GALLERY: Catching up with Top Chef Canada’s Carl Heinrich at Kolapore Springs

By Renée Suen | May 11, 2012

By Renée Suen | 05/11/2012

Carl Heinrich at the wood-burning stove

Although we’ve been watching his progress as a contender on season two of Top Chef Canada, we haven’t heard much from Carl Heinrich since his February announcement that he was leaving his gig as head chef at Marben along with his culinary partner in crime Ryan Donovan. And while Donovan has teased followers with cryptic messages about the location of their new project, we recently got confirmation that something is indeed in the pipeline. Heinrich told us that he and Donovan will be opening up a restaurant in late July, where they’ll serve farm-to-table cuisine full of quality local ingredients and prepared with the classic technique the pair is known for. In the meantime, both Heinrich and Donovan have been busy working with West Side Beef and on various side projects. To get a taste of what diners will be in for, Heinrich invited us up to the Kolapore Springs fish hatchery near Collingwood, where he prepared a preview meal.

Kolapore Springs is a well-known supplier of sustainable trout for places like Hooked, and its products are used by many of Toronto’s top restaurants. After a hiking tour of the Kolapore Uplands with hatchery owner Sean Brady, Heinrich, sans electricity, prepared a feast using locally produced foods over a wood-burning stove. Guests were treated to an elaborate spread featuring Kolapore Springs trout, The New Farm vegetables, meats from West Side Beef and Dingo Farms and cheese from Monforte Dairy. Norman Hardie Winery supplied the tipple that washed everything down. Check out our gallery of the excursion and the feast that Heinrich and Donovan prepared »