This Week in Food: Chantecler, Bestellen, and the Federal Reserve open, European Quality Meats and Sausages closes in Kensington, & upcoming events

This Week in Food rounds up the week's food news, restaurants openings and closings, chef movements and upcoming food events in Toronto. Find us here every Friday morning.

Openings and closings

• European Quality Meats and Sausages (176 Baldwin Avenue) in Kensington Market will be closing down on April 7th, and will be sorely missed by the many generations of Torontonians who shopped there.
• Chantecler (1320 Queen Street West), the new Parkdale restaurant by Jonathan Poon and Jacob Wharton-Shukster opens this weekend.
• Also open this weekend is Chef Rob Rossi's Bestellen (972 College Street), where local foodies will no doubt flock to see what the former Top Chef contestant has been cooking up.
• Maroli, everyone's favourite Keralan restaurant, opened a second location at 31 George Street North in Brampton on March 1st.
• And The Federal Reerve (1438 Dundas Street West) is now open in the former Zoots Cafe location, with a brunchy-type menu full of eggs, sandwiches, soups, waffles and a Ploughman's lunch.
• Japanese noodle chain Santouka Ramen is reportedly looking for a location in downtown Toronto.

Upcoming events

• The team from Hooked (888 Queen Street East) pair up with Slow Food Toronto to present Fishing After Dark on Saturday, March 3rd from 9pm - 11pm. Learn about sustainable seafood, try samples from local chefs, and enjoy buck-a-shuck oysters. Tickets are $20 for Slow Food members/$25 non-members.
• The Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West) presents The Trois Terroirs Project Dinner on Wednesday, March 7th. This 4-course dinner by Chef Michael Smith features chardonnay wines from Burgundy, Oregon and Ontario. Tickets are $85 per person.
• Like bacon? Who doesn't? Tastes of Tomorrow, a student-run group at George Brown Chef School, presents Chef Stuart Betteridge discussing everything to do with our favourite part of the pig, from history and processing to product comparisons and taste tests. The event takes place Monday, March 5th at 6:30pm at the Chef's School at 300 Adelaide Street East, and is open to the public. Admission is $10 - please rsvp to tastes@georgebrown.ca
• It's a few weeks off but don't forget to mark your calendar for Macaron Day. Patisseries across the city will offer free samples of the famous French cookie on Tuesday, March 20th in the hopes that customers will like them and buy more. 25% of all proceeds from macaron sales go to Red Door Family Shelter. Macaron Day will also take place in Paris and NYC.

Chefs

• Chef Greg Couillard is back in town, with plans to open a restaurant called Pink Slip in Toronto's west end. If you want to catch him before that, he'll be cooking from March 4- 6th at the Fox and Fiddle at Cityplace (25-17 Fort York Boulevard).

Other News

• All Duke Pubs will be running a mussels and wine festival for the month of March. They'll be serving PEI mussels in various sauces for $15.99 a bucket. All locations will also offer weekly wine tastings, and bottles of wine will be 1/2 price between 11am - 4pm during the festival.
• The Monk's Kettle (3073 Bloor Street West) has a new menu, with items such as paella, flat bread and trout making an appearance.
• Local craft beer goes mainstream as The Loose Moose (146 Front Street West) hosts a mini-craft beer festival this month. Starting March 1st, they will have 3 stouts and a permanent listing of Hops & Robbers IPA on tap. And from March 15th - 17th, they'll be offering a variety of local craft beer to sample - $10 will get you 5 4oz samples.

Sheryl Kirby is a food writer and editor. Her musings about the Toronto food and restaurant scene can be found on her website SherylKirby.com

Lead photo of The Federal Reserve by Jesse Milns