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Good FOUR You!
This year, I’ve had the opportunity to experience LOTS of fine dining in various countries. And eating rich, cream-smeared, foie-gras injected foods day after day is great - especially if you want to be a contestant on the next Biggest Loser. Seriously...this is one of my major travel pet-peeves. I’m all for indulgence, just not for a week straight.
That’s why I was delighted to discover FOUR - a restaurant in downtown Toronto where all the dishes weigh in at under 650 calories.
Is it called FOUR because they only use lettuce, celery, water and aspartame? I wondered that myself. The answer is...(drumroll) no. Actually, I don’t know the real answer. And lets not ruin the mystery by finding out.
Given FOUR’s slick, modern ambiance, it’s especially popular with the Bay Street lunchtime crowd (types that are eating out 5 days a week), but I think it would be a wise choice for health-conscious travellers as well.
Chef Matt Rosen consults a nutritionist about each and every creation to ensure that meals are balanced and within the calorie limit.
“It’s a challenge to make something that tastes good and is under the 650 calories,” he says.
“The key is to use things that have really intense flavours, like a tapenade.”
Instead of going all funky and serving things you’d have to look up in the Dictionary of Rare Hippie Health Foods, FOUR is decidedly traditional. Think Beef Tenderloin, Greek Lamb Salad and Chicken Meatballs. Sure, elements like bran fusilli and flax seed crisps sneak in there, but they don’t overwhelm the dishes.
I really enjoyed my meal at FOUR...in fact, I could hardly discern that I was eating at a “healthy alternative.” I especially loved the fresh-squeezed blueberry lemonade, the brie, almond and apple burger ($9) and the cute little shot glass desserts ($2). Of course, if you shoot more than one you’re also shooting your calorie count in the foot.
FOUR VITALS:
Address: 187 Bay Street
Hours: 11:30am to 11pm, Monday to Friday
Phone: 416-368-1444
Price Range: $9 to $25 for a main.
Also, note that FOUR is participating in Toronto’s Winterlicious Event. Check out their menu here:
FOUR Winterlicious Menu 2010
10 for T.O.
By Reb Stevenson
Hogtown is abuzz with events this fall: between the Toronto International Film Festival, Nuit Blanche and about a zillion boring work conferences, there is a good chance that you, too, will be sucked into the “T-Dot.”
As the rest of Canada likes to point out as often as possible, Toronto herself is a high maintenance female dog. So it should come as no surprise that the city isn’t content relinquishing all the glory to George Clooney and other incoming celebs. She wants some of the attention for herself.
Throw her a bone, would ‘ya? While you’re in town, check out some of Toronto’s best nooks and crannies.
Dine in the dark at O. Noir (620 Church Street), www.onoir.com
Even if you’re not on a blind date, eating at this restaurant – which just opened in late June – is out of sight. Literally. Taking after the popular pitch-black dining trend that has already swept through Europe, Australia, L.A., New York and Montreal, O.Noir both scares and thrills by leaving you at the mercy of your remaining four senses and the charity of the visually impaired wait staff. At $39 for a three course meal, it’s pleasantly affordable (they save on lighting costs) and daredevils who don’t mind pawing at their plates can opt for “surprise” meals.
Read More...
It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Free Food!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Porter Air, for being the last airline in Canada to provide free food to customers. Sure, it’s just half a boring sandwich, arid Melba Toast and a wee Babybel, but it’s appreciated, as is the classy glassware.
From Toronto, Porter now flies to Ottawa, Quebec City, Montreal, Halifax, Thunder Bay, St. John’s, Boston, Chicago and New York. So if you don’t feel like blowing $8 on a roast beef wrap that looks like it’s been trampled in a stampede, consider flying Porter.
Summer Camp...in Downtown Toronto
By Reb Stevenson
Move over Algonquin Park, there's a new destination for happy campers in Ontario: downtown Toronto!
(Cue chorus of laughter from tents everywhere.)
Adopting a carved wooden bear as its mascot, the hotel aims to summon your best memories of summer camp -- in a less supervised setting, of course.
"It's an adult return to that free-wheeling, nostalgic feeling of long summer days," says manager Ana Yuristy.
Read More...
Homes Away from (Your) Home
Love your relatives, but don't want to live with them? Here are some local landmarks to put them up when you just can't put up with them
BY REB STEVENSON
It's summertime and the relatives are coming to visit. What joy!
Cue the barbecue, the digital cameras ... and the excuses for why they can't stay with you.
Need a few? Here are some classics: hole-riddled blow-up mattress, carbon monoxide leak, renovations in the guest room (suggesting that a jackhammer might start up after midnight is highly effective).
Once you've successfully persuaded your kinsmen that sleeping at your house is uncomfortable and/or life threatening, it's on to stage two: finding them a hotel.
But you draw a blank, because you live in Toronto. You've never been up the CN Tower, let alone stayed in a hotel `round these parts. This is only natural.
Therefore, I have created this cheat sheet to help you pair the right relative and room. Read More...
All Aboard at Steam Whistle
By Reb Stevenson
FREE BEER.
If you're female, the acquisition of said beverage usually necessitates some serious eyelash batting and a plunging neckline. For males, it probably entails something a bit shadier, like cooler raiding at a campground.
None of the above applies at Steam Whistle Brewery in Toronto. You get two eight-ounce glasses of their premium pilsner beer just for walking in off the street -- you don't even have to take the brewery tour.
Read More...
Extra! Extra!
Here is a round-up of some of my work that has appeared in papers across Canada over the past few weeks.
ST LUCIA: JAW-DROPPING ACCOMMODATION
ENGLAND: A TIMBERED TOURIST MAGNET
Rye’s Mermaid Inn is uber-haunted...by Tudorphiles like me.
BOX SET! Watch my video on Rye here.
TORONTO: 37 TAKES ON COOL
MADAGASCAR: THE MOVIE 
Read my interview with writer/directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, who explain how a special trip to Africa inspired the creative team of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
The Soft Goth Look
Sometimes, I dabble in a little fashion writing. Perhaps it’s a subconscious effort to offset that drab travel wardrobe.
You may recognize up-and-coming Toronto designer Lucian Matis from last season’s Project Runway. Read my feature on him HERE
