At The Pass with Dominique Beaudry Wright
🕒 3.5 min read
At The Pass is a weekly series showcasing Toronto’s best chefs. You won’t find any celebrity chefs featured here. Perhaps you already know these fine cooks, but maybe not. They’re not famous - yet. But it’s time these talented, passionate, hard-working chefs got a bit of the spotlight.
Currently
Kitchen manager, Extra Burger
Formerly
Aside from helping in my camp’s kitchen growing up (prepping food for 100 people) I do not have prior kitchen experience!
Favourite dish to make right now
Soft scrambled eggs.
Last cookbook purchase
Ship to Shore: Straight Talk from the Seafood Counter by John Bil
Have you read it/tried any recipes
Not yet. But I’m excited to try the clam chowder recipe. I bought it because I couldn't get behind seafood as a kid, but I’ve come around and now I love it. So I want to get to know the things I didn’t understand about it so I can be a master!
One dish or ingredient you’d like to see gone from menus
Anything plagiarized.
And one dish or ingredient that you’re excited about right now and would like to see on more menus
Kimchi. I haven’t tried making it myself yet but I do plan on it. it’s so delicious from PAT Mart on Bloor and The Local Market on Queen. I find it’s yummy with almost anything! And it's got good probiotics in it, which is always a plus.
Biggest influences
Leonard Cohen and my family.
If you could eat at any restaurant in the world
Bar Brutal in Barcelona.
Last thing you ate
A McDouble.
Three must-have ingredients always in your fridge
Louisiana Hot Sauce, Butter, Mushrooms.
Guilty pleasure
Rock ‘n Roll Part 2 by Gary Glitter. And hot dogs, although in all honesty, no food is a guilty pleasure in my mind because there’s nothing to feel guilty about when it comes to eating!
Top 3 favourite Toronto restaurants
Donna’s, Bar Isabel, and Superpoint.
Top 3 favourite Toronto bars
Black Dice, Ted’s Collision, and Echo Karaoke Bar.
One habit you have in the kitchen that you should lose, but can’t seem to shake
Using things around me as percussion instruments.
And one habit you have in the kitchen that will inspire young chefs
Cleanliness.
Hidden talent
Breaking down cardboard boxes.
Best career advice you ever received
“Make sure your days off are days off.” - Rob Jones, a partner at Extra Burger
Worst career advice you ever received
“Don’t get into the restaurant industry.”
Your advice for a young cook starting out in the business
Don’t say “I know” all the time. Being teachable is the best quality to have.
In order to support chefs during this time, the monthly At The Pass series is now WEEKLY. Know someone in Toronto or GTA who should be featured? Submit their name for consideration. And yes, you can nominate yourself.
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