Reader’s Digest has compiled a list of their favorite Canadian gourmet burgers. They are:

Au Pied de Cochon Foie Gras Burger

Martin Picard, chef-owner of Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal, is notorious for his rich and decadent fare. His infamous Au Pied de Cochon Foie Gras Burger consists of a venison patty with maple-infused pork belly, foie gras, maple syrup, port and red wine mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes, marinated onions, mature cheddar and balsamic sauce.

Ultimate Moose Burger

Chef Katie Hayes, who just opened Bonavista Social Club, on the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland, offers diners the Ultimate Moose Burger: a patty served in an artisanal bun on a bed of spinach with sautéed wild mushrooms, bacon and a tart partridgeberry ketchup.

Qualicum Bay Scallop Burger

Kunal Ghose, chef/co-creator of Red Fish Blue Fish in Victoria has the Qualicum Bay Scallop Burger, combined with tangy tartar sauce and lemon-pickled onions.

Heritage Pork Burger

Connie DeSousa and John Jackson, chefs and co-owners of the Calgary restaurant CHARCUT Roast House, make a Heritage Pork Burger for sharing. Served between thick slices of buttered brioche bread, topped with arugula and a sunny-side-up fried egg, and with pickles on the side.

Deux Chevaux Burger

At Jay Souilliere’s Windsor restaurant, Motor Burger, all the burgers are named after cars. His most popular is the Deux Chevaux. Souilliere serves these Canadian beef patties in brioche buns on a mound of baby spinach with Kozlik’s Daily Dijon mustard, melted Gruyère, red onions caramelized in Maudite beer and strips of smoked bacon on top.

Read the full article and find the recipes at ReadersDigest.ca.

This past weekend in Toronto 3000 foodies descended on the Brickworks for the Street Food Block Party, a combined effort between TUM (Toronto Underground Market) and Food Truck Eats. Tickets for the event, which went on sale back in April for $20 a ticket, quickly sold out in a matter of hours. Attendees weren’t disappointed as there were a multitude of delectable items (many Cinco de Mayo themed) to choose from the 20 pop-up vendors and 10 food trucks in attendance.

Here are highlights from some of the vendors we visited:

El Gastronomo Vagabundo

Commonly found at Toronto’s Food Truck events and one of the first trucks to ever hit our streets, El Gastronomo did not let us down. They offered up a menu of Taco’s starting with the Reef+Beef: twice-cooked beef cheek, white anchovy, jalapeno aoili, quickled cabbage and lime. Their Pescado Picante Taco featured tempura cod, smoked tomato, habanero aoili, red cabbage+green apple slaw and lime. They also had the Drunken Monkey, a banana fritter, with smoked chocolate and tequila ice cream with candied jalapenos that we had wanted to try but we were just getting started and weren’t ready for dessert yet.

Gorilla Cheese

One of my favorite food trucks, we hit them up early knowing that the line would grow huge quickly! We had their Sarducci, balsamic drizzled tomatoes, red onion, fresh basil and jensen’s mozzarella on multi-grain. We also tried their El Gordo Queso, a collaboration with Mex-i-can (a Hamilton restaurant), featuring seasoned ground chorizo, creamy salsa verde, red onion, cilantro and jensen’s mozzarella cheese on white bread.

Buster’s Sea Cove

This new truck on the scene was one of the best surprises of the night. They offered up a lobster roll, which although pricey at $12, was delicious! I had really wanted to try the lobster roll and lobster poutine from Rock Lobster Food Co. as well, but their lineup was huge. Buster’s lobster roll featured Nova Scotia lobster, mayo, celery, chives and lemon juice on a toasted top split bun.

Fidel Gastro’s

Fidel Gastro was putting on a show while being interviewed by the media. His stall featured the Havana Club with ham, pulled pork, caramelized onions, and chili cilantro aoili. His other offering, the Sgt. Slather had bbq ribs, homemade bbq sauce, creamy guacamole and tortillas.

Comida Del Pueblo

Comida Del Pueblo returned with their popular Jalapeno Cornbread Grilled Cheese with gaucamole and crema. Their other offerings were a Conchita Pibil Springroll with ramp aoili and an Ontario Water Buffalo Banh Mi with pickled ramp salad.

Elle Cuisine and Sullivan & Bleeker

Lauren Mozer of Elle Cuisine had Cinco de Mayo themed dessert nachos with dark chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream. These were a great snack while waiting in line for other food.

Sullivan and Bleeker had one of the more interesting dessert finds of the night. They were offering cakes in mason jars with flavours like oreo, cookie dough and s’mores.

Tromba Tequila and other refreshments

Tromba Tequila was on hand doing what they do best offering their Blanco Tequila available as a margarita or on the rocks. Other drinks were also available from a multitude of Ontario wineries and craft breweries including Lake of Bays and Spearhead, with it’s Hawaiian themed pale ale.

The success of the Street Food Block Party proves that the appetite for street food is alive and flourishing in Toronto. We left stuffed and wishing we had room in our stomachs to try more. Looking forward to the next Block Party event!

This guy ordered a Whopper topped with a whopping 1,050 strips of bacon from the Japanese Burger King.

This stop-motion short from BankShot with music by DJ Nick Castle finds everything from pancakes and bacon to a green pepper with a platinum grill lip-synching along to classic lines from Biggie Smalls, Guru, Raekwon, Q-Tip, Action Bronson, Method Man and a whole lot more. Dinner is served.

[Vimeo]

A simple and quick hearty soup recipe that can be enjoyed as a meal, or an appetizer!

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp chipotle puree
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup whole corn kernels, cooked
1 cup white hominy
1 4 ounce can chopped green chile peppers
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (optional)
6 cups chicken stock
2 limes, juiced
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Garnish
toasted tortilla chips or tostadas
1 avocado, sliced
1 small red onion, chopped
monterey jack cheese, shredded
fresh parsley or cilantro

The food truck on your corner is a small part of a growing trend, now with it’s own tv show, it doesn’t seem to be stopping soon. Minna Rhee reports.

[Global Toronto]

Jimmy had cookbook author Nathan Myhrvold on the show to demonstrate how to make his ultimate burger. The pair demonstrated how to make the burger using a sous-vide machine, liquid nitrogen, and a hot oil bath.

The result is impressive; a perfectly medium-rare interior, and a crispy sear on the outside. Kimmel claims the burger to be cold, yet tasty. There are other factors that go into creating the ultimate burger including seasoning, quality of meat, bun, and toppings are all part of the equation.

[via Gizmodo]

This week we attended the 2012 CRFA Show. An annual favorite of ours, we like to scope out the latest new food ideas and products. This years show did not disappoint.

Here’s just a few of the cool new food ideas we found:

The Staybowlizer

A simple invention to keep your bowl stable while you mix and whisk in the kitchen. It’s also great for tempering as it fits perfectly into a pot, creating a steam-proof seal. For more information visit www.staybowlizer.com (the site isn’t up yet, so check back soon!).

Molten Ice Glasses

Launched at the show, Molten Ice Glasses are an ingenious brought over from Europe by GBS Food Service Equipment. These ice glasses are great for cocktails (both alcoholic and shrimp) as well as anything else you’d like to keep cold. These unique cups do not dilute your drink as they melt from the outside in. Unfortunately, you’ll need to purchase the giant Molten Ice Glass maker if you want to make these at home. Look for Molten Ice Glasses at a bar near you soon.

Flat – Table Stablizer

Another ingenious idea. The Flat table stabilizer means we can finally say goodbye to wobbly tables forever.

Some other highlights of the show include:

Kellogg’s Special K Cracker Chips

Each cracker chip is light in texture, crispy and seasoned. Now you can get the crunch that you love in the cracker aisle. Look for these soon in a grocery store near you.

Dorgel Chili Dark Chocolate Gelato

Dorgel was handing out some tasty samples. Everyone was gushing over this chili chocolate flavor. Other favorites included Cherry Coke, Red Velvet and Cotton Candy.

Kangaroo Slider

The Gordon Food Service booth was giving out this slider to adventurous foodies looking to try something new. The kangaroo itself had an interesting taste, but it was the Zucchini relish that had people coming back for more. Register for the GFS Magic of the Menu show here.

We also ran into some of our CRFA favorites at the show including McClure’s Pickles, Pingue Prosciutti and Possmei Popping Boba.

Next year the show will be held March 3-5, 2013. For more information visit www.crfa.ca. See you next year!

The Burger’s Priest has been voted the third best food in Toronto. With Scaramouche and Chiado taking the first two slots.

Zagat released their 2012 Toronto Restaurant Survey Wednesday and it covers 315 restaurants that were voted on by 2,266 local diners. Full ratings and reviews are available at zagat.com and Zagat’s mobile app.

The Burger’s Priest claims to be a classic American cheeseburger joint, and so far it’s lived up to the hype. The first location was a small takeout shop with a few stools located at 1636 Queen St. E., east of Coxwell Ave. They’ve recently opened a second location with more seating (just stools) at 3397 Yonge St., north of Lawrence.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the other Top’s found in the Zagat Survey.

Top Food
1. Scaramouche - http://goo.gl/ZyRqe
2. Chiado/Senhor Antonio - http://goo.gl/TU3FE
3. Burger’s Priest - http://goo.gl/fisrd
4. George - http://goo.gl/y1xGu
5. Campagnolo - http://goo.gl/nZZH7

Most Popular
1. Spring Rolls - http://goo.gl/bU416
2. Canoe - http://goo.gl/ZqGNJ
3. Il Fornello - http://goo.gl/WfnRx
4. Ruth’s Chris - http://goo.gl/a89Tj
5. Asian Legend - http://goo.gl/U43zi

Top Service
1. Scaramouche Pasta - http://goo.gl/ZyRqe
2. Scaramouche - http://goo.gl/ZyRqe
3. George - http://goo.gl/y1xGu
4. Campagnolo - http://goo.gl/nZZH7
5. Jacobs & Co Steakhouse - http://goo.gl/uLfji

[Toronto.com / Zagat.com / Google Plus / Image: The Burger's Priest on Facebook]

Glam Media has launched Foodie.com, integrating authentic food-related content and social networking to help people share and connect on the journey of food discovery. Foodie features a combination of established food critics, high-quality bloggers, chefs, restaurateurs and other food influentials.

“With time spent in magazines declining significantly, consumers are turning to online and mobile as their primary source for food content and ratings, but face the challenge of differentiating great food critics, premium bloggers, recipes and ratings online today. At the same time, traditional food guides such as Michelin only capture editorial and inspectors, missing the social energy surrounding food today,” said Samir Arora, Glam Media Chairman and CEO. “Glam Media built Foodie.com to be the single platform for all things food on the Web. Foodie is going to completely change consumer’s food experiences on digital, powered entirely through a social platform and driving the freshest, authentic content created by leading voices from top chefs, critics, bloggers and brands.”

Foodie is also hosting a panel of culinary experts, featuring acclaimed food critics and top chefs to provide a professional perspective on recipes, restaurants, ingredients and cooking techniques. This group will help nominate the world’s top restaurants and provide regional guides that will be produced regularly.

[Foodie.com / Reuters]