Maple Leaf Tavern, the historic watering-hole at Gerrard and Pape, has a new executive chef and a renewed promise to open this spring.
Todd Morgan, also an owner of PORT restaurant in Pickering, bought the property in 2013. Chef Eric Wood was soon hired onto the kitchen team at PORT and to lead the kitchen at MLT. At that point, in November 2014, Wood thought early 2015 would be a safe estimate of when Maple Leaf Tavern would re-open.
As often happens with restaurant renovations, the project was bogged down waiting for permit approvals and other delays. By summer 2015, Wood told us he expected to open by September. Then the opening date was apparently pushed back again.
Word came by press release on Feb. 10 that Jesse Vallins had been hired away from the Saint to act as Maple Leaf Tavern's executive chef, joining co-chefs du cuisine Binhan Nguyen and Jonny O'Callaghan.
Wood is no longer a part of either restaurant.
"It didnt work, business wise, between the owners and me," he said. "I wanted to do something new, they supported that, and it was a long wait. No drama. I am happy about it, and its always nice to see a guy like Jesse come into a job you left." He went on to add, "At least it validates the project we worked for. I think its a great stage for him, and he's a phenomenal chef who will do really good things with it."
After his three-year run at the Saint (he was chef du cuisine at Trevor before that), we are interested to hear what Vallins has planned for MLT. He was kind enough to answer our questions by email.
What's the plan for the menu? The press release mentioned "tavern" a lot, but I think that's a word that means a lot of different things to different people. (To me, taverns are that (antiquated) style of bars that have mostly-opaque windows so wives can't see in.) What's going to make Maple Leaf Tavern different than other new restaurants in Toronto?
I think the word tavern has been used pretty widely by a lot of different places. Barberian's calls itself a tavern, and you could call other steakhouses like Peter Luger or Keens Steakhouse in New York taverns; places in Toronto like the Dakota and the Horseshoe are taverns; Gramercy and Minetta, despite being high-end and having Michelin stars, are taverns. So I think at this point, in 2016, despite the imagery it might invoke in yourself or anyone else, in my opinion, a tavern can be what it likes so long as it follows one main theme — a sense of community, and warm, inclusive hospitality. Maybe some dark wood interior and decor, too. The food needs to be cuisine people know and understand, so even when we're at our most creative, the food needs to be familiar and comforting. As far as what's going to make us different, that's a bit more difficult to answer. We're the only restaurant at 955 Gerrard, for starters. I guess you'll just have to visit when we open.
I want to make sure I get your alcohol-related titles correct: You're both a certified sommelier and a certified cicerone, right? Do you know of any other Toronto chefs who have both?
Yes, I'm a certified sommelier, and a certified cicerone. I'm also a recognized beer judge through the BJCP. There are only a handful of people in North America who have both, and as far as I know, I'm the only chef.
Speaking of cicerones, do you know what role beer is going to play on the menu at MLT?
If you're talking about cooking with beer on the menu, there will be very little. It may seem strange coming from a guy who likes beer as much as I do, but I'm not a big fan of cooking with beer. I find it kind of pointless unless beer is the first liquid of choice for the recipe, and I don't find that very often. I'm not saying I don't do it; I use stout in my steak sauce, I make beer mustard, I poach prunes in beer for a great cheese condiment, I'll do the odd braise. I'm much more into pairings with beer. Pairings of all kinds, really. If you're talking about the beverage program, we're planning on having a tight but well-chosen beer program to cover the bases of what a good list needs. We'll have a rotating draft selection, which we'll try to keep as local as possible — for freshness, and because Ontario is an exciting place to drink beer right now. Our bottle list will be more international and focus on classics and quality.
Finally, any idea about the details that diners tend to focus on? Open for lunch or just dinner? Brunch? Will you be taking reservations? How many seats?
To start, we'll be open for dinner seven days a week, brunch on the weekend will follow as soon as we feel we're ready, and lunch after that. We will be taking reservations. About 120 seats.
Update: After this post was published, Todd Morgan, owner of Maple Leaf Tavern sent us this further explanation for why construction has taken as long as it has. "We have been active in the space for almost a year and a half," he writes. "Addressing structural concerns, relocated staircases, raising the basement ceiling height, by over two feet, and completely redoing the plumbing, electrical and HVAC. We are ensuring we address all structural and functional concerns as they expose themselves and are happy to have more time planning, refining our concept and getting operations down pat before the doors open."
