Christopher McDonald is one of Canada's most respected chefs,
known for a creative, first-principles approach to cooking,
and an exceptional knowledge of the intricate relationships
between food and wine.
Born in Toronto and growing up in New York and later Toronto,
his childhood and early interest in food was conditioned by
his mother Marion Grudeff’s career as a concert pianist
and Broadway musical writer in New York. After returning to
New York in 1979 to work in Dodin Bouffant, one of the city's
finest French restaurants, McDonald embarked on what would become
a 15-year educational odyssey of learning both the spoken and
culinary languages of the world's great cuisines, studying at
the famed La Varenne Cooking School, travelling to Verona, Italy,
where he worked as the chef of La Bottega del Vino, and opening
the kitchens of two world-famous luxury hotels in Mexico. His
international travels also took him to San Francisco, where
he cooked at both Stars and Chez Panisse, and to Santa Fe, New
Mexico, where he worked at the renowned Coyote Café for
Mark Miller, for whom he developed the menu at Coyote Café's
Las Vegas incarnation.
In Canada, McDonald has been influential in bringing his experience
to several acclaimed projects, acting as chef at the VIP lounge
of the Ontario pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver; as chef de
cuisine at Centro, a project that introduced the emerging California
cuisine to Toronto; as opening chef at Santa Fe Bar and Grill
in Toronto, a highly successful project showcasing his southwestern
and Mexican culinary skills; and at Massimo Rosticceria in 1990,
which drew on an intensely personal vision that grew out of
his experience in Italy.
After spending 15 years refining his craft in the finest restaurants
throughout the world, chef Christopher McDonald opened Avalon
restaurant in Toronto in 1995. Avalon was McDonald’s 11-year
project investigating the culinary boundaries of urban fine
dining. Two years after Avalon's daily a la carte menu opened
to rave reviews in 1994, McDonald introduced an ambitious six-course
gastronomic menu. Avalon continued to push culinary boundaries
with the addition of the "Adventure Menu," a perfectly
orchestrated sequence of several small plates incorporating
exceptional ingredients, each reflecting a different method
of cooking and paired with wines that together created a symphonic
progression of flavours. In 2004, Avalon introduced its own
artisanal cured-meat program, a labour-intensive and delicious
exploration that was expanded at Cava.
Cava, which opened in May 2006, grows out of McDonald’s
desire to return to the exploration of more rustic culinary
themes, and to establish a neighbourhood restaurant with a more
casual tone.
Doug Penfold is a working business partner in Cava, acting as
chef and responsible for leading the kitchen team, which comprises
several top cooks from Avalon’s renowned kitchen. Doug’s
working relationship with Chris McDonald extends back several
years, when he worked in Avalon’s kitchen in 2001.
He
has cooked professionally for over 15 years, working in the
kitchens of some of Toronto’s top restaurants with a number
of influential chefs as a journeyman and sous-chef. Born
in Edmonton, Doug grew up in Vancouver, where he started working
in the industry at the age of 15. He came to Toronto in early
1990s, working in the kitchens of Jump and Canoe, at JK ROM
with Jamie Kennedy, at Nouveau Parigo (with Elaina Asselin),
at Pastis (with Claude Bouillet), and at Easy on the Fifth (with
Didier LeRoy and Masayuki Tamaru). He ran the kitchens of Patriot
and Provence and most recently, Biff’s, where he worked
with Anthony Walsh.
Toronto
architecture studio 3rd Uncle collaborated on Cava’s design (special thanks to partner
Paul Syme for his overarching sense of smart pragmatic modernism
and Jenny Francis for her thorough attention to detail)
Cava’s graphic design and identity are the work of the
Toronto-based Concrete In particular, the wry visual wit of John Pylypczak with his
ability to harness nose to tail and turn it into two-dimensional
tongue-in-cheek.
Per Kristiansen is a Toronto based commercial photographer. His
work can be viewed at: www.perkristiansen.com.
The website was designed by Mats Unnerholm
  
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