#markmcewan

[melissaandreevents]

We designed this airy room for the @StellaArtois Holiday Hosting Academy so that the tables were completely clear for @chefmarkmcewan ‘s family style dinner presentation. I love these snowy seat covers we made and the twinkle of the #StellaArtois chalices 🌲🌲🌲☁️☁️☁️#MelissaAndreEvents #MelissaAndreHoliday #HostOneToRemember #markmcewan (at Melissa Andre Events HQ)

[melissaandreevents]

We designed this airy room for the @StellaArtois Holiday Hosting Academy so that the tables were completely clear for @chefmarkmcewan ‘s family style dinner presentation. I love these snowy seat covers we made and the twinkle of the #StellaArtois chalices 🌲🌲🌲☁️☁️☁️#MelissaAndreEvents #MelissaAndreHoliday #HostOneToRemember #markmcewan (at Melissa Andre Events HQ)

[sheilabarabad]

I had 30 minutes with Top Chef Judge Mark McEwan to get the cover shot for our next issue of Advantage.  I flew to the Canadian metropolis of Toronto for a brief 9 hour trip with just myself and my camera gear in tow (Don’t ask me about my first trip to Toronto a few months prior to this trip).  I met Mark at One Restaurant and he was extremely kind and generous.  I had to seize the moment and take advantage of this red wall and Mark’s sincere expression, and I snapped as many portraits as I could.

When you have just 30 minutes, it’s not always easy to connect with your client and disarm them of any anxiety or discomfort of being in front of the lens.  Thankfully, Mark was easy to connect with and was a natural in front of the lens.

Check out more of my work at www.sheilabarabad.com

[omnomto]

Grilled Shrimp @ Fabbrica

with Creamy Polenta, Sausage, Sweet Peppers, Chili

Toronto, ON

[omnomto]

Beef Carpaccio @ Fabbrica

Mustard Sauce, Capers, Onions, Radish, Grano Padano

Toronto, ON

[omnomto]

Buffalo Mozzarella (Vegetarian) @ Fabbrica

Fresh Tomato, Balsamic, Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Toronto, ON

[brentsfoodandtravelblog]

Review: Fabbrica Restaurant, 49 Karl Fraser Rd., Toronto.

My Rating: 3 Stars.

I often stop by Fabbrica for lunch as I'm a fan of their pizzas. I mentioned their pizza in an earlier blog post here on May 18th. A nice place for a quick and casual lunch with the advantage that the McEwan grocery store is directly across the street for grocery shopping. If you read my blog from yesterday (June 12) you'll remember I picked up some great steaks for dinner at that grocery store before heading home.

In the nice weather Fabbrica has outdoor patio tables to enjoy a drink on.

Moving inside from the patio after having a drink, I ordered a beef carpaccio appetizer and my usual Prosciutto e arugula pizza for the main.

Here is the beef carpaccio as it arrived with cheese, greens and dressing.

I really like the way they do this appetizer here and find the combination of beef with cheese and dressing to be just right.

Here is a photo I took of the pizza chef standing in the area with the wood burning pizza oven. You can see the fire in the oven, and the logs of wood stacked up in the lower right of the image. The pizza preparation area is separate from the main kitchen. They make their pizza with a special flour they import from Italy to keep the texture of the dough in line with Neapolitan tradition.

Here we are - the Prosciutto e arugula pizza fresh from the wood burning pizza oven (I watched it being made and cooked from my table so I could comment on that, which is why I moved my table inside for my meal from the patio after having a glass of wine outside in the sun). The crust is chewy, not crisp in texture. I like both styles of crust (chewy and crisp) so where to go for pizza depends on my mood. I felt like chewy crust today.

There is some debate of who makes the best individual portion size pizzas in Toronto  I will explore this later in another blog where I do side by side comparisons of pizza with a judging of which is the best and why.

The service at Fabbrica is very good with friendly servers and hostesses who always make me feel welcome. A very good casual lunch spot I can certainly recommend.

[brentsfoodandtravelblog]

Nice June Evening in Toronto: Time to Throw Steaks on the Barbie

Hello blog readers! Today was a nice out weather-wise so I went to lunch at Fabbrica and enjoyed their outdoor patio (I'll post a restaurant review tomorrow), then went across the street to Mark McEwan's grocery store and picked up some supplies to do some steaks for dinner on my outdoor grill.

Dinner supplies: four steaks, four baking potatoes, French-style green beans, organic mushrooms.

Michael Pollan had mentioned the benefits of grass-fed beef at his lecture I attended recently (as opposed to the standard corn-fed herds) so I opted for grass-fed NY Strip steaks from Prince Edward Island. I invited some neighbors over and was cooking for four. Nothing is simpler on a nice evening then throwing some steaks on the barbie (yes, I have traveled to Australia - Sydney, Gold Coast, Great Barrier Reef and Brisbane).

OK, so one hint I will giv for cooking on the outdoor grill is to let the steaks warm up to near room temperature with some seasoning on them on your kitchen counter before cooking them. Don't cook them cold from the fridge. They are more tender when finished this way. I put a bit of Worcester sauce, a sprinkle of powdered mustard and some seasoning on them while they are sitting out.

Here is a grass-fed NY Strip steak warming up from the fridge on my kitchen counter and awaiting seasoning.

Grass-fed high end meat is not inexpensive, but considering the main course ingredients cost in total about $62 for four servings - that is only about $15 per person for a main course.

Getting people to stop by for dinner isn't hard when you cook - you make lots of friends with the neighbors. "Stu, are you and Marcie and your cousin available for dinner - I'm grilling in my backyard tonight...oh, your cousin is  making dinner already? (she is probably putting a can of condensed soup and a frozen chicken together in a pan again) okay, I just had these organic grass-fed PEI steaks I'm grilling and thought you might be hanging around deciding what to eat for dinner, but no problem if you're bu...what? oh, Marcie says you can come after all and you'll all be over in 15 minutes? Great!"

Cooking the organic mushrooms in some butter on the stove. Steaming the beans on the other element. Background noise is Stu's car coming up the driveway...

Outdoor dining on my patio - fresh off the grill.

Another angle. Steaks medium-rare, steamed french beans, baked potato with sour cream. A man has to know how to grill in life. Parents who don't teach their teenage kids how to grill are doing them a disservice. If you teach them how to drive, teach them how to grill.

The cooked mushrooms are ready to grace the top of the steaks.

Juicy, moist and tender inside - melts in your mouth - that is what letting those steaks warm up for an hour on the kitchen counter before grilling them gets you!

A simple dessert - a glass of sweet, ripe in-season cherries. You don't need anything on these - just pick them up in your fingers and enjoy a dessert as nature intended. These were organic and in a state of perfect ripeness - they were so sweet -  Delicious! Sitting outside looking at rolling lawns, flower beds, pool and leafy trees while eating ripe cherries - what summer grilling outdoors is all about!

Oh, btw, Stu ate all his steak - Marcie and Stu's cousin Linda took half of their steaks home to eat tomorrow for lunch. Hint - If you have leftover steak, put it in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap and slice it the next day for great steak sandwiches!