Chef Mike Benninger
Scarlett Crescent L7L 5M2 Burlington, ON, Canada

I get it, every business is trying to make a buck during difficult times, but if I work at Best Buy, I am angry! If a grocery store can start selling TV’s, why can’t Best Buy sell bread and milk?

What a great idea, finally, a real move away from tipped employment and credits!! ...and then National Restaurant Association will open up its massive war-chest, hire an army of lobbyists, lawyers and spokesmen, whisper in every Republican's ear, and this bill will die on the vine, just like every other attempt to reform minimum wages and tip credits since the 1960's...

Sad, just sad...

Saturday night in with a Chef - Classic Wedge Salad with Thousand Island Dressing, Grilled Moroccan Spiced Leg of Australian Lamb with Roasted Root Vegetables. Paired with Creekside Estate Winery 2017 Laura’s Red. #whatchefsdo

Dinner tonight, Moroccan spiced leg of lamb and roasted veggies... If we have to stay in... #staysafe #whatchefsdo #glutenfree

Here's a little reading about beef, although their take on round steak is totally wrong! Cook it properly, with a sous vide or in a crockpot, with a bit of practice it makes great shredded beef for tacos, Sloppy Joes or just on a bun with BBQ sauce. Best of all, it's cheap and delicious too...

I love Alton Brown but he knows better. There will never be a good Holocaust joke...

I'm a middle-aged white guy and I've owned my own business for over 16 years. I do what I do now because I choose to, not because I have to, so I can't imagine being in her place. The option to leave a bad situation is a powerful tool, sadly, not everyone has it...

If you have a laptop or notebook that you want to donate, these guys will give your computer technology a second life...

Sushi Nachos at Jake's Grill & Oyster House for lunch, best thing on the menu!

I would describe my relationship with the hospitality industry these days as "conflicted" at best. Tighter margins, higher food and staff costs, COVID, and my age have made me re-assess how much longer I can be "Chef Mike". But I'm very lucky, I have 16 years of experience, a supportive wife, some economic resources, a very loyal clientele and the ability to cherry pick who I work with...yes, WITH, not FOR... The vast majority of hospitality workers don't have the options that I do, but be under no illusion, the world has changed and people will be looking very hard at hospitality as a career choice in the future...

Several of my corporate clients have used Kitchen24 in North Toronto, Steve and his team are awesome! The place is clean, organized, reasonably priced and a joy to cook in. If you are a budding "foodtrepreneur" I could not give a higher recommendation than Steve at Kitchen24.

I hate food delivery apps...yes, hate them... I hate how they crush restaurant margins, often reducing them to single digits, or break-even depending on the order. I hate how they have normalized the idea of "independent contractors" meaning no benefits, no holidays, no worker protection of any kind.... They have spent hundreds of millions to fight this rather than spend those same dollars on making the contractors lives better. Please remember this when the fight comes to Ontario...and it is coming here too...

I love a good braise, it is my favourite way to cook... There is something hearty, warm and satisfying about a slow roast in cool weather, my whole house smelling like my grandmother's did when I was a kid. A brisket for 6 hours at 275F, a hunk of pork shoulder in the slow cooker for the day, maybe a baking dish full of salty turkey thighs with crispy skin, add some garlic mash and roasted carrots and I'm a very happy guy!... Braising is not only super easy but allows you to use more inexpensive cuts and only 1 pan, so the clean up is super easy too. #whatchefsdo

I have moved away from cooking whole birds for the past 10 years or so, I just prefer cooking parts, especially adding extra dark meat. Occasionally we might cook a smaller butterflied turkey, but very rarely, no one really cares about that Norman Rockwell moment when you bring the whole bird to the table! If it were me, I would bet on smaller birds and lots of parts, I think the big birds will be a long forgotten afterthought...

Everyday I ask myself "why would anyone look at hospitality as a career anymore??" It's worse down south, but it's still dangerous here, most places here still have little or no health and benefit coverage, no sick time, and it's hard to social distance in even the biggest of kitchens. Hospitality used to hire "who was best" soon it could be "who is left..."

I know that this is much more of an American problem than a Canadian problem, but people please, just put on the damn mask and go about your day! This will all end eventually, and sooner if we all work together. #COVID19 #wearamask

Gee, I like craft beer and I do spend a lot of time at work on my computer for my business so... I'm lucky to have a house with unlimited internet, but not everyone does, and if I had to set up temporary office outside my home why not a brewery?

Wow...just wow... And hundreds, if not thousands more people will die or suffer life changing consequences due to the negligence and outright stupidity of Governor Ron DeSantis. Florida alone has more cases and deaths than all of Ontario, and it will only get worse due to this action...... #floridaisbonkers #BoycottFlorida #ontariostaycation

She's not loud, brash, sexy or blonde, but she's the queen of the modern day cookbook. Publishers may be bleeding red ink, but Ina Garten cookbooks still sell by the millions! Why you wonder? It's very simple... Every recipe works, every time you make it. I've used some of her recipes since I starting cooking professionally and not had one dud in 16 years. Her food is complex without being complicated, well balanced and almost never requires anything you can't buy at your local grocery store. They work, and they're worth buying...

Maybe it's just me, but this sounds like a shakedown! Thai Palace received a hand-delivered letter Friday from Antoine d'Ailly Law Office and it says the restaurant can settle the issue and avoid "the necessity of a formal process" by paying $20,000. I wonder what the Law Society of Ontario thinks of this?

We ate at Commander's Palace when we were in New Orleans; we even got to meet Chef Tory and get a kitchen tour! It was a great meal and an amazing experience. Good luck Chef Tory in Montana!!

While I admire the initiative, trying what they can to help bars and restaurants, the public will decide if this works or not. The LCBO is already expensive, and you know that bars and restaurants will be required to charge even more than that, it makes me wonder how big the appetite for this service will be over the longer term?

These guys do good work, please support them!

Sad for the staff, and their communities. Regrettably the Governor doesn't believe in science, downplaying the pandemic from the beginning. Texas was the last to close and the first to re-open making the pandemic last longer and cut deeper.

I don't think he's being deliberate snotty or condescending in his writing, but do you get the "wow they can really do this stuff all the way up in Canada..." vibe. Lines like "the unexpected need to warn grape pickers not to smoke marijuana near her beloved vines" and "Canadian gastronomy may be better known for poutine, gravy-drenched cheese fries, than for pinot noir..." make me wonder... And by the way Dan, I can get hundreds of BC wines, not only off my LCBO app, but dozens of wine clubs too.