{"id":1847,"date":"2012-02-16T10:09:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T15:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=1847"},"modified":"2012-05-01T10:13:06","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T15:13:06","slug":"allens-steak-festival-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=1847","title":{"rendered":"Allen’s Steak Festival 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I have always imagined John Maxwell, proprietor of\u00a0Allen’s,\u00a0as the most urban of men, a boulevardier very much at his ease in Manhattan, London\u2019s West End or deepest Toronto. Perhaps he might occasionally be found in a wide-open space but only if it were the location of a rally of vintage Jaguar motor cars. How wrong I was. We can see from the photograph he kindly sent me that Mr. Maxwell is just as much at home in a cow pasture, especially when visiting his own herd of Dexter cattle. He acquired them last year, he tells me, and visits them, often, at their home on Wyatt Farm organics, Flamborough Centre, Ont. Dexters are one of Europe\u2019s oldest domesticated breeds and they produce fabulously good steak, lean as venison when finished on grass and hay.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t take my word for it. You can taste Dexter carpaccio, striploin, ribeye and\u00a0bone-in rib from Maxwell\u2019s own herd as part of the Steak Festival at Allen\u2019s on the Danforth. It runs until February 25, so there is still time to indulge in the most fascinating forensic exploration of steak you will ever encounter. Maxwell assembles meat from animals personally chosen by himself from a number of different farms \u2013 many different breeds of cow, the creatures raised and then finished on many different feeds, the meat aged for many different lengths of time. Most are raised in Ontario but there is also an example of Angus from Prince Edward Island\u2019s increasingly popular and delectable beef program, as well as bison from Quebec, USDA Prime Hereford from Nebraska and \u201cKobe\u201d Wagyu-Angus from Alberta. Comparisons are encouraged.<\/p>\n

Alongside this majestic menagerie is a dazzling wine list comprised of rare and old vintages of Ontario VQA wine. Here are bottlings you won\u2019t find anywhere else \u2013 Reif\u2019s Tesoro from 1995, the best vintage of the last century, Cave Spring\u2019s superb 2005 La Penna, Hidden Bench\u2019s 2007 La Brunante, Chateau des Charmes Equuleus going back to 2001, even a 2002 Zweigelt Reserve from Pelee Island Winery, a wine I have never tasted.<\/p>\n

Anyone who claims to know about steak and wine has a moral obligation to\u00a0participate in this amazing event. Allen\u2019s is at 143 Danforth Avenue (as if you didn\u2019t already know) and reservations are strongly recommended. 416 463 3086. www.allens.to\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always imagined John Maxwell, proprietor of\u00a0Allen’s,\u00a0as the most urban of men, a boulevardier very much at his ease in Manhattan, London\u2019s West End or deepest Toronto. Perhaps he might occasionally be found in a wide-open space but only if it were the location of a rally of vintage Jaguar motor cars. How wrong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98,91,94,1,19,95,99],"tags":[591,592],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1933,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions\/1933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}