Fancy Feasts: top Toronto caterers who will cook the perfect dinner for one or 100
When he’s not running Ici, his quaint corner bistro on Harbord, J. P. Challet extends his winning Gallic hospitality as a personal chef at your next dinner party. Challet is a certified sommelier, so he offers deluxe wine pairings with every elegant French staple: a Niagara rosé with his chèvre-shallot tart, a Bordeaux red with seared duck magret and, for dessert, an icewine with crème brûlée. From $60 a person. 416-536-0079, jpco.ca.
It takes three hours to eat one of Massimo Bruno’s colossal family-style dinners. The chef, who grew up on the southern Italian coast, spends a whole day preparing a cavalcade of heaping, simple Puglian plates: fresh-baked focaccia, eggy hand-cranked tajarin noodles dressed in butter and sage, whole branzini spangled with sea salt and Florentine steaks grilled on a portable charcoal barbecue. $100 a person. 416-558-3360, massimobruno.com.
At Samuel J. Moore, the restaurant in the Victorian-era Great Hall, chef Alexandra Feswick whips up elegant food for schmoozy Queen Westers. She brings the same polish to private events—she’ll even cook for a party of two. She specializes in bistro dishes with a twist, like a hand-chopped bone marrow and sirloin burger with stilton, and chiffony duck carpaccio paired with pistachios and pickles. $100 a person. 416-897-8348.
In an earlier life, Neil Noseworthy cooked on tour for U2 and the Rolling Stones; Mick Jagger liked his food so much, he hired Noseworthy as his personal chef. He mostly produces upscale continental dishes like herb-crusted rack of lamb, butter-poached lobster and beef tenderloin, but he’s just as adept with international cuisines: he recently designed an Egyptian-themed menu of baharat salmon, tabbouleh and lamb kebabs. From $20 a person. 416-418-6029.
