Toronto restaurants and stores selling boxes filled with everything you need for a backyard barbecue
Another year navigating the pandemic, another summer of socializing safely. Whether it’s a small backyard gathering with your family or a few friends at the cottage, a bunch of Toronto restaurants and shops have created a variety of DIY kits for all your barbecue feast needs. They supply the ingredients, you supply the grill. It’s that easy.
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Agora
This grab-and-go sibling to Mamakas Taverna stocks all things Greek. Their Agora BBQ boxes are brimming with enough ready-to-grill marinated meat, fresh pitas, dips, salads, peppers and dessert, to feed four hungry folks. The Paidakia Box features lamb chops, while the Chicken BBQ Box includes a five-pound spatchcocked bird. Other kits come with chicken kalamaki skewers or lamb bifteki patties. Order 48 hours in advance, available Wednesday to Sunday. Pickup only. $105 and up. 921 Queen St. W., 416-901-9022, mamakas.ca/agora
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Barberian’s Butcher Shop
In addition to its meat boxes, which feature a selection of vac-packed classic cuts, the longstanding steakhouse now also offers a weekly meal kit. One week it might showcase a pair of 16-ounce N.Y. striploins with skewers of seriously big shrimp; another might include a 32-ounce porterhouse with green beans in herb butter, or two bone-in filets and a baked potato kit. All are sure to include Harry Barberian’s own cooking tips to ensure you get restaurant quality perfection. Available for pickup or delivery Thursday to Saturday within the GTA. Orders placed by 8 p.m. can receive next-day delivery. $120 and up. 7 Elm St., 647-402-6295, barberiansbutchershop.com
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BlueBlood Steakhouse
Casa Loma’s opulent steakhouse has put together lavish grill kits for two that come with super-fancy items, like a full-bodied bottle of amarone and two BlueBlood-engraved steak knives. Packed with uncooked proteins, the kit also includes sides like duck fat fingerling potatoes or whipped Yukon Golds, and French bean almondine. Available daily for pickup only. $225 and up. 1 Austin Terr., 416-353-4647, bluebloodsteakhouse.com
Cheese Boutique
Everyone’s favourite cheesemonger, Afrim Pristine, is putting together boxes chock full of everything you need to get grilling: 40-day-aged N.Y. striploins, burger patties, chicken breasts, house-made sausages, fresh asparagus, freshly baked brioche buns, various cheeses (of course), various rubs and sauces, and a crunchy snack. It’s literally all that and a bag of chips. Available for pickup or delivery within the GTA. $175. 44 Ripley Ave., 416-762-6292, cheeseboutique.com
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Chef’s Catering
This family business’s new delivery service includes an assortment of gourmet meat and grocery boxes—like the aptly named Grill Chef, which comes with two pounds of ground beef, one pound each of strip bacon and peameal, top sirloin steaks, wild salmon, chicken breasts, pork chops and various accompaniments, right down to chips and hummus. The Maritime box is equally bountiful, filled to the brim with fresh seafood (salmon, halibut, tiger shrimp) as well as coleslaw and various veggies. Free delivery. #201-41 Britain St., 416-939-8515, chefscatering.ca/mrgoodmeats
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Côte de Boeuf
This bespoke butcher shop and wine bar on Ossington sells barbecue boxes complete with everything you need for a romantic DIY dinner for two (or a friendly dinner for four)—wine pairing included, if you pay a few bucks extra. A recent box came with two marinated striploin kebabs, two marinated lamb chops, local asparagus, cucumber salad and chocolate mousse for dessert. Available for pickup daily. Various prices. 130 Ossington Ave., 416-532-2333, cotedeboeuf.ca
EDO-Ko
Midtown’s stalwart for both traditional and Western-influenced Japanese cooking is offering a build-your-own EDO Summer BBQ Kit. The menu includes ready-to-grill AAA Angus striploins, chicken, miso-marinated salmon, tofu steaks, Kobe sausage and kushiyaki (skewers). Supplement your feast with platters of mini sushi burritos, sides, or salads accompanied by a bottle of the restaurant’s addictive ginger or sesame dressing. Minimum 24 hours notice required. Pickup or $30 minimum for delivery. $13 and up. 425 Spadina Rd., 416-482-8973, edorestaurants.com
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Elle Cuisine
This caterer’s new virtual market offers access to the products from local farms and suppliers that owner Lauren Mozer sources for her own in-house use. The summer barbecue kits include everything from whole and flattened chickens to Japanese Kobe rib-eyes, Miami ribs and Mediterranean tofu kebabs. For those who like surf more than turf, there’s whole branzino, marinated salmon and jumbo shrimp. While the proteins are ready to grill, there are also braised and smoked options, including pulled pork in ancho chili sauce or smoked beer ribs basted with barbecue sauce. Delivery fee based on distance, or free for orders over $300. Ellecuisine.ca
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Marben
Marben’s barbecue kit returns for another summer and includes everything you to make the restaurant’s signature John’s Burger (a menu staple for 14 years now) plus all kinds of sides. The two-person kit includes two dry-aged Angus beef patties, just as many beef fat brioche buns, some aged cheddar, braised brisket and Branston pickle to top everything off. Also: a pound of sous-vide Angus brisket in a smoked habanada paste, a litre of Big Mac potato salad, a pair of free-run chicken legs in a sweet koji marinade, and a half-litre of cabbage slaw. All you need to do is fire up the grill and crack open something cold. $79.99. Pickup or local delivery, Tuesday to Sunday. 488 Wellington St. W., 416-979-1990, marben.ca
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Mason’s Fine Foods
Focused on supporting local producers, this midtown grocer has prepared all kinds of barbecue-ready proteins: koji-aged rib steaks, Berkshire pork chops, marinated spatchcock chickens. Pick and choose from an assortment of staples like all-beef burgers, chorizo (rojo and verde) or Italian sausages, plus souvlaki-style chicken and pork skewers. Pre-order via email or phone. Pickup only. 692 Mt. Pleasant Rd., 416-551-4825, masonsfinefoods.com
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Mercatino e Vini
Ascari Hospitality Group’s new online grocery market offers a selection of interesting barbecue-ready and prepared items. In addition to their grill-ready Gare de l’Est burger kit (house-ground Ontario chuck patties, braised Duroc pork belly, cheddar, Marie-Rose sauce, Boston lettuce, vine-ripened tomato, pain-au-lait buns) there’s share-friendly lamb speducci, smoked pork side ribs, marinated spatchcock chickens, house-made sausages and steaks. Pickup and delivery available. Starting at $15. 1091 Queen St. E., 416-792-4157, mercatinovini.com
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O&B Grocery
O&B’s Cleaver Meat Co. line features kits that includes a bevy of barbecue-ready items. Choose from a pound of teriyaki-marinated Miami ribs, 48-day dry-aged Wellington County rib-eye or porterhouse steak with a choice of rubs or marinades, piri-piri butterflied chicken or chicken wings, whole seasoned racks of baby back pork ribs, and more. Complete your feast with fun add-ons like a classic steakhouse salad, jumbo shrimp cocktail and roasted garlic pull apart buns. $50 minimum for curbside pickup or $100 minimum for delivery. 2901 Bayview Ave., oliverbonacini.com/grocery-delivery
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Pusateri’s
Besides a variety of meat and seafood boxes, Pusateri’s recently launched burger kits including all the ingredients you need to make beef burgers (or turkey burgers or portobello burgers or plant-based burgers or sausages) plus veggies and dip, gourmet chips and sauces, heirloom tomatoes, Blackbird Baking Co. buns or Martin’s potato rolls, cheese and freshly baked cookies. Outside the GTA? They’ve resumed their Cottage Delivery Service, expanding their radius to include Bala, Port Carling, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge and Innisfil. Pickup or delivery. $90 and up. Various locations, shop.pusateris.com
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Sariwon
The online shop for this Korean barbecue restaurant doesn’t only stock lunch boxes and grocery staples, but also marinated meats like bulgogi, spicy pork and barbecue sets for three to eight people. Each set includes both marinated and L.A. kalbi, beef sirloin, pork belly and pork shoulder, plus a stew, side dishes, some veggies, sauces and rice. Delivery available with a minimum order of $50. 7388 Yonge St., 905-881-5103, sariwontogo.com
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Summerhill Market
This gourmet grocer sells an extensive line of house-made heat-and-eat meal solutions, including summer weekend entertaining package. The Cottage Weekend BBQ Box has enough barbecue-ready proteins to feed a group, including eight mild pork sausages, eight seasoned beef burgers and one whole, flattened chicken. Minimum of 48 hours notice required. Pickup or delivery available. $99.95 ($79.95 until July 5). Various locations, summerhillmarket.com
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West Side Beef
What started as a group of friends sharing a side of beef has evolved into a virtual butcher shop with a plethora of protein box options. There’s the Cottage Pack stuffed with a weekend’s worth of meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner; the belly-busting Full Time Smoker Box, a popular kit with every cut imaginable; and the King of the Grill Box, which is guaranteed to satisfy every carnivore craving packed with rib-eye or striploin steaks, bavette or flank steaks, Miami-style short ribs, dry-aged beef burgers, chicken breasts and legs, chicken burgers, pork back ribs, bone-in pork chops and hot Italian sausages. Delivery on Fridays. $260. Westsidebeef.ca
