This isn’t the first year that Marc Cohen, chef of Lawrence, has spearheaded Mission Possible, a fundraiser for the Mile End Community Mission.
But it was the first time I went. The goal isn’t to sing the praises of the amazing restaurants, cafés and wine agencies that donate food, drink and staff for the evening, but I wanted to post pictures of this year’s event so you can see how amazing it was and encourage you to
a) give to the Mission any other time of the year (like now – you can donate money, items or volunteer, like Marc and his team at Lawrence do once a month) or
b) go next year.
And if you happen to also want to eat more often at any of the great restaurants that participated, all the better.
A little about the Mission: its mandate is to help create a “safe and welcoming community which meets the practical, emotional and spiritual needs of those who need it the most in the area of Mile End.” It has a food bank but also weekly community meals, a second hand clothing shop, a dental clinic, a community art program and a legal clinic. It helps impoverished and isolated people who are sometimes dealing with physical and mental illness, addiction or homelessness. This year, the Mission expects to serve more than 14,000 meals and fill 10,000 food bags.
Here’s how the benefit dinner worked:
Every restaurant or café was in charge of one of the nine services (plus two hors d’oeuvres contributors, and I’m including Hof Kelsten’s bread as a service unto itself, because it should be). Each dish was paired with a wine from some of the city’s top wine import agencies.
The ticket was $325 but because the Mission is a registered non-profit organization, guests receive a tax receipt for $225. Music came from Martha Wainwright, Shlomo & Julie, and Jeff Louch, and the location was the Rialto Theatre, so acoustics were good.
The most amazing thing to me was that even though all these restaurants were sharing a kitchen to put out maybe 50 or so plates for each service (served family style), every single one managed to make me a special gluten free, dairy free dish. This was incredible. And the most spectacular thing was that every course I was given was amazing.
Here’s what we ate:
Oysters from Choice Harbour and La Mer and aburi oshizushi (pressed sushi) from Park Restaurant:
Charcuterie and pickles from Lawrence (the pistachio paté was amazing) with sourdough bread from Hof Kelsten. (I ate it before I took a picture. Sorry.)
Seafood salad with marinated peppers and pesto from Nora Gray and a replacement dish of roasted peppers and pickled green beans:
A replacement seafood salad for the pasta I couldn’t have from Impasto and roasted poblanos with ricotta, corn and chanterelles from Loïc: 
I didn’t get the chicken and porcini sausage with onions from Maison Publique or the tagliolini with artichoke and lamb ragu from Hostaria, but I did get this incredible mushroom, greens and radish dish, below. Here’s the cavatelli with tomato sauce, nduja and aged caciocavallo cheese from Impasto on the right:
By now we were stuffed, but we couldn’t turn down the next dish of roasted smoked duck from Joe Beef and charred coleslaw and pickled peaches from Foxy:
Other people got an apple and caramel tart from Patisserie Rhubarbe, but she made me this gorgeous dessert of rolled apple slices above a vanilla-infused apple compote. It was one of my favourite restaurant desserts of the year and it wasn’t even a restaurant:
And Chocolates from Les Chocolats de Chloé, which I didn’t snap a shot of before heading out. It was a weeknight, after all, and unlike too many restaurant industry parties, it didn’t turn into a messy evening. Or maybe I didn’t stay long enough? Either way, I wanted to say thanks to the drink providers. The pairings were very impressive and came from the city’s pros.
Beer came from Microbrasserie Helm and Bierbrier and wine pairings came from Oenopole, Balthazard, Syl-vins, Glou, Soif, La QV, Maitre de Chai, Bacchus 76, RéZin, Boires, Primavin and Planvin. And coffee came from Café Myriade.
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