Valentine's Day Dinners and Cooking Classes

There are so many Valentine’s Day related food events going on around town that my first post on the Valentine's food theme didn’t begin to cover it. Here’s a second list with even more Valentine’s prix-fixe dinners, cooking classes and other edible treats for sweethearts.

For starters, Dufflet (787 Queen West, 416-504-2870; 2638 Yonge, 416-484-9080 & 1917 Queen East, 416-699-4900) is baking up a heart-shaped storm of goodies for intimate at-home celebrations or sweet-toothed singles: the Valentine’s selection includes Strawberry Mousse Hearts, Chocolate Fudge Hearts, Valentine Pink Velvet Cakes, Chocolate Raspberry Heart Minis, Linzer Heart Cookies, heart-shaped butter cookies and truffle gift boxes.

Thursday, February 11

7:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Seafood Cooking Class (The Inspired Cook, 1378 Queen East, 416-461-8886). Bronwen Clark and Signe Langford offer an aphrodisiac introduction to seafood that covers picking and shucking four species of oysters, appropriate mignonettes (sauces), plus cooking with fresh scallops and clams. $85 pp+tax, which includes the hands-on session with recipes, wine, a 10%-off coupon for The Inspired Cook and a voucher for Rodney’s Oyster House.

Friday to Saturday, February 12 to 14

The entire Oliver & Bonacini restaurant family is featuring special Valentine’s Day menus. At Auberge du Pommier (4150 Yonge, 416-222-2220), chef Jason Bangerter is presenting a classic French conception beginning with St. Simon oyster with champagne mignonette. Next is a choice of Assiette de la Mer (seafood), Velouté de Potiron (pumpkin soup with duck and fois gras) or Fricadelle D’agneau (lamb), followed by a palate cleanser of Sorbet Auberge du Pommier (pomme verte et Calvados), then a choice of Sole à la Crème de Moules, Mer et Terre or Filet d’Élan Rôti and a dessert choice of Pavlova aux Fruits de la Passion or Fondue au Chocolat, with mignardises to finish. $100 pp+tax & tip, or $140 with wine pairing. It will be available February 12 to 14.

Click on the individual restaurant for the rest of the menus:

• Jump (18 Wellington West, 416-364-3400, February 13 & 14, four-course prix fixe at $65 pp+tax & tip or à la carte)
• Biff's Bistro (4 Front East, 416-860-0086, February 13 & 14, $65 pp+tax & tip)
• Canoe (66 Wellington West, 54th floor, 416-364-0054, February 13 & 14, $125 pp+tax & tip, $175 with wine pairings)
• O&B Café Grill (2901 Bayview Avenue, 416-590-1300, Oakville & Waterloo, February 12 to 14, à la carte menu)

Saturday to Monday, February 13 to 15

Valentine’s Prix Fixe at Le Select Bistro (432 Wellington West, 416-596-6405, ext. 78) Chef Albert Ponzo is offering a choice of six starters (Mussel & saffron chowder, Salad of assorted greens, Belgian endives with walnuts & Bénédictin, Ballotine of Cornish hen with foie gras on lentils, Gravlax with Avruga caviar or Terrine en croûte with onion jam), with seven mains (Striped bass à la plancha, Seared scallops with braised leeks, Braised beef shortrib on barley risotto, Braised Ontario lamb neck Navarin with a red wine jus, Poulet Basquaise, Seared Alberta beef filet or Ragoût of ceps and seitan) and seven possible desserts (Baba au rhum, Île flottante, Caramelized lemon tart, Chocolate cake, Crème brûlée, Fresh fruit salad or sorbets & ice creams). $55 pp+tax & tip. $25 deposit pp required. For $10 extra, you can also add half a dozen “Fines de Clair” oysters or Terrine de foie gras frais. Champagne and Crémant Rosé are of course available to be ordered.

Sunday, February 14

10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Year of the Tiger Dim Sum Brunch Cooking Class (Nella Cucina, 876 Bathurst, 416-922-9055). Since Valentine’s Day happens to fall on lunar New Year’s Day, chef Vanessa Yeung of Aphrodite Cooks and her mom Millie demonstrate how to wrap and fold dim sum for a Year of the Tiger brunch. The menu includes vegetarian Soi Gau “Water Dumplings”, stuffed eggplant with shrimp, steamed beef meatballs with watercress, mini egg custard tarts and a special Year of the Tiger Dumpling with a spicy Golden Sauce (pictured)

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (brunch) and 5: 30 onwards (dinner) Valentine’s Day at Gilead (4 Gilead Place, 647-288-0680) Chef Jamie Kennedy is offering his weekly brunch menu along with special items, including a Sparkling Cherry Valentines Cocktail and a Chocolate fondue with house-made marshmallows, pound cake, brownie, preserved plums and toasted almonds. Also, mini cupcakes will be available on the 13th and 14th.

6:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Valentine's Day Couples Cooking Class (Nella Cucina, 876 Bathurst, 416-922-9055). Small groups work with Vanessa Yeung of Aphrodite Cooks to prepare a five-course "Dinner Under a Tuscan Moon"; then they share the romantic meal in the adjacent dining room. $300+tax per couple

7:30 to 9 p.m.: Quebec Cheese and Ontario Wine Tasting (Thompson Landry Gallery in the Distillery District) A Taste of Quebec (Distillery District, 416-364-5020) presents a tasting celebration featuring cheese fondue, baked cheese and Swiss-style raclette along with Quebec charcuterie and Ontario wines. $30 pp+tax (limited to 20 people). The shop also has take-home boxes of artisanal cheeses, jellies, pickles and other treats.

8 p.m. Valentine's Cabaret Dinner at The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen West, 416-531-5042) The Drake is offering a range of Valentine's activities, including chef Anthony Rose's three-course prix fixe meal, to be accompanied by live performances from Valery Gore and Jadea Kelly. The menu includes a choice of three first-course items (Salted fois gras with prune jam toast & bitter greens, White bean, black truffle & red wine soup or Four oysters with apple cider mignonette) and a main course of either Lobster Thermidor with mustard, cream, cognac & wild mushrooms or Cumbrae's grilled veal with apple & bacon tart & wilted greens, plus a dessert of either Passion fruit brulée tart with white chocolate & macadamia nut ice cream or Dark chocolate trifle with whiskey, caramel bananas & whipped cream. $58 pp+tax & tip. For an additional $30, add three glasses of wine.

And if you’re so thoroughly jaded that nothing here whets your Valentine’s appetite, head on down to Mildred’s Temple Kitchen (85 Hanna Avenue, 416-588-5695) where they’re encouraging guests to engage in sex in the washrooms from February 12 to 14. Okay, everybody has already reported on that, but Mildred’s is also offering (if you prearrange it) a minstrel to sing at your table ($25 per ballad), a parchment message in a bottle delivered to the table ($15) or a “Love Hamper” ($55) filled with sweets, their cookbook and some furry handcuffs.