Inside Toronto has
teamed up with OurFaves.com to bring you the
very best in Toronto culture, according to passionate locals like you.
Delicate, light and summery. In Trevor Wilkinson's eyes, that comes in the form of scallop and avocado salad with frisee and artichoke chips, kobe beef carpaccio with hearts of palm and northern Ontario whitefish with rosti and lobster tartar sauce. The owner and executive chef of Trevor Kitchen & Bar took diners on a French culinary journey last week at St. Lawrence Market's Executive Chef Series event where he showed that his adeptness at food pairings and restraint. Just ask any of the diners who sunk their forks into Wilkinson's delicate dark chocolate torte that oozed warm caramel or sampled the paper-thin slices of beef carpaccio wedged beneath a palm and artichoke salad.
Asked where the inspiration for the night's menu came from, Wilkinson said simply, "The season, as always." After the last chocolate torte had been served and Wilkinson hung up his apron, OurFaves cornered the Toronto chef and asked him to elaborate further on his food philosophy and his take on the city's food scene...
Why are events like this so important for Toronto-based chefs?
I’m a big fan of the St. Lawrence Market, so I was pretty honoured and thrilled to be invited to do this. How many cities have a great shopping place like this? It’s a pretty amazing thing and it’s great for all consumers to have access to the same stuff that I do as a chef. I’ve lived in the neighbourhood for 15 years, it’s the original town of Toronto, so I thought it was pretty cool to be part of this.
How would you describe your food philosophy?
Classic French techniques is our style. Pretty simple techniques: fire, pan. We call it regional seasonal cuisine. But we live in southern Ontario and have a short growing season, so we always serve green vegetables in the winter – we do what we have to do to serve what’s best and freshest and what’s available. And we’re no where near the coast so if you want to have shellfish or a nice fresh fish, we try to bring in what’s freshest.
So you’re pretty adaptable to what’s available to you.
Yeah, I’m not married to this whole 100-mile thing. You try. As a chef, you always try to serve farm-to-table or as fresh as possible, but we only have a short growing season here, so you go with what’s available.
What’s your take on the food scene in Toronto?
I think we have an amazing food scene in Toronto. It’s so ethnically diverse, we have so many different influences in our food here in Toronto. I think that’s amazing. Food trends, there’ll always be that. People will always ride the wave of what’s cool now. But things like charcuterie are nothing new. That’s how they made meat available to people hundreds of years ago. It’s just sort of like a trend now. But it’s great. I love cured meats as much as the next guy. It’s nice that there are people doing it amazingly well as opposed to some of the junk you get in the grocery store for sandwich meat. So it’s great.
At Trevor, how do you stay relevant?
I don’t even know that I am relevant. One day at a time, one customer at a time, we cook for ourselves. We try to cook things that we love to eat and we try to do it really well. And we try to make every single person who comes into our restaurant happy. Hopefully that makes us relevant, I don’t know.
At home, what is your most requested dish?
My kids love braised meats, they’re little. They’re really flavourful and they’re really easy to eat because they’re so tender. And I love them too, maybe not this time of year, but fall, winter cooking is definitely my favourite. Heartier foods, braised meats, really rich, flavourful dishes. And my kids absolutely love that as well.
What’s your favourite dish to make?
I guess a really beautiful piece of red meat, like a steak. Probably a rib eye or prime rib, some mashed potatoes or frites, a nice rich sauce, a cab sauv, a big, juicy red wine and a big piece of red meat, a piece of chocolate afterward, a nice piece of cheese. Something like that would be my last meal.
Do you eat out very much?
Not a lot. I have little kids, so I’m in the restaurant or I’m with my kids, so I try not to eat out much. But I enjoy it just as much as the next guy. It’s always a thrill to be in someone else’s restaurant and see what their preparing and wait to see what comes in front of me. Sample, critique it and hopefully really enjoy. I also have to admit I love it when I don’t enjoy it and see other guys doing it poorly. It gives me a little more faith in what I do. It’s a thrill, still eating out. It’s such an ethnically diverse city. I love Indian food, I love Thai food, I love Chinese food, I love Italian food. We have everything here. And there’s a lot of great places that aren’t overly expensive. You can have a great meal for a reasonable price.
What’s a meal you had recently that stands out as being really great?
It was at Carisma. They’ve been in the business for 20 years, they opened a place that’s really, really simple Italian food done really well. They did an amazing ravioli, a really nice brown butter sage sauce. It’s classic Italian. It’s owned by a husband and wife who’ve been in the business 35 years.
Where do you go in St. Lawrence Market?
I’m going to sound like a classic stereotype, but I always go to Carousel Bakery for a peameal bacon sandwich. New, I love that little raw food place, Cruda Café. I’ve been trying to eat that way lately. I love red meat but I’m trying to do healthier options in-between. They do really great food there, so I’ve been getting food there. Scheffler’s – the guy has amazing cured meats, amazing cheeses and olive oils.
About
OurFaves.com
OurFaves.com
is an online community and collaborative city guide where people can
share and explore reviews on a city-wide scale. Love spreading the word
about your own stand-out city finds – that perfect date spot, indie
boutique, or new art gallery? Join the community conversation and we
may feature your reviews in Your City. You can reach the OurFaves team
at info@ourfaves.com.