Apple blueberry crumble with homemade vanilla bean ice cream at Grace.Jennifer Roberts for the Globe and Mail
Arguing the pros and cons of Winterlicious, the discount prix fixe event currently packing 'em in at 150 restaurants across the GTA, has become an annual pastime for Toronto diners, but this year the expressions of discontent seem to be growing louder. A quick glance at the message boards on popular foodie website Chowhound reveals an endless litany of anti-Winterlicious sentiment, with commenters complaining bitterly about over-crowded restaurants, lesser-quality food, and rushed service. On Twitter, restaurant owners Mark Cutrara of Cowbell and Grant Van Gameren of The Black Hoof have been proudly proclaiming their lack of involvement under the hashtag #notdoingwinterlishious.
Meanwhile, several other local restos - including Pizzeria Libretto, Scaramouche, Grace and Starfish - have begun offering competing prix fixe events of their own under the growing "Alternalicious" banner. According to Pizzeria Libretto owner Max Rimaldi, who is currently offering a four-course prix fixe dinner for $25, the idea of Winterlicious appeals to him, but he's turned off by the hefty $1,000 participation fee, the rigid menu price points, and the city urging him to offer wine and beer from sponsors Vincor Canada and Kronenbourg. "I don't want to be governed by the city of Toronto telling me what I can and can't do," he says.
Mr. Van Gameren, who cooked Winterlicious meals earlier in his career at Canoe and several other restaurants, argues that the event made sense when the economy was suffering, but that it has outlived its usefulness. "SARS is over, the recession is over - do we really still need to be doing it?" he asks. "I would like to see the city stop Winterlicious for a year and see how things go [without it] because it isn't working for anyone. Customers get meals that are of lower calibre, and the chefs and kitchen staff have to go through two weeks of monotonous, cheapened food."
According to Mr. Van Gameren, nobody he knows in the business looks forward to the event. "But people have to do it because everyone else does," he says. Indeed, choosing not to participate can mean a major loss of revenue for some restaurants. Le Petit Dejeuner owner/chef Johan Maes, a regular Winterlicious hold-out, admits that "business definitely drops in these two weeks - by about half, probably."
Mr. Cutrara, for his part, argues that Winterlicious's emphasis on discounting represents "everything that's wrong with our food system." As he sees it, the basic dilemma is this: in order to participate in Winterlicious, restaurants must demonstrate to city organizers that a proposed prix fixe meal is less expensive than a meal of commensurate quality on their regular menu. So a prix fixe dinner of $35, for instance, must be worth a minimum of $42 ordinarily. In order to continue to make a profit, the restaurant must make a choice: use cheaper ingredients, or make up the difference in volume. "I don't want to do volume, I want to do quality," says Mr. Cutrara. "The whole thing just goes against my basic philosophy of food." It's worth pointing out, too, that reaching the necessary volume to turn a profit isn't easy for restos like Cowbell and Petit Dejeuner, which have limited staff, seating, and floor space. According to Mr. Maes, "It's just not worth it for a lot of small-business owners."
One of the larger high-end restaurants participating in Winterlicious this year is Pangaea, which did 500 seatings - more than full capacity - on the first Saturday. Co-owner and executive chef Martin Kouprie acknowledges the event can "be a pain in the ass for some" and admits that chefs are inevitably forced to use lamb shank in place of rack of lamb, but he personally considers it an enjoyable challenge. "If you decide to change gears and offer people crap for Winterlicious, you're just doing yourself a disservice," he says. "And at the end of the day, it's worth it. Anyone who says it isn't just isn't trying hard enough."
Peter Oliver, co-owner of Canoe, Auberge du Pommier, and the rest of the Oliver & Bonacini empire, says there are no cons to Winterlicious, and that he's tired of people claiming it's somehow "demeaning" to cooking. "I find that attitude very off-putting," he says. "We're attracting older people on fixed incomes and younger people who can't normally afford to eat at [high-end]places. We should embrace these people coming in!"
Furthermore, Mr. Oliver says, February has gone from being one of his least profitable months to one of his best. "These guys who say it's impossible to make it work without compromising quality just don't know how to do it, and I get fed up hearing them quoted in the media saying, 'Oh, this is just for people from the 905 area' or whatever. They've got to get a life! If that's their attitude toward cooking they shouldn't be in the business."
Special to The Globe and Mail