Besides
our very own Chuck Hughes, David Adjey is probably the world’s biggest
celebrity chef to visit Montreal since Gordon Ramsey came here more than a year
ago for his short-lived experiment as partner in the Laurier BBQ operation.
Adjey,
dubbed “the most unconventional chef on television” for his tough-love approach to cooking and his
“tell it like it is” attitude to culinary management, is
perhaps best known as one of the hosts of Food NetworkCanada’s Restaurant Makeover and a new
show called The Opener.
A native
of Toronto, he graduated at the top of his class from the Culinary Institute of
America in New York and has worked in kitchens across the globe. On October 24, Rib ‘N Reef Steakhouse & Cigar Lounge on Decarie was supposed to host its
second annual fundraising endeavor with proceeds benefiting the Traumatic Brain Injury Program/Concussion Clinic of
the Montreal Children’s Hospital and The Head Trauma Unit of Sainte-JustineUniversity Hospital Center. It has now been cancelled and will reportedly be rescheduled next spring.
I sat
down with Adjey and Katsoudas last week, when the event was still set to take place.
Here is my video interview:
Any
chance Adjey will open his own restaurant in Montreal? “This might be my
audition,” he quipped.
 |
| Katsoudas and Adjey. |
Adjey
said he was last in Montreal to film an episode of The Opener.
One
of Adjey’s most interesting projects of late is his fast-food chicken franchise
in the making called The Chickery on
Spadina Avenue in Toronto. “We already have a Tim Hortons of chicken in Swiss Chalet,” he says. “I just think there’s room for us to be the
Starbucks of chicken.”
It is a simple concept, with two options: roast
chicken and chicken fingers. “The
roasted chicken is brined, given a rub
containing 15 spices such as smoked
paprika, brown sugar, and dried mustard
and then spit-roasted,” he explains. “We soak the chicken fingers in a
buttermilk batter for 24 hours, seasoned, dredged, and fried. Our side dishes
include mac and cheese, collard greens, squash, and an Asian slaw of nappa cabbage,
bok choy, cilantro, and purple cabbage.”
Kasoudas visited the establishment recently and was
impressed. Can a Montreal franchise be in our future? “I think it has the
possibility to succeed here,” he hints.
Adjey is also the author of
the acclaimed cookbook, Deconstructing the Dish, and was actor Dan Aykroyd’s former personal chef. He is one of the
most unconventional culinary personalities in North America, renowned for his
rough and tough exterior, his witty personality, and his burning passion for
food, reflected in the ultimate simplicity and elegance of his sensational
dishes.
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