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Seal loins, vanilla parsnip puree, blueberry gastrique, meringue

As part of our pre-coverage of Terroir Symposium 2015, we interviewed Beast restaurant’s executive chef and co-owner Scott Vivian. On Tuesday, May 12th, his restaurant would host one of six dinners from the Terroir Collaborative Dinner Series, generously supported by Samuel Adams Brewery and the RANL (Restaurant Association of Newfoundland). This dinner is aptly called the “Rock Stars” dinner, with chefs from Newfoundland collaborating with Beast’s chef de cuisine, Colin Moise.

Introducing the Rock Star chefs

Introducing the Rock Star chefs

The featured chefs from the Rock are Courtney Howell from Grates Cove Studio, Chef Katia Hayes from the Boavista Social Club, and Chef Shaun Hussey, from Chinched Bistro. Together with Moise, they created a menu that celebrates the culture and cuisine of Newfoundland. The first course was a Newfoundland sushi, making use of Atlantic snow crab, lemon candied scrunchions (cured salted pork), dried caplin, and fancy molasses eel sauce. The second course was a charcuterie board that used Newfoundland game meats. This course was paired with Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

The third course was a delicate potato-wrapped cod, perfectly complemented by the very flavourful salt meat pave. The fourth course was my favourite of the night – a moose bolognese cavatelli. The meat was not gamey at all, and the parmagiano bread crumbs added a nice bit of crunch. Most guests were eagerly awaiting the fifth course – the seal loins; for many this would be their first time trying this meat, including myself. The flavour and texture was not something I’ve tried previously – it was almost a cross between meat and fish. The meringue, vanilla parsnip puree, and blueberry gastrique added sweetness and tartness that went well with the loins.

Finally there were the dessert courses. There were chocolates from the Newfoundland Chocolate Company. There was also a bread pudding with screech sauce, and a partridge berry crème brûlée. Screech of course is a famous rum alcohol from Newfoundland. Dinner ended with a great cheeseboard from Five Brothers Cheese. With these dessert courses came Jost Vineyards‘ (Devonian Coast Wineries) maple wine and Newman’s Celebrated ruby port. The previous courses also had wine pairings from Jost Vineyards or Niagara’s Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery.

The dinner truly did celebrate Newfoundland, with a successful collaboration between Beast’s Moise and Howell, Hayes, and Hussey – the visiting chefs from the Rock. Thanks to Terroir, Samuel Adams Brewery, and Beast restaurant for hosting a delicious evening. We look forward to seeing what Terroir has in store for next year’s collaborative dinner series.

For more information:
http://www.terroirsymposium.com
Twitter: @TerroirTalk #Terroir2015
Instagram: @TerroirTalk #Terroir2015

Photos by John Tan

Just last week, Argentinian inspired restaurant, Branca and Alamos Winery teamed up for an unforgettable night of epicurean exploration. We were in for a real treat as we got a chance to create our own wine and food pairings.
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Toronto’s Police got together for a “Pirates Cove” themed gala night of fun, charity and giving back to the community at ProAction’s Cops And Kids charity gala held at Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada.
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Cocina Economica is the fifth in the family of Playa Cabana restaurants, following the successes of the original Playa Cabana (and adjoining patio La Libre), Cantina, Hacienda, and Barrio Correano, two of which we visited recently in the last year. Cocina Economica is the first Playa Cabana to open on the east side, in the heart of Toronto’s Corktown district.

To prepare for his new restaurant, Executive Chef and owner David Sidhu travelled with his team to Mexico to learn about the family-run cocina economicas. They returned from this trip with experience and knowledge to produce authentic Mexican fare, as well as items to furnish the new restaurant to give it a true Mexican feel. The space is quite intimate, decorated with fiesta-coloured tapestries, hand-painted clay pottery, and lots of patterns and textures. Cocina Economica can currently seat 34 inside, and 20 outside on the front patio, with additional seating available upstairs (including a second patio) later this summer.

Chef de cuisine Samantha Valdivia, hailing from Cancun City, Mexico, joins Sidhu in the kitchen. The first item we sampled was a delicious beef consommé, which had a very flavourful broth with just the right amount of heat. The slow-cooked meats, including lamb barbacoa, cochinita pibil, and beef in salsa verde, were tasty and very tender. These are served with baked or fried tostadas, fresh corn tortillas, and various salsas and accoutrements. If you’re a vegetarian, there is the vegetarian chorizo and the nopales (cactus) for you to try.

The desserts were also quite delicious. The alfajores is a cookie sandwich with dulce de leche as the filling, and then rolled in coconut. The filling’s sweetness was balanced by the soft and crumbly cookies. The tres leches (three milks) cake was my favourite dessert. It was extremely moist and flavourful; I could have kept eating this all night.

Along with food, Cocina Economica hopes to be known for its drinks as well. It houses Toronto’s first true mezcaleria, with over 20 imported single species mezcals. For those that don’t know, a mezcal differs from a tequila as they are produced in different regions of Mexico, using a different techniques. While tequila is limited to the Blue Agave by law, mezcals can be made using over 30 other species of agave. Tequila, a full cocktail list (which includes mezcalinas), agua frescas, and made-from-scratch horchatas, are also available.

With the warm weather returning and the long weekends of the summer coming up, Cocina Economica is a great Mexican restaurant to visit in Corktown. Hours are from 11am to 11pm from Wednesday to Sunday. For more information:

http://www.playacabana.ca
Twitter: @PlayaCabana #CocinaEconomica
Instagram: @PlayaCabana #CocinaEconomica
Facebook: PlayaCabana1

Raising funds for the SickKids Patient Amenities Fund, the first annual Spring into Change sold-out charity party was held at the Spoke Club on May 2nd, 2015.
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