The Winterlicious food festival kicks off later this month to the delight and/or consternation of restaurateurs and diners alike. But the winter foodie fun may not end when the fest shuts down on Feb. 10. The massive city-driven culinary event may have spawned a new, let’s say, Winterlicious Light that could be up and running just days after the city-run fest finishes.
Deadline for participation in the 2011 Toronto Indie Resto Fest (TIRF) is January 10, and organizers are hoping for a long list the city’s finest restaurants as participants come the Feb. 15 start date.
Organizers at Milagro Cantinas sent out participation packages (one of which happened to land on Post City’s food and drink desk…) to the restaurants they deem worthy with a set of rules that reflect a growing resentment to the hefty fees and unruly clientele associated with Winterlicious.
The introductory letter begins as follows:
"If you have participated in the
tacky,overrated, &overpricedcity food festival you know that a $1,000 fee gets you into serving cheap menus to once in a lifetime cheapskates that complain about quality & service, leave miserable tips & never return; but tweet, f-book, yelp & blog uneducated critiques about your efforts."
Okay then, no holding back here.
The basics are as follows. Each restaurant, apparently run by "passionate & independent Toronto restaurateurs who celebrate & showcase fantastic food and drink," will offer a two-course lunch menu for $17 and a two-course dinner menu for $23 with dessert and house drink options for a nominal charge. But, the set menus will need to include popular items from the restaurant’s current menu (the idea being that perhaps Winterlicious does not do this). "At least 3 of each," according to instructions.
Unlike Winterlicious, participating restaurants need only pay $200 to organizers to pay for advertising.
The festival is slated for Feb. 15 (five days after Winterlicious ends) to March 11. Stay tuned as we follow up this story with information on what restaurants are participating.