Toronto Taste, the 22nd annual outdoor food event, was an elegant affair with gastronomic delights, ornate décor, decadent guests, top chefs including a handful of Food Network Canada stars and a live auction that drew some impressive bids. On Sunday evening, 1,450 guests flocked to the row of big, elegant white tents stretched down the strip of Avenue Road just south of Bloor, flanked by the ROM to the west and the Gardiner museum to the east. With stylishly dressed guests milling about and even strolling up the grand staircase into the ROM, it felt like a scene out of Gossip Girl.

There are few culinary topics more divisive than Canadian Chinese food. Otherwise known as Canadianized Chinese food/North American Chinese food/American Chinese food/what have you, this particular type of cuisine has been the subject of much derision and name-calling by many. Purists scoff at the notion that pieces of chicken coated in deep fried batter and shaped into a ball can be called Chinese food, while hardcore fans will confidently point that there are times when you've got a craving that only sweet and sour pork can cure.

This week on DineSafe saw a list of "conditionally" condemned made up of both new and repeat offenders. Spots such as Caldense Bakery and Poonam Delite are, indeed, no stranger to the yellow flag, while others got their first taste of a less-than-stellar review for the first time (in recent years) this week. Cadillac Lounge is just one such example — spoiling its otherwise pristine record with six health and safety violations. Here are some of this week's DineSafe highlights.

Parks with outdoor BBQ grills in Toronto are somewhat fleeting in nature, so grab the buns and patties while you can. While there are, indeed, charcoal BBQs for public use at several Toronto parks, a City rep confirms that there is little in the way of municipal efforts towards replacement and/or repair.

When grills are no longer fit for public use, they are simply removed by the park supervisor, which may explain why numbers seem to constantly deplete. In any case, there are a few public parks where you can "get your grill on," as it were, just as long as you bring your own charcoal, equipment, and accessories. But hey, at least you'll definitely make all of those non-steak-eating other park-goers jealous, right?

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 & CLOSINGS

• Paulette's Original Donuts and Chicken is the delicious new concept from the same team behind Delica Kitchen. The Leslieville location at 913 Queen Street East is set to open mid-June.

One day, many years from now, you'll be able to tell your kids you lived at a time when salad bowls were just $8.50. And then $9.50. Ah, the good old days.

But those says, indeed, are gone. Many disgruntled herbivores of late have stopped by their favourite vegan restaurant in search of a quick meal, only to find that the prices, again, have gone up. A salad or grain bowl at any of Urban Herbivore's three locations will now cost you $11 and change, plus an extra dollar for certain add-ins or substitutions (tempeh added to your salad for example, or quinoa instead of rice for your grain bowl). Such options used to be included in the price.