edward Island. Click here to find out more about the dinner. - Malcolm Jolley

Sneak Peek Inside Paul Boehmer's New
Ossington Eatery & Podcast with Chef

Jamie Drummond goes on site with Paul Boehmer as he nears opening his expansive Ossington Avenue restaurant and interviews the chef-restaurateur. More>>

Sous Chef Series: Trista Sheen

Photo: Ed Rek

Chef John Lee  starts a GFR series on Toronto sous chefs, beginning with Crush Wine Bar's Trista Sheen. More>>

Norman Hardie's 2008 Vintage: Tasting Notes and Exclusive Video

Prince Edward County winemaker Norman Hardie leads Jamie Drummond through his just released 2008 wines. More>>

¡ Oyster Boy Speaks !

The near-reclusive, mild mannered, ever quiet-spoken, restaurateur, Adam Colquhon (a.k.a. Oyster Boy) is coaxed ever so gently out of his shell by GFR's Jamie Drummond for a podcast interview all about bivalves and other salty things. More>>

Charles Baker Riesling Project at Fourth Vintage

Since 2005 Charles Baker, a senior marketing executive at ultra-boutique Stratus Vineyards, has been making a terroir based Riesling with the help of J.L. Groux and Mark Picone. More>>

The Pud That Could

He got the suet, but could he really do it? Jamie Drummond offers a follow-up report on his Christmas pudding adventure. More>>

Turning to Turnips

Malcolm Jolley continues his campaign to elevate the humblest brassica and resorts to turnip poaching in Powys to do it. More>>

Burgundian Interlude

It was a tough assignment, but Irene Steh agreed to do it: five weeks apprenticeship at Domaine Voilllot to learn the principles of Pinot Noir. More>>

Farewell to Bars

It's January, so Lorette c. Luzajic is trying to stay away from her list of favourite Toronto watering holes. More>>

Bettina Schormann: Terroiriste Pastry Chef

Photo: Jo Dickins

Slow food is not all stews and salads. Pastry chef Bettina Schormann of the Ancaster Old Mill combines the technique she honed in New York and Paris with the dedication to local and seasonal food that she chronicled with co-author Jeff Crump in Earth to Table, their best selling cookbook. More>>

Super-sommelier Zoltan Szabo returns with his newest tasting notes. More>>