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View Photos Photos: Darren O'Donnell and Krysta Oben |
The Children's Choice Awards Dinner As a special event in conjunction with The Children's Choice Awards, Chef Nathan Isberg, from Coca Tapas and Wine Bar, served a wonderful meal to the jury, who each chose their favourite artist from Alley Jaunt as a guest. The jury was comprised of some of Parkdale's brightest minds: Sanath, Latha, Callum, Kahlil, Zoe, Lara, Dalton, Lauren, Camille, Wendy and Hayley. The lucky and well-nourished Alley Jaunt artists were Claire Despaire, Zanette Singh, Shari Kasman, Nadia Jurd, Petrina Ng, Simla Civelek, Noah Kenneally, Michelle Johnson and Kimberly England. It was an exciting night of culinary thrills, with many of us tasting Bread and Tomato Salad for the first time. Other notable and healthy menu items included chicken wings, corn on the cob, tomato and greens salad, green bean salad, mini lamb burgers, chocolate coated biscotti, watermelon in balsamic vinegar, passionfruitade, and some small sausages topped with pieces of cheese that freaked the kids out but tasted really nice. From the Coca website: Nathan Isberg's approach to food is fiercely pragmatic: he responds to the current reality making use of seasonal and local ingredients and woos his diners to explore with him.
Nathan's apprenticeship began in earnest in Vancouver where he worked with esteemed chefs Robert Feenie and Andre Durbach. He spent five years in Durbach's renowned Etoile, where he developed his passion for indigenous cuisine. Later he went to Lumiere under Feenie before returning to Toronto, spending time at Avalon and Luce.
As a chef, Nathan brings an intense intellectual curiosity to his cuisine. While he is adamantly opposed to the iconoclastic philosophies embraced by some celebrated chefs, he is open and flexible to experimentation with many ideas. He has studied the anthropology of food. This has led him to strip away some of our contemporary expectations, exploring flavorings first introduced along the Silk Road to traders bringing back spices from the east. We ate the fantastic meal on Coca's beautiful patio, the jury finding many other areas of the restuarant to play in and balconies to toss napkins off. Once the meal concluded, the jury, clutching the crisp fee they had earned from their duties, jay-walked across Queen Street to the chocolate shop and helped keep the ecomony rolling. A huge Parkdalian thanks to Nathan Isberg and Coca for the incredible generosity and to Krysta Oben for helping Nathan with wonderful service. The Childrens' Choice Awards is a part of Mammalian Diving Reflex's Parkdale vs. Queen West, a long-term project that brings together the kids of Parkdale and the various cultural/business institutions and art hipsters along Queen Street West as they encroach further into the Parkdale neighbourhood. Mammalian Diving Reflex hopes to temper the effects of this cultural gentrification by providing the kids opportunities to understand what's happening, meet the players, and get in on the action. Parkdale students will create restaurant menus, perform in bars, lecture on art exhibitions, host walking tours and more. Parkdale vs. Queen West is funded by The Toronto Community Foundation, The Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council and The Canada Council. |
