Cook hard

Cookies Unite showcases the talents
of Montreal’s unknown line cooks

CHAMPIONING CULINARY CREATIVITY: Gita Seaton

by MARK SLUTSKY

For every superstar chef, there are dozens of line cooks toiling in obscurity. Montreal’s kitchens are teeming with talent, but we rarely get a chance to sample their creativity and culinary ideas. After taking part in a “chef appreciation event” in Ottawa, local chef de partie Gita Seaton (formerly of Reservoir and Club de Chasse et Pêche) decided to do something about that.

Cookies Unite, a new series of monthly meals she’s organizing at Dépanneur Le Pick-Up, is meant to showcase the skills of our city’s anonymous line cooks. “The fact is that big chefs here already have something like this where they deservedly get to pat each other on the back,” she says. “However, there’s no such function for their hyper-talented line cooks.”

“This is for the those kids, many of whom have never had a chance to create and cook a menu of their own. They’ll get their name put out there—probably for the first time—while we get a chance to eat and learn and socialize in an environment that isn’t, initially anyhow, a drunken mess.”

Cynthia Sitaras, chef de partie at Club de Chasse et Pêche, will be the first guest chef, on Monday, May 3, with a Greek-themed menu. June will see Phil Viens, sous-chef at DNA, present an Italian meal and in July, Mark Tan, the day chef de cuisine at XO, will serve up an Asian-themed dinner. As the event is not-for-profit, the meals will only cost $30, inexpensive for the calibre of talent on display. “The money only covers the costs of the event,” Seaton says. “It limits the cooks a bit—it will be hard to throw truffles and lobster at us because the budget is so tight. But that’s what makes this event interesting too—how much can they do within the boundaries set out?”

Seaton expects a crowd of Montreal cooks at the event, but emphasizes that everyone with a sense of culinary curiosity is welcome too. “These cooks are going to show what they can do,” she says. “They’re talented and hard-working. This is their chance, their pride on the line. They are going to cook hard!”

COOKIES UNITE TAKES PLACE AT
DÉPANNEUR LE PICK-UP ON MONDAY,
MAY 3, 7P.M. TIX ARE $30; FOR RESERVATIONS,
E-MAIL GEATZY@GMAIL.COM