Eat & Drink
Winterlicious 2010 Preview
Winterlicious 2010 approaches!
Love it or hate it, another 'Licious season is upon us as the 2010 installment gears up this week with reservations starting this Thursday January 14th (or this Tuesday January 12th for Amex cardholders).
For those Torontonians sick of the whole 'Licious phenomenon there seems to be little relief in sight. The summer and winter resto prix-fixe festivals are now in their 8th year and are still going strong with 150 local restaurants now participating.
Indie 'Licious spin offs are popping up at places like Pizzeria Libretto, Il Fornello and Marben. 'Licious fever is even spreading into the non-food world with events like Beautylicious happening this past fall.
But there are a group of food heads out there who love the 'Licious and are willing to put up with bad service and hit-or-miss food in order to get out and experience restaurants they may not have tried yet or simply can't afford normally. And when participating restaurateurs and chefs see it as a way of promoting their establishments and food rather then an annoying way to boost otherwise slow post-Christmas sales, it can be a really good experience.
What does Winterlicious 2010 have in store? Here is a round up of the highlights for all the lovers and haters out there.
First off, the pricing structure has changed yet again this year. Overall prices haven't increased, but there is a little more rigidity for the participating restaurants. They must choose one of three pricing options: $15 lunch and/or a $25 dinner, $20 lunch and/or $35 dinner, or $25 lunch and/or $45 dinner.
Winterlicious veterans like the OB restaurants Canoe and Auberge de Pommier, McEwan's North 44 and Bymark, and Sassafraz are back again this year and will carry the highest of the price brackets with $25 lunches/$45 dinners - which represent good value for money at these high-end eateries. And they generally deliver well-executed food with good service.
Also carrying the $45 dinner price tag, Chef Marc Thuet is back at it with the third incarnation of his space on King West. In case you haven't caught the reality show on CityTV, Conviction is a restaurant where both cooks and front-of-house staff are former criminals who have been given a second chance by making it in the restaurant biz.
Mid-range places like Globe Bistro, Zucca Trattoria, Mildred's Temple Kitchen, The Rosebud, Tutti Matti, and The Drake will be safe bets for good food and go-to options for many.
Most places are going for the higher brackets, but in the $15 lunch/$25 dinner category The Rosedale Diner, Oliver & Bonacini's Cafe Grill & Biff's Bistro, Midi Bistro, Black Skirt, Amaya's Indian Room & Bread Bar, and 93 Harbord are solid options. George Brown's student run restaurant, The Chef House, will also be in this bracket and is taking part in Winterlicious for the first time this year.
Aside from eating out, back again in 2010 are the Winterlicious Culinary events. For the fweeples (food loving twitterers) out there, Nyood will be hosting a dinner event where diners' tweets will be projected onto the walls of the restaurant while they eat. For the Julia Child devotees, Bonnie Stern is hosting a Julia-themed cooking class where you can learn to make her famous Boeuf Bourguignon and more. Other dinners, cooking classes, brunches, and a good ol' fashioned cook off are also in the line-up of ten events.
So whether you plan to get into Winterlicious this year or not, with 150 restaurants officially participating, various events being held in conjunction with Winterlicious, and the indie 'Liscious scene there is lots to see, do, and most importantly eat out there in Toronto.
Winterlicious runs from January 29th to February 11th, with reservations being taken from Tuesday January 12th for Amex cardholders, and January 14th for non-cardholders.
To make browsing and selecting partiipating restaurants a little easier, blogTO reader Kevin Quan created and shared a handy Google map that plots all of the restaurants participating. It's even filterable by pricing scheme!
Lead photo by Vic Shum from the blogTO Flickr pool.
Discussion
16 Comments
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wait until you get better food and service....
its a nightmare...NO THANKS....
Used to be they started the whole LICIOUS thing so that diners would get a bargain. Now it's gotten out of hand.
Ever gone to one? You would think they would 'embrace' new customers. Instead...The wait staff cringe. The kitchen staff yell. sooooooooooooooooooo NOT WORTH IT!
Best of luck to all you managers, waiters, bartenders, bus boys, kitchen staff, dish pit, and anyone else I may have missed! May this Winterlicious be stress free (as can be) and wonderful!
This is the business and also why some restaurants make it, are busier than most and others don't. I really think that if restaurants cringe at having Winterlicious/Summerlicious etc......then DON'T do it!
The last time I went was a few years ago. We didnt even know "LICICIOUS" was on. We sat down only to have the Special menu thrown at us, the waiter leave. We were there for 2 items we craved. When he came back, we asked for the normal menu. He was surprised. Asked him how his night was going and he rolled his eyes. Explained he was in-the-weeds and upset. His whole persona changed once we ordered a good bottle of wine. He later apologized at his outburst stating it was a crazy night.
We didn't take it to heart. He did a great job. Other new customers may have walked out.
This is where your acting-skills and professionalism come into play. Of course it will be busy. Stressful...so is New Years....LOL!...
I guess the only people to blame here are the money-grabbing OWNERS who under-staff each and every year for this event. I feel very bad for the Kitchen Staff/Servers that come into work only to find they are short half the staff :(:(:(
Servers might be busier and get smaller tips, but if you add up all the smaller tips they are probably more than the larger, but much fewer tips they would have gotten if the event didn't entice so many people to their restaurant.
I imagine with the increased cost and most restaurants opting for the highest pricing structure, demand will wane somewhat anyway.
As a long time Torontonian and recent time spent as a cook I was excited to have my first Winterlicious experience.
Disastrous.
The place? Centro. Ignoring the advice of a co-worker, I decided to make the trek to this well to do restaurant, that has a relatively good fine dining reputation. First came the starter – a marinated artichoke salad. Overall, it was rather forgettable. A lack in taste was offset by a solid presentation and simply left me looking forward to some delicious slow braised beef. As seems to be representative of the restaurants culinary philosophy, the braised beef looked divine yet was unseasoned and left me wondering if I could order a side of taste. Personally, I quite enjoy cooking braised beef. It’s a fun dish with a longstanding tradition and the possibility of bold delicious flavours. To the chef who cooked such a outrageously bland dish you should be ashamed of yourself. Finally the chocolate cake desert was equally disappointing, and in tune with the overall theme of the night was once again tasteless. I was expecting a rich chocolate taste however I received a lifeless cake with a questionable sorbet pairing. To put it in perspective MacDonald’s apple pie has more character.
But it all looked great.
Save yourself the expense and avoid this restaurant like the plague. Better yet, purchase yourself some oversized plates, turn on CBC radio 2 (hopefully vinyl tap) and get your cook on, spend 5 minutes coming up with suitable garnishes, open a few bottles of wine and have some friends over.
Yours truly,
Christopher