Garlic Fest - How's My Breath?

Garlic Fest 2013

Evergreen Brick Works

Toronto, ON

Word of the day - HALITOSIS: The condition of having stale or foul smelling breath. After a solid workout at the gym - nothing replenishes the body like some gluttony at a local garlic festival. For someone who has a phobia of people with halitosis; this should be interesting! Located in one of my favorite spots in Toronto; the Evergreen Brick Works on the Bayview extension regularly has farmers markets and local events to satisfy the taste of any aspiring vegetarian or organic foods trend jumper. 

The Review:

Starting at 9am, garlic fanatics had the chance to sample from a smorgasbord of vendors. We arrived in the late afternoon; and after walking around for about 20 minutes our hearts shifted as we realized most of the vendors had already run out of food and shut down. Overall the festival was well run with the layout easy to navigate; and being the end of the day lineups for the remaining vendors were relatively short. Sampling some of the local brewskies while waiting in line helped pass the time.

First stop - a little table with a young man in a chef's uniform using a dorm room style stove top cooking contraption. Rabbit sausage on lentils with garlic infused foam and micro greens ($5). The sausage was surprisingly soft with a butter like texture; nicely seasoned with a hint of pepper. I didn't get much of a garlic flavor in the foam - but overall a nice little snack to start off with.

The smell of grilled meat was the bait and we bit. Next up - Hawaiian grilled chicken and pork skewers with pineapple ($2.50 each). Um... where's the garlic? Completely void of even a hint of garlic; these little guys still hit the abdominal spot. Juicy and tender. 

Let's finish it off with an ethnic gang bang of flavors - garlic tandoori chicken wraps ($7) with fried egg. These sleeping bags filled with meaty goodness are created by partially frying an egg with a tortilla wrap pressed down over it; and stuffed with tandoori chicken and hot sauce, various herbs and some strange looking crunchy things that to this day remain a mystery. The garlic flavor came through nicely and complimented the pungent tandoori spices.

The Verdict:

Arriving late put a major road bump in the whole garlic experience - most of the vendors were sold out of food and closed but overall this festival was definitely worth the $5 admission. Although 2 of the 3 vendors we tried didn't have the key (garlic) factor; the food was good and settled into the belly well with the addition of some 10% strong craft beers.