Week of July 26 – Imagery Dragonsleaf Red Sonoma Mountain 2006

This is an old-world style Rhone blend from Imagery Estate Winery, a small winery owned by the Benziger Family winery in Sonoma. This wine has all the complex, barnyardy notes (in all the best senses of the descriptor!) of a wine that is twice the price. I LOOOVE it.

Week of July 19 – Greek Salad



This Greek salad is one of my favorite lunches. I make it as soon as the
orange cherry tomatoes start to appear at the Hollywood Farmers Market. The
salad is all killer, no filler. Just tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion,
cucumber and feta cheese—all dressed with my best olive oil and red wine
vinegar.

Week of July 19 – Laht Neppur Strawberry Ale

Enjoyed at the Walla Walla onion festival: Laht Neppur Strawberry Ale, from Waitsburg, WA. A rich, unfiltered, medium-bodied ale with a hint of local strawberry. Pairs well with walla walla onion-stuffed sausages, and guinness world records.

Week of July 12 – Victoria Gin

After one sip I was infatuated. after a second, I fell in love. and after a third, I bought part of the company. Need I say more?

Week of July 12 – Portuguese egg custard tarts

These Portuguese egg custard tarts are from the Portuguese Bakery on Dundas
Street in Toronto. They cost a buck each and taste like a million dollars.
They are my next favorite thing from Portugal after wine from the Douro
region.

I recently was talking with some friends about our “happy place”—that one special spot in the world where we go to escape the madness. Common answers included a cottage hideaway and swish hotel suites in far flung countries. For me, the happiest place on earth was always the middle booth at Mimi’s, Toronto’s legendary breakfast joint. From there I could take in the scene (and it was always a scene), while keeping one eye on Mimi as she worked her magic at the stove.

About three years before her untimely death, Mimi closed her restaurant. Here’s the story I wrote for NOW magazine to mark it’s closing.

the queen of the kitsch’n abdicates her throne

It’s the end of the world as we know it. And by “we” I mean those of us whose definition of a perfect breakfast joint is a magical hole-in-the-wall that serves crispy herbalicious hash brown potatoes, airy blintzes, and kick-ass chili. Sure, this perfection personified was occasionally marred by bouts of rudeness, erratic hours and the looming possibility of being unceremoniously tossed out if the cook was having a bad day, but that’s what made Mimi’s so special—you had to work for the love.

After cooking at Fenton’s, the Horseshoe and the Bamboo, Mimi Braidberg opened Mimi’s in 1985 with a pot of coffee, a single customer, and the desire to “give the world a better breakfast.” The three-booth, seven-stool restaurant could not have been more inconspicuous. Co-joined with the Oak Leaf Bathhouse on Bathurst, just north of Queen Street West, there was no sign, and one had to squint through the window to see if the joint was open. In the beginning Mimi’s was almost always open. From 10 am – 10 pm, seven days a week, Mimi could be found at the helm of her six-burner Garland stove, cracking eggs and flipping French toast with a ubiquitous joint dangling from her lip. Then after taking in the local music scene, she would often reopen from 2 – 4 am, satisfying the late-night cravings of many of the same customers she had served earlier in the day.

Word of mouth spread quickly and on most weekends, even in the dead of winter, a line-up of hungry hipsters squirreled its way down Bathurst Street. They came for the waffles and they came for the omelets that were, according to one Now restaurant critic, “as well-fluffed as a porn star”. But they stayed for the atmosphere. Mimi put the kitsch in kitchen. Every available surface was jammed with flea market finds, vintage food collectables, pop culture memorabilia, and a flock of chicken-shaped salt and pepper shakers.

I was introduced to Mimi’s by Jane Siberry, the artist I managed in my past life. Mimi loved musicians and was passionate about music. This was evidenced by the eclectic cross-section of bootleg cassettes that crackled over the stereo and an endless loop of pre-publicity-conscious concert footage of artists ranging from Laura Nero to Fred Eaglesmith that flickered in the background on an old black and white television set. It’s not surprising that the love was reciprocated. On any given morning one was likely to find a gaggle of bleary-eyed local and touring musicians trying to revive themselves with a few cups of joe. Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cutty mused that the Mimi’s was a “public service” and “an island of tranquility” for musicians. Cutty’s bond was cinched when Mimi named her signature chili after his band well before they recorded their first album. “It was our first taste of fame” he recalls sentimentally.

In 1989 while Mimi was married to fellow chef Mark Collier, she decided that an ice cream machine might just be the ticket. In short order, the Cowboy Junkies, Jane Siberry and the Look People improbably rallied together for an ice cream machine benefit at the Brunswick house. A few years later, local music impresario and regular customer David Bluestein gifted Mimi with a blue neon sign for her front window. Reflecting back, Mimi laughs, “I never made a lot of money, but I sure made a lot of friends”..

When my accidental career as a television chef began, Mimi’s became my unofficial office. Mimi spoiled me by concocting an egg mash-up of all my favorite ingredients (bacon, avocado, fresh herbs…). On each visit, the plate was piled higher: the eggs were more decadent, the hash browns crispier, and the accompanying “toast party” even more festive than the time before. After so many visits, it’s no secret that the restaurant’s brick-a-brack esthetic inspired the interior of my Toastermobile.

Over the years Mimi reeled back the hours. In recent memory, she was open Thursdays thru Sunday from 10am – 2pm. This prompted Ricki Lee Jones to peer out from the stage at the Phoenix and ask “is Mimi here?” (she was) before admonishing her. “I went to your restaurant today, and it was closed! There was a discernible collective groan in the audience as if to say, “she’s ALWAYS closed”.

After 22 years, arthritis and exhaustion have taken their toll and Mimi is moving on. She plans to make beaded guitar straps and indulge in a little more of her passion for poker. Mimi will be holding court one last time this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 am – 2 pm. She’s jarred up her last batch of Blue Rodeo chili and will be selling off many of her collectables, including the highly coveted salt and pepper shakers. I’ll be the one in my favorite booth, back to the far wall, shedding a freshly-squeezed pink grapefruit juice tear.

Think about how much you love crispy, crunchy Chinese or Vietnamese spring rolls. Now imagine how good they would taste if you replaced the bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, green onions and so on with melted milk chocolate, gooey caramel, crunchy peanut butter and slices of ripe banana. It’s a decadent combination that won’t leave you hungry in an hour.

8 3½ x 3 ½-inch wonton wrappers
¼ cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy—your choice!)
1 banana, peeled and sliced into ¼-inch-thick slices
8 Rolo or Caramilk bar segments
powdered sugar for dusting (optional)
peanut oil for deep frying

Place a small bowl of warm water beside wonton wrappers. Put a single wonton wrapper on a clean, dry surface in front of you. Schmear 1 teaspoon of peanut butter onto the center. Press down a banana slice on top of peanut butter and top with chocolate. Dip your finger in water and trace a circle on the wonton wrapper around the stack of ingredients (water is the glue of wonton wrappers). Pinch and seal wrapper around the ingredients. Be sure that seams are tightly sealed to keep frying oil from seeping in.

Pour oil into a small, tall pot until it is 3 inches deep. Heat oil until it reaches 350°F.

When oil is ready, fry 4 wontons at a time for approximately 1 minute, or until wonton wrappers are golden brown. Remove and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Dust with powdered sugar. Let cool for 1 minute before serving.

yield 8 dessert wontons
uncommon goods Wonton wrappers (available in the refrigerated or frozen section of most grocery stores); oil thermometer. If you don’t have an oil thermometer, when you think oil is ready, drop a piece of wonton wrapper into it. If wrapper gets crispy in 5 – 8 seconds, the oil is ready.
level of difficulty Wonton wrapping takes a bit of practice, but each wrapper costs about 3 cents so mistakes are cheap.
active prep time 15 minutes
5 minutes
advance work Wontons can be wrapped earlier in the day. Cover with a damp dishtowel and refrigerate. Do not let wontons touch. To minimize stickage, dust the surface of the storage plate and the wontons themselves with corn starch.
multiplicity Additional wontons do not require extra frying oil
music to cook by Carolina Chocolate Drops, Genuine Negro Jig. Old-time string band music gets a new lease on life.

Thank you to everyone who helped me achieve a new Guinness World Record for most pizzas made in an hour by an individual! I slapped together 168 pizzas (yielding 1300 slices!) at Corso Italia in Toronto on July 4th. Pizza for everyone!

In Toronto this weekend? Join me this Sunday, July 4th at Corso Italia (Greenlaw/St. Claire) from 2-3pm EDT where I will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most pizzas made in one hour by an individual. Pizza for everyone!! For more info, see here

Week of June 28 – C. Donatiello Winery 2007 Russian River Chardonnay

A luscious chard that drinks like an expensive white Burgundy. Donatiello also makes several elegant pinot noirs.