🕒 6 min read

At The Pass is a weekly series showcasing Toronto’s best chefs. You won’t find any celebrity chefs featured here. Perhaps you already know these fine cooks, but maybe not. They’re not famous - yet. But it’s time these talented, passionate, hard-working chefs got a bit of the spotlight.

Currently

Chef/Owner of Flame & Smoke.

Formerly

Too many restaurants. Here are some notable highlights: Humber College Culinary School (Culinary Management Program, Class Of 2012), Sassafraz, Morocco Chocolat, Mad Crush Oyster and Wine Bar, Cibo Wine Bar, Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

Favourite dish to make right now

This is an almost impossible question to answer, there are so many. If I had to pick one, it would be Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo.

Last cookbook purchase

Not technically a purchase, but I recently inherited an old out-of-print copy of a Caribbean cookbook from Barbados that’s been in my family for a long time. I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes.  

Name one dish or ingredient you’d like to see gone from menus 

Parsley, it’s one of the most basic herbs and very few people use it properly! There are so many better garnishes.

And one dish or ingredient that you’re excited about right now and would like to see on more menus

Salted cod. It’s a staple in West Indian cuisine and so versatile, I would love to see how different chefs interpret it.

Who are your biggest influences

Chef Anthony Bourdain (RIP), Chef Chuck Hughes, Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, Chef David Chang, and Chef Massimo Bottura. 

If you could eat at any restaurant in the world

I’s love to eat at Osteria Francescana, I think Massimo is an absolute genius. His menus are always full of new, never done before food creations. I really like a chef who can create, or build on existing ideas, instead of just replicating a tried and true recipe.

Last thing you ate

Homemade pizza. 

Three must-have ingredients always in your fridge 

Vegetable or chicken stock, fresh garlic, fish. 

Guilty pleasure  

Cupcakes. Lots and lots of store-bought cupcakes.

Top 3 favourite Toronto restaurants  

Fat City Blues (sadly this place is no longer around), Alo, and Chubby's Jamaican Kitchen.

Top 3 favourite Toronto bars 

Civil Liberties, Mrs Robinson, and DW Alexander (recently closed).

Go-to drink

Moscow Mule. Civil Liberties makes one of the best I’ve had.

One habit you have in the kitchen that you should lose, but can’t seem to shake

Putting a wet cloth under my cutting board (smh). I know it’s literally one of the first things you learn, but for some reason I never do it. A wet cloth prevents your board from sliding around while you’re cutting (sometimes really aggressively), but my cutting board is always swivelling around. I’ve been nicknamed DJ Skye because of my oscillating cutting boards!

And one habit you have in the kitchen that will inspire young chefs

The power of observation. Always watch everything that’s going on around you. Especially what those with more experience than you are doing. You can learn a lot from watching.  

Hidden talent

I’m a human iPod! I can remember lyrics and music to songs that I’ve only heard a few times, years ago. Once I know a song, I never forget it.

Best career advice you ever received

One of my Chefs in culinary school (shout-out Chef Michael Teune!) told me not to stay in one restaurant too long at the start of my career. The more kitchens you see and the more recipes you are exposed to, the more you will grow as a chef. Once you know the menu, move on. This was hands down the best advice I’ve ever received.

Worst career advice you ever received 

A restaurant owner once told me I would “never amount to anything.” I always smile when I think about that.

Your advice for a young cook starting out in the business

Read as much as you can about the industry. There is always more to learn from cookbooks, blogs, and articles. Your first attempt at a new dish will never be your best because a recipe is not a sure thing, just a guideline. If you think you’ve prepared your best version of something, try to make it even better the next time.

If you don’t understand something that’s going on in the kitchen, ask. Ask questions about everything. If you work for a chef who isn’t able to explain the culinary theory behind the methods you are using or gets annoyed when you ask, get out of there!

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In order to support chefs during this time, the monthly At The Pass series is now WEEKLY. Know someone in Toronto or GTA who should be featured? Submit their name for consideration. And yes, you can nominate yourself. 

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