Resident Tourist Toronto

Last Saturday, We attended The Gourmet Food and Wine Expo, although it may have been more accurately named: The Wine, Beer, Liquor, Cocktails, and Gourmet Food Expo. It was a telling (and more than a little ironic) that upon entering we were greeted by a representative for a M.A.D.D. associated non-alcoholic beverage company. That appeal to moderate drinking was soon lost as liquor took center stage. Granted, you didn’t need to get loaded wandering around the convention center, but we witnessed many who chose to. And even while trying to take a conservative approach to the drinking, there were so many tempting beverages to try, it soon became a marathon for our livers.

The show

This was the third major food festival of the year which we've attended and although we enjoyed ourselves and had a good time, it was the least memorable of the trio. Why? Well as stated above, the focus wasn’t really on the food. There were food vendors and some really good ones, but they seemed vastly outnumbered by the wine, craft beer, and other alcohol purveyors.  Kiosk that offered food were so few and far between in some stretches, we found ourselves wondering when we’d get to the next one. This was unexpected for an event with "gourmet food" at the head of its title.

Another reason we were disappointed was that the cost. Instead of small bites for a few dollars, thee were larger portions with prices to match. Most items went for a minimum of four dollars and it wasn’t hard to spend six to eight per plate. This made it harder to try a lot and sure made you run through the tickets quickly. 

Which brings me to my final complaint: the tickets. Organizers really need to modernize and move to an electronic payment method like Taste of Toronto or Toronto Food & Wine were using this year. The plasticized tickets were cumbersome and a challenge to tear off, especially once you were holding a purchase in one hand and a wine glass in the other.

The drink

There was no lack of choice in this department. If there is a style of wine, beer, or liquor you enjoy, you were bound to find it. David was overwhelmed with the craft beer selection and we tried many fantastic wines that we will be looking out for the next time we’re at the LCBO. But unlike a wine tasting, these pours were rather substantial and more often than not we turning up things we would have loved to try because our glasses were still nearly full. We mostly kept clear of the hard alcohol but we did have to end the day with some fine cocktails made with gourmet mixers from Fever-Tree. 

I feel that since this was such a big part of the show, I am being neglectful with describing the choices that were available and the great things we sampled. And the truth is we did neglect the beverages. We took almost no pictures and we kept few notes. We were there for the food and perhaps we stuck to that notion too rigidly during our tour.

The demonstrations

Throughout the day there were many different presentations and tastings.We attended The Wine Sisters' holiday tasting. Erin and Courtney Henderson are both sommeliers, who run an event planning business here in Toronto. A small fee was required but this was offset be the four wine tastings that the sisters walked us through. The show covered proper tasting techniques and many holiday entertainment tips. The sisters gave a lively and entertaining change of pace to the day and after a few hours of walking around the convention center, a welcomed chance to sit down. The four wines we tried were under $25 crowd pleasers perfect for the holidays. And one of their top tips was to always hold the glass by the stem, not just to keep your hand from warming the wine (the reason we knew) but to keep oily deposits from building up and grossing out the people you're mingling with.

The Food

There were a few items that we had read about before coming, like the sushi burrito and the "Pig Mac" (on a side note, this was actually the third sandwich in our travels we’ve had called a “Pig Mac.”), but we found both lacking as the concept proved better than the execution. As far as high concept street foods go, we’d have top award the spam sushi the winner. Although not all that original (it’s been a staple in Hawaii for years), it wasn’t something you often in the T.O. and it was our first chance to try it.

But the hands down winner of "the best thing we ate" prize was the Filipino poutine from Casa Manila. We’re huge fans of this North York gem and were eager to see what they brought to GFWE. We had a couple of their extremely tasty skewers but the decedent chicken sauce doused with aioli and sriracha covering our fries wowed us with it’s tart sour notes and generous but not overpowering heat. It was something we could have eaten a few plates of. But then we would have needed a long nap.

Runners up would be: Little Fin’s shrimp and bacon mac & cheese. It was a small portion but packed big flavors; and Bake Three Fifty’s build your own ice cream sandwich. Selecting from different cookies, ice creams, and toppings, it was easy to construct some truly wild and heart clogging combinations.

The verdict

Although we were disappointed that the focus of the event wasn’t on gourmet food, we would recommend it. And in fact, we did recommend it later that night when it came up in conversation. Perhaps next year our expectations will be more in line with the spirit of the show and we’ll go in thinking more about the wine and beer we’ll be trying rather than the food.