Now That's Tasty!

Wednesday 8 January 2014

Celebrity Chef Mark McEwan and Director Joseph Levy Discuss the Toronto Restaurant Industry

We’ve reached a unique period in Toronto’s dining history. No longer are the lavish, large-scale odes to classical French and Italian cuisine dominating the dining landscape. Complex, ingredient-heavy preparations are fading staples of the pass. And the allure of celebrity chefdom has captured the intrigue of both the diner and disciple.

On a snowy December day I sat beside Chef Mark McEwan in the living room of Sol Shalit’s (Shalit Foods) Rosedale condo, while SpinningPlates’ director Joseph Levy joined us over Skype from his Los Angeles home. Our discussion would revolve around the restaurant industry in Toronto – how food television and film have influenced audiences and aspiring cooks, what makes a successful restaurant in Toronto, and what the future holds for our city’s budding culinary landscape.

Chef McEwan and Joseph Levy Hug it Out
Despite occupying two dichotomizing spheres of the industry, both men are on a constant quest for authenticity in their own work as much as the work of others.

“The trend in TV is that they’re creating a heavily manufactured reality,” Levy remarked as the chef nodded along. In Spinning Plates, Joseph managed to capture deep and difficult times in a restaurant’s existence, something that’s often left out of the mainstream television narrative. McEwan will confess that food television can give aspiring chefs a false vision of life on the line.

“There’s an allure to the restaurant industry that’s been brought out with food television – it’s like flies to a light – they’re attracted to it and then they die,” McEwan admits.


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Chef Mark McEwan

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