Jamie Drummond arrived in Canada some 10 years ago after having worked as Sommelier for 6 years at one of Scotland’s most acclaimed restaurants, Edinburgh’s Atrium.

After doing a few odd jobs (including working as a Barista at the much-loved Ellipsis), he found himself working as Sommelier for North America’s largest private club, Toronto’s Granite Club.

After a 6-year tenure with the Granite Club, Jamie talked of wishing to “never be a Sommelier again” and returning to his love of music through his original hopes of a career in music journalism and his occasional (and notorious) sojourns into the world of DJing (under his Non Doctor moniker).

But then Jamie Kennedy came a-knocking and the two have been working together ever since. Jamie now runs the successful wine program for every location in the expanding Jamie Kennedy “empire” and tells us that he has never been happier.

Jamie took some time out between his myriad tastings, staff education sessions and media interactions to answer some questions for us…

You’ve got $10 to buy lunch - where do you go?

Well, in Toronto the options are endless, but I do have a few favourites.

When I am out and about cycling around the city I often pop into one of the many Vietnamese sandwich stores on Spadina Avenue in Chinatown for a bánh mì. Lemongrass pork sausage on a French bun with carrot, radish, chilli peppers and cilantro, and all for $1.50… you simply cannot beat that. Whoops, I think that was a little of the infamous inherent Scottish frugality slipping out there!

Also in Toronto’s Chinatown is the delectable Mother’s Dumplings (79 Huron Street). When I am in need of a little refuelling at lunchtime I simply adore their delicious pork and dill dumplings. This modest little spot is tricky to find, but once one tastes a few items from the small selection of dumplings I almost guarantee that even the most cynical of palates will become a convert.

As I am based downtown around the St. Lawrence Market (91 Front Street East) area I can often be seen chowing down of one of the enormous veal and eggplant sandwiches from Mustachio’s. At $5.95 for a hearty lunch it is truly one of the very best hangover cures on this planet.

The budget’s unlimited, someone else is paying and the choice is yours - where do you pick for dinner?

Oooooh… now you are talking! I have to say that I’d love to try one of Mark Thuet’s special seasonal “trust me” menus at Bistro Thuet (609 King Street West). 8 courses of that wild game that he does so damn well has me already drooling in anticipation. Marc’s deft hand in the kitchen paired with his partner Biana’s sparkling front-of-house skills make for the most perfect of combinations in my mind.

Tell us some of the food shops you frequent when buying groceries to cook for yourself.

I really enjoy cooking for friends, and so shopping for ingredients is something that I take great pleasure in. Forget shopping for clothes, records, gadgets and the like… there is nothing quite like shopping for food. Call me strange but I take an almost perverse pleasure in filling up my refrigerator with the spoils of an afternoon’s hunting and gathering throughout the streets of Toronto.

Working at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar & Restaurant (9 Church Street) gives me access to the very best of local suppliers, and working alongside our Wine Bar Chef Tobey Nemeth inspires me in so many ways. Tobey always has an arsenal of weapons-grade ingredients that she is seriously excited about, and if I’m really, really good she occasionally allows me to purchase the odd thing now and again.

Working down beside the wonderful St. Lawrence Market, I am sort-of spoiled for choice (which is probably a good thing seeing as I live in Parkdale where quality food shops are few and far between!). In the Market I like Whitehouse Meats a great deal and buy a fair bit of pork, beef and lamb there. I have always been a huge fan of sausages, so I’ll always make a little purchase at Sausage King. Spicy merguez lamb, duck and apple, beef and clove… they have a great selection.

I love the North Market on Saturdays, that’s where I tend to pick up my eggs and cheese, with the cheese normally coming from Ruth Klahsen of Monforte Dairy.

When it comes to fishmongers and produce I tend to head towards Kensington Market… although a close friend once made the comment that I only went shopping in Kensington as it gave me an excuse to enjoy a beer on the wee patio at La Palette (256 Augusta Avenue), which could be true now that I come to think of it. I seem to remember getting a little carried away and leaving all of my shopping there once. Oops.

I truly love Kensington Market in the summer, it simply seems so alive, so visceral. The sights, sounds and yes, the smells of a hot summer day in Kensington/Chinatown are quite something to behold.

When ordering in for a quiet night at home, what’s your favourite place for take-out or delivery?

Right now I am seriously hooked on a tiny little place called Roti Lady (269 Dunn Avenue). For years and years I was a regular customer at the venerable Bacchus Roti (1376 Queen West), but then one evening I stumbled (literally) across the divine Roti Lady, and to be quite honest I have never looked back. It’s a small place, with take-out only, but it serves up some of the tastiest most wholesome food this side of Guyana. My personal recommendations would be the oxtail with rice and beans, the vegetarian roti and a side of coleslaw.

One warning though: call to see that they are open before you make the trek as their opening hours tend to be a little erratic. Many’s the time I have traipsed around the corner with “a hunga in ma belly”, craving the Roti Lady experience only to find them closed for the evening… and I find myself walking back home broken-hearted and roti-less.

Oh, no, relatives are coming to Toronto from out of town - where do you take them?

I have many friends and family visit me from both Europe and the USA, and there is little that I enjoy more than showing them what an amazing city Toronto is. When I first came here some 10 years ago I can distinctly remember being thrilled at the sheer variety of places to eat. When people come to visit I love to show them places that are in my mind quintessentially Toronto.

Normally I take them to the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar obviously, as I enjoy setting up a tasting menu with Chef Nemeth and then selecting interesting, leftfield wines to match. Quite honestly, I love the Wine Bar and I truly get a kick out of showing our place off.

I’d like to take them to the Queen West location of Terroni (720 Queen Street West) for the Funghi Assoluti, a buffalo mozzarella Insalata Caprese and perhaps a Smendozzata pizza, washed down with a couple of pints of ice-cold Creemore Springs. Terroni was actually the first Toronto restaurant that I ever visited (many moons ago), and even with the recent expansion the restaurant still holds dear memories for me.

A couple of years back I became a member of Toronto’s Spoke Club (600 King Street West). I used to pop in there with Jamie Kennedy for the odd drink after work and to chat with our good friend Paul Boehmer (who was the Spoke’s Chef at the time), and eventually I decided that it would be a good idea to become a member. I like to take visitors to the Spoke’s rooftop patio on one of those classic Toronto hot summer nights. The view is superb, has to be the best patio in the city. And the staff know me so well that more often than not they have my drink poured before I actually make it to the bar. Now that’s the kind of service I enjoy…

Your favourite place to grab a couple of drinks and hang out where everybody knows your name?

There has been one little spot that has really become my “local” over the last 3 years or so, The Communist’s Daughter (1149 Dundas West). And it is rarely that I will go for a week without spending the best part of an evening there. I have so many fond memories of “The Commie”. It’s actually another place that I make a point of taking visitors to. I even have a pewter tankard with my name on it behind the bar… seriously! The live Gypsy Jazz sessions early on Saturday evening are Toronto’s best kept secret. Witnessing the infamous barman Michael J pouring you a pint of MacLeans Pale Ale as he sings the classic “A Kiss To Build A Dream On” (and then launch into a trumpet solo!) is pure stone-cold Toronto through and through.

What’s coming up?

Well I am pretty damn excited about the wine podcasts that I have been putting together recently. Entitled Jamie Drummond and Friends: On Wine the format is basically me chatting irreverently about wine-related topics with winemakers, chefs, sommeliers, artists, musicians, etc. They will be available shortly through www.jamiekennedy.ca.

So far I have recorded 3 shows, one with Brad Long (Executive Chef the Air Canada Centre and presenter of the Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover show), Kym Tolley (Winemaker from Penley Estate, Coonawarra, Australia) and Gray Hartley (Winemaker from Hitching Post, California). I have some pretty interesting (and surprising!) guests lined up for the coming months

A little bit of trivia for you: I needed a jingle for the podcast, as all podcasts have a cheesy jingle at the beginning and end, but I really didn’t want to use stock music. So I asked my good pal Tim Goldsworthy of uberhip NYC production duo DFA if he would mind coming up with something, and lo and behold, he custom wrote a little jazzy laidback number for me specifically to use as a jingle for the show. I was blown away. I guess it’s the only podcast with a jingle of that kind of calibre…

Photo credit: Mary Armstrong