Battle Kimchi (Or in the words of Eric Cartman, "Simple, Rustic, Yeah?")

Last weeks announcement from Claudio Aprile that he was shutting the doors at Colborne Lane might have one day carried the Siesmic force to unleash a tsunami on the Toronto culinary community. He is after all, one of the most celebrated chefs in the country, and Colborne was the very flagship of his soul. In its prime it was a DEFINITIVE it-spot here in Toronto, and confidently carried the banner of molecular gastronomy over the palates of the rich and hungry.



Instead of a tsunami, it was more of a ripple of displacement. Nothing more than a large man exiting a tub of tepid bathwater.



Its no insult to Chef Aprile, whose Origin franchise has far outshined its ambitious predecessor. More a reflection of an evolution that's happened upon us almost overnight. Molecular gastronomy has died a quiet death at the hands of the proletariat. Peasant food has slayed its elitist oppressor in a quiet revolution. What began with the rise of charcuterie and country pickling, and continued as rustic Italian came into the hearts and minds, came into its stride with Ramen sensation. Before we knew it, the food snobs of Toronto had turned in full embrace toward the peasant foods of the world.



Suddenly the city's hottest chefs came from food trucks. The Top 10 lists no longer were the realm of white linen table tops, relinquishing top spots to the Burger Priest and Porchetta and Co. (much to the chagrin of the traditionalists like Chef Challet at Ici Bistro). Nowadays even that heavy handed Bistro fare has been torn down to simper roots (read the Lobster Roll and Bisque shooter at 416 Snackbar). Lobster Tail has been relegated to a garnish to a Bloody Ceasar at Rock Lobster. Yorkville's elite grab their best burger with a side of BIg Mac sauce at Mark McEwan's ONE. Young executives and Stepford Wives stand side by each in 2 hour cues for tacos served with a side of hip hop. Canada's Best New Restaurant as awarded by MacLean's Magazine, featured the foods of that most maligned culinary attrocity, the British Pub (gasp!).



I am hearing Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin" in an entirely new light.

Kimchi demonstration by Seung Ah Kim

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to Battle Kimchi, the brainchild of "Seoul Food" maverick Sang Kim, hosted at his new Baldwin Street spot, Yakitori Bar. Kimchi is perhaps the ultimate "peasant food". A Korean culinary tradition passed on almost entirely through oral traditions passed down from mothers to daughters, this is as close as food gets to speaking the very heart of a culture. Sang's event not only featured some of the tastiest food I've enjoyed in some time, but also went to great lengths to speak to the sacred nature this culinary tradition held for his culture.



When I first hatched the idea for The Red Devil Blog you have haphazardly stumbled upon, I sought to host a mother daughter kimchi battle with Scarpeta's Pastry Chef Chloe. Sadly this never materialized. Fortunately Sang came to my rescue a couple years later, transforming his Korean gastro pub into Kitchen Stadium. The Battle Kimchi. 6 Chefs, 2 plates and a title on the line (as well as a place on the next Yakitori Menu).

 

Judges Table

The raw kimchi plates were all simply outstanding. The most innovative coming from Vancouver courtesy of kathy Kim, who was bold in electing to forgo chili pepper, rendering the cabbage and radish fermentation almost unrecognizable. Until the first bite that is. Super cool. Really it was impossible to discern a winner here, save for the best selections being older variants than their competitors.



It was in the applied plates that a curious divide emerged, not unlike what is unfolding in the restaurants of the city. Three of the competitors decided upon plates that while inventive, were entirely reflective of their Korean roots. Korean Story-teller Seung Ah Kim's a traditionalists dream, harmonizing beautifully between, form, function, tradition and taste. It was a perfect dish and by far the highlight of the night. Belle Park, local Caterer featured a dish based around Soba noodles. Perhaps lacking in functionality, it was striking in flavor and entirely rooted in her culture. Host Sang's sushi fusion was in keeping with the Japanese influence on his Korean dishes at Yakitori.

Mr. Park sharing his wife's noodles

On the other side a series of plates, that while tasty, even irresistible, were clear attempts at pandering to North American culture. Rebekka Hutton of Alchemy Pickle wowed many with her Kim-Cheese, a fermented radish grilled cheese bite. Sun Mi Kim, mother and student, fell flat with her Kimchi Pancake. Sure, we like pancakes over here...but lost entirely was anything that makes kimchi such an alluring trip to flavor country.  Kathy Kim's Kimchi Poutine was the talk of the room, but despite its strengths, like each of the other "fusion" dishes, there was a concrete absence of soul.



The next phase of the event was a spoken word concert featuring traditional Korean strings, told by Seung Ah Kim, relating a charming tale of Kimchi's inception as the spirit of a dead mother attempted to reunite her estranged sons. This was followed by an equally captivating demonstration on how to make kimchi yourself. Our bellies overflowing in cabbage, the crowd stood in awe and appreciation, and left with a better understanding of exactly what the kimchi experience is.

The Red Devil rubs shoulders with the Best in Show 

The heart of peasant food is not entirely rooted in taste. Rather in tradition, and more importantly what these traditions mean for the human condition. It is about the coming together of family. It is about living from what the ground gives us. Its funny that while the luddites fear the digital world has robbed us of our sense of community and personal interaction, they seem oblivious to this rise in culinary culture that is rekindling our raw humanity. The more things change, the more they stay the same. From this lens, I see it as an inescapable reaction to our own growth. All is never lost so long as the human spirit shines its light. We should learn to trust ourselves a little more.



Then again, all that food renders one a little light-headed. It might just be all that fermented vege speaking.

Beyond Good and Evil (Or Can we finally have a logical discourse on the Toronto Casino Project)

Toronto, I love you, but you're bringing me down.



I expect this sort of nonsense from the newspapers. Journo's have an obligation to their editors to pander to whatever demographic they feel gives them the best chance at selling adspace to whatever particular furniture store they feel will pony up the largest chunk of change. This, so that the scribes and the editors alike, can cash a paycheque, feed their kids, and allow for whatever indulgence makes their daily grind worth living.



I expect it from the politicians. Those who make their living based upon votes place little value on the rational, idolizing in its stead polling data ahead of vision. Pandering to the least common ballotory denominator. Rhetoric in the place of dialogue. Division in the place of unity.



But you the people...You who championed democracy and social justice, fought true bloody wars against true ruthless tyranny...well LOLZ you are just so mashed up between episodes of the zombie apocalypse and that sexy biker dude Jax and your 60 hour workweek that there just isnt much time to edumacate oneself. Instead we arm ourselves with the analytics of our CP24 Headline culture. We trust in a hollow blanket that a place we assigned ourselves in a political spectrum when we still thought Jagger bombs would find us our one true love. Apathy is one thing. But we lie to ourselves every time we open our mouths and betray the fundamental lack of analytical thinking that once put human beings on the moon. No instead we the people spend all this time telling you exactly what we think about something we spend next to no time thinking about at all.



Toronto at this very moment we sit upon one of the most defining moments our great city. And it sucks. Because the players in this great comedy are clowns at best. Our mayor, the crooked highschool football coach. Mammoliti, our very own blend of Sarah Pallin and Fox Mulder. Vaughan the false idol more interested in the golden calves than the rhetoric which forges their slander. Godfrey the court jester, bumbling about with all the grace of Woody Allen's portrayal of said character in "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex But Was Afraid to Ask". What a shady cast. Nonetheless...The Casino Toronto Debate is a play that will shape this city for the rest of our lives.



Which brings me to the first and most important point. This is not about a casino. It is about an integrated resort in which a casino takes up 5-10% of square footage. MGM has no interest in dumping a bunch of heartless slot machines in the heart of the city. That's what Woodbine is for. This entre debate got skewed from the start by calling it a Casino Debate. While "no" apologists cling to divided polling data about a casino, polling about the creation of an "integrated resort" has from the outset scored really well here in Toronto. Not that the Toronto Star would make that distinction for you. For convenience sake let me be clear that every reference in this piece is about the importance of this integrated resort. The term "casino" is employed solely for the sake of convenient reference to the topic de jour.



I have spent a great deal of time over this past year exploring this topic with the citizens I call neighbors. Being someone who believes with all my heart that the MGM/Cadillac Fairview Developement project is this city's best chance to reach the next level as a community, I was very interested in those who thought otherwise. I'm that rare asshole who feels that learning about that which you DON'T agree with empowers you to be better equipped to determine what you might actually THINK moving forward.



From the papers and the politicians it was the usual nonsense.



The Toronto Star has been betraying its stance since day one. The same newspaper that established itself as a champion of prohibition in its youth, remains stallwart in its opposition to supposed vice. Their definition of LIBERAL is only as deep as the swaying tide of the political spectrum. With your allegiance in tow, they have no qualms in spreading disinformation toward the same ends that defined their very empire.



Take their frequent attempts at portraying the "grassroots" nature of the "no" campaign. They take glee in depicting the "no" vote as a movement made from 3 Etobicoke housewives fighting the corporate interests, when in fact, the "no" campaign has been funded by Onex, a financial titan, who has vested interests in OLG's casino appearing in markets OUTSIDE of Toronto's downtown core. Onex has hired, in fact, some of the most expensive lobbyists in the business to discredit the downtown Toronto applications.



This is the same newspaper who devotes so much of its ink to pointing out (quite correctly) that this city's development is so skewed toward residential over manufacturing and retail that it is on the verge of becoming an unlivable space. Yet it is willing to wage war over a facility that would create THOUSANDS of permanent jobs because 10% (or less) of the proposed development includes a casino. It's madness.



Which brings us quite smoothly to our subpar politicians. Namely Adam Vaughan. I was once one who bought into Vaughan's hyperbole of maintaining the social conscience that defines this city. That was until he threw himself headlong behind the Mirvish Condo monstrosity proposed for the Theatre District of King Street. Long before he was jumping up and down like a Gorilla in the Mi(d)st of camera crews in rabies like opposition to the casino project, he was golden-handshaking before them same cameras, trying to convince us that what downtown Toronto needs is MORE RESIDENCES, without any infrastructure with which to serve them.



Tragically, it is not the hypocricy of the "no" side on the political front that is most challenging. Sadly, the "yes" side is advocated by a group of donkeys that has no business holding office, let alone be empowered to make such monumental decisions. That's our fault Toronto. The fact that Rob Ford, Mammoliti, and Paul Godfrey hold these pedestals from which they so often embarrass themselves is a reflection on us the voter, not their takes upon what is best for this city. Lets not victimize ourselves further by letting their inadequacies alone decide an issue, rather than the merits of the issue itself. I hate Rob Ford is not a reason to oppose this development. It is a reason to hate Rob Ford. I also hate Rob Ford. But I don't by default hate everything he loves. Otherwise you could 86 football games on Canadian soil from this day forward.



Still, some desperate, grasp at the straws of Dr. David McKeown's report on the Health impact of a casino in Toronto, as negative. It is a laugh where he highlights the pains of shiftwork and irregular hours of casino employment as the basis for his report. Given that 100% of the construction work, and 90% of the operational employment (90% of the MGM proposal is based upon retail, arts and the operation of a world class conference facility) is based upon standard employment conditions, the suggestion that a few dozen card dealers working overnights amounts to a health risk is tantamount to treason. And lets not forget that this is the same Dr. David McKeown who has fought against EVERY Ford administration proposal from inception. To pretend that this is not politcally motivated is to join the Ostrich with your head in the sand. In the words of my own dear uncle, a Toronto City Planner, "There is not a public servant in the city who wouldnt fight a Ford plan on principle alone." Remember Death of a Salesman? "Spite Willy, it is the word of your undoing."



Worse yet are these desperate attempts to portray the dismal state of affairs in towns like Atlantic City or Windsor as warning signs against the pending casino apocalypse. Apologies for those ignorant of history, but Atlantic City was a corrupt bosom for organized crime long before a casino was errected. And Windsor was an armpit of Detroit long before its desperate underemployed working class was fittering away mortgage payments at a craps table. Yet no one talks about Brantford, a decade removed from its status as the worst downtown in North America, before its downtown casino helped ressurect downtown Brantford lile a Phoenix from the ashes of Alexander Graham Bell. Casinos don't ruin towns. They may not ALWAYS save them. But they provide an opportunity. What a community does with that opportunity is entirely up to them.



What the MGM project means to Toronto is a chance to reclaim it's spot as a world class destination for conferences, employ its growing population, and MOST importantly, PAY for infastructure that is so badly needed. Aside from the obvious problems of building a transit system that we cannot afford, yet so desperately need, there is the growing unspoken elephant in the room of the coming Pan Am Games. The level of spending we need to host this event alone requires an investment MUCH greater than what we have. Never mind the downtown relief lines, we need a way to get the world from our airport to our city. We have a cheque to pay and we best hope our butts can cash it. With the provincial liberals fighting a losing war against the teachers, and in danger of making way for Hudak's common sense revolution v2.0 there is no chance this money is coming from anywhere outside ourselves.



So here we are Toronto. This is our chance. Our chance to in one fell swoop, pay our bills, solve our problems, and in the process create a better Toronto for decades to come. Discretion being the better part of valour, I cannot get into details, but suffice it to say I have been privy to the same development proposal that graced Toronto city council this week. What is on the table is a REVOLUTION of Toronto's waterfront. The opportunity to define us as one of the great destinations in the world. The cost is merely the square footage of a few high end condos opening up to table games (as if these same table games aren't going on under the watchful eye of organized crime *cough* markham). And perhaps the notion that ideology is a higher goal than the greater good. Put aside what you SHOULD think. Dig a little, and discover what you DO think.