{"id":4137,"date":"2022-10-24T10:10:52","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T15:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=4137"},"modified":"2022-10-24T10:10:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T15:10:59","slug":"sebastian-perez-wins-gold-at-torontos-great-kitchen-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=4137","title":{"rendered":"Sebastian Perez wins gold at Toronto’s Great Kitchen Party"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Friday night at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto\u2026 It was the first time since 2019 that we had staged a full-fledged Great Kitchen Party! What does that entail? Fabulous food, ridiculously wonderful wines and whiskies, the chance to bid on unique, star-studded trips to places as far-flung as Vietnam, Verona, southern Spain and Ireland\u2019s wild Atlantic way, and spectacular entertainment. We heard awe-inspiring sets from the sensational Terra Lightfoot, from the inimitable Anne Lindsay, (first solo, then accompanied by supremely talented brethren Devin Cuddy and Sam Polley), and by the awe-inspiring Chilliwack \u2013 the first time we have ever brought an entire band on stage at one of our events. They played late into the night \u2013 hit after immortal hit from their 50-year songbook \u2013 while the sold-out crowd danced and partied in front of them. It was a magnificent evening, and a dazzling return to Toronto by the Kitchen Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Meanwhile, we culinary judges had work to do. I shall let our jury describe themselves: Sasha Chapman (Senior Judge for Toronto), \u201ca writer who explores how food shapes our world.\u201d Amy Rosen, \u201cAmy\u2019s latest is Canada\u2019s Best New Cookbook<\/em>. She also owns Rosen\u2019s Cinnamon Buns.\u201d Lucy Waverman, \u201cfood columnist Globe and Mail, award winning cookbook author. Passionate eater.\u201d John Higgins, \u201cHaggisracer, loves all things fast except fast food. Chef, competitor, judge, educator, mentor.\u201d David Wolfman, \u201cFirst Nations chef, GBC professor, television show host\/producer, and culinary consultant.\u201d Chris Johns, \u201cFood and travel writer called \u2018an aging Harry Potter\u2019 by Gordon Ramsay.\u201d And our 2019 Champion, Keith Pears, Chef of the new W Hotel in Toronto. As is KP\u2019s wont, we invited him to prepare canap\u00e9s for the VIP reception, and one of them in particular \u2013 a dainty dish of tuna sashimi in a Thai-style coconut broth \u2013 was one of the evening\u2019s most delectable moments. Shucker Paddy (our dear friend Patrick McMurray) was also in attendance with a splendid bivalvular presentation, smoking oysters under a cloche with a hunk of smoldering Connemara peat. Close by, the students of Centennial College had their own \u201cNext Generation\u201d station, showcasing a number of irrestsible treats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But the main event, speaking from a gastronomical point of view, was the Chefs\u2019 Competition. It is often the case (as it was in Ottawa, a few weeks ago) that one dish stands out as a clear and unanimous winner. Not this time! A great deal of discussion was needed to find daylight between the top four competitors. Mere percentage points separated them. Things were so close that although Jesse Vallins from Barberian\u2019s came first in the eyes of two of the judges, with a gorgeous beef short rib that he cured and smoked like pastrami, he still did not reach the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Frank Parhizgar of FK Restaurant won bronze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the end we awarded the bronze medal to Frank Parhizgar, chef-patron of FK restaurant. His dish pleased everyone with its classical elegance and rich, lucid flavours. It consisted of two components, the first a disc of chicken mousseline fringed with soft cabbage leaf, and crowned with a shaving of black truffle and a crisp wafer of golden chicken skin. Beside was a wee slice of a terrine that layered roasted chestnut, sunchokes and more truffles \u2013 a satisyingly robust textural contrast to the mousseline that brought and blended different nuanced flavours of earthy sweetness. Chef garnished it with peppery baby nasturtium leaves and crisp dimes of fried sunchoke. A simple chicken jus united the two principal elements while a small pool of green tarragon oil was a refreshingly vegetal touch. The dish, Chef explained, was inspired by the Burgundian style of the wine that accompanied it, the 2020 Gravity Pinot Noir from Flat Rock Cellars in\u00a0 Niagara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lorenzo Loseto of GEORGE won silver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lorenzo Loseto, two-time past gold medallist and Canadian Culinary Champion emeritus, chef of George Restaurant, won the silver medal. He presented a drum of beef tartare, finely ground, not chopped, but still perfectly maintaining its textural integrity, subtly seasoned with ginger, shallot, cilantro and chili. Enhancing the cool meaty flavour was a thin layer of a sweet sauce based on a Japanese aburi, like a mildly curry-spiced mayo. This was hidden beneath a finely ground crumble of wild rice, potato and saffron couscous, its nuttiness and crunch a nice contrast to the beef. A hoop of crisp potato threads rose up from the top of the tartare, cradling a slaw of julienned squash and root vegetables with some fascinating threads of sweet-salty grapefruit peel \u2013 a marmalade moment that was totally unexpected. Elsewhere on the plate, on condiment duty for the tartare, was a chunk of pickled pine mushroom dotted with mustard seed, a teaspoonful of fermented black garlic pur\u00e9e, and a segment of peeled raw ruby grapefruit. A pale sauce of grapefruit water completed the plate. The wine match was a great success \u2013 the lightly sparkling Bisous Ros\u00e9 NV from Malivoire, in Niagara, a pure Pinot Noir ros\u00e9 that had the body to stand up to the beef and fresh apple and cherry notes to balance the dish\u2019s sly umami.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sebastian Perez of Isabelle won gold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            Our gold medallist and the new Toronto champion was Sebastian Perez of Isabelle Restaurant and Lounge at The Pearle Hotel in Burlington. Like so many of the evening\u2019s offerings, his dish reflected a decidedly classical approach, centred around a superb cut of saddle of red deer from Quebec, herb-crusted and pan-seared medium rare. Lean but  juicy and tender, and seasoned with a sprinkling of coffee-and-yuzu-flavoured Maldon salt, this was the stand-out protein of the entire evening and obviously delighted our guests, who awarded it the People\u2019s Choice prize (one of those rare occasions when the citizenry and the judiciary are in full agreement). The two thick slices of venison sat on a silky pur\u00e9e of confited apple and celeriac. The sauce was a meaty reduction spiked with pomegranate seeds that brought their own bitter-sweet crunch to the proceedings. Big chunks of saut\u00e9ed lobster mushrooms found the textural sweet spot between tender and firm. The coup de grace was a translucent fin made by turning apple and celeriac juice into glass as thin as cellophane. It stuck up jauntily from the dish \u2013 as eye-catching as the fascinator on a duchess\u2019s hat. Chef\u2019s wine match was impeccable \u2013 the 2020 \u201cLe Grand Clos\u201d Pinot Noir from Le Clos Jordanne in Niagara, a wine that contributed its own complexities and intensity to the triumphant experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Huge congratulations to Chef Perez! We will taste his food again next year at the Candian Culinary Championship in Ottawa. Meanwhile the party goes on \u2013 to Montreal on Monday and then westward to Edmonton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday night at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto\u2026 It was the first time since 2019 that we had staged a full-fledged Great Kitchen Party! What does that entail? Fabulous food, ridiculously wonderful wines and whiskies, the chance to bid on unique, star-studded trips to places as far-flung as Vietnam, Verona, southern Spain and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4142,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions\/4142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}