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Food & Drink

Pedestrian Sunday snackin’

If you’re planning on joining the hipster horde at this weekend’s Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market – this month’s theme: Water! Streams of Consciousness – be sure to pack an umbrella as well as an appetite.

Hard to believe that Toronto’s most vital market used to be locked up tighter than a drum on Sundays, but its now the nabe’s busiest day of the week. It gets even crazier when cars are banned from the streets on the last Sunday of the month and replaced with wall-to-wall day-trippers, performance artists, street musicians, Greenpeace canvassers, and mimes. What better opportunity to strap on the feedbag?

Streets Are For People organizer Shamez Amlani is also the owner of La Palette (256 Augusta, at College, 416-929-4900), that eccentric French bistro with the K-car out front that’s been turned into planter. He’ll be offering brunch on the patio, as will Supermarket (268 Augusta, at College, 416-840-0501), the home of the $15 four-course pan-Asian prix fixe.

A few doors down, Urban Herbivore (64 Oxford, at Augusta, 416-927-1231) caters to the vegan set with health conscious salads ‘n’ sandwiches, while across the street, Wanda’s Pie In The Sky (287 Augusta, at Oxford, 416-236-7585) does dessert and Big Fat Burrito (285 Augusta, at Oxford, 416-913-7487) gets spicy with way-south of the border wraps.

The alt-rock crowd will be knocking back the suds on the picnic tables out front of ramshackle Ronnie’s Local 069 (69 Nassau, at Augusta, 416-340-1110) while headbangers will mosh while noshing on Linda Dawson’s awesome – if noisy – Black Metal Brunch at Graffiti’s (170 Baldwin, at Kensington, 416-506-6699).

Anyone looking to sober up should check out I Deal Coffee (84 Nassau, at Denison, 416-364-7700) and Moonbean (30 St Andrew, at Kensington, 416-595-0327) for industrial-strength espresso.

Once a predominantly Portuguese, Kensington now has a considerable Latino presence. Jumbo Empanada (245 Augusta, at Baldwin, 416-977-0056) and El Gordo (214 Augusta, at Baldwin, 416-205-9981) are both renown for their fiery South American turnovers, while grocers Emporium Latino (243 Augusta, at Baldwin, 416-351-9646), Perola (247 Augusta, at Baldwin, 416-593-9728) and El Buen Precio (227 Augusta, at Baldwin, 416-597-8716) all have kitchens turning out terrific takeaway tacos, tamales and pupusas out back.

And don’t miss La Tortilleria (68 Wales, at Leonard, 416-546-5516) over by the Toronto Western smokestack for fresh organic blue corn tortillas sold by the kilo.

For a taste of old Kensington, make a beeline for Patty King (187 Baldwin, at Kensington, 416-977-3191) and its old school Caribbean snacks and pastries, before traipsing over to the Last Temptation (12 Kensington, at Dundas W, 416-599-2551) for a Red Stripe or six and Amadeu’s (184 Augusta, at Denison Square, 416-591-1245) for their amazing grilled sardines. [rssbreak]

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