P i s t a c h i o

The Media Panel at the fourth annual Terroir Symposium at Hart House really got my goat, but not in an entirely bad way. The talk gave me what I think is an exciting idea.

We heard a misguided complaint that the media talks only about new restos, which Time Out New York‘s Gabriella Gershenson was able to quickly explain away by iterating the media’s singular purpose: to report what’s new. Next question.

Still, it made me think of A.O. Scott’s weekly video paean to late-great movies. Last week he did Polanski’s Chinatown, with footage. Yup. The knife-to-the-nose scene. Although I was hoping to see Faye Dunaway being slapped through, “My daughter, my sister, my daughter.” Oh well.

Then it hit me.

Why not get people to tell their favourite stories about long-gone Toronto restaurants, and bring them briefly and meaningfully back to life?

What old restaurants are worth remembering and talking about? Which restaurants have great personal meaning for us? Which of them have put an indelible mark on the city’s culinary scene even though they’re gone?

I asked around informally and heard Fenton’s mentioned again and again. Also, Winston’s, L’Hardy’s, Pronto, Three Small Rooms….

For my part, I often think about The Copenhagen Room, where Toronto had its first ahead-of-the-curve experience with “ethnic” cuisine [discounting but not dismissing Italian and Chinese food -- I'm talking the '70s here]. The open-faced sandwich was the gourmet poutine of its day, and you heard that here first.

But back to the panel for another minute. There was a sad detour down a sorry side road.

Can we please stop comparing ourselves to NYC? Or to Vancouver for that matter?

Apple & oranges, people.

Yannick Bigourdan begged us to stop the comparison at the first Terroir. Clearly, it’s a habit hard for us to break.

On the panel’s plus side, kudos to Mitchell Davis for talking about Milwaukee as a food town. His recipe for making a city famous in gastronomic terms: “a citizenry passionate about its food.” We’ve certainly got that in spades.

A nod to Bonnie Stern for reminding us that there’s a difference between a restaurant city and food city.

To the esteemed Alan Richman, thanks for saying that the countryside is where we’re getting some of our best food and dining experiences today.

Sasha Chapman, the city’s treasured food scribe, thanks for saying that, at best, we have to be critical if we’re going to be credible.

…

More Terroir HIGHLIGHTS:

Indefatigable barristas Sal and Nick from Pantera for pressing out espressos, foaming up cappuccinos and pouring lattes pleasantly all day.

The broth in the dumpling course at lunch. With all the girlie I’ve got in me, I’m gonna say it: DIVINE.

“The cauliflower writes the menu.” – David Kinch, who farms specifically for his restaurant.

Joshna Maharaj asking us to make the local food movement more welcoming to imports like spices. “After all, we’re all imports.”

Jason Bangerter on what his kids get to eat [which would explain why they spit out hot dogs at a neighbourhood barbecue].

The “old-school” debate on tipping. I’d love to see that format become a regular. The university setting screams for it.

Rory Gallagher on tipping [or not tipping] Julia Roberts on her last movie performance.

Finally, the touching standing ovation for Arlene Stein, who conceived Terroir and gives any restaurant or food city a good reason to want to compare themselves to us.

Top image via SwissMiss via @designglut

Great find this morning.

Sorry for the opening advert to the Tostito video [like it's even my fault], except for the partial tag line that I’m going to rip off.

That’s it — the post title.

Thanks for sending me there, Matt Jennings, terroirist and Prince of Porc. That’s what they call him for being the Boston winner of Cochon555. [Could Toronto please sign up for this? We can certainly kick some charcuterie butt.]

Can business to be smart all the time?

Calling all food-makers. Give it a shot. The markets are saying simplicity is flying off the shelves.

Additives industry, don’t know what to tell you.

Take your R&D in another direction?

Easy to digest news about the business of food.

Updated daily, from global sources.

Follow it here.

But for starters, it’s here.

Trans fat ban in BC hits October 1

Consumer spending down in Q4 2008, first decline since 1995

Enviro-ocean group declares that the seas are hungry for fish

The tension between cooking and masculinity has been resolved. It is now perfectly acceptable for men to show passion for food.

– from The Emergence of the Gastrosexual [2008]

Great news.

Apparently, he’s 33 to 64 years old, passionate about cooking and may also use his cooking to seduce. Curiously, or maybe not, even though he cares about the authenticity of a dish and cooking from scratch, he’s not above buying prepared food. Asian is the style of cooking that captivates him most.

I hope the Gastrosexual doesn’t go the way of the Metrosexual, like a tony sauce that was once a notch on your gastronomical belt, but is now relegated to the catch-all shelf on the fridge door. You don’t want to throw it out because it’s beautifully packaged, it was expensive and still has some cachet.

The sauce calls to you every so often, and you think about it for a minute, and then decide to be honest with yourself.

You’re just not into it anymore.

Thanks to Gremolata, here’s a London Times piece about the mini cow.

She’ll give you 16 pints of milk a day, and you can drink it unpasturized.

The piece reports that the Dexter is a Irish breed the size of a German Shepard and touts it as “the world’s most efficient, cutest and tastiest cow.” She’ll keep your lawn mowed and be a great family pet for years “before ending up in the freezer.”

Hmmm. Don’t think the kids’ll go for that.

Despite our best efforts, we failed.

– Michael McCain, Maple Leaf Foods President

In shirtsleeves, as if to say, “I’m a husband and father, and this could have happened to my family,” Michael McCain faced the camera to proffer his apology. He fearlessly took responsibility for the dead with a corporate “we,” but his countenance was distinctly “me.”

In a best-practices kind of way, he owned up promptly and almost immediately widened the recall territory, as if to tell us this was doubly horrific for him as it was for us.

Corporate humanity has to have a heart, because a microbe costs 12 lives and $20 million.

The innovative design of a grad school architect from the University of Waterloo got a lot of attention last month.

Gordon Graff and his Skyfarm design was given some international exposure by Davidson Despommier, the father of vertical farming, at the World Science Festival in New York City .

Despommier spoke on “Future Cities: Sustainable Solutions, Radical Designs,” and Graff’s piece illustrated the New York Times article that followed.

The third photo from the top is Graff’s uncredited building [a shame]. Here’s a better look thanks to Despommier’s design page from his site.

Vertical farming is the new tag for growing crops and raising livestock in urban areas, stacked skyscraper-style, where land is at a premium, and too many delivery trucks clog the streets. Graff’s Skyfarm gives new meaning to local food. He wants to dig his foundation in the financial district and raise his structure 58-storeys high.

I’ve always loved skyscrapers, even those aesthetically-challenged. Being in the sky is exciting, and approaching the city on a descent by plane or on the ground on a highway drive, the clustered metropolis ahead has always been a thrill.

I just adore a penthouse view, I guess.

The whole idea of vertical farming is more exciting than words can relay, and I’m going to expand on this story in the future, because I want to tell it and tell it again. There’s even a business case to relay.

But first, I wanted to put this out there.

Stephen Colbert had Despommier on as a guest that week, and apparently had some fun with him. As soon as I can locate the video, I’ll post.

Stay tuned for the joining of skyfarming and living in the same structure, and architectural lily-pads next week. Ever wanted to live on water, but not on a water vessel?

Kudos to John Papaloukas.

He’s a pizza seller in Victoria, BC, and he’d had it with the province’s ministry of education, which classifies pizza as junk food, and therefore deems it unwelcome in the schools for lunch.

“This whole notion of pizza not being healthy is a crock, at least not at our business,” he told the National Post last week, and to prove it, he had his pizzas analyzed by a lab.

Result: his pizzas passed with flying colours, and Papaloukas is selling his pizza to local high school cafeterias.

There’s our proof that not all pizzas are created alike.

Still, if you’re putting good tomato sauce on whole-wheat dough, and then topping it with fresh vegetables, good quality meat and cheese, what’s there to offend?  Hello happy food groups.

How did we go wrong with pizza?

It’s not the food; it’s the eating.

Finally wrapped it up, the largest piece of business journalism I’ve tackled to date: 4500 words on the new provincial budgets and what they’re offering to restaurateurs and operators across the country.

It was a great assignment, a lot to chew on and plenty of opinionated industry people to quote.

Here they are.

A scintillating read.

Really.

Pacific-Prairie Edition

Ontario Edition

Atlantic Edition

Hello Restaurant News

Well, it finally happened.
– James Chatto

It has indeed.

Susur Lee is going to New York City to open a new restaurant for a tony boutique hotel chain. He’s closing “Susur,” the higher-end of his two eponymous restaurants. and leaving open the more casual “Lee,” for his up-market hipster crowd.

Big surprise.

There are only a handful of Toronto chefs who would make that move, but also make it successful from a business point of view. And none is more likely to succeed than Lee.

His stature extends far outside national, never mind metropolitan, borders. Although he’s greatly admired at home, his American recognition carries considerably more heft from a sheer number’s point of view. There are easily 10 times the industry watchers passing judgment in the U.S., and 10 times more chefs at Lee’s level of skill, most of whom likely covet Lee’s opportunity.

Also, gotta say it: he’s handsome, stylish and exotic. New Yorkers are going to love that, too. But he’s going to deliver. He’s a gifted powerhouse, and we love that he’s ours, if he doesn’t mind me saying so.

One by one, thanks to the media for eliciting comment, Lee’s peers have begun to chime in.

There was a vague sense of sour grapes when Mark McEwan stated the obvious. “It’s a tough town,” he said, but then briskly wished him well. McEwan is still fresh into his gorgeous “One” experience at the new luxury Hazelton Hotel. With New York City a chef’s mecca, I wouldn’t be surprised if McEwan wishes he, too, could make a run at it, but his hands are full of success here at home.

Claudio Aprile spoke of Lee as an artist, which reveals Aprile’s values about his own work. Art, science, craft, skill, gift. I stay away from this debate. My interest is in the business side of things. Can the chef-owner keep them coming back, covering costs, paying all the bills, growing the business and keep head, heart and life together?

The business side of being a chef is the final frontier for any cook who has ever dreamt of opening his or her own place. The sad and sometimes swift demise of so many sweet spots proves how elusive it is to be a successful restaurateur.

I don’t doubt for a minute that there’s a sweet slice of the Manhattan pie for Lee. He’s clearly up for the challenge, and no one deserves it more.