The Big Night - Mario & Malcolm's Dinner, Part 3
by Malcolm Jolley

Chef John Abrahams' pasture fed beef three ways with rapini puree. Photo: M. Fiorucci

This is the third part of a three part series. Read part one by clicking here and part two by clicking here.

Sarah was anxious. It was five o'clock and we were supposed to be at her sister's condominium a half an hour earlier. She was on my cell phone and I explained we were only at Lawrence and Avenue Road, creeping our way uptown in the bumper to bumper Friday rush hour traffic from The Healthy Butcher's Eglinton Avenue store. "Don't worry," I said, "we'll be there soon and we'll be fine to feed your guests at six o'clock." Or, so I hoped. The truth is I had no idea what it was going to be like catering to a party of six, or even what exactly was in the the bins and boxes in the back of my station wagon. Beside me in the passenger seat chef John Abrahams just smiled and said what I had to Sarah: "don't worry". To this he added the reassurance, "I'm a professional."

Sarah won the gourmet, all Ontario, dinner John and I were on our way to prepare and serve in a raffle. I had convinced Mario Fiorucci, who was driving towards North York in his own car filled with ingredients, pots and pans and David Zilber, to donate the food and labour to my son's public school fundraiser, and they featured the dinner as a grand prize. When I was told who won last spring, I contacted Sarah to arrange the meal only to find out that she was a recent arrival from Korea whose English was pretty basic. After I managed to explain what we had won (and she confessed she was really hoping to win the plasma TV prize) we spent much of the summer trying to pin down a date. Now, on the evening of the big dinner, I think she wondered if the food writer on the telephone and his team of chefs was going to arrive at all.

When we did get there Mario, John and David (a cook at the store) sprang into action. Quickly they took over the small galley kitchen, donning their aprons and unpacking their tubs and coolers. Mario and I, dressed in the international uniform of waiters - white shirt, black pants, began to set the table with plates and flatware I brought. Luckily Sarah had explained that Korean homes really only use bowls, chopsticks and spoons. If she hadn't it would have been an awkward dinner service. Likewise, I brought wine glasses.

Chef John Abrahams and David Zilber. Photo M. Fiorucci

John and David had spent much of the afternoon prepping the meal, so much of it was ready to be assembled, or quickly heated up. As they worked away, Sarah's guests arrived: four Koreans and one European-Canadian of various ages. Language barriers made it difficult to understand exactly who was who, but it seemed like a mix of friends and family. Everyone seemed hungry, in any event.

Soon the first course, a duck confit salad, was ready to go out. (See the entire menu here.) Mario explained what it was and how it was made, as Sarah did some translating. I poured the first wine, a Niagara Riesling (Angel's Gate 2007 St. John Vineyard) and probably confused every one with a short talk on micro-climates, limestone benches and petrol noses. I settled on saying it should be kind of lemony and would act to balance the rich duck meat. Before Mario and I retired to the kitchen, we were asked a question: how should they eat this? With a fork we pantomimed and the meal began.

The author with Mario Fiorucci. Photo: D. Zilber

Over the next two and a half hours I alternated between waiting and washing dishes with Mario, while John and David cooked and plated. We also made a staff version of each dish and enjoyed the meal as much as our "guests" in the dining room, if not more. Occasionally we would be summoned to answer a question or explain a strange ingredient like the pastrami John had made from a cow's tongue. Mario and I really got into it, and after the first course, we began bringing out raw ingredients, like fillets of pickerel, to explain what was going to be prepared and where it came from. Sarah and her guests were enthusiastic and asked all sorts of questions. Best yet, they returned clean plates at the end of each course.

After the last course had been served, a squash bread and butter pudding, all four of us leapt into action while the diners relaxed over their icewines. All of our garbage had been discretely collected and every dish washed, dried and put away. The Healthy Butcher bins and coolers were filled back up and whisked away, so that their was absolutely no evidence of activity in the kitchen. (We left them with the wine glasses, of course.)

The diners enjoy Ontario wine for the first time. Photo: M. Fiorucci

It was time to say goodbye and thanks, so we went out, made a bow and asked if they'd enjoyed it. Yes, was the unanimous answer. For a few it was a night of firsts: including the first taste of wine. The diners seemed as excited by the meal as we were when we planned and cooked it.

I had been worried that the all local meal might not resonate with Sarah and her guests. But it was quite the opposite. As newcomers to Canada, they were especially interested in where the food came from and asked questions about what was traditional or what came out of French culinary heritage, or English. John remarked that hew found the whole thing one of the most rewarding dinners he'd served, and we agreed we'd all had a lot of fun. I don't know when I've been so proud of our local food.

Kabocha Squash Bread Pudding. Photo: M. Fiorucci

Find out more about the Healthy Butcher and their two Toronto locations at www.thehealthybutcher.com.

Malcolm Jolley is the editor of Good Food Revelation.