Toronto`s Sausage League
Dana and I had the pleasure of attending Marben‘s Sausage League last night. We both geeked out and accidentally posted simultaneous pictures of the voting ballot on our Facebook group. A few questions popped up and I realized the answers could take an entire post – taaadaaa!
Sausage League is a friendly competition between 12 of Toronto’s restaurants (The Harbord Room, The Drake Hotel, The Stop Community Food Centre, Table 17, Marron Bistro Moderne, C5, La Palette, Parts and Labour, Torito and Pizzeria Liberetto/ Enoteca Sociale). Note that the host is not competing.
Marben hosts the event every second Wednesday where diners are offered choices from their regular menu or offered the “Sausage League” menu. For $25 you are treated to two sausage dishes (one from each of two featured restaurants that night) and a side. Last night’s side was a bottle of Steamwhistle Pilsner. Diners are given an anonymous voting ballot of which they choose which sausage was superior and a team is eliminated from the challenge. The contest started May 11 and runs through September 28.
Let’s talk about the only criticism I’ve seen about the event: the price. $25 is a steep price for sausage. If you examine the meal as simply price per calorie or even dollar for dollar of what you would receive on a typical menu, it is higher than you’d typically pay. Considering a bottle of beer is about $5 in Toronto, we paid $10 per dish which were appetizer-sized (though much more filling as I don’t think of sausage as an appetizer). But there is no such thing as a $5 artisanal sausage in this city (you pay close to that with a pop for mass-produced, big-agriculture ‘street meat’) so we’re talking a few dollars higher than expectation – at most.
It’s not a ticket for everyone. We joined 4 other friends, added dinner and another few beverages and spent a lovely evening together – less per hour than the price of a movie (without snacks added).
It was a great night, casual meal and an awesome tasting. The sausages were outstanding and it was a difficult vote.
In exchange for such a fee, Marben is opening its kitchen and packing it full of teams from it’s ‘competition.’ And to me, that’s the bigger part of the story – beyond price and beyond even the mighty sausage. Many of Toronto’s restaurants chef’s and their teams are coming together through events such as this. They are sharing kitchens, ideas and evolving their cuisine and, in the process, further developing a sense of Terroir and what it is to eat the food where we live. A ‘sense of somewhereness.’
Businesses and chefs who were once seen as competition are working together and creating an excitement greater than any could do as an individual. Lofty comparisons (that are perhaps inspirational rather than factual) would compare what happened when the California Wine Scene started to work together, American Craft Beer joined arms against mass-produced beer (instead of itself) and perhaps even the “Group of 7″ as a Canadian reference.
I understand those comparisons are bound to raise eyebrows and perhaps they are too lofty. It’s simply an exciting time in Toronto’s dining history – a restaurant renaissance of sorts. A $25 ticket to see Chefs pulled from 4 of Toronto’s busier restaurants (Marben, Torito and Enoteca Sociale/ Pizzeria Libretto) put their egos to the side and provide a cold beverage and see the creativity and contrast produced by different kitchens is just a lot of fun.
Over the past several months the intensity of working together has increased. Multi-Chef dinners in a single restaurant (for fun, profit or charity), fun competitions (battles over popcorn, pickles and preserves amongst them), our ‘food truck festival‘ and good-spirited collaboration at events like Terroir have seen a magical collaboration that’s been fun to watch as an outsider – and delicious to consume as an enthusiast.
Toronto has a vibrant dining scene that’s becoming more exciting month over month. I encourage you to join in on the fun by joining in or coming to visit!