🕒 11 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

Ashley McKay - Cook - Azhar, Xolo

Aldo Camarena - Line Cook, Aspiring Chef - Quetzal, Xolo

Formerly  

AM: Giulietta, Parallel, Leña

AC: Among others, I have worked at Piano Piano, Parallel, NODO, Lil’ Baci Taverna and Beer Bistro.

Favourite dish to make right now

AM: I love cake! Any chance I get to play around desserts in my downtime is time well spent. My sweet tooth will definitely be the death of me, but at least it'll be a good one. 

AC: A nixtamalized corn tortilla from scratch. If you really dive into it, it can be such a fun and engaging process. From the shucking, the cleaning, the nixtamalization, the grinding, the kneading and hydration, the forming of the testal (masa ball), the thickness of the pressing, the technique for placing it, the timing and techniques for cooking it and especially the eating it. This whole process to me is holy, like a reverence to the specific corn you are working with, and it honestly makes me incredibly happy every time.

Last cookbook purchase 

AM: The Last Course: A Cookbook by Claudia Fleming and Melissa Clark.

AC: Ashley just got me Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish, which I intend to finish in a binge once the first pop-up is done.

Have you read it/tried any recipes

AM: I haven't made anything yet. Still reading through it, I am enjoying the wine paring snippets throughout.

AC: Not quite, but I had a chance to go learn side-by-side with Matt Lawrence, one of the bakers at Bar Isabel, and having read halfway through the book gave me tons of context for what I was learning.

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

AM: I don't care what you put on the menu as long as you're paying your staff well.     

AC: Guacamole. There's a serious, serious deforestation and land erosion problem in Michoacán and several other regions worldwide. This is due to the irresponsible over harvesting of avocado. In a time when the world is seeing mass immigration due to climate injustice, the overindulgence of avocado in Canada and the US is super gross. Many in Mexico, including my family, are seeing this super culturally important fruit disappear from their tables from over-inflated prices and loss of access due to sale to foreign markets and loss of arable farmland. Try subbing avocado for blanched Mexican squash and you can end up with a super similar product! 

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

AM: I would really love to see more chefs in the city pay attention to the seasonality of local produce and the effects our global palates have on the environment.

AC: Manoomin, also known as wild rice. This is a crop that Indigenous people of Canada have been growing for thousands of years. Chefs have a platform, and with that platform, we should be doing more to promote a fair and responsible consumption of local products, especially when consuming them can support indigenous communities and their way of life. If folks want more information, they should Google "Curve Lake Manoomin."

Biggest influences

AM: I have been super blessed to have worked with some incredible cooks throughout the years. Some of the most educational experiences have been seeing these cooks put the tips they share with me into practice and succeed night after night.  Most notably, working alongside Aldo has taught me so much. We can both be pretty intense in kitchens, but we work so well together and know exactly how to push each other to achieve our best.

AC: My family. There's a way to do things in my family that translates to anything we do. It is there that I get my work and moral ethic. My wife Ashley is often the reason I do anything now, and every dish I cook or design these days is a love note to her. I look at Ali Grundman and Greg Balingit as chefs who took the time to really help me learn earlier in my career. Finally, a very special mention goes out to Steven Molnar at Quetzal,  and honestly the rest of the team I have had the privilege of working with there.

If you could eat at any restaurant in the world 

AM: Central Restaurante in Peru.

AC: Tickets in Barcelona.

Last thing you ate

AM: Fried cheese.

AC:  Jamaican Patty. Spicy beef, of course.

Three must-have ingredients always in your fridge

AM: Butter, garlic, mushrooms.

AC: Limes, garlic, cheese. 

Guilty pleasure

AM: Wint O Green LIfeSavers Mints (they glow in the dark when you bite them), I can so easily crush an entire bag of those in one sitting. Also, bad TV. 

AC: De La Rosa Mazapán at 4am. I keep sneaking them into the house and refilling my large-sized box, so Ashley won't notice just how many of these I've been eating.

Top 3 favourite Toronto restaurants

AM: Viaggio, Quetzal, Ramen Isshin

AC: Can I say Quetzal? (Editor’s Note: Absolutely!) Edulis, Tacos Gus, Rasa

Top 3 favourite Toronto bars

AM: The Little Jerry, Houndstooth, The Greater Good

AC: The Little Jerry, Houndstooth, The Lab

Go-to drink

AM: Wine, I love tasting new things and learning about what goes into making what ends up in my glass. Also, a good Spanish Fizz will always make my day.

AC: Lambrusco at a wine bar, sour beer at a beer bar, PBR at a dive bar, wild agave mezcal at a tequila bar, and Old Fashioned at a cocktail bar.

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

AM: Definitely drinking too much coffee and not enough water.

AC: I magnify my mistakes without ever taking into account the good I do, until frustration has wrecked me up real bad.

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

AM: Organization. No matter what the day throws my way, the thing that always pulls me back and keeps me on task is a well thought-out list.

AC: Always leave it better than you found it. Doesn't matter if nobody else notices or cares. You notice. You care. Apply this to everything including yourself and every day will be a day of improvement. It all comes down to the respect with which you treat things and the people in your life. 

Hidden talent

AM: Lists. Even outside of kitchens, I write amazing lists for anything and everything. Also crocheting - it's a great way to level up dexterity.

AC: Tetris and talking in circles about Mexico. I often do both simultaneously.

Best career advice you ever received

AM: Always push harder and be better everyday.

AC: "Work harder than those around you and never hesitate to support people who could depend on you. Be an active member of your community." This was one of the last things my grandfather told me before he passed, pero en español.

Worst career advice you ever received 

AM: So I've been trying to think of bad advice I've received for some time now, and nothing comes to mind. Here's a little advice from me: When you hear bad advice, don't listen.

AC: "Keep your head down and don't ask questions."

Your advice for a young cook starting out in the business

AM: Write everything down and watch how the people around you are working. They might not always be able to teach you, but there is so much to be learnt from observation. Lists are everything!

Get some really comfortable shoes, they'll make your time in the kitchen so much more enjoyable.

AC: Learn to observe and record your growth. Taste and feel everything multiple times. Take notes and photos of what you do and compare them from time to time. This is how you keen your senses and get really good at things. Otherwise you're just blindly guessing.

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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.

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