Two weeks ago I had seen my Twitter stream peppered with mentions of tapas and beer and so you know my curiosity got the better of me! Unfortunately because I’m on a restaurant hiatus due to Baby Boy’s current whining stage (count down is on for 2 more weeks!), I wasn’t able to get out and enjoy the Estrella Damm Tapas Journey around the city. I was however able to attend the Pintxos, a Basque style tapas event that took place this past Sunday in downtown Toronto.
Given that it was an all ages event, filled with loud music, good food and drink, I knew we’d be able to bring the demon child Baby Boy out with us. As you may have noticed, I’ve been shying away from Toronto food festivals lately as they’ve all be unorganized chaos. Who has time to attend events only to stand in long queues and leave having barely tasted a morsel? Not I. Not YOU! Yet I attended the Pintxos event, why? Because the organizer, Spotlight City Events, has bobbed through the Toronto event circuit and now knows how to throw a damn fine food festival. May co-workers (who aren’t necessarily foodies, mind you) had told me of how awesome an event the previous Dim Sum and Curry ones were and so I decided it was time to come out of food festival hiding.
Tickets for the event were $10 per person and kids didn’t need tickets. While strollers weren’t allowed, kids were welcomed and Little Monkey not only ate but also managed to exchange her smile for chocolate! Given that the location, Royal Bank Plaza, was just up the street from us, we walked up with the hubs carrying cranky Baby Boy. He was extra cranky as he was teething with a slight fever and so he was uber clingy but silent – which was a-ok by me!
Pintxos was a timed event which meant that tickets were good for one 2 hour session, which is a brilliant idea because this meant we actually got a table and there were no line ups at any of the stalls! The food was prepared by some of Toronto’s finest and even had a guest appearance from NYC! In true Spanish style, there was a great tapas line up with each dish costing between $4 to $9 and a majority of them hovering at the $5 range. Yes it can get pricey, but I see this as an alternative to dining out where you end up spending $100 easily as a family. We spent $70 and enjoyed a satisfying meal during the 4 to 6 p.m. sessions, which meant that we enjoyed the following for our dinner!
The fact that there were tables, chairs and patio umbrellas meant that the kids were happy. We even spotted a couple little ones throwing down some mean dance moves (which was additional entertainment for Baby Boy and Little Monkey)! We also sampled some ciders and wines at the event but they were definitely not right for our pallet so I was glad they had Estrella Damm beer on offer to pair with our dishes. It’s a light, refreshingly summer beer and while it isn’t necessarily a craft beer, it did pair well with some the dishes on offer.
My favourite hands down was the King Crab Slider from Salt Wine Bar. Though I must admit that not having tasted barnacles during our Portugal trip earlier this summer, I was glad we had the chance to do so at the event. East Thirty Six had a great spread even that late into the day and so we grabbed quite a few of them to join us at the table with a can of Estrella Damm.
Just as we were about to head out Little Monkey insisted that she wanted to eat some “beef” and was referring to the Lamb Gyro from Mamakas Tavern! So the hubs dashed over to see what he could find and luckily for us, even though it was fifteen minutes before the end of the event, they still had some dishes on offer. PHEW! Overall, I would have liked to see a couple more sweet options but my guess is that those may have been popular with the early afternoon sessions and hence all gobbled up before our late session. Definitely glad that kids were welcomed at this well organized event (and we saw quite a few little ones!) and while I’d have loved to have had access to stroller parking, I know the logistics would have been a nightmare to coordinate for that one, especially given the cool venue space.
So yes, I’m back on the food festival circuit and will be sure to share more events from fabulous event organizers with you!
