Tamaki and DeForge Guide You Around the Butter Tarts of Toronto, Just in Time for TCAF
The butter tart is one of Canada's great cultural contribtutions to the world. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) also fits squarely in that category. So it's apt that these two juggernauts of the North have come together this weekend --- the very weekend of TCAF --- in the form of a handy map of Toronto's finest butter tarts created by two of TCAF's critically acclaimed guests; Super Mutant Magic Academy author Jillian Tamaki, and Ant Colony author Michael DeForge. If you're hitting up the festival this weekend, you may want to set aside a little time for a butter tart pilgrimage.
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival takes place at the Toronto Reference Library this Saturday and Sunday, and it's completely free to attend. Featured guests include Charles Burns, Lynda Barry, Aya Kanno, Dustin Harbin, Noelle Stevenson, Chunk Zambroni, and Scott McCloud, and in addition to two days of programming at the library, Saturday sees a special day of free programming for kids at St Paul's Church on Bloor, with star guests Gurihiru, Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, and Kean Soo.
But back to the butter tarts; Tamaki and DeForge have clearly done a lot of research into these divinely buttery, syrupy-sugary, raisin-smuggling flaky pastry cups, not only pinpointing where the tarts can be found, but also offering star ratings. As a resident of Toronto, I can personally vouch for several of their findings, but in the interests of journalistic integrity I will conduct my own investigations to affirm the rest. (I note Bakerbots only gets one star for its butter tarts, so you should have the ice cream sandwich there instead.)
If you visit instagram.com/tartquest, you can re-live Tamaki and DeForge's butter tart adventures in photographic form, at which point you will want to eat some tarts. So it's a good thing you have this map.
You can download a PDF of the butter tart map right here, and find out more about the Toronto Comic Arts Festival at the official site.