This is how I learned about Pilar coming to town, which is exciting in itself. I got a call from Andrew Gardner, my old friend from my days at Xango, who’s now part of the management team at Reds Bistro. He and Reds Chef Michael Steh, invited me to come and talk to them about [...]

I have been stewing over this post and then putting aside and then picking it back up for a couple of months now. Wouldn’t you know it: just as I get ready to post, the Globe does a piece on sherries. And then my friend Tammy tells me yesterday that the Vintages site is featuring [...]

Back in May I dropped in to say hi to my old friend Trevor Berryman. I first met Trevor in 1998, when he hired me as his Executive Chef at Xango. We made some real magic there. We got recognition as the best Latino restaurant of 2000, and added a star to our Toronto Life [...]

Some of my best memories of growing up in Venezuela were travelling with my family — to the Andes, across the prairie region, into the desert, into the Amazon jungle and all along Venezuela’s gorgeous Caribbean coastline. Wherever we went, we’d find la parada, a place to stop and eat and rest. A parada can [...]

Cherry Lovers Take Note Last week I was walking through Chinatown and saw some cherries. In January? Later in the day in Kensington, I saw more. And today, at my neighbourhood fruit stall in Bloor West Village, I saw them again. They came in from Curicó, a region close to Santiago, the capital. I decided [...]