A new dinner series at Prime Seafood Palace is bringing some of the country’s top culinary talent to Toronto
Chef Coulson Armstrong is jumping on the collaboration train
Too many cooks in the kitchen? Not anymore. This is the year of the restaurant collaboration, with chefs teaming up to offer unique experiences at a time when diners may be finding it harder to part with their hard-earned dollars.
Related: “FOMO is real”—Why one-night-only restaurant collaborations are taking over Toronto
Fresh off a collaboration with Aritzia (where he celebrated the grand opening of the Eaton Centre’s new flagship with an indulgent ice cream sundae), Prime Seafood Palace chef Coulson Armstrong has launched a new dinner series that will see him teaming up with some of the country’s hottest culinary talent.
“After Top Chef Canada came out, public relations representative Monica Narula started working with us,” says Armstrong. “She asked the team this question: If you chose what you wanted to do instead of waiting for it to come to you, what would it be? That set off a light bulb moment, where we realized we can start working with other chefs, inviting them to come to us and collaborate on dinners.” Thus, Coulson and Friends was born.
Coulson’s focus for the first three years at his swanky steakhouse on Queen West—which he co-founded with Matty Matheson—was building the restaurant’s own brand. But now, with the international recognition from his recent Top Chef Canada win, Armstrong has a new perspective on how PSP can coexist in other spaces with an emphasis on Canadian talent.
The first collaboration dinner was with Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon, followed by a pairing with Southern Rhône winery Château de Beaucastel. Coulson soon realized he had a good thing going and decided to extend the series. Up next: the team from Montreal’s Mon Lapin will join him in the PSP kitchen on June 17 to highlight the vegetables grown on Blue Goose Farms in Fort Erie.
Related: These Toronto chefs are redefining farm-to-table cooking
“We’ve been planning this menu for over three months now, allowing Blue Goose farmers Keenan and Ashley to grow the vegetables in preparation for this,” Coulson says. “Vegetables are important to what we do at Prime Seafood Palace—and they get the same care and attention that a great cut of meat gets.”
Other chefs gracing PSP’s kitchen in the coming months include Alex Kim (Vancouver’s Five Sails), Katy Cheung (Vancouver’s Burdock and Co.) and Toronto’s own David Schwartz (Sunnys Chinese, Mimi Chinese, Linny’s).
Stay tuned to PSP’s Instagram account for dinner dates and tickets.
Dylan Muñoz is a writer and recipe developer based in Toronto (and sometimes France). His work covers food, design and travel. Muñoz has written for Food Network Canada, CBC Life, Designlines, the Toronto Star, Fashion magazine and more. You can find him at @dylanmakes on Instagram or sunbathing somewhere in Mallorca.
