Restaurantacular to Offer Samples of Mount Pleasant’s Finest Foods

Mount Pleasant Village is home to a variety of unique restaurants and cafes that include some of Toronto’s finest eateries attracting regulars and tourists alike.
Restaurantacular to Offer Samples of Mount Pleasant’s Finest Foods
Chef Ivan Tarazona keeps busy in the kitchen of his french bistro Célestin. (Courtesy of Célestin)
Kristina Skorbach
6/20/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
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Mount Pleasant Village, a vibrant shopping district on Mt. Pleasant Rd. between Eglinton and Davisville, is home to a variety of unique restaurants and cafes that include some of Toronto’s finest eateries attracting regulars and tourists alike.

Head down on Tuesday, June 26, from noon to 9 p.m. for Restaurantacular, a celebration of food where visitors can sample delicious treats priced at $2, $4, or $6 at participating venues.

The Epoch Times visited three French-influenced bistros and spoke with the chefs.

Mogette Bistro

Daniel Muia is co-owner and chef of Mogette Bistro, a cozy upscale restaurant that lists among Joanne Kates’ top 100 restaurants in Toronto.

Starting out as a waiter, then a sous-chef at multiple fine restaurants in Toronto and Vancouver, Italian-Canadian Muia always stayed true to his interest in classical French cuisine.

“French food spoke to the quantitative nature of my personality, because I don’t like things that are abstract. I like things that are concrete a lot of the time,” Muia says.

While traits of his Italian upbringing can be found in some of the dishes at Mogette, Muia especially prefers classic French cuisine like the cassoulet, a slow-cooked white bean casserole with duck, sausage, and lamb.

And he surprises his customers when he tells them that his dishes are traditional south French recipes made with very little butter and cream. He makes a version of the gateau Basque that has become a customers’ favourite.

A traditional dessert from the Basque region of France, the gateau is a tart, or pie, that Muia makes with preserved cherries and a vanilla pastry cream baked in an almond brown sugar crust.

“I don’t like anyone to leave hungry,” Muia says. He jokes about how when he was small his grandfather would feel his tummy to make sure he was full.

“I think that’s what [customers want to] know—it’s going to be good, honest food at a reasonable price and they’re not going to leave hungry.”

Debu’s Nouvelle Indian Cuisine

Born into a family of restauranteurs in Calcutta, chef Debu Saha was inspired in his work alongside French chefs to bring the tastes of India to Toronto in a creative style.

Saha had worked at five-star hotels in India and the Middle East before immigrating to Canada. In 2007 he travelled for a year to Europe and India where he further expanded his culinary repertoire.

Upon his return Saha opened Debu’s Nouvelle Indian Cuisine specializing in a modern style of preparing traditional Indian dishes.

It’s the light sauces and cooking style that introduce a contemporary French twist to the otherwise classical Indian menu. Less sauces and gravy and lower concentration of spices are what Saha considers the modern touch.

“Nowadays people are more health-conscious. ... I changed to a new Indian cuisine. You have a twist on it so people can eat Indian food in a healthy way,” Saha says.

Daily fresh choices are offered à la carte for customers to enjoy at the restaurant, as take-out or delivered to their homes. Saha has created what’s called three-way-cooking, meaning that you get the same kind of dish in three different spices. The menu often gets updated with fresh, interesting flavours.

Customers praise Debu’s for serving some of the best samosas in the city.

Cheesecakes, crème brûlée, and homemade Indian ice cream—in hot chocolate, coffee, mango, citron, and a variety of berry flavours—are just a few of the tempting desserts that vary with the seasons.

Célestin

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Peruvian-born owner and chef at Célestin, Ivan Tarazona, has been at his restaurant since its first days 10 years ago when he was sous-chef.

For Tarazona, dining is all about the atmosphere and about a classy French meal without the expensive price tag.

“I try to offer a classy atmosphere ... where we can offer you the best food for the price that we can but it’s not pretentious,” he says.

“I just want regular people to come in, in shorts, to come in, in jeans, if they feel like dressing up they can dress up and they can feel comfortable and have a great meal ... laughing, talking, sharing.”

Célestin, also listed among Joanne Kates’ top 100 restaurants in Toronto, focuses on European cuisine and is specifically drawn to the southern French-influenced dishes that use a lot of olive oil and seafood. A touch of Spanish cuisine also slips into the menu.

An adventurous traveller, Tarazona likes to get inspiration from locals when going abroad and has learned techniques from his Filipino sous-chef.

Although Célestin offers a variety of familiar French dishes like duck confit, some items are made according to Tarazona’s personal taste, like pig’s feet croquettes and oxtail ragu.

He notes that everyone’s tastes are different and his big lesson learned is “communicating with your customers’ palettes and their needs.”

“You have to add a selection of things [on the menu],” he says.

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