Chowder Chowdown - Serves up Sustainability

Event:  Chowder Chowdown

Date:   November 14, 2017

Location:  The Fermenting Cellar - Distillery District - Toronto

November is Ocean Wise Seafood month and last night I had the privilege of attending the Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown for the second year in a row at the amazing Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District.  Although it's a hike to get there once you are at the Distillery you feel like you have gone somewhere else in the world.  There is nothing else like it in Toronto.  And the Fermenting Cellar is a great place for a Chowder Chowdown contest brought to you by some great Chefs in Toronto.  Centennial College was also one of the participants.  This event is a fundraising event for Ocean Wise's Sustainable Seafood Program.  It's a fun event where there are 5 Top Chefs and food industry people as Judges including Brad Long and Martin Kouprie this year.  It is hosted by Vancouver Chef Ned Bell who is a champion for Seafood Sustainability and who has a new cookbook called LURE that has just been released. It's a fun event where the Judges judge but also the attendees get to place their votes.

And the Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown Champion is......

For the second year in a row, a judging panel of food-savvy media, chefs and industry leaders selected Chefs Chris Torgis and Joel Gray as the 2017 Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown Champions. The Thornbury-based restaurant presented chowder lovers with their patriotic Canada 150 Coast to Coast Chowder . It featured a mélange of sustainable seafood, including Ontario farmed whiteleg shrimp, Gulf of St. Lawrence crab, Lake Huron smoked whitefish and wild Pacific ikura, complemented by local corn velouté, wild leek pesto and pickled roots and left the judges wanting more. The attendees voted Scout’s Cannery as the People’s Choice Award winner, selected for their Scout’s Scullery Soup, made with clams, mussels and haddock.

Chef Ned Bell

Chef Dave Mottershall

Judges included:

     Brad Long, Owner and Executive Chef, Café Belong

        Martin Kouprie, Executive Chef

      Kristin Donovan, Co-Owner, Hooked Inc.

      Joseph Chiaravalloti, Sustainability Specialist, Seacore Seafood Inc.

        Rita DeMontis, National Food Editor, Sun Media

 

 Even though the Chowders are served in little bowls, there were 14 of them so I think  I only tried about half of them.  My favourite was the not very Chowder like Thai Tomato by SOCO Kitchen.  I just loved the balanced flavour and a kick of heat at the end but it was very far away from a traditional chowder so I can see why they chose a more traditional chowder by Bruce Wine Bar with their National Seafood Chowder.

2017 Ocean Wise Restaurant Finalists

The Beverly on Locke
Chef Rory O'LearyCatfish and Caviar Chowder

Bistro '67Chef Raul SojoOyster and Bacon Chowder

Bruce Wine Bar
Chef Chris Torgis and Chef Joel GrayNational Seafood Chowder

Centennial College: The Local Café and Restaurant
Chef Nick MooreSmoked Seafood Chowder

Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie
Chef Murray McDonaldCod Chowder

Distillery Events and Archeo
Chef de Cuisine Joshua Dyer
Wampanohog Chowder

Le Sélect Bistro
Chef Laura MaxwellSnow Crab and Smoked Clam Chowder

Loka
Chef Dave MottershallPEI Potato Mussel Chowder

PORT RestaurantChef Samantha JoyceClam Chowder with Bacon and Grilled Clams

Pure Spirits Oyster House & Grill
Chef Danny Chae
Asian Inspired Clam Chowder

The Restaurant at Peninsula Ridge Winery
Executive Chef Matt Hemmingsen
Chowder with Lobster Grilled Cheese

Rodney's Oyster House
Chef Rodrigo de Romana
Bahamian Seafood Chowder

Scout Canning
Chef Charlotte Langley
Scout’s Scullery Soup

SOCO Kitchen + Bar, Delta Toronto
Chef Keith PearsThe “TTC” Thai Tomato Chowder

These Chowder Chowdown events are held in Toronto and Vancouver and for more information you can check out their website: Vancouver Aquarium 

The Ocean Wise seafood program began as a grassroots movement in Vancouver in 2005 and is now Canada’s most recognizable sustainable seafood program. What started as an initiative involving 16 chefs has expanded to include more than 700 partners with locations from Victoria to St. John’s.  

New Restaurant Review - Cluny Bistro

 I was lucky to recently be able to attend a special Twitter Party tasting for the new Restaurant called Cluny Bistro in the Distillery District in Toronto.  Cluny is a very large and beautifully designed restaurant that has French design influences.

What seemed to be missing in the Distillery District was a restaurant that you could go to when you wanted to have dinner and dessert with friends and not as much emphasis on drinking beer.  A restaurant that filled the gap between what was already available in the many restaurants in the Distillery District.  The newly opened CLUNY seems to fit the bill.  It is described as a French Restaurant but it seemed to me to be a bit confused as to it's nationality.   I was expecting to have a lot of mini samples of passed food from their menu but we had a full seating with a very generous sampling of full portions of food.
I brought my friend Cliff with me, and soon realized that he isn't as adventurous with food or knowledgeable as I thought he was.   First off we were brought Champagne,  I don't fancy Champagne but Cliff enjoyed that very much.  After a bit of a wait at the bar for them to clear the first seating of people we finally sat down sometime between 9:30pm and 10pm.. I must say that this is very late for me to have dinner and I had a bit of food before I left my house.  

Once we were seated we were brought a lovely basket of breads.  There was one croissant fusion type of bread that was delicious.

We were then brought what was called a Tuna Nicoise (pictured in the blue pot) but it was more like a  Tuna Tartare.  My friend Cliff doesn't do raw fish apparantly so he didn't enjoy this one.  I liked the taste but it was a bit over salted for me.  I am very salt sensitive so maybe others would enjoy the seasoning more than I did.  This was then followed by some Scallops carpaccio... once again raw Scallops so my friend didn't like it.  I ate the whole thing.  I enjoyed this dish as it had a sweet light sauce and cubed watermelon so it was very light.

We also received a small shot glass of a Watermelon Gazpacho.   I didn't enjoy this one at all and I like Gazpacho.  I am not sure what went wrong on this one.
As you can see below my friend Cliff had a Chambord Cocktail.  He didn't love it but drank it anyway.  I think he drank more than he ate.

What Cliff really enjoyed was the Meatball Tomohawk and the Basil Gnocchi.   I loved the light gnocchi but also found the Tomohawk a bit too salty for me but I liked the concept and there was good flavour in it.

Then there was the  Vegetarian Couscous Indian /Moroccan spiced dish.   Cliff  loved this one.  I was so full by this time that I didn't eat this dish.

We also both enjoyed a Duck Poutine but it was very rich and heavy but it tasted delicious.

Not pictured here was Buffalo Style Sweatbreads.  In case you don't know Sweetbreads are Internal Organs and not Sweet Bread like Cliff thought they were.   This didn't work for me on so many levels. It was trying to be a clever chicken wing but it was just a weird textured and unappealing dish.  

Redemtion came in the form of the Dessert.   We had a passion fruit Souffle.   Finally something French style with an accompanying banana bread and Creme Anglaise sauce in this cute little copper pot.

As you can tell the Menu was all over the map.   Italian with the Meatball,  Quebec with the Poutine, Sweetbreads American style, Tuna tartare, was not Nicoise.   And a Couscous Indian flavoured dish.  

It didn't make sense to me.  I think they were trying to cater to many cultures in this city but they would be much better served at focusing on Regional French dishes and offering French dishes that aren't available anywhere else in Toronto.

The one thing I am looking forward to is the fact that they will have a Bakery/ Patisserie opening at the entrance of the restaurant soon.  The other thing they need to put their energy into is providing excellent tea and coffee and dessert menus that are available late into the evening.  Their competition coffee shop Balzacs closes at 7pm or earlier so there isn't anywhere that all the condo dwellers in the Distillery can go just to wind down with a nice dessert and cup of coffee.  I know because another friend lives in one of those Condos and we have tried to find a place to go for dessert after dinner or doing other events to no avail.  All the coffee shops close early so all you can do is drink alcohol or eat ice cream.  

While I don't want to dissuade you from going to this restaurant I want you to be aware of what the menu is.  We were told they have amazing burgers.   Also not typically a French thing but I may return when I am in the area to try one.

It is a beautiful space and the wait staff were very friendly.  It would be a nice destination to go to with friends.  It's new so I think the menu may change as they receive feedback from their clientele.

They were extremely generous with the food they provided for us and I really did appreciate it.  I suppose I just would have made some slight adjustments or improvements to the menu provided.

The lovely thing though was the little red gift back I received when we were done which had 2 little Macaron's in this cute little Chinese Take away box.

        

 I am looking foward to going back to try their desserts when that area expands.

Go check it out and try the Gnocchi, and the Scallops,  I can honestly highly recommend those dishes.