Following in the footsteps of Ottawa and Saratoga, Toronto gets its first Dishcrawl

Following in the footsteps of Ottawa and Saratoga, Toronto gets its first Dishcrawl

Dishcrawlers in San Mateo ended their meal with an haute pop (Image: sjsharktank)

Now that the inaugural run of the Toronto Underground Market is behind us, it’s time for Toronto to hop onto the next hot foodie trend out of San Francisco. That’s right: Dishcrawl—think a pub crawl for food—will make its first excursion in Queen West on October 5. And just like TUM, Dishcrawl Toronto sold out well in advance.

The concept: 50-odd people are split into two groups, hitting up four restaurants in one night. The venues are kept secret, with the meeting place only revealed two days prior. At each venue, patrons meet the chef and scarf down a three-ounce portion before walking on to the next destination.

According to an interview in Now, it didn’t take much for Toronto organizer Gretchen Wilson to bring the culinary circuit to the city: just a simple email to Dishcrawl founder Tracy Lee. After taking root in San Francisco earlier this year, Dishcrawl has crept through several American cities, and into Canada with events in Montreal and Ottawa. In fact, Ottawa has apparently been their most successful location, filling a niche in a burgeoning foodie scene; there, hungry connoisseurs snatched up the limited spots in half an hour.

While the Queen West tour sold out in three days, more Toronto Dishcrawls are expected, including one that we’re pretty sure would be a hit in our ever-carnivorous city: an all-meat outing.

Grub crawl [Now]