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Stars Align For Good Health

Shania is the latest celebrity hot for a Toronto eatery

By Shinan Govani
National Post
September 25, 2007

Shopping till she was dropping in Toronto last week was Shania Twain.

Missing, we think, only Winners while on a Bloor West hee-haw that took more than a day. Stopping, we know, at Fresh in The Annex to gather her retail strength.

Helping herself to the banana nut pancakes -- can you sing Whose Bed Have your Banana Nut Pancakes Been Under? -- Twain also had the ginger tea. More intriguing still? The woman who is the most exquisite combo of New Country and nouveau riche, and is, moreover, a vegetarian, asked to speak to the owner of the place. Alas, the owner was nowhere to be found.

Now, my sources tell me, Ruth Tal, who is that very proprietor and is virtually vegan royalty in this city, is just restless with curiosity. "I will forever wonder what it is Shania wanted to say," is what Tal has been telling friends.

Good thing she has plenty of other celebs to console her!

In recent years -- and particularly in recent months -- the two locations of Fresh (the one on Bloor, as well as the one on Queen and Crawford) have been positively crawling with healthy-munching boldface.

For instance: Just days before the arrival of Shania, Mexican hot-stuff Gael Garcia Bernal spent an afternoon patioing with four cute ladies at the downtown location. Some weeks before that, Gael's queenly ex-girlfriend--one Natalie Portman -- enjoyed a big salad at the same place with her new beau, Nathan Bogle, a former model and co-founder of the Rag&Bone fashion line.

Last year -- or 10 years ago, in celebrity-romance time -- Gael and Natalie made several stops of their own at the Crawford Street spot.

Others spotted quite recently at the same place? Mike Myers (he had the macro greens and tipped lavishly), Julianne Moore (she sure likes her vegetarian cocktails) and Scott Speedman (who's found a whole new underworld inside the Buddha rice bowl!).

But back to Shania for a sec: When she was here, she didn't just shop! (Although the girl's certainly got prerogative.) In Toronto to launch her latest fragrance, Starlight, with Coty, she did several TV interviews and also stopped by a Look Good Feel Better workshop.

These sorts of sessions are designed to help women manage the appearance-related side effects of cancer. And there, I hear, our reigning chanteuse of honky-tonk shared a few makeup tips of her very own!

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