What’s on the menu at NishDish, Toronto’s new Anishinabe café
Chef Johl Whiteduck Ringuette’s Anishinabe catering company, NishDish, moved into the old Tacos El Asador space earlier this month. Since then, the all-day weekend brunch menu has had people lining up along Bloor West, waiting patiently for braised bison short ribs with eggs and cedar tea. During the week, there’s no à la carte menu. Instead, Whiteduck Ringuette serves a rotating selection of dishes informed by his catering gigs: dandelion-cranberry salad, elk with cranberries, roasted buffalo, thyme- and sage-spiced pheasant and a variety of stews. “My father was a hunter, fisher and trapper, and he taught us how to snare and clean rabbits at a young age, but I never learned about indigenous cooking,” says Whiteduck Ringuette. “I talked to all the kokums [grandmothers] to find out what traditional food is.” Using this knowledge, he closes the store every Monday to teach a culinary class to a group of indigenous youth.
690 Bloor St. W., 416-855-4085, nishdish.com, @nishdishmarketeria
Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.
