ARTS & CULTURE
6 Obiter Dicta
Winterlicious is Coming
Subtitle goes here
marie park › arts & culture editor
H
av i ng no pr ior experience with
Winterlicious, it is fitting to that “I know
nothing.” Not only that, but I am hardly
a foodie, nor do I have a big stomach for
anything. People who really know me note my lack
of appetite, actually, and at home I’m known to be a
serial picky-eater. But these bad habits (of which I’m
sure you, the readership, likely have to one extent
or another) need to change, and I’m thinking that
picking up the foodie lifestyle might help with just
that.
Winterlicious is here, a fact that is hard to miss.
It’s all over the web and in print features, and rightly
so, as it is one of the best loved and most anticipated
culinary events our city has to offer. I foreshadowed
its coming earlier in the Obiter’s first issue of the
new year, and this time I hope to provide some helpful guidance to you (and myself) on how to make the
most of the two weeks of good food and good fun.
As a refresher for those not in the know:
Winterlicious is a city-wide event where some of the
best restaurants offer lunch and/or dinner prix fixe
three-course menus. This is a great way to explore
the amazing food landscape of Toronto’s many fine
dining and specialty eateries without breaking the
bank. The City of Toronto website has a page set up
for this event, through which you can search for
restaurants, browse menus, and make reservations
online. Visit the website at Toronto.ca/Winterlicious
Annie Chu, Osgoode grad and gastronomic guru,
recently wrote a post for her blog - Chu on This about the best way to make the best of the best. She
gives us five really important, yet simple, points to
consider:
Make reservations in advance;
Being on the Winterlicious list doesn’t mean it’s
good;
Being good doesn’t mean it’s worth going for
Winterlicious;
Pay attention
to the veg(etari)an
options; and
D on’t forget
the dessert!
The
best
options are often booked out, especially for the best
times like Friday evenings, so make sure to call
ahead for seats. Participating restaurants have been
accepting reservations since mid-January, so the
time to call is now!
Also, Annie notes that just because a restaurant is
participating in Winterlicious does not mean it will
be good. The popularity and success of the event has
grown so much over the years that now, there are
more than two hundred restaurants across Toronto
(and beyond the core) with Winterlicious offerings do your research before you reserve, lest you be disappointed. Likewise, the popularity of Winterlicious
sometimes makes a good restaurant too busy to
be enjoyable, or renders the prix fixe menu to be
sub-par compared to its already amazing regular
offerings.
Be sure to read Annie’s post for more, including
an amazing cheat-sheet to help you decide on your
gustatory experience. Also, follow her blog for indepth restaurant reviews, at ChuOnThis.ca!
Moving on now, I would love to be able to make
a reliable, credible list of the
best places to go
this year, but I’m
hardly qualified
for such a task!
Thankfully though the internet is full of restaurant reviews, and many “best bets for Winterlicious”
pieces and the sort - so I encourage you to get surfing and scope out your own picks accordingly.
However, I can provide some other helpful things to
keep in mind.
Firstly, never forget that too much of a good
thing is never good! Don’t try to handle more reservations than you can healthily manage. Dining
out should remain a special treat, and just because
Winterlicious lasts only two weeks doesn’t mean
that these restaurants are going anywhere after
that. Also, make it more than a food experience. The
pleasures of a good meal go/extend beyond what’s
on the plate, and have to do with whom you enjoy
that experience. Make Winterlicious a chance to get
closer with your family, your buddies, or a significant other.
Another thing is etiquette - providing value
priced but high quality, three-course meals is not
an easy business operation for most establishments,
and as good gentlefolks we should all respect that.
Just because the food was cheap doesn’t mean you
should tip less, and just because the place is busier
than usual (as it often is for Winterlicious) doesn’t
mean you should sit grumpy for your entire meal.
Also, with such volumes of customers and orders, be
kind in general - if your order is not to the tee, be
civil about it - the kitchen is likely hellishly hot and
busy.
Lastly, my final tip is to be thankful for the food.
We live in a world of plenty, where sometimes we
have too much to eat that we get ungratefully selective about our food. Winterlicious is a celebration of
the culinary diversity of Toronto. It remind us that
every meal is special, and to savour every bite of
life. u
“Winterlicious is a celebration of
the culinary diversity of Toronto.”
ê Photo credit: notable.ca
t humbs down
No Oscar nomination for “The Lego Movie.”