#markmcewan

I had 30 minutes with Top Chef Judge Mark McEwan to get the cover shot for our next issue of Advantage.  I flew to the Canadian metropolis of Toronto for a brief 9 hour trip with just myself and my camera gear in tow (Don’t ask me about my first trip to Toronto a few months prior to this trip).  I met Mark at One Restaurant and he was extremely kind and generous.  I had to seize the moment and take advantage of this red wall and Mark’s sincere expression, and I snapped as many portraits as I could.

When you have just 30 minutes, it’s not always easy to connect with your client and disarm them of any anxiety or discomfort of being in front of the lens.  Thankfully, Mark was easy to connect with and was a natural in front of the lens.

Grilled Shrimp @ Fabbrica

with Creamy Polenta, Sausage, Sweet Peppers, Chili

Beef Carpaccio @ Fabbrica

Mustard Sauce, Capers, Onions, Radish, Grano Padano

Buffalo Mozzarella (Vegetarian) @ Fabbrica

Fresh Tomato, Balsamic, Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil

My Rating: 3 Stars.

I often stop by Fabbrica for lunch as I'm a fan of their pizzas. I mentioned their pizza in an earlier blog post here on May 18th. A nice place for a quick and casual lunch with the advantage that the McEwan grocery store is directly across the street for grocery shopping. If you read my blog from yesterday (June 12) you'll remember I picked up some great steaks for dinner at that grocery store before heading home.

In the nice weather Fabbrica has outdoor patio tables to enjoy a drink on.

Moving inside from the patio after having a drink, I ordered a beef carpaccio appetizer and my usual Prosciutto e arugula pizza for the main.

Here is the beef carpaccio as it arrived with cheese, greens and dressing.

I really like the way they do this appetizer here and find the combination of beef with cheese and dressing to be just right.

Here is a photo I took of the pizza chef standing in the area with the wood burning pizza oven. You can see the fire in the oven, and the logs of wood stacked up in the lower right of the image. The pizza preparation area is separate from the main kitchen. They make their pizza with a special flour they import from Italy to keep the texture of the dough in line with Neapolitan tradition.

Here we are - the Prosciutto e arugula pizza fresh from the wood burning pizza oven (I watched it being made and cooked from my table so I could comment on that, which is why I moved my table inside for my meal from the patio after having a glass of wine outside in the sun). The crust is chewy, not crisp in texture. I like both styles of crust (chewy and crisp) so where to go for pizza depends on my mood. I felt like chewy crust today.

There is some debate of who makes the best individual portion size pizzas in Toronto  I will explore this later in another blog where I do side by side comparisons of pizza with a judging of which is the best and why.