The much maligned corner of Queen and Bathurst will get a bit of a facelift later this summer in the shape of Starbucks. The world's most loved and/or derided coffee chain is moving into the north east corner that was formerly a Mr. Sub.

Construction is already underway which means it won't be too long before two of the city's most ubiquitous chains - Pizza Pizza being the other one - share an intersection with the notorious Big Bop and The Meeting Place.

Grace Restaurant serves its first dinners tonight. The space on College formerly known as Xacutti has been idle for some time, but after a recent makeover at the hands of owner Lesle Gibson, Grace is ready to introduce the concept of modern farmhouse to Little Italy.

Stepping inside the restaurant for a preview last night, the first thing I notice are the two plush, white banquets on the right hand side of the room. Comfortably seating eight, these are definitely the spots to secure if dining with a larger group. Further inside, smaller tables dot the 60 seat dining room followed by an intimate outside space (pictured above) perfect for a summer's meal for two.

This Saturday I went to the Sip, Savour & Preview for Santé: Toronto International Wine Festival . As a son of wine parents I developed a taste and vocabulary for wine early on which was surprisingly impressive at parties: "This is... oaky. And... fleshy." So it's with some trepidation that I would be exposed to actual experts during the course of this sampling, which was was held at the castle of liquor that is the Summerhill LCBO.

Boiled, fried, scrambled or poached, there's no denying the egg is one of nature's perfect foods.

And yet, whipping up an omelette recently, I couldn't help but observe the runny consistency - to say nothing of the bland taste later.

According to Brent Preston, the owner and operator of The New Farm, most eggs come from hens that aren't fed or raised in the way nature intended.

"The taste varies with the season," he says, "because they eat different things at different times of the year. The biggest thing is, if they're eating green vegetation, the yolks are much darker yellow than what you'd get in a store. They hold together better and stand up in pan instead of spreading out. The taste is much more intense, and richer. There's a buttery texture in the mouth."

That's the egg I want. So why can't I (or any other Torontonian) find it?

Friday night brought the inaugural Brewers Plate, an event to showcase what a locally-sourced feast in southern Ontario, in April, looks like. As organizers said, "if you can pull off a local food event in April, you can do it in any month."

The Brewers Plate is the product of a collaboration between Green Enterprise Toronto (GET), Local Food Plus and Slow Food Toronto. This first annual feast was a celebration in fine style, with none of the pretension that sometimes accompanies local food events. With a star-studded cast of chefs and breweries, I arrived hungry and ready to sample the local fare.

The food offerings, from Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, La Palette, Veritas, Cowbell, the Gladstone and Rebel House, were all approachable, unforced efforts; I never got the sense that the chefs felt over-matched by April's limited bounty. Not to be left out, six breweries were also featured: Mill Street, Cameron's, Wellington, Church-Key, Steam Whistle and Black Oak.

With such culinary expertise working with excellent local products, my main question was, which dish would reign supreme?

It's that time of year again. Look up, look down, look all around and you'll be sure to find more discarded coffee cups than usual strewn upon our streets. I've had my gripes about the annual Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim to Win" contesting in the past, and every year I feel compelled to write about it for some reason or another. So here we are again.

While I did find the special camouflaged contest cups being sent to Afghanistan "in support of the troops" noteworthy (i.e. kind of ridiculous and embarrassing), it's actually a promotion that's being run concurrently by a competing coffee shop chain that takes the (coffee) cake this year.