Tag Archives: The Stop

Stop for food

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[Oops, had this ready to post last night for this morning but forgot to click "publish".]

For the last three years for the month of March, The Stop Community Food Centre has been offering people a reason for to eat out: Participating restaurants offer locally-focused prix fixe menus with a portion of the the meal going to the organization.

Kick off

The month-long event officially begins on Monday, February 28 with The Stop for Food Chef Challenge at Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen St. W. The challenge will pit chefs Ted Corrado (C5), Luis Valenzuela (Torito Tapas Bar), Matty Matheson and Matt DeMille (Parts & Labour), Jesse Vallins (Trevor), Anthony Davis (Cowbell) and Bertrand Alépée (Cross Town Kitchens) and The Stop’s own Chris Brown against each other. Canapés prepared by both teams will be served to the audience while a panel of expert judges determine who gets to claim bragging rights. The evening will be hosted by the Food Network’s Kevin Brauch.

The restaurants participating in March include Beast, The Beet Organic Cafe, Cowbell, Harbord House, The Harbord Room, Local Kitchen & Wine Bar, Salt, The Drake Hotel, Lee, and more. The prices range as do the neighbourhoods. I highly recommend this event. Last year some friends and I who regularly meet for dinner went to The Harbord House for this event and enjoyed it a lot. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing where to go this year.

If you want to see who won the Chef’s Challenge last year, check out my blog post about the event.

About The Stop

The Stop believes that healthy food is a basic human right. The organization strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality. You can read more about their mission and philosophy here.

Watch delis duel for dollars

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Next week, Sunday July 25, watch delis duel for dollars!

The battle for smoked meat supremacy in Toronto is heating up! Join The Stop for a fundraiser that will have chefs from Caplansky’s, Goldin’s and The Stockyards go head-to-head in a battle to produce the best smoked meat sandwich. Go, taste and vote for your favourite.

Admission is free. Food and drink available for purchase. All sandwiches $3; lemonade and iced tea $3; beer $5. All proceeds go to The Stop.

The Stop Community Food Centre strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality. They believe that healthy food is a basic human right and recognize that the ability to access healthy food is often related to multiple issues and not just a result of low income. Learn more.

As I’ve said here before, The Stop is close to my heart. I’ve been fortunate to not use their services, but I live one block from Wychwood Barns and community is important to me. I appreciate the work that The Stop does and support them when I can.

Because this is a duel, I want to see swords and chain mail. Maybe a cod-piece? (Er, maybe not – unless “cod piece” means “piece of cod”, and this isn’t a fish ‘n’chips duel.)

See related post at the Save the Deli blog.

The Stop for Food Chef Challenge

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Last night’s The Stop for Food Chef Challenge was the kick off event for Stop for Food 2010. From March 1st to 31st, dozens of Toronto’s finest restaurants will offer locally-focused prix fixe menus of either $35 or $50 per person, with proceeds from each meal ($10 or $5 respectively) being donated directly to The Stop. Check out The Stop’s website for a list of participating restaurants.

I chose to buy a ticket for the challenge for $20 rather than ask for a media comp. I feel strongly about The Stop because it’s part of my community.

The evening was set up in a Top Chef-inspired manner. The crowd was treated to a video of the teams shopping for their ingredients at Fiesta Farms with a budget.

The teams:
Team 1: Jamie Kennedy, Anthony Davis (the Roosevelt Room) and Jason Inniss (Amuse-Bouche).

Team 2: Luis Valenzuela (Torito Tapas Bar), Bertrand Alépée (Amuse Bouche), Ted Corrado (C5 – home court advantage) and Chris Brown (The Stop, and formerly Perigee).

Jamie was serving up French fries with aoli, the ones that he and his son sell at the Brickworks farmer’s market:

I started out with the sashimi canape…

…and moved to the rabbit poutine….

…to the lamb sausage…

…deep fried potato gnocchi that were very light and melted in my mouth. They were like potato pillows…

…mushroom ricotta strudel…

…halibut…

And desserts, which I didn’t get photos of: Apple freezies (better than any freezie I’ve ever had) and these frozen apple truffles that I was about to snap on the tray, but then the tray was empty.

Wines were provided by Chateau des Charmes. I had a very tasty glass of Gamay Noir “Droit”, a wine that upon sniffing I eventually identified as tobacco. Not pipe tobacco associated with an oaked red but something subtler, like a cigarette from a fresh package (I’m not a smoker nor have I have had the habit). As the wine sat in my glass the flavour seemed to get smokier.

The Gamay was my second of two glasses that started with a white, a Riesling. This proved to be a good choice of starting colour when a woman walking near me tripped (?) and knocked my wine class, sending it upwards and its contents into my face, on my front, on the floor. I had wine on my forehead and it later occurred to me that had I not been wearing my glasses I probably would have had wine in the eyes. Fortunately I have a sense of humour about such things.

The evening didn’t disappoint. Good food, nice view and some of my favourite food enthusiasts were there. Although I was confused as to which team was producing which food (a list would have been helpful), it wasn’t all that relevant to me. As for who won? That would be Team 2, but really, the Stop was the winner. At the end of the evening Executive Director Nick Saul and Director of Development Cheryl Roddick accepted a cheque for $40,000, proceeds from last year’s Stop for Food event. This money will go towards carrying out The Stop’s mission to “increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.” The Stop FTW!

Don’t forget to check out Stop for Food 2010 during the entire month of March.

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Holiday giving: The gift that gives twice and gives back.

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Catching up on some email from the past week I found a newsletter from The Stop. The following is copied and pasted verbatim:

Gifts that Matter

presentLooking for a meaningful holiday gift for your staff, clients, friends, teachers or anyone else on your list this year? By making a $25 donation to The Stop Community Food Centre, you can purchase a food hamper for a family in need on behalf of the special people on your list. We’ll send them a lovely card saying that you’ve done so. Imagine stress free holiday shopping that makes a difference.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Send an email to Danielle@thestop.org with the names and addresses of the people on your list.
  2. For every $25 donation, we’ll send a card to the individuals on your list with the following message: “A donation has been made by (Your name) on your behalf to The Stop Community Food Center to purchase a food hamper for a family in need this holiday season. Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday.”
  3. You’ll receive a tax receipt for your entire gift, and the good feeling of knowing that your gifts are fighting hunger and poverty in the city.

Please note, we must receive your list of names no later than December 14th to ensure delivery of your card prior to December 25th.

View the newsletter.

So…

…a family in need gets a gift of food, the person you’re donating on behalf of knows that you’re thinking of them and also that you know that they have enough crap material stuff and don’t need more (not that “stuff” is bad, I like stuff), and you receive warm fuzzy feelings knowing that you gave and gave to those in need. Sure, it’s not a new set of pots, a Vita Mix, new DVDs or a new gaming system but helping those in need is valuable too. A donation doesn’t need to fit under a tree either.

Sounds great to me.

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