Toronto fine dining position after Culinary School

[Alex Parker]

Im looking to get into fine dining after culinary school I have a couple years in some high end non pretentious places, and have a fascination with sous vide, and molecular gastronomy, but also am VERY interested in fresh local seasonal ingredients. Is there a chef or a place in Toronto, that I should check out, whos doing modernist food with local stuff?

Alex

[jenc]

The card at Lucien comes to mind. MG touches, but fine dining, local ingredients.

The only other MG place in town is Colborne Lane. Not sure if there's a real local focus though. Heavier on the splashy MG stuff.

There may be more, but that's all that comes to my mind.

[Alex Parker]

Thanks tons! Im going to talk to Colborne Lane in the next couple of days, and maybe take a resume down. Would be an amazing chance to get into a kitchen doing what their doing.

Alex

[plum tart]

Claudio Aprile (Colborne Lane) is a wonderful chef. I have worshipped his food for years. He opened a second restaurant this spring called Origin which is more a tapas place which is getting a lot of press. He uses molecular gastronomy techniques there as well. So you have two opportunities with Aprile.

I wouldn't overlook Lucien however. Scot Woods is an excellent chef who prepares excellent cuisine with well sourced organic produce, fish, poultry and meat. He also employs molecular gastronomy with a lot of his dishes. Lucien has been rated one of the top restaurants in Canada.

[phoenikia]

George is another restaurant you should check out when you visit. Lorenzo Loseto is a talented chef who uses local and/or Cdn ingredients, and occasionally, in the past, some dishes have had some sort of molecular gastronomy influence. http://georgeonqueen.com/

Most chefs in TO's upscale, continental restaurants are using local ingredients these days. The main upscale restaurants that rely on imported ingredients would be the top Chinese and Japanese restaurants that are unable to source their products locally, and Chiado, which sources much of its seafood from the Mediterranean.

I'm not sure you'll be finding much of an MG influence around town these days, outside of Colborne Lane. I didn't notice any dishes on the current Lucien menu that looked MG-influenced, and CL seems to also have less of an MG theme on the current menu. Sous vide was quite popular on menus a few years ago, but I haven't noticed it much lately.

http://colbornelane.com/dining_room

http://lucienrestaurant.com/

Edited February 14, 2011 by phoenikia (log)

[Alex Parker]

Thanks to everyone for the responses! Im currently doing random stages at Blacktree with Matteo and my god its unreal. I want to start staging up there once a week, and hopefully landing a job in the kitchen. The intense focus needed is right up my alley! Im working at a catering company currently to pay for my excursions from Niagara to Burlington for stage work. What a wonderful life!

Alex

[Kerry Beal]

Thanks to everyone for the responses! Im currently doing random stages at Blacktree with Matteo and my god its unreal. I want to start staging up there once a week, and hopefully landing a job in the kitchen. The intense focus needed is right up my alley! Im working at a catering company currently to pay for my excursions from Niagara to Burlington for stage work. What a wonderful life!

Alex

Matteo is a sweetheart isn't he?

[Broken English]

I may as well just use this topic to ask this, so ...

I'm moving to Toronto in August for a year or so, and was wondering about the top places in the city to work as a chef. I'd prefer fine dining and really want to learn more about MG stuff, but I'm not overly fussed.

[Broken English]

I've applied to Centro, and I have a friend who used to work at Canoe so I'm going to send a resume to them as well. Which other places other than those mentioned here are worth a look at?

Edited August 12, 2011 by Broken English (log)

[GordonCooks]

If MG is your thing, try Origin/Coleborne Lane. Origin may be looking as the head chef Steve Gonzalez is departing for his own place.

You should just ask your friend to put you in contact with someone currently working. The type of info regarding openings is largely word-of-mouth.

[Broken English]

Thanks for the advice. I have a meeting with Jason Carter from Centro in a few days, I'll see how this goes before I go any further and send more resumes. I'd rather apply for one at a time rather than plaster the town with resumes and maybe have to piss people off by not taking up all offers that come my way.

[Broken English]

Had my trial at Centro a week and a half ago, all good. I start Monday, six days a week for about twelve hours a day, so I'm going to be busy. I think I'll do the winter there and maybe look for something else come summer next year, seeing as I now realize my visa is for two years. Maybe somewhere MG inspired next time around.