City Urbanista's Top 5 Restaurant Picks Toronto's Winterlicious 2012

Extra, extra! The 2012 Winterlicious list of participating restaurants is now out! This prix fixe culinary event is now in it's 10th year. If you've never attended Winterlicious before I suggest you get out this year and go indulge because it's a great way to discover Toronto on a plate.

Take advantage of the incredible value and exclusive prix fixe menus offered at 175 of Toronto's top restaurants.

via

Restaurants start taking Prix Fixe reservations tomorrow on January 12, 2012.

City Urbanista's Top 5 Picks from 5 Toronto Neighbourhoods for Winterlicious 2012

DOWNTOWN NORTH

c5
100 Queen’s Park
[Yorkville]
International
Lunch: $25
See the menu | Website

DOWNTOWN SOUTH

Canoe
66 Wellington St. W.
[Downtown, Financial District]
Canadian

Lunch: $25 | Dinner: $45

See the Menu| Website

EAST

Pan on the Danforth

516 Danforth Ave.

[Danforth, Greektown]

Greek, Mediterranean, Seafood

Lunch: $15 | Dinner: $25

See the menu | Website

WEST

Noce
875 Queen St. W.
[Downtown]
Italian
Lunch: $25 | Dinner: $45

See the menu | Website



UPTOWN

Tabülè 
2009 Yonge St.
[Midtown]
Mediterranean, Middle Eastern

Lunch: $15 | Dinner: $25
See the menu | Website



Remember to check out the City of Toronto's website for full listings of other participating restos!

Twitter: @LiciousTO #LiciousTO Facebook: facebook.com/LiciousTO Foursquare: foursquare.com/LiciousTO

Worldwide Short Film Festival (May 31st to June 5th)

Canada’s biggest short film festival starts today with several highly anticipated movies playing. The CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (WSFF), presented by TELUS, is the premier venue for the exhibition and promotion of short film in North America. Going on now till the 5th June, the WSFF celebrates the quality and creative range of short films. They have annual submissions that surpass 4000, expert programmers specially select 250 shorts from more than 80 countries for five days of public screenings.

Go check them out! They say "short is better" :)

Dear Canada, Go Vote....[please]

It's been a jam-packed weekend with filled celebrations. From a royal wedding to a not so royal death.

Today is May 2. Election day.

I'm asking you to grab a friend or two or three and go vote. Your vote actually matters. It counts.

I guarantee that you'll feel so proud of yourself and we all will be proud that you cast it!

Let's make it a historic one Canada!

Catch a Hot Doc for free!

So Hot Docs [the Canadian International Documentary Festival] is now on  until May 8th and I think you should try to check it out this year! The ticket prices are awesome plus maybe you could even catch some for free and or low cost! This is how you can pull it off;

 

Watch for Free

They offer FREE same day tickets for daytime screenings (screenings beginning prior to 6 pm) to students (with valid I.D.) and Seniors (60+). Tickets are available at the screening venue on the day of the screening, subject to availability.

Watch a Late Night for a Low Cost

They also offer Late Night screenings (after 11 pm) for just $5 throughout the festival. Tickets for $5 late-night screenings are available at the documentary Box Office or at the screening venue's box office on the day of the screening. Alternatively you can buy an All-You-Can-Eat Late Night Pass for just $10 and see all of the Late Night films for just over $1 per film!

Some of my picks this year;

• Recessionize! For Fun and Profit!
• Fly
• Wiebos War
• Housing
• Superheroes

Wanna feel royal eh?

Who are your candidates? Where and when to vote. What are your voting options? What is your riding?

Just in case you're distracted by a wedding and fascinators and crumpets, thought I'd try get your head out of the clouds for just minute and remind you that you are in fact Canadian eh and our big day is only 3 days away! Advanced voting is open so you can just drop by and cast your ballot. For information on political parties, candidates visit Elections Canada.

Let’s TOK!

Every year there is a city born anew in this series. This shared urban environment belongs to everyone who calls it home regardless of how long they have been here, or from where they came. These writers bring fresh eyes to neighbourhoods you may have walked through a thousand times, or reprise a Toronto of time gone past. You may recognize its torched buildings, back alleyways or TTC stations, or not—but you will recognize the truth in the human experiences they portray.

- Helen Walsh, Preface, TOK Book 6

Book Launch Event

When: 7pm tonight (April 20th, 2011)

Where: The Gladstone Hotel

Refugee Rights Day Love

Refugee Rights Day is celebrated each April 4th to bring attention to the advances made in the protection of refugee rights in Canada as a result of the Supreme Court Singh decision in 1985.

I was invited to the the Official City of Toronto Proclamation at Toronto City Hall where a friend's partners' art was selected to be exhibited for the week. The sweetest thing was that she(the artist) is out of the country for a while and therefore couldn't be there but my friend(her partner) came out for her. It was beautiful to see the love he had in his eyes for her. It seemed like such a raw and pure moment when he uttered "I'm so proud of her". Learn more about her by visiting her website.

You can go check out the Refugee Art Show and other events going on this week at City Hall. For more info on these events, click here.

I managed to snap a horrible Blackberry shot of Joe Mihivec reading the official proclamation.

Google disappointment

 

Went to the Google event today. "Get Your Business Online" [GYOB]. The event was hosted at the Boiler House and the Fermenting Cellar in the beautiful Distillery District.

Open bar. Hors d'oeuvres. Anxiously curious room. Savvy room.

This event was quite somewhat a disappointment for most of us. They had O'Leary [Dragon's Den guy] hosting the event and it felt sooooo scripted. I guess we were all hoping for something revolutionary to be launched and not just get free websites [which most business people in the room already have- the people who might have benefited from these free websites likely wouldn't have known about this event].

I love you Google but I know you could've done better than this.

[At least I met some cool people + yes a goody-bag ;]

Happy Nowruz!

It's going to be Persian Nowruz (new year) tomorrow. I was invited to a dinner for this great celebration. It was such a lovely dinner and I was taken just how welcoming everyone was. I was under the impression that it was going to be a dinner party with many people but it turned out to only be family plus me.

The food was completely amazing and I'm kinda shy to ask for recipes :). It was really neat to learn the cultural symbolism of the various items that were part of the celebration.

Happy Nowruz!

Bye Bye Liver in Toronto

Courtesy of Bye Bye Liver

I got a Groupon some time ago to check out Bye Bye Liver at Hard Rock Cafe and finally went to watch it this evening. It's improv comedy. Started of slow but was surprisingly funny [some parts obviously funnier than others of course]. I like how engaged they were with the audience. The location and space is great for hosting an event but I think too large and somewhat awkward for the size of this event.