Spring has arrived in Toronto and along with the birds and the bees, food events are multiplying at a ferocious rate. While only the strong will survive, this year's brood is looking especially strong, offering plenty of recreational eating opportunities in the form of festivals, street markets and charity galas.

Here are my picks for the top spring food events in Toronto for 2015.

See also:The top 10 beer events in Toronto for spring 2015

Toronto Dumpling and Sake Fest
Nine chefs will compete for the Golden Chopsticks by creating original specialty dumplings at this culinary competition taking place at Propeller Coffee (50 Wade Ave.) on Thursday, April 9 from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Tickets are $55, and include a sample from chef and sake tastings. Participating chefs include Jesse Grasso (The Black Hoof), Noah Goldberg (Peter Pan Bistro) and Kazuhiro Kawamoto (Kingyo Izakaya) to name just a few.

The Toronto Food & Drink Market
Taking place from April 10 to 12 at The Direct Energy Centre, this show devoted to eating, drinking, shopping and learning is advertising master classes, a farmers market and a food truck alley featuring local favourites like Buster's Sea Cove, The Food Dudes, and Fidel Gastro. Single day admission is $12 online or $15 at the door, sampling tickets will be sold 20 at a time for $1 each.

Songkran
Celebrate the Thai New Year with Songkran festivals hosted by Toronto's top Thai restaurants. Pai (18 Duncan St.) hosts a northern Thai food market and water fight on Sunday, April 12th, where Chef Nuit will create special dishes using rare imported ingredients. Cost of entry is $55 and includes four food tickets and a water gun. Nana (785 Queen St. West) also celebrates with a water fight and AYCE menu over four sessions on the same day and tickets are $40.

The Betrayer's Banquet
This theatrical dining event takes place on Friday, April 17 at an undisclosed location. Presented by the Classical Theatre Project and Original Content London, a banquet table will be set with exquisite dishes at one end, unpalatable dishes at the other, and a spectrum of dishes in between. Tickets are $190.

Washoku Matsuri
The 10th annual Washoku Matsuri Japanese Food Festival organized by the Japanese Restaurant Association of Canada takes place Monday, April the 20th at Kobayashi Hall at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (6 Garamond Ct.). The evening kicks off with demos and apps at 5:30pm followed by dinner. Tickets are $180 including signature dishes from a top calibre line up of restaurants including Cafe Michi, Sushi Kaji and Hiro Sushi.

2015 Almanac Dinner
Six Toronto chefs pair up with six local farmers and six Ontario beverage producers for this collaborative dinner presented by Pass The Table and Provisions. Participating chefs are Robbie Hojilla (The Harbord Room), Basilio Pesce (Porzia), Steve Gonzalez (Valdez), Scott Vivian (Beast), Kevin Castonguay (Provisions), Nate Middleton (Home of the Brave). Ticket are $110 including food, drink and a charitable donation to The Stop Community Food Centre.

Kampai Toronto
The Sake Institute of Ontario hosts this celebration of sake on Thursday, May 28 at the historic fermenting cellar in the Distillery District. Tickets ($70 early bird) go on sale April 3 for this tasting event that promises 120 top sakes from Japan and North America plus international foods from 11 Toronto restaurants like Zakkushi, Kingyo Izakaya, and Guu.

Northern BBQ
The next food festival from Spotlight City Events (the same folks behind Yum Cha and Curryfest) is on Saturday, May 30. Challenging the status quo of your typical rotary club ribfest, this al fresco event will explore barbecue culture influenced by the USA and beyond. Tickets go on sale soon and will cost $10 covering admission.

Burger Brawl
This series of competitive cookoffs kicks off on Wednesday, April 15 at The Good Son (1096 Queen St. West). Doors open at 11pm for the midnight showdown that will see kitchens create the ultimate burger in a preliminary brawl followed by battle between two Toronto chefs. This first fight bills The Good Son vs. Lisa Marie, followed by a face off between Vittorio Colacitti and Matt Basile. Admission is $15.

Toronto Taste
This culinary fundraiser in support of Second Harvest food rescue programs takes place Sunday, June 7 from 6pm lakeside at Corus Quay. Tickets priced at $250 (tax receipts issued for $125) include food and drink created by 60 of Toronto's top chefs and beverage purveyors.

What did I miss? Add your most anticipated spring food event in the comments.

Photo for Toronto Taste 2014

The end of the line for Target stores in Toronto has now come into focus. As the retail giant continues to clear out its remaining Canadian inventory, it appears poised to accelerate its shutdown strategy. The original plan called for the company to windup local operations in May, but the new timeline moves that up to mid-April.

Having been in a Target store recently, I'm not sure that consumers will be missing much. The stock has already been heavily depleted after liquidation efforts began back in early February. A number of the 133 stores in the country have also already shut down in advance of the big fade.

What exactly will happen to the massive Toronto retail spaces when Target packs up is not yet known. While Goodlife Fitness has shown interest, analysts say that it is more likely that Walmart and Loblaws will duke it out for the vacant locations. Stay tuned.

Famous Laffa is expanding, and this newest outpost is the first non-Kosher franchised location to open. Fans of the original will find all their favourites, though I'll caution that they're taking some liberties with the menus and the results aren't as consistent as at the original.

Read my review of Famous Laffa (Yonge St.) in the restaurants section.

Toronto Fashion Week returned for another season last week, bringing hordes of fashion insiders to David Pecaut Square to view homegrown designers' collections. It was chillier than sun-starved Torontonians would have liked - but that just made for a great excuse to break out some showstopping coats and dramatic layers.

Check out all the looks in our style section.

Last week, World MasterCard Fashion Week (WMCFW for short) took over David Pecaut Square for its fall/winter 2015 shows. The week-long spectacle showcased hundreds of men's and women's fashion by Canadian and international designers alike. Atelier Wonder and Hayley Elsaesser were inspired by subcultures; Mikhael Kale and Vawk took cues from the past; and Pink Tartan teemed with military vibes.

Here are my picks for the top looks from the latest installment of Toronto Fashion Week.

Mikhael Kale
In a collection inspired by Giorgio Moroder's feature in a Daft Punk song, Mikhael Kale sent a coat that's extra long, oversized, shiny, furry, and embellished down the runway. It may be over-the-top, but the colours and textures work so well together you forget how outrageous it is.

Helder Diego
Helder Aguiar and Diego Fuchs have a very distinct aesthetic - clean, sharp, and (more or less) colourless. Half of this little black dress is made with metallic pleats and finished off with a solid belt - proof that minimalism can be impactful though simple.

3.PARADIS
Emeric Tchatchoua and Raymond Cheung of 3.PARADIS repped men's street fashion during WMCFW with their off-kilter - yet wearable - designs. The duo married minimal and avant-garde flawlessly in this all-black look, mixing textures and shapes in place of colour.

Malorie Urbanovitch
This look has all the makings of a strange outfit: orange suede, dated oversized buttons, mismatched earrings and something that can double as a throw. However, Edmonton-based Malorie Urbanovitch made it work by playing with proportion and just the right amount of colour.

Mikael D
Mikael D finished the week off with two dozen showstopping dresses, including a handful of enormous ball gowns. However, the look that really caught my eye was a body-hugging black number with strategically-placed cutouts - a design that would seem done to death save for the tattoo-like illusion beading floating on the model's skin.

Melissa Nepton
Montreal designer Melissa Nepton is the queen of drapery; her pieces fold and flow like liquid. In this all-black look, the in-your-face coat is the main attraction, but the tailored wool pants deserve just as much credit.

Narces
Narces opened with a new take on the '60s shift. Though the rest of the collection looked nothing like it, this dress stood out with its futuristic metallics and peeks of sheer.

Mackage
Leave it to Mackage to make leather culottes look practical!

Pink Tartan
Turtleneck maxis and furry sleeves are usually a no-no, but I'd definitely wear this coat/dress situation from Pink Tartan. It looks cozy.

Sid Neigum
Sid Neigum never ceases to amaze with his architectural garments. This time around, he used subtly pleated white fabric to form a gawk-worthy origami dress.

Did I miss your favourite? Let me know in the comments.

Photos courtesy World MasterCard Fashion Week.

Evaluated on the numbers alone, Earth Hour 2015 failed to register much of a mark in Toronto. Shortly after the power down wrapped up, Toronto Hydro tweeted that energy consumption dipped by about 3.5 per cent between 8:30pm and 9:30pm on Saturday, which is a reduction of 103 megawatts.

That's about half of what the city managed last year (6 per cent), and less than a quarter of the 15 per cent drop achieved back in 2009 (which may have had some help from the weather). On the bright side, a 3.5 per cent drop is still the equivalent of taking 42,000 homes of the grid during the period in question.

Intriguingly, York Region bucked the trend to the south and managed better numbers than last year, up to 6 per cent from 4.8 in 2014. That's encouraging, at least. Earth Hour has never really been about the number achieved so much as the awareness the event fosters, so perhaps we're still paying attention after all.

Top photo show the Toronto skyline during Earth Hour 2015, while the second one shows the same view during a typical weekday - both by Empty Quarter in the blogTO Flickr pool.

The Globe and Mail reports that the ROM is in big trouble. The museum is struggling to collect funds promised in aid of their ambitious renovations - including the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal - by mega donors, following an eight month investigation by the paper.

The museum's charitable donations are handled privately by the museum, and, according to the Globe, Ontario's Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport is "concerned."

Wings and galleries have been named after donors who have been slow to pay their huge pledges (we're talking in the millions), meaning the ROM has missed loan payments and may be setting a new record in Canada for philanthropy-gone wrong. Apparently even Michael Lee-Chin himself has been slow to pay up, blaming recent global economic hardships. In the meantime, the province is covering the ROM's multi-million dollar debts that their charity drive, and increased attendance post renos, were meant to fund.

Attendance to the ROM has actually dropped significantly since 2011 - and one reason might be a huge drop in the number of curators the museum employs to book crowd drawing exhibits.

The situation looks even more dire when you compare the AGO's recent successes after similarly significant architectural renos. Could it be that the ROM is now a tourist draw from the outside only?

Read the full report here.

The Post Market, a craft popup held at The Great Hall this Sunday, brought a wide range of vintage and handmade items in front of craft enthusasts and antique hounds. Local artisans and collectors brought contemporary furniture, jewelry, homeware and body care items - all carefully sourced or handmade in studios from Leslieville to West Queen West, Richmond Hill and Pickering.

Check out this photo gallery of my favourite 20 items from The Post Market.

The best Middle Eastern restaurants in Toronto represent the regionally specific (and yet often overlapping) cuisines from countries like Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Israel. These centuries old culinary traditions have seen a recent resurgence in the GTA - making vibrant mezze, fresh-baked manakeesh and succulent kebabs more prevalent than ever.

Here are the best Middle Eastern restaurants in Toronto.

See also:

The best Persian restaurants in Toronto
The top 10 manakeesh in Toronto

Ever since Toronto and Austin joined forces for a "Music City" alliance, not much has happened except some people getting free trips down to Texas for SXSW, and NXNE's Mike Tanner leaving his post to become Toronto's first music sector development officer. This could be an advantage, though - there's still plenty of time for the public to have a say in and about the potential of the new music office.

Whether you're in the camp of thinking Torontoisthebest or the city ofno fun, if you're even loosely embedded in the city's music scene you've likely been curious about what all this means. April 25th's Toronto Music City Town Hall Meeting will bring one of the first real chance the public will have to meet with the city not only to hear more, but to help shape the fledgling initiative.

Back in January, Wavelength Fest's 2015 Toronto Music Moment panel at Hashtag with Mike Tanner, NXNE's Cheryl Maciver, Harbourfront's Sergio Elmir, author Dalton Higgins, moderator Jonathan Bunce (Wavelength), and, full disclosure, me, sought to answer: "How can the City of Toronto and its new Music Office better serve the independent music community (and vice versa)?" To the surprise of some (me), interest was so high that the event was standing room only.

You can listen to the panel here - what emerged for the most part were more questions. What are the expectations of the Toronto's music community for "Music City"? And, more abstractly - what is Toronto music?

The aim of this first meeting, taking place at Dundas West venue The Garrison rather than an intimidating florescent-lit room at City Hall itself, will be an open floor discussion loosely centered around these topics. Tanner and other city representatives will be on hand to field questions and participate, and programmers expect a sea of notable Toronto faces from all diverse facets of the community (if Joe isn't there, I'll be running through the 6 with my woes forever).

The Toronto Music City Town Hall Meeting is Saturday, April 25, at 2pm at The Garrison. Shaun Bowring, owner of The Garrison (and moderator of last year's NXNE Sucks panel), will moderate. Entrance is free.

The panel will be streamed and rebroadcast on local underground radio station TRP for those who cannot attend.

At this time we cannot confirm Drake's attendance of the music town hall meeting.

Photo: Matt Forsythe

There were no closures on DineSafe this week, but Anoush narrowly escaped a red card with a total of nine infractions. Ali Baba's on Yonge St. fared a little better with just one infraction, though both shawarma shops got the same conditional pass.

Here's the rest of this week's results on DineSafe.

Cafe Bernate (1024 Queen St. West)
Inspected on: March 23, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 2 (Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F) or colder.

Burger Shoppe Quality Meats (210 Ossington Ave.)
Inspected on: March 23, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 2, Significant: 1)
Crucial infractions include: N/A

Anoush (250 Dundas St. West)
Inspected on: March 24, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 8 (Minor: 2, Significant: 5, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous foods at 60C (140F) or hotter.

Bairrada Churrasqueira Grill (1000 College St.)
Inspected on: March 25, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 4 (Significant: 3, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F) or colder.

Empire Espresso (668 College St.)
Inspected on: March 25, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 1, Crucial:2)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated. Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F) or colder.

Kensington's (79 Kensington Ave.)
Inspected on: March 25, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 2 (Significant: 2)
Crucial infractions include: N/A

Ali Baba's (357 Yonge St.)
Inspected on: March 26, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 1 (Significant: 1)
Crucial infractions include: N/A

Happy Sushi (2143 Danforth Ave.)
Inspected on: March 27, 2015
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 1 (Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated

Note: The above businesses each received infractions from DineSafe as originally reported on the DineSafe site. This does not imply that any of these businesses have not subsequently corrected the issue and received a passing grade by DineSafe inspectors. For the latest status for each of the mentioned businesses, including details on any subsequent inspections, please be sure to check the DineSafe site.

World MasterCard Fashion Week fall/winter 2015 was chock-full of great fashion shows. Hundreds of looks by Canadian and international designers swept and sashayed down the runway, many of which were stunning, striking and sophisticated. But in life, the highs come alongside the lows. Some ensembles, though unrepresentative of their full collections, veered in unsightly directions; tacky, excessive, and downright confusing are just some of the adjectives that come to mind.

Here are my picks for the 10 worst looks from Toronto Fashion Week..

Farley Chatto (top photo)
Farley Chatto's collection teemed with extravagant fur garments, but this coat took the cake for the most over-the-top. I tried to write a fitting caption, but I don't know how to spell out gorilla sounds.

Hayley Elsaesser
I'm a big fan of Hayley Elsaesser's funky prints and outrageous mismatching, but the neckpiece in this look seemed too much like an afterthought to appreciate.

Hilary Macmillan
I'm not going to lie - I'd snatch up each piece in this Hilary Macmillan look without hesitation (and I'd probably wear them all together, too). I think it was the missing blouse that killed it for me.

Kania
Knee-high boots do not compensate for a lack of pants. Large collars do not make this sweatshirt a dress.

Lole
Lole may be more activewear than fashion, but I've never seen an active human in a getup like this before.

Mikhael Kale
I have a love/hate relationship with this look by Mikhael Kale. Aesthetically, the coat is badass; it would make an excellent addition to my colourless wardrobe. But, the holes are terribly impractical for Canadian weather (not to mention a nightmare for all my trypophobic friends), so I'd never even get to wear it.

The Wild North
Using fragments of a dead animal as lingerie is probably what got The Wild North in a kerfuffle with a fur protestor last Friday.

Pink Tartan
One or two elements in this Pink Tartan look could've used a good shrinking. I'm an advocate for everything oversized, but this is just too much.

Tatsuaki
This taffeta number by Tatsuaki's Dan Liu looks as if it was meant to be a peplum top, but he decided to add some lace at the bottom and call it a dress.

Farley Chatto
Finally, we return to Farley Chatto's collection for a last bit of horror and confusion. Can somebody please explain what's going on here?

Photos courtesy George Pimentel / WMCFW.

Toronto is set to join the 2030 club, a group of cities across North America that aim to drastically reduce their emissions over the next 15 years. The initiative is the result of public-private collaboration that includes founding sponsors Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC), the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), and Enbridge Gas.

While the initiative doesn't cover the whole city, the so-called 2030 District in Toronto spans from Dupont St. to Lake Ontario, and the Don Valley to Bathurst St. It's all very ambitious -- and exciting depending on how one cares to regulate his skepticism.

The advisory board sounds very promising (representatives come from Brookfield Properties, Avison Young, Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Ryerson University, and the city of Toronto), but the initial plan is short of specifics.

According to a press release, the initiative aims "to leverage existing local programs, increase information sharing, promote district-wide benchmarking, create economies of scale and build performance data." These are all important things, but it sounds like it will take a while before District 2030 has any real clout.

Nevertheless, bold goals like this one are crucial should we ever hope to get a handle on climate change. What do you think? Will Toronto get behind its 2030 District?

The Canadian debut of YouTube FanFest is headed for Toronto, and I don't know if Jenna Marbles will be bringing her dogs, or if they'll be staying in the hotel, or if you can get their pawtographs - details are obviously lacking in regard to the new Toronto festival.

What we do know is on Saturday, May 2nd Yonge-Dundas Square will host the free showcase featuring over one dozen YouTube stars - those talented entertainers who make their living from the playlists you put on to laugh, make repetitive tasks bearable, avoid thinking, and keep the cat from feeling lonely when you leave the house.

Also on the bill for the Toronto festival are Bethany Mota, Kurt Hugo Schneider, Harley Morenstein and Epic Meal Time, IISuperwomanII, LaurDIY, David Choi, Michael Stevens of Vsauce, Veritasium, Kina Grannis, Macy Kate, JusReign, Daniela Andrade, Mike Tompkins, and Madilyn Bailey.

Each star has over one million subscribers, but can they bring their pixelated sparkle to a live, outdoor stage and the three hour long red carpet extravaganza that is somehow a thing? Will there be tiny dogs? Will someone be live streaming it so you can continue life as a shut in? It's hard to say.

Why doesn't your YouTube comedy channel have over one million subscribers? Let us know in the comments.

Toronto may have an (over) abundance of Neapolitan pizza places, a rising faction of Roman-style pizzerias, and a few New York-influenced pizza joints, but the Detroit pie is something that to my knowledge we haven't seen much of around these parts (we're still struggling in the Chicago department as well).

That's set to change this spring when Descendant Pizza opens in the former location of the Dinesafe-plaguedAmaya Express in Leslieville. What exactly is Detroit-style pizza? The defining characteristic is its square shape, which comes from the semi-deep dish baking pan in which it;s cooked. The idea is to give the crust an almost fried flavour by generously oiling the pan prior to baking.

Detroit-style pizza also tends to feature marinara sauce applied on top of the pie after its removal from the oven. Given this city's obsession with pizza, you can expect that a lot of people with be curious to try the new restaurant, which is currently undergoing the final phase of renovations. Look for a May opening date.

Honest Ed's is planning a repeat of its wildly successful sign sale next month. On Saturday April 11, starting at 8:00 a.m., the store will be selling off more of its famous hand-painted signs.

If last year's event is any guide, there will be massive demand for the cards, which advertise sales on everything from silk underwear to table salt. Thousands of people lined up around the block in March 2014 for a chance to snag one of several thousand signs, surprising staff. General Manager Russell Lazar said he was taking signs off the shop floor to meet demand.

Prices ranged from $1-100 and shoppers were limited to a maximum of three purchases. All proceeds went to Victim Services Toronto.

Every one of the discount store's famous signs is created by a pair of in-house painters, Wayne Reuben and Doug Kerr. Between them they produce 70 to 80 signs every day, all of them in the store's own font, called "Slash."

This year Lazar estimates there will be between 6 and 7,000 signs and in-house flyers up for grabs, significantly more than last year's 4,000. Several "decades old" signs will be available for $80-100, but most will be priced between $5 and $25, with a portion of the profit going to charity.

Lazar said he was reluctant to part with the older signs last year.

"You fall in love with them. You don't want to release them."

Honest Ed's is due to close in December 2016 to make way for a housing and retail development.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Andrew Williamson/blogTO.

One of Toronto's oldest restaurants has been given a major makeover from top to bottom. Gone, too, is the uninspiring menu of the past, replaced instead with an inventive nose-to-tail program from Feasting Room chef Noah Goldberg. The menu will change with the seasons - but a few standbys, like rarebit with worcestershire pearls and bone marrow pizza, will be staying put.

Read my profile of Peter Pan Bistro in the restaurant section.

According to a new global ranking, Toronto is the 47th most congested city in the world. Is that better or worse than you'd imagine when you're stuck on the Gardiner Expressway? For what it's worth, that ranking puts us 8th in North America and 2nd in Canada, trailing cities like Los Angeles, Vancouver, San Francisco, New York and Seattle.

The report comes from GPS manufacturer TomTom, which ranks 218 cities in its fifth annual Traffic Index. It will come as little consolation to those who suffer through a highway commute every day in Toronto, but there are cities that have it far worse than us when it comes to congestion.

A US city doesn't make the list until the 10th spot (Los Angeles). The worst cities for congestion are Istanbul, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro. Istanbul was given a ranking of 58 per cent congestion while Toronto comes in at 31 per cent.

For more on the criteria and ranking, check the main index here.

Photo by Floydian in the Wikimedia Commons

Need ideas on how to wear that amazing jacket you just picked up? Maybe you're trying to figure out how to work the minimalism trend, or figure out a hot date outfit, and need some inspiration on what to grab from your closet - or the mall. Blynk, an app developed in Toronto, aims to make it simple for fashion lovers to nail the style they want.

In the iOS and Android app, outfit photos appear along with an algorithm-generated bank of shoppable items that can help you replicate the look; users can swipe left or right, Tinder-style, to save the ones they like. "We see on average 125 swipes per session on average, with some people swiping over 30,000 outfits," says founder Jaclyn Ling. (All told, Blynk receives over 5 million swipes a month.)

Eventually, the app begins tailoring the looks it shows you to your preferences, using an algorithm that measures everything from the looks you're swiping, any linked-up social profiles, other users with similar likes, and features and brands in the products you like. Ling says the app's focus is more about letting users find and collect inspiration than encouraging them to shop.

"It's a great resource for people to wake up in the morning, take a quick skim through your looks in your Blynk profile, and then think about how to recreate it with the clothes in your own closet. (Also), we send recommendations that people may not have thought of trying, but still suits their style. So users of Blynk love to use it before they go shopping to see what they should buy next."

Since their launch last summer, the app has evolved to allow users to build up "style profiles", creating and saving categorized albums full of looks to create a personal inspiration resource.

"For example, in my own personal profile, you'll see I have albums for 'office,' leather,' 'all black outfits,' 'looks I have' and 'looks I want next' -- totally suited to my fashion style and my lifestyle." If you're looking for something specific, you can search with combinations of keywords - say, "summer + office" or "casual + minimalistic" - to find exactly what you're looking for.

What's next? Expect Blynk to get even more personalized. "We aim to be able to serve recommendations for any style type, for any budget, an geographical location, any occasion and even any brand," she says. "One day, you'll be able to ask Blynk for a recommendation for 'a minimalistic outfit, for a young professional in Toronto, for a date night'."

Want to learn more about Blynk and other Toronto Tech companies? Join Blynk on April 2nd at the TechToronto Meetup where you enjoy free food, drink, hear five tech companies present about the challenges they overcome and meet other people interested in startups. Find out more here.

Photo via Blynk.

Toronto's production slate couldn't be more packed this spring and summer. Some of the most anticipated projects include Heroes Reborn, a revival of Tim Kring's cult NBC show; Suicide Squad, a DC Comics adaptation that is so secret it's operating under the moniker Bravo 14; and Damien, the small screen continuation of The Omen, which follows The Antichrist into his early adulthood.

Here's a rundown of productions filming in Toronto this spring and summer.

Heroes Reborn
Shooting: April 6 to September 18
Starring: Jack Coleman, Masi Oka
Plot: A 13-episode miniseries reviving the cult NBC series that ran from 2006-2010. Jack Coleman and Masi Oka reprise their roles as Noah Bennet and Hiro Nakamura, as a new group of ordinary people discover they have extraordinary abilities.

Reign Season 2
Shooting: Now until April 15
Starring: Adelaide Kane
Plot: This historical teen drama, focusing on the early years of Mary, Queen of Scots, is filming the last few episodes of its second season airing now on The CW.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
Shooting: May 11 to June 6
Starring: Nia Vardolos, John Corbett
Plot: Ryerson alum Nia Vardalos returns with a sequel to the movie that put her on Hollywood's radar back in 2002. This time, Toula and Ian are dealing with parenthood, as another Portokalos family wedding promises to be bigger than the last. Unfortunately, a family secret promises to put a major damper on the festivities.

Cheerleader Death Squad (Pilot)
Shooting: Now until April 8
Key People: Marc Cherry, Mark Waters
Plot: The creator of Desperate Housewives (Cherry) and the director of Mean Girls (Waters) are shooting a pilot for The CW about three cheerleaders recruited by a disgraced former CIA agent turned teacher who starts using them as his spies in an effort to earn his way back into the agency.

The Girlfriend Experience
Shooting: Now until June 5
Starring: Riley Keough
Plot: A 13-episode anthology series inspired by the 2009 Steven Soderbergh movie of the same name that starred porn star-turned-actress Sasha Grey as a high-end call girl who specializes in posing as her clients' girlfriend. This time Elvis Presley's grandchild, Riley Keough, replaces Grey as a new call girl in the lead role.

Suicide Squad (aka Bravo 14)
Shooting: April 15 to Aug 30
Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman
Plot: Various DC Comics super villains, including Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang and Enchantress, are recruited to carry out covert ops for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences. However, failure to comply means the bomb implanted in each one of their heads goes off.

Damien
Shooting: Now until June 23
Starring: Bradley James
Plot: King Arthur in the Merlin BBC series leads this Lifetime drama that follows the creepy kid from The Omen as an adult when he must realize and confront his destiny as The Antichrist.

Dark Matter
Shooting: Now until May 15
Starring: Melissa O'Neil
Plot: Based on the Dark Horse comic book of the same name and starring Canadian Idol season 3 winner Melissa O'Neil, this Syfy series follows six people who wake up in a spacecraft without their memories before landing on a mining colony. They meet the locals who tell them of a group of mercenaries being sent to kill the colonists and soon they discover that they are those mercenaries.

Minority Report (Pilot)
Shooting: Now until April 30
Starring: Meagan Good, Wilmer Valderrama
Plot: Set ten years after the Tom Cruise film on which it is based, this TV series follows a male "precog" who can psychically predict murders before they happen and teams with a female detective to find a purpose for his gift.

Schitt's Creek Season 2
Shooting: April 13 to June 30
Starring: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara
Plot: Renewed for a second season before it even aired on CBC, we assume season two chronicles the continued misadventures of the riches-to-rags Rose family as they begin to get used to life in the backwater town patriarch Johnny Rose (Levy) once bought as a joke.

11/22/63
Shooting: May 25 to "To be Confirmed"
Starring: James Franco
Plot: A miniseries based on Stephen King's novel of the same name produced by J.J. Abrams. Franco plays Jake Epping, an english teacher who goes back in time to stop the assassination of J.F.K., only to find that his success leads to a nuclear apocalypse in present day. He goes back again to stop himself, but radiation poisoning means it's a race against time.

Defiance Season 3
Shooting: Now until June 11
Starring: Grant Bowler, Julie Benz
Plot: In 2046, the typography of the earth has been radically transformed. Plant and animal species have died and various alien races known as Votans co-exist with humans. The series follows Joshua Nolan (Bowler) and his adopted daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) as they plant roots in Defiance - a city-state built over the ruins of St. Louis.

Warrior (Pilot)
Shooting: Now until April 30
Starring: Natalie Martinez, Will Yun Lee
Plot: This martial arts series promises a touch of magical realism when a damaged heroine named Kai Forrester works under the physical and spiritual guidance of a martial arts master to take down an international crime lord.

Hemlock Grove Season 3
Shooting: Now until April 30
Starring: Famke Jansen
Plot: This supernatural thriller is shooting its third and final season for Netflix. It follows roma boy Peter Rumancek and blue blood heir Roman Godfrey as they struggle to keep their true beastly nature a secret from the Townsfolk of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania.

Rogue Season 3
Shooting: Now until September 11
Starring: Thandie Newton, Cole Hauser
Plot: Production moves from Vancouver (standing in for San Fransisco) to Toronto (standing in for Chicago) for the third season of this action-thriller because Ethan Kelly (Hauser) is hot on the trail of Grace's (Newton) abductors.

Special Correspondents
Shooting: May 19 to June 29
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Eric Bana
Plot: Ricky Gervais pulls triple duty as the writer, director and star of this remake of a 2009 French comedy. The film also stars Eric Bana as a struggling radio journalist whose arrogance and decadent lifestyle has hindered his career, so he fakes war reports from the front lines in one last desperate attempt to get his career back on track.

Suits Season 5
Shooting: April 6 to November 6
Starring: Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht
Plot: This staple of Toronto's production landscape is back, as fans finally get to see the fallout from Mike's proposal to Rachel last season, what happens in Donna's new job as Louis' secretary after her split from Harvey and where Forstman ends up following the Eric Woodall case.

Two Lovers and a Bear
Shooting: Now until April 30
Starring: Tatiana Maslany, Dane Dehaan
Plot: Tatiana Maslany is spending her off-time from Orphan Back shooting this indie drama about two burning souls that come together to make a leap of faith towards life and inner peace in a small town near the North Pole where all roads lead to nowhere.

The Strain Season 2
Shooting: Now until April 30
Starring: Corey Stoll
Plot: Based on the novel trilogy by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro, the series chronicles a CDC team investigating and fighting a strange disease that may remind you of a zombie outbreak, but is actually an ancient form of vampireism.

Did I miss any? Let us know in the comments.

Writing by Aaron Broverman.

Still from My Big Fat Greek Wedding