The New Canoe

If you've had the pleasure of dining at Canoe on top of the TD Building, you know that people don't go there for the decor and you've probably also known that it closed its doors for a brief moment to go under the knife and get a face lift last month. A million dollars and a mere 31 days later, Canoe is reopened with Toronto Life exposing first photos of the nip and tucked space.

It's pretty, but not anything to really swoon over. Given that the O&B franchise has done a heck of a job with their rapidly expanding empire, I expected a tad more from the space. Perhaps they left the space comfortable and chic cottage feeling to allow for the food to shine. That said, Canoe never needed to make any exceptions for their food to shine. Dark wood accents and concrete floors modernizes the space and takes it from the pale drabness to a contemporary and generic chic.

Experimental Foodies will definitely be perching high atop the 54th floor soon. If you are interesting in joining us, drop a comment or email us with your contact info for more details.

Photos: Suresh Doss via Toronto Life

Black Hoof, Red Meat

So Steve, Vee and I were finally able to dedicate an evening to eating at the Black Hoof. It takes a full evening because getting a table there usually means spending about an hour in their holding tank, the Hoof Cafe to wait for your table and then another few hours eating everything on the menu.

Luckily, the Hoof Cafe makes some darn good cocktails and have their own finger lickin good menu so obviously we had a pre-meal there too. We started with the amuse bouche, a neat little fried cube of pork hoc terrine sitting on a truffle oil reduction topped with diced green apple.

Following that, we ordered five more dishes, trying to be mindful of our stomach space since we still planned on dining at the Black Hoof. The best dish that came out of the night was the buttermilk fried chicken. Juicy and tender on the insider, crispy and perfectly seasoned on the outside. The slaw it came with was also fantastic. A close second was the pork belly cooked sous vide, with champagne mustard and perfectly crispy brussel sprouts. In addition, we also tried the bone marrow served with bread (very fatty) and very fresh and tasty tuna crudo with diced cuccumber in a grapefruit jelly topped with candied peanuts.

Finally, over at the Black Hoof main event of the evening was the RAW horse meat sandwich. As if cold, red horse meat on bread wasn't enough rawness, it was served with a raw egg cracked on top and sprinkled with red onions.  A bit overwhelming so the three of us split it for our first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The meat was tasty and tender without being too gamey. The onions and spicy sauce topped it off perfectly, I could have done without the egg, though. I could see how eating the whole sandwich would be a bit too much, but in small doses, it was delicious. 

The Black Hoof and Hoof Cafe would be a great place to bring a small group of the very adventurous. Join us next time, won't you?

UPDATE: Since our visit to the Hoof Cafe, it was reported that the restaurant will close at the end of February and will turn into the Black Hoof & Co. Read about the changes HERE

Human Cheese

Breast milk cheese made by Chef Daniel Angerer from
his wife's breast milk. Photo: David Angerer via National Post

Intriguing that the Globe and Mail  and National Post both had articles today about cheese made from human milk. They profiled a restauranteur, Daniel Angerer and Miriam Simun, a cheese maker in New York who are making cheese out of human breast milk. Angerer from his wife's breast milk and Simun from women she found on the internet. Woman she found on the internet! That in itself is disturbing.

Sick or Sustainable was the Globe headline. So, what do you think? Is it sick to think that as adults, we are consuming an organic product of a stranger's bodily fluids, namely her breast? Or is it something perfectly logical since the milk products we currently eat/drink are meant for babies of a different species entirely, so why not use the milk that was actually meant for us.

It doesn't help the argument any when Simon is describing her cheeses as "imparting a complex funk, somewhere in between butter, yellow taxi cabs and wafting wavers of street cart smells."
mmmm.. NYC street funk. In addition to the squirm factor, some critics are going as far as likening eating the cheese to cannibalism.

The flip side to that is supporters consider labelling it as vegan and PETA considers it more humane.

Moral debate aside, we can't call ourselves Experimental Foodies if we didn't at least try it once. So, bring it on, I say. If/when a reputable restaurant puts it on their menu, I'd take a gander at it. Purchasing it from a woman who gathers her ingredients from people on the internet, however, is a little too crazy even for an experimentalist.

Croque-monsieur @ Bouchon, Las Vegas

Custom ice cream @ Siam Paragon, Thailand

Chocolate eclair & cake @ Princi, London

Banana pancake from street cart, Bangkok, Thailand

Tempura udon @ Haru Hana, NYC

Tower of meat, NYC

Woopie pies, Harrods Food Halls, London

English breakfast, London