Tasting T.O. with Brian Will

Brian Will is the founder and editor of ChefDb, The Chef and Restaurant Database. Brian started ChefDb as a part-time hobby during a 2003 sabbatical in Edinburgh, where he maintained the site throughout his travels across the UK and Europe. After returning to Toronto, Brian enlisted his father, George, to help populate the database. By the end of 2008, ChefDb will have grown to almost 40,000 listings from 15,000 people in over 100 countries. Despite the temptation to turn his efforts into something that would pay the bills, Brian continues to keep his day job as a marketing technology manager at a law firm in Toronto.

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

St. Louis Wings (595 Bay Street & other locations) serves up Hotter than Hell drumsticks for under $10, but with no money left for beer, what's the point? During the week I usually grab a salad at Greenleaf's (First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West) or soup from Soup Nutsy (TD Centre, 222 Bay Street). On the weekend, either a sub from Subway (259 King Street East & other locations) or sometimes fish & chips from Buster's at the back of the St. Lawrence Market (92 Front Street East).

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

My early dinner seating would be at Pangaea (1221 Bay Street). The ingredients are always local and seasonal - I can still recall the heirloom tomato salad a couple summers ago that was the epitome of "fresh". The offal or game meats are always my entrée choices. A limo would then take me to a private jet, fuelled and waiting at the Island airport, and whisk me to Napa for the second seating at The French Laundry. Failing Napa, some late-night cheeses and dessert wine around the corner at Truffles (Four Seasons, 21 Avenue Road) would suit me just fine.

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

"Cook for myself" is not a phrase I use very often, but when I do cook it's usually a steak from any number of places in the St. Lawrence Market (92 Front Street East) or just the meat counter at my 24-hour Sobeys (197 Front Street East & other locations).

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

Lately it's been Spring Rolls (85 Front Street East & other locations) for mango salad and beef Ho Fun. Plenty of leftovers the next day too.

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

My Mum and I seem to end up in Yorkville a lot - either Trattoria Nervosa (75 Yorkville Avenue) for pizza or Jacques' Bistro du Parc (126 Cumberland Street). We’ve been going to Jacques since the Jacques' Omelettes days. The French Onion soup is exceptional and we’d probably still go if the only item on their menu was the Gateau St. Honoré.

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

You can sometimes find me leaning on the bar at Betty's (240 King Street East) or beerbistro (18 King Street East) with a flight of beers in front of me. I suspect neither of these places knows my name though, which suits me just fine as I don’t know theirs.

What's coming up?

Hard to say, really. I'd love to incorporate some networking opportunities on ChefDb, instead of it being only a repository of information. The site could use a facelift as well - it hasn't fundamentally changed since being created in 2003. Finding the time, money and energy for these efforts, well...

Tasting T.O. is a regular feature where we ask local artists, writers, musicians, foodies and other personalities about their favourite places to eat and drink in the city. If you or someone you know would like to be featured in an upcoming instalment - especially if you have an upcoming event, gig, release, etc. to promote - please get in touch.