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Posts with category ‘French’

French Caviar

Posted on June 26, 2006

I’m sitting here mulling over comments posted by lunchbill about last week’s blog, a report of an evening at Michael Stadtländer’s Eigensinn Farm. “What’s to get,” asks lunchbill, “the co-opting of nature and country life by an elitist, wealthy, urban culture? Some people do get ‘it’ and realize that some other people need to return to reality.” I’m not sure if he/she objects to Stadtländer (born and raised on a farm near Lubeck) owning and working his farm in Ontario and subsidizing the operation by feeding people in his dining room, or if the problem is people from the city going out into the countryside in order to eat. I don’t see anything particularly reprehensible in either scenario. It seems to me Stadtländer did return to an earthy, honest reality when he gave up the urban rat race and started farming organically 13 years ago. And I can’t think of a less elitist human being than Michael—artist, social activist and environmentalist, yes, but not elitist.

In London

Posted on July 4, 2006

England basks and fans itself in a heatwave—an extraordinary occurrence during Wimbledon fortnight—and London looks splendid, buffed and busy, the monuments gleaming in the sunshine, the parks and gardens still green in their early summer glory. I’ve been here a week, to launch my book, not really to eat, though eating has taken place—especially on Friday night at Itsu and on Saturday night when kind friends took me to Michel Roux Junior’s Le Gavroche, the 40-year-old temple of French gastronomy on Upper Brook Street. It had been a busy day with the England football team’s shameful, wasteful implosion; a victory by the rude young Scot, Andy Murray, at Wimbledon; London’s Gay Pride march and a Pink Floyd concert in Hyde Park.

More summer treats

Posted on September 10, 2007

Back to Toronto and happy to find that summer still lingers here, though Canadian friends (typically) are getting gleeful about the imminent glories of autumn with its brisk days, colourful trees and hockey. Talking of which, Tie Domi was sitting at the next table to me on Thursday when we had dinner at Mark McEwan’s new restaurant, One. So much more exciting than the fanfaronade of film stars and starlets also swanning about the highly glamorous room. One is already terrific—there’s a Beverley Hills buzz to the place—and the food was impressive for any restaurant that was only three days old. Ingredients of notable quality cooked simply—just what the elite like. I was particularly happy with a warm salad of roasted carrots (so tender and flavourful) paired with big chunks of avocado, fresh orange and a subtle cumin–coriander dressing. By no means complicated but such a great match of flavours and textures. It’s a bit early to be talking about the food quite yet, however. Even the hyper-organized and savvy McEwan deserves a week or two before the critics drop in—though I noticed at least two of them there, quietly forming judgements…

Chatto Bio Pic

James Chatto

James Chatto worked as a dishwasher, actor, waiter, bow tie salesman, choreen, bookseller, nanny, tennis coach, lounge singer, KFC truck driver (fired after 1 day), olive farmer and janitor before moving to Canada in 1987 and becoming a journalist. These days, he writes about food and restaurants for Toronto Life, about wine and spirits for Food & Drink and edits the menswear magazine, Harry. Two of his books are still in print: A Matter of Taste (co-written with Lucy Waverman) and The Greek For Love, a memoir of Corfu. James is married and has two delightful children.

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