I can rarely resist a tasty simple to make lemon chicken recipe.  This is why I share the aromatic roasted chicken recipe by Evan Kleiman of Angeli Caffe in Los Angeles. I spotted his recipe on Saveur.

The recipe is something that you can make after a day at the office, if you do not mind eating later. While it marinates for an hour, you could relax, train with the Wii Fit or pick up fresh vegetables at your local fruit and vegetable store.

The recipe called for a whole chicken cut in 8 pieces. You can easily adjust the recipe to cook the number of pieces you need to feed your family. Or bring the leftovers for lunch at the office the next day. Or use the remaining meat to prepare a homemade chicken soup.

Side Dishes

I would serve the Pollo Arrosto with steamed broccoli, boiled green beans or an arugula salad with a lemon olive oil vinaigrette. I use 2 parts of lemon juice for 5 parts of peppery olive oil and season to taste with freshly ground pepper and fleur de sel. Nothing complicated but it tastes incredible!

+ Pollo Arrosto – Lemon and Rosemary Chicken recipe on Saveur – photos by Andre Baranowski

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If you are not ready or if you already gave her the Tiffany blue box, here is another signature blue box that will please her this Valentine. I like the drawings on the artisanal chocolates. It is common these days to see design like the chocolates made by Christopher Elbow. The MarieBelle chocolates gain points for being more cheerful and adorable.

You can buy it online from MarieBelle Chocolates or find at a retailer near you that carry the collection. I spotted this gift idea on Parcel Post, the blog of Urbanic Paper, a boutique in Venice, California. I wish to leave a message to my dear husband. I saw on the store listing that it may be available at Indigo.

A must-go in SoHo

I noted on my agenda a visit to the Cacao Bar and Tea Salon that is inside their retail space in SoHo. Their line of hot chocolate seems awesome and many rave about it. Another idea is to sit down for a nice cacao at their Parisian style salon. It is on the pricey side but indulgences are in order on Valentine’s Day.

+ MarieBelle Chocolates

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I am so glad that Alexa Clark accepted to participate in my top 5 Toronto places for a weekend Toronto. Alexa writes for CheapEats Toronto and has a blog called Unsweetened. I ask her to tell us the best places to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Three of her suggestions qualify as cheap eats. To have eaten at Kultura, I can attest that this is a worthy indulgence.

Where to Eat in Toronto this weekend?

Le Petit Dejeuner

Still one of my favorite brunch spots in town and based on the weekend crowds around 11:30, I’m not alone. However if you sneak into Le Petit Dejeuner before 11pm or after 1pm chances are good you’ll be delighted by the funky space and wonderfully prepared meals. The menu is exclusively breakfast and brunch items including grilled sandwiches, but it’s nothing like a greasy spoon. The Toast Champignon is a great savory way to start your weekend, but I often go with the sweeter Eggy Fried Bread – which is a caramalized French Toast served with fresh fruit. The Apple Pancakes are also lovely and I usually add a side of peameal bacon just to round them out. They also make excellent coffee, one of the ways I measure the quality of a brunch spot.
Le Petit Dejeuner 191 King St. E

The Fish Store & Sandwich

This tiny little store front makes the best fish sandwiches in town. By far!  I’ve even had a long conversation with someone from the James Beard Foundation about how it’s one of his go-to places to eat when he comes to town.  It is not, however, fine dining.  In fact, there are only 4 seats and the tiny spot is decorated a bit like a shoreside blue tiki hut.  But it is so very worth it to get such fresh fish, prepared with a very gentle hand and wonderful seasoning on fresh panini from an Italian bakery across the street. There is a different fish sandwich special everyday and that’s usually what I order since these guys aren’t going to steer you wrong.  However many of my friends go for the tuna every time. That’s tuna steak not tuna salad.
The Fish Store & Sandwich,  657 College Street.

Granowska’s Bakery and Cafe

With great perogie, sandwiches and lunch specials you can get a bit of a feel of the traditional Roncesvalles neighborhood when it was almost exclusively Eastern European families. Walking into Granowska’s feels more like walking into bakery than a restaurant, but that is part of the charm. And the steady stream of customers popping in to buy pączki provide a great people-watching opportunity. No matter what you get for lunch, finish up with a pączek – a traditional Polish filled-doughnut (pączki is the plural, pączek singular). The rosehip are my favorite and they have mini-pączki too if you are worried you won’t have room after lunch.
Granowska’s 175 Roncesvalles Avenue

Cava

Cava is open and beautiful, with accents of the Spanish taverna to keep us in the mood.  It’s just north of St. Clair, tucked into a little courtyard on, but almost hidden from, Yonge Street. It’s a fantastic spot for a casually romantic meal, or an evening with a good group of friends. The primarily Tapas-style menu allows for sharing and great conversation especially if you are just starting your exploration of Spanish food. Chef Chris McDonald obviously has a lot of fun in the kitchen and it shows both on the menu and the plate, for example, his Chipotle-caramel popcorn is a playful and flavorful way to start your meal. The Charcuteria plate is one of their most popular dishes, and pairing that with a selection of tapas makes for a great group meal. My favorite option is to leave my meal up to the kitchen. While Chef’s-choice is often an exclusive offering for VIPs or special guests, at Cava this is a standard offering to everyone and you can get it with or without wine pairings.  Make sure to check out Xococava next door, it’s Chef Chris’ sweet playground – an adult candy store – where he adds unusual flavors to chocolate truffles and ice creams.
Cava, 1560 Yonge Street

Kultura

Just east of King and Jarvis, Kultura has made one of the many historic buildings in this neighborhood warm and exotic without losing the old stone charm. There is a lounge-style bar on the ground floor, and upstairs there are 2 floors of dining.  The menu is an exploration of cuisines with some items reinvented and all reinterpreted like the Indian Samosas with truffled paneer and Mushroom Orecchiettie with a pear chutney. I always order something new when I am there, mainly because there is always something new on the menu or the specials which tempts me away from what I planned to order.  Everything is prepared and plated beautifully and the service has always been a delight. The food, space and decor all meld together to create an intimate dining experience, even when you are with a group.
Kultura, 169 King St East

Thanks Alexa for participating. Your recommendations inspire me. I went to Kultura in 2008 and I still remember the great meal I had there. Remember that you can read Alexa on Unsweetened and follow her on Twitter.

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Since I will be in Toronto this weekend to visit the IDS, I asked two popular Torontonians, which happen to my friends, for advices on what to do this weekend.

I started with Ali de Bold, co-founder of Chick Advisor. Ali answered with a fun tour of the city.

1. Start Saturday morning with Brunch at School
School Bakery & Cafe is a new hot spot in up and coming neighborhood, Liberty Village.  French Toast fans might want to try their Nirvana French Toast with strawberries, pistachos and chocolate drizzle.  After breakfast, walk it off by heading over to West Elm for design inspiration from this chic yet affordable furniture and design store or get a latte to go from Balzacs.

2. Consider a 1 hour road trip to Niagara on the Lake to indulge in the Niagara Ice Wine Festival.  Ontario Ice Wine is a Canadian specialty, and $30 gets you a pass to 6 local wineries that will treat you to complimentary ice wine samples with food pairings.

3. Head over to the historic Distillery District to indulge in a collection of great restaurants, cafes and boutiques in a cobblestone setting.  This weekend, there is a Chip & Pepper pop up shop happening at Lileo.

4. A romantic dinner at Nota Bene or molecular cocktails at Barchef are a great way to spend Saturday evening.  At Barchef, I highly recommend the Sour Sake: igori sake, cardamom cumin syrup, fresh lime, egg white, apricot bitters and coconut rum, served with a Thai basil sugar rim.  The top is a sugary crust like creme brulée and it tastes like roasted marshmallows. If you are feeling more adventurous, try the Vanilla Hickory Smoked Manhattan that is served in a cloud of smoke under a glass dome.

5. Sunday afternoon, check out the King Tut exhibition at the AGO.  Adult tickets are $32.50, or if you got a sparkling engagement ring for Christmas you might want to visit the National Bridal Show for inspiration!

By the way, I had brunch at School last year. It was awesome! I was impressed by the food and the decor. And a drink topped with creme brulée is certainly an experience that I would like to try.

Thanks a lot, Ali. Your photo collage looks great and your plan sounds great.

Chick Advisor is a women community on which the members determine the hottest trends, the best local services, and the coolest products in beauty, fashion, restaurants, shopping and wellness.

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If you do not like your pancakes, you will only have you to blame at Slappy Cakes. Each table features a built-in griddle. They bring you the batter, fruits and other accompaniments. They offer a variety of batter options, including buttermilk, buckwheat, vegan and gluten-free. Some of the berries and fruits are grown on their own courtyard garden. Slappy Cakes is located in Portland, Oregon.

If you live too far, you can borrow the concept for your next brunch. Make sure to have access to several crepe makers. The best crepe model is a large round griddle. I use two crepe pans but a stove pan is not practical for a cook-it-yourself party. This one, the CucinaPro 1448 12 Inch Griddle & Crepe Maker, has excellent reviews on Amazon and it is $42.

+ Slappy Cakes
+ via Springwise

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I went to Toronto for two days last week to research stories for my blog, to attend a social media event and to meet people. One thing on my list was having a formal tea service. When I saw that Windsor Arms starts serving their tea service at 1 pm, I jumped at the occasion. Some people find it old-fashioned but I like the luxurious feeling of sitting in a classical tea room. For me, the more formal style is part of the pleasure.

I went with Ian Barr and Brenna Flynn of Rocket XL, the firm that planned the Pillsbury Baking Challenge for which I am a judge. Since we only communicated by email or on Twitter before that day, I wanted to actually meet them. The tea service experience was enhanced by our lively conversation.

What comes with the Full Tea Menu at Windsor Arms?

We each chose a tea blend. I opted for the Earl Grey tea with blue flowers. The lavender adds an exquisite touch to the classic Earl Grey blend. Brenna enjoyed her Earl Grey tea with roses. Since they had to go back to the office after, they ordered the Full Tea menu. I indulged by ordering the Complete Tea menu, which added a sparkling wine (or a sherry) to the full tea menu.

We started with elegant sandwich rolls. They look so much more elegant than basic triangles. They served us three delicious sandwiches:

• Smoked Salmon and Salmon Caviar with an Oven-Roasted Tomato Cream Cheese
• Baby Greens with Asparagus, Cucumber Salsa and Chive Cream Cheese
• Grilled Chicken with Citrus Essence

The smoked salmon sandwich and the asparagus one were my favorite. The scone with raisins pleased me. I did not try the plain scone. Besides the sandwiches, the scones and the sweet desserts that I captured on photos, they served us a goat cheese and caramelized shallot tart. The finale was a small bowl of strawberries with whipped cream. As you can see there was a lot of food. Overall, I am pleased with my tea service at the Windsor Arms.

For almost any tea service, you need to make a reservation 24 hours in advance. I knew it but I didn’t reserve! Still, they have accommodated us by sitting us at a nice table.

Business and Pleasures

A while ago, I read an interview where Martha Stewart mentioned that she booked her meetings around her daily activities. For me, it a pleasant way to talk business. When I asked Ian to join me for lunch at a place that I was researching for a blog post, I made him laughed by making this reference to Martha Stewart.

+ Tea Menu at Windsor Arms

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Earlier this year, I told you about Maman, Bébé et Café, a coffee shop in Montreal that was more a community center for parents than a typical coffee shop. (October 4th, 2009 update: A friend told me that Maman, Bébé et Café has closed their door.)

It seems that Toronto are catching up with two new kid-friendly cafes opening in trendy neighborhoods with a good concentration of strollers. Lil’ Bean N’ Green opens this week in Leslieville with a fun play area for kids. You can read on BlogTO that Leonor Filipe opened the Gingerbread House Family Café in the Junction three months ago with a similar goal of providing not only food, but a social service for parents at loose ends.

I like the idea that moms and dads have spaces where they can hanged out with their babies and toddles while meeting other parents. I think we will see more of these places once they figured out a viable business model.

About the Play Fee at Lil Bean N’ Green

Some people complained on BlogTO about the fact that the play area is not free at Lil Bean N’ Green. As an entrepreneur, I see why they are doing it. The store owner pays to set up the area. They have to pay the rent on for a retail space in the city. They have a business to run and they can not survive on having moms with kids hanging there for hours while buying one coffee. After all, maintaining a playroom costs more than supplying Wi-Fi. Finding the right price to charge is the challenge.

I invite you to read the post on BlogTO to learn more about these 2 family-style cafes.

MORE:
+ BlogTO’s review of Gingerbread House Family Café
+ Images via BlogTo

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Why it is so hard to find a restaurant that serves tea in style? I want my tea served with a porcelain teapot or an iron cast model. It seems that most restaurants skipped the memo about the current tea popularity.

PHOTOS by Kim Vallee:
+ Awesome teapot at Art Java on President Kennedy in Montreal – some coffee shop owners get it
+ Sugar pot at DNA restaurant in Old Montreal

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We have seen a few European examples of portable restaurants established in shipping containers from a promotional campaigns. Architects assembled containers into houses for years. This year, restauranteur Daniel Noiseux revamped the trailer diner concept.

The first Muxbox fast-food restaurant unit sits in the Old Port of Montreal for the summer season. They will close soon. My husband and I had dinner there last weekend. Muvbox is a wonderful and well-thought fast-food restaurant concept. We were impressed by how much you could accomplish with a small space. Muvbox is more than a pretty face. It is an efficient place to serve and eat food. We examined the staff preparing the food and watched them close the restaurant at the end of the day. It is a smooth operation.

The Design

From a closed box, Muvbox transforms into a chic fast-food restaurant in 90 seconds. The panels go up and down at a touch of a bouton. The side panels become the floor when they are down. The two patios are big enough for 28 patrons spread between the standing bar tables and the bistro tables with benches and chairs.

The eco-friendly actions did not stop at reclaiming an old shipping container. The floor is made from recycled tires. The solar panels supply up to 40% of the energy. The fact that you can relocate the restaurant anywhere and easily adapt it for another restaurant concept increases the usable life of each unit.

The Food

Muvbox operates its own high-end fast-food restaurant in the Old Port of Montreal all summer. You still have a couple weeks left to savor their clam chowder, lobster rolls and seafood pizza made in a wood-fired pizza oven.

If you are interested to start your own restaurant, one Muvbox unit costs $150,000 USD. The container can be branded to fit each restaurant concept. Sid Lee Architecture did the visuals. Watch this video to see Muvbox in action.

I took more photos. Look at the gallery by clicking on a picture.

MORE:
+ Muvbox Concept

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Naming a restaurant Basil and Cacao is a sure way to grab my attention. I had the pleasure of eating a wonderful gastronomic at Basilic et Cacao located in Eastman, Quebec last Friday night. Friends who were vacationing in the region invited us. We are glad we drove from Montreal to experience a delightful meal. Since our cottage is in the Eastern Townships, we took this opportunity to relax a bit.

The restaurant is run by the husband and wife team. Mario does the service. Monique is the cook, an outstanding cook. It is good to know that the woman who prepared us these fabulous creations is not a Chef. We were all astonished by her talents. I am telling, you will take notes on how to dish your plates.

The menu is one prix fixe menu per night. It costs $50 per person. They served nothing else. They carry a nice wine list. The 5-course dinner is made of an amuse-bouche, a soup, the appetizer, the main meal and the dessert. Do not worry, when you call to reserve that will inquire if you have allergies or strong dislikes.

Since we were in season, the herbs and vegetables were freshly picked from their small garden. They grow out of the ordinary varieties like the maroon carrots and the very long French beans. Each course was a refined composition of food and presentation. Everything went well together.

We had rolls of foie gras and a fig for the amuse-bouche, two tapenades that complement the soup, an ostrich carpaccio and its local cheese mousse decorated with an ostrich chip before we received a superb duck entree with lightly cooked vegetables. A chocolate waffle with a chocolate sauce filling topped our dinner. It was exquisite! I will definitely return during the ski season.

MORE:
+ Gastronomy at Basilic et Cacao

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I wish to talk about this restaurant not for his cooking, since I have never ate there but for its decor. Les Enfants Terribles is a pub located in Outremont, Quebec. What strikes me is how the architect Louis-Joseph Papineau play with depths on the reclaimed walls to create storage and decorating shelving. Naturally, he used the same technique to keep the bar bottles.

The food is a mix between typical French bistro and pub food. I am curious to try their fish and chips. If you want to get an idea of the food, watch this 30-second video. I would skip the calamari dish.

PHOTO CREDITS:
+ wall: photographed by Dominic Gauthier for Voir
+ bar: 30 seconds review
+ small : sweetmama.ca

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This is a delicious French restaurant in San Francisco with a beautiful quiet terrace, set on a plaza not far from Blue Bottle Coffee. I am showing you the lunch we ate on the terrace of Chez Papa on Mint Plaza last Monday.

My Grilled Arctic Char with Fingerling Potatoes, Capers, Lemon and Brown Butter was excellent. Jerome, my husband took the Niçoise Salad. I almost regretted not taking it since it was one of the best Niçoise I tasted this side of the Atlantic. On the menu, it is described as a Seared Ahi Tuna Niçoise with Roasted Peppers, Haricots Vert, Artichokes, Arugula and Meyer Lemon served with quail eggs in a pesto sauce.

The dessert of the day was equally delicious. We paired it with a French white wine.  After all, I needed to get the full experience of the restaurant to give you a proper review. I will definitely go back to Chez Papa.

MORE:
+ Chez Papa
+ Follow Chez Papa on Twitter

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