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Best Jewish Delis in the World: Pancer's in Toronto

May 19, 2009 at 10:53 AM | 0 Comments

You might not guess it, but those Canadians sure know how to do Jewish delis. Our neighbor to the north has not one, but two legendary Jewish joints that rival the greats in New York and LA.

In addition to Schwartz's Deli in Montreal, there's also Moe Pancer's in Toronto, a North York legend that's been turning out homemade corned beef and pastrami since 1957. The deli, now being operated by the third generation of the same family, claims to have served Toronto some 6 million sandwiches over the past half-century, and it seems just about every order has earned rave reviews.

The original Moe Pancer famously said that he was a "five meat kind of guy," and served a limited, back-to-basics menu. His eponymous deli has expanded since then, and you can now order all the standards, from latkas and borscht to baby beef and chopped liver. But we still side with the old man—you can't beat a hot pastrami sandwich done right, and at $7 Canadian ($6 U.S.), you can't beat the prices here, either. (But you'll want to shell out an extra buck for a side or sour dills.)

Related Stories:
· Moe Pancer's [Official Site]
· Springtime in Montreal: Schwartz' Deli on Saint Laurent [Jaunted]
· The Best Jewish Delis in the World:: Chicago's Ashkenaz [Jaunted]

[Photo: Pancer's]

LeVar Burton Shares Friends To Know And Ways To Grow on Twitter

March 19, 2009 at 2:53 PM | 0 Comments

To us, he’s right up there with Big Bird and Mr. Rogers. To others, he’ll always be the Chief Engineer aboard the USS Enterprise. Although we love Reading Rainbow—who knew it only ended a couple years ago—he’s most famous for his Emmy-nominated roll in Roots.

We’re talking about LeVar Burton of course, and he’s taking the Twitter world by storm. No simple mundane postings here—he’s mastered the ReTweet, is always up for a chat, and most importantly he's hosted Tweet-Ups abroad. No wonder he’s got over 150,000 followers.

Earlier this month LeVar was in Toronto as a guest on the talk show The Hour—it’s a little like Leno or Letterman and is hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. Even before LeVar boarded the plane to TO he was thinking about what to do once his feet hit the ground.

Contemplating a Tweetup in TORONTO this evening. Anyone know of a place that serves up a decent pint in Yorkville?

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Where To Find A Dash of Andre 3000's Dapper Style

March 19, 2009 at 12:56 PM | 0 Comments

Call him spiffy, jaunty, natty or rakish, but don't you dare try to label him as a musician first and a fashion designer second. Andre 3000 of Outkast has long been known for his particularly colorful way of dressing to the nines, and once the stars aligned for him, he began to pursue this passion as a more than a hobby, creating a line of menswear named Benjamin Bixby. Entering its second season of retail, the retro-inspired and often ridiculously detailed looks of Bixby have finally earned themselves a cult following.

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Rachel McAdams Recycles Her Vacations

March 9, 2009 at 8:44 AM | 2 Comments

Rachel McAdams took her new sweetheart, Josh Lucas, home to Canada for a romantic visit last week. Raised in St. Thomas, a suburb of Toronto, the pair ate dinner a deux and explored the streets where McAdams shot the forthcoming adaptation "The Time Traveler's Wife."

What's wrong with this picture, besides the way it makes fans of "The Notebook" homicidal? McAdams has been snapped all around Toronto before... with ex Ryan Gosling, with whom she got back together late last year only to once again break it off with him, reasons unknown. In fact, Rachel and Josh were spotted at Grace, the same restaurant where Ryan and Rachel had a steamy reunion last year.

Rachel, do you know what you are? You're a serial minibreaker. Named for the trip Hugh Grant and Bridget Jones go on in the instant classic "Bridget Jones' Diary," this is the trip she takes all her boyfriends on to the old familiar haunts of the homeland. The difference between us and McAdams is that when we recycle vacations among significant others -- or heck, college roommates, visiting relatives or foreign exchange students -- we don't have a team of paparazzi documenting our every move.

Related Stories:
· 2008: Mushy Reunion Travel: Gosling and McAdams, Together Again [Jaunted]
· Missed Connections in Toronto: The Admit It, You've Seen "The Notebook" Edition [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Celebrity-gossip.net]

Three Vacation Ideas For The Big Three

February 19, 2009 at 11:31 AM | 0 Comments

Are you one of the casualties of the hurtin' economy? We're here to help with Laid-Off Travel, a new series on where to go when you don't have somewhere to go from 9 to 5.

So it's been a few months since GM and Chrysler asked for a bailout. How are they doing now? Oh... they want more money. In GM's case, $12 billion more, and they're willing to cut 47,000 jobs to prove that they're trying really hard. Chrysler is "only" cutting 3,000 jobs, but that can't be comforting for Detroit residents who have already withstood several rounds of cuts. So use your severance wisely on one of these getaways:

Go North: The next warm day, drop in on neighbor-to-the-north Toronto. At the Park Hyatt Toronto you can choose how much to spoil yourself with $10 extras from now through Feb. 27

Go South: Fly'n'stay at the Mayan Riviera for under $500 per person -- spring break comes early this year!

Go Green: There isn't a direct flight from Detroit, but Airfare Watchdog's sales to Dublin right now are pretty fantastic -- try Chicago-Dublin for $368 r/t.

Related Stories:
· GM and Chrysler Line Up at the Pump [Digital Journal]
· Macy's Employees: Buy Something, Sorry We Didn't [Jaunted]
· Graffiti for Humanity in Toronto [Jaunted]

[Photo: Cliph]

Graffiti For Humanity In Toronto

January 7, 2009 at 2:00 PM | 1 Comment

The eternal question surrounding graffiti is whether you consider it art or vandalism, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto is coming down on the side of art. ROM recently opened Housepaint, Phase 2: Shelter, the first exhibition on the subject of street art in a major Canadian museum. The exhibit features 10 canvas houses of different sizes painted by 10 of Canada’s leading street artists. The pieces are meant to draw attention to the social problems of poverty and homelessness in Canada and around the world.

One of the featured artists, Patrick Thompson, aka Evoke, is a hometown boy who has been part of the Canadian street art scene for more than 15 years. His work has been seen throughout Toronto and Ottawa, where he has also been active in the community. Thompson has become a heavyweight in the graffiti world for the distinctive "freestyle" tags he leaves on city streets and freight trains. He recently told the Town Crier he is glad his chosen profession has been debated with such vigor:

I don’t think graffiti art should get a good rap, it’s good to talk about things ... agitate people in a way most things don’t agitate them.

The houses will be on display at ROM until Sunday, July 5, when they will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity.

Related Stories:
· Royal Ontario Museum [Official Site]
· Beautiful Art, or Wanton Destruction? [Town Crier]
· The Tao of Thompson [Ottawa XPress]

[Photo: Town Crier]

Bringing The Streets Indoors

November 11, 2008 at 3:17 PM | 0 Comments

Canadian street artists Fauxreel and Specter have renovated an old warehouse into a dilapidated fake urban wonderland.

Called "A City Renewal Project," it's a secret world hidden behind a fake storefront in Toronto. Inside the seedy store is what looks like the workspace of an artist, filled with wood, construction materials and lots of Bell telephones. A back door will transport you into a long warehouse space that looks like an indoor facsimile of a real city street. Life-size black and white reproductions of closed and derelict stores line the walls of the warehouse. Further adding to the reality of the installation are real bus shelters, billboards, garbage cans--and real garbage. And of course, everything is covered in graffiti and tags.

The artists fear that the practice of tearing down old buildings and putting up brand-new condos is destroying their city's cultural history. Even the building the show is housed in is scheduled to be knocked down to make way for new apartments. A City Renewal Project is up until November 23, at inconsistent hours, so check the website for details.

Related Stories:
· A City Renewal Project [Official Site]
· Outside In [Torontoist]
· Toronto Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: A City Renewal Project]

Zac Efron Can Write His Name

November 5, 2008 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments

"High School Musical 3" star Zac Efron is forced to confront his legacy as a teen heartthrob at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

"HSM3" topped the box office last weekend for the second week in a row, besting a host of Halloween offerings from "The Haunting of Molly Hartley" to "Saw V." Youth, hope and optimism beats grim determination and appeals to fear? We've never seen that before.

Related Stories:
· Zac Efron Can't Even Mystic Tan Without His Bodyguards [Jaunted]
· Zac Efron's Oversize Carryon [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Film Festival Travel: Toronto's a Little Disappointing, Eh?

September 8, 2008 at 11:30 AM | 0 Comments

Only grown-ups here: Far from the sparkles of the MTV Video Music Awards, Jennifer Aniston opens her new movie "Management" at the Toronto Film Festival. The road-trip comedy stars Aniston as a traveling saleswoman who finds her last one-night stand (Steve Zahn, "Rescue Dawn") is chasing her across the country.

While Toronto's wave of premieres has featured the usual parade of smiling faces, industry insiders are feeling a little let down over last year's marquee offerings like "No Country For Old Men," "Juno" and "Eastern Promises."

Guy Ritchie's premiere "RocknRolla" debuted to tepid-to-cold reviews, and the Venice Film Festival stole the thunder of this year's Coen Brothers output "Burn After Reading." Persevere, armchair critics! The next "Ray" could be in there somewhere!

Related Stories:
· Brad Pitt Makes Knees Weak; Wyclef Jean Mops the Floor [HC]
· Missed Connections in Toronto: The "Admit It, You've Seen "The Notebook" Edition [Jaunted]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Celebrity-Gossip.net]

Missed Connections in Toronto: The Admit It, You've Seen "The Notebook" Edition

August 22, 2008 at 12:30 PM | 0 Comments

OK, so the romantic weepie starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling was pushed on us when we were terribly ill and couldn't fight back. But even if you believe it's a load of Hollywood hooey, the reunion of the movie's It Couple can make you believe, unlike Gena Rowlands, that love will find you again.

And with the Toronto Film Festival just a few weeks away, don't you want to be seduced in the dark?

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Mushy Reunion Travel: Gosling and McAdams, Together Again

August 21, 2008 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments

Must be something in the northern breezes: 2006 power couple Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams have gotten back together in Toronto, not far enough from the prying eyes of the fans.

The couple, who broke up sometime in 2007, were spotted together a few weeks ago when Gosling DJ'ed a club in Los Angeles, but they went on a romantic date to the "modern farmhouse" restaurant Grace and left holding hands. Maybe now that they're between movies, they can rekindle the romance!

Related Stories:
· Toronto Plays Chicago in SciFi Love Story [Jaunted]
· Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams--Back On! [US Magazine]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: JustJared]

Toronto Travel: Mapping Where the Cool Kids Are

August 5, 2008 at 12:00 PM | 0 Comments

Online mapping programs have made traveling foolproof--for the most part. But there's always a time or two when you wish you could just type in a particular neighborhood instead of a specific venue. If you're planning a trip to Toronto anytime soon, you're all set.

BlogTO has gone the extra mile and offers maps and tips that offer directions as well as the vibe of the city's many neighborhoods. Available at hotels and other local establishments, the maps can also be ordered online and be shipped direct to you as long as you chip in for a small shipping cost.

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