George Brown College Dining Room Siegfried’s
by R Henderson
George Brown Dining Room (Siegfried's) is located in the Centre for Hospitality and Tourism at:
300 Adelaide Street East (Click for Map)
Toronto, Ontario M5A 1N1
Reservations Tel: 416-415-2260
Why is it that on the day of the event Toronto is slated for the snow storm of the year? And no Army to help out. There were only a few no-shows due to weather. Anyone from that other great culinary city Montréal would take it in their stride and enjoy the tribulations of a real Canadian winter snow storm. A good snow storm is a lot of fun if you a silly enough to drive a car!
George Brown College has been producing some of Canada’s best chefs and certainly some of the great names on the Toronto scene.
The school actually turns out 1200 hospitality students a year (Chef John Higgins, Director of the George Brown Chef School) and the IW&FS honours one of these aspiring young Chefs selected by the College each year with a bursary toward their studies. The GBC hopes to double the program in the next two years.
The event was graciously organized by the beautiful and exquisitely charming Jeannine Pharand-Theyer Dining Room, Catering & Event Manager. Jeannine, originally from Montréal
has brought her skill set to bare not only in teaching classes to these aspiring students but well past the dilictual work day Jeannine and John kept a very watchful eye on her young protégées. They were flawless in execution and attentiveness. Job well done!
When I first saw the menu I was excited. After all, how can you make chicken exciting? Chef Li and his crew of 24 Students 
made it exciting, succulent and delightfully delicious. Served by hovering Staff attentive of your every need. I was amazed and pleased that no one had to ask for anything. Even in the best of Toronto Restaurants sometimes the serving Staff forget that your there. Not in this case, these young Students are already very good Professionals. Jeannine, they have learned their lessons well.
Dinner:
Crabmeat salad with leek and potatoes with Olive Oil and lime dressing
Butternut squash soup
Supreme of chicken stuffed with a duxelles of mushrooms
Strawberry chocolate cake on Gold Rum anglaise
Coffee / Tea
It was a pleasure to partake of the creations of this innovative talent and push them to be their best. This was very exciting combined with our Cellar Master’s selections.
Wines:
Regaleali Blanco 2005
Tusca d’Almerita (Scicily)
Moulin A Vent, 1999
Georges Duboeuf (Beaujolais)
Vina Pomal, 2000
(Rioja)
Fine White Port
Quinta Do Noval (Portugal)
The wines by D. Jarvis;
The Regaleali Blanco is a nice crisp acidic wine from Sicily that will cut through the crab meat and cleanse the palate. It was unexpected and astonished all of us. Parker's Comments on the Regaleali - it's an unusual wine apparently others have recognized it as well as I just discovered this note...
“This winery, better known as Tasca d'Almerita, has been a consistent entry into The Wine Advocate's best buy reports for their value-priced wines from Sicily. Considering how far south they are, these wines possess remarkable freshness, as evidenced by the 2005 Bianco IGT, a blend of such indigenous grapes as Inzolia, Catarratto, and Grecanico. No malolactic is employed for this crisp, elegant white. Aromas of green apples, white peaches, and lemon zest emerge from its medium-bodied, fruity personality. With good acidity and a superb finish, this stunning 2005 will drink well for 1-2 years”. Allocated: 90 points.
The Moulin a Vent is a solid Beaujolais made with gamay but with a core granitic minerality behind the red cherry fruit that should have some strength to match the soup because of it's natural fruitiness.
The Vina Pomal tempranillo - not entirely sure the blend of grapes on this wine, but, there will be some tempranillo - good red fruit, some coffee / earthy / tea characters / aromas - solid structure (acid and tannins).
The fine white port (don't bother learning the grapes - you'll never remember them or even pronounce them) - not many things go with chocolate - hopefully this does.
GBC Hospitality Centre deserves the highest accolades. We will
be back! I think the ratio of staff to guests was 4 to 1.
Our oldest Guest Mr. Gerald South (92) said, “This is the best I have been to”. 
After the dinner there was much feed back that we should do this one more often. So while the IW&FS of Toronto is absent, here is the contact for those who want to go back on their own:
Jeannine Pharand-Theyer
Dining Room, Catering & Event Manager
The George Brown Chef's School
300 Adelaide Street,
Toronto, ON M5T 2T9
Telephone: 416-415-2518
Fax: 416-415-2788
e-mail: jpharand@georgebrown.ca
Aspiring Young Chefs
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
International Wine & Food Society
of Toronto