Eat, Drink, Give

I attended a charity event to raise money for the earthquake relief in Haiti. Local toronto foodies gathered for a night of food and wine samples from about 30-40 restaurants/vineyards. There was a silent auction as well as a live auction for primarily vintage wine, although there were also an espresso machine, a fancy bbq, cufflinks, jewelry and other luxury items.

I only sampled maybe 3 wines, skipped most of the desserts, and was too full to try maybe 3-4 restaurants. I did get to nibble on about 17 samples. Grano had a 2 colour ravioli with truffle sauce. Nothing outstanding, just what you would expect from an italian trattoria. Noce served up some beef carpaccio with parmigianno and arugula. Can't recall much about it. Jayne's Gourmet Catering passed out some seafood ceviche with thai basil. That was a nice amuse-bouche. Cava grilled some some cumbrae farm pork in a small cornitas. This was a delicious dish. Too bad the chef oversold his extremely hot peanut sauce. Ha! Tastes mild to me. I think some people don't know hot.

Mark Cutrara of Cowbell was mixing up some venison tartare. It was a little spicy and chewy. You can definitely tell you're eating raw game meat. The Wine Bar had little corn beef reuben samples. Couldn't taste much of the meat but the sauerkraut had a nice bitter aftertaste. Forte tempted me with condensed french onion soup wrapped in a dumpling (2 of them). A little salty but it wasn't bad. My Place Pub handed out a pork pâté on a focaccia with peach butter. Tastes like pate. Barberian had a tray full of little burger-style buns stuffed with pork and caramelized onion. Quite bland actually. Massimo Bruno ladled on an eggplant parmiagianni. It was stick to your ribs italian fare. I was sure it was a pasta but apparently it was eggplant.

Buddha Dog had little hot dogs with100% beef topped with mango aioli. Tastes like a hot dog to me. Berber displayed a number of samples including a kebab, but I tried a traditional slightly sweet pastry stuffed with chicken (b'stilla). It wasn't bad, though I'm not a fan of Middle Eastern sweet treats. Wouldn't mind trying the original recipe that calls for pigeon. Splendido experimented with a chicken pâté parfait. How interesting. Both components of the dish were light and fluffy. Treadwell, way out in Port Dalhousie, served up my favourite dish of the night: head cheese. Never had it before nor know what it looks like. Turns out it looks the vietnamese dishes of thit dong (jellied meat) and gio thu (Vietnamese head cheese). I was slightly hesitant but it was delicious. The gelatin had a slight animal fat taste, the meat was primarily tender and chewy, and the curry/pickled cauliflower side was perfect. I ended the evening with some chocolate cake from Dufflet, a bit of Bailey's gelato from Frozen Vines, and some citrus oolong tea from The Tea Emporium. As noted there were lots of other dessert treats including macaron, cookies, cupcakes, etc. that I skipped.


Apparently, the restauranteurs were told to make for 500 even though only about 350 tickets were sold. So there were leftovers that can be had with a bit of sweet talk. I only took home some cupcakes for my co-workers, but my companions scored cupcakes, cookies, macarons, other desserts, some eggplant parmagianni, and even vacuum-sealed bags of brisket.

My impression of the evening was mixed. I enjoyed the wine, food, and company. I'm also glad that they probably made, in my estimation, at least $50,000. $100 x 350 tickets + raffle + $5-6K silent auction + $10K live auction. Given that all the sponsors donated their time and food, and Roy Thompson Hall was free, there was probably minimal financial overhead.

On the other hand, I was reminded of a friend who works for an NGO. She despises these 'shin-digs'. I can sympathize. It seems to me that most people were there for the wine, food, and to win some 'discounted' items at the auction. Discounted in the sense that they can bid on a $3000 (donated) bottle of wine for $1500. It was a bit jarring to realize that less than 30 people, not even 10% of the attendees, paid any attention to Gord Martineau (CityTV news reporter) or Isabelle Jeanson (MSF Communications Advisor) as they spoke. Without a mike, they wouldn't have been heard over the din of the crowd. And when the good ol' boys were high-fiving each other on winning a Chateau Lafite or some other expensive wine, the incongruity with what's currently happening in Haiti was disconcerting. But I guess you have to wine, dine, and rub elbows with the moneyed set if you want to see large donations.