Combining an afternoon of delicious food and drinks, spectacular weather, a great view and some live music made for an awesome time at this weekend’s Toronto Wine and Spirit Festival.
Hosted at Sugar Beach just steps away from Toronto’s waterfront, this weekend-long festival was a great way to kick off the official start of summer.
Our food-centric tendencies drew us to some pretty sweet eats.
First up is our barbecue lover, Arielle!
Del Fico Catering
A vendor that first caught my attention was Del Fico who was serving up some mouth watering BBQ classics. Del Fico is a full service catering and events company that specializes in everything from hors d’oeuvres to corporate catering to BBQ and much more!
The Dish: Barbecued Beef Ribs with Molasses-Bourbon Sauce
These ribs were the perfect combination of sweet, spicy and tangy with a fall off the bone texture that made them quite irresistible. Definitely the messiest of the food we ate but 100% worth it! Not to mention the boisterous and entertaining staff who were working at the booth that drew in crowds from a mile away.
Check them out.
The Saucy Pierogi
We just can’t get enough of these guys! This inventive pierogi pop up vendor never ceases to amaze us with their unique twists on this classic food item.
At this event we tried their Jerk Chicken pierogi.
Yes that’s right, Jerk Chicken and Pierogi were just used in the same sentence. A seemingly unlikely combination but one that definitely worked. The spicy filling, tangy jerk sauce and crisp apple cabbage slaw hit all the right notes.
Find out what event they’ll be at next.
Mill Street Brewery
This micro-brewery has been cranking out craft beer in East Toronto’s historic Distillery District.
The Drink: Lemon tea Beer.
This refreshing belgian style beer is made with a unique blend of wheat, corriander, orange peel and a special yeast that gives it complexity and depth of fruity flavour.
Visit their location in Toronto and find out for yourself!
1800 Tequila
1800 tequila is an original super-premium tequila, renowned for being expertly aged and consistently smooth
The Drink: Gold Mango
Smooth sweet gold tequila mixed with fresh mango and lemon juice made for a refreshing cocktail.
Now, it’s time for our resident food inhaler, Robin!
First of all, can we all just point out how beautiful this weekend was?
The great city of Toronto was alive with people and events, and of course, the smell of food and drinks in the air.
Speaking of food and drinks, lets kick off my first pick of the weekend!
Our Lobster Shack
For me personally, nothing says summer more than some really good seafood.
No wonder that Our Lobster Shack was the first place to catch my attention, and the resulting growls of my stomach.
Featuring a variety of menu item’s including the Lobster poutine which I now gravely regret not getting for the road home, I decided to try out their signature dish, the Lobster roll.
The Dish: Lobster Roll
To answer a question you’re probably thinking by looking at this picture: yes, it does taste as good as it looks.
Not only did the sandwich look fresh and full of colours, the taste of the lobster itself was so fresh and as Arielle pointed out, the bread was so good you could taste the butter.
It was literally a premium lobster meal in the form of a sandwich, and as we all know, sandwiches are the corner stones of humanity.
Well, probably not but this sandwich was damn good either way.
Portobello Burger
Here’s a fun fact: I REALLY like meat.
When I first laid my eyes upon the portobello food truck, I was hesitant at their vegetarian choices because, well, see the sentence above.
For our readers however I thought it would be nice to add a vegetarian meal, so I decided to go with their signature portobello burger.
To all our vegetarian readers out there, thank you, because this was one of the best burgers I’ve had in my life.
And I’ve eaten a lot of burgers in my 22 years of existence.
The Dish: Portobello Burger
Never could I have imagined preferring a portobello mushroom slice over a beef burger patty, but it happened.
This fresh tasting burger came with your usual burger fixings, with the addition of the portobello mushroom slice, melted goat cheese and a spicy chipotle mayo sauce.
The best part of this burger has to be the fact there was no “burger fallout”, which is basically that feeling of dread after having something that rich.
Fresh, healthy and relatively light, this is the perfect burger of the summer if you’re looking to eat light.
Find out more about their healthy eats !
Monetto Il Prosecco, via the iYellow Wine Club
Recently this summer, literally a month ago, i spent two weeks in France especially in the south where I learned about wine.
I wouldn’t call myself a wine snob or one of those people who spit out wine after tasting it, but I would say I’ve picked up a few tricks here and there.
The Drink: Enter the Mionetto Il Prosecco, a medium intensity citrus with hints of melons and pear with a refreshing taste. This is something that would have gone perfectly with a nice seared salmon or a avocado salad.
I suppose I’m not much of a drinker, but I do love my wine and this was a great refreshing wine for summer days like this weekend.
Find out more about this wine and others at iYellow!
Brugal Anejo
The Dominican Republic based rum manufacture also made an appearance, handing out a refreshing rum, strawberry blend drink that was a bit strong, but I did not mind one bit.
It wasn’t my favourite drink of the day (my favourite being Arielle’s Gold Mango drink which I got a sip of), but the refreshing blend of the strawberry helped balance the strong taste of the rum.
If this weekend was not the perfect example of what the summer is supposed to be, please go to our contact page or tweet us to let us know what your idea of the perfect summer day is.
The Toronto Wine and Spirit festival was the best way to officially kick off the summer, and we really cannot wait to see what this city has in store for us for the rest of the summer.
BONUS ROUND, Here’s a ton of pictures from the event itself.
A Penne For Your Thought 