Local chef, restaurant earns gold recognition
A Fonthill chef and restaurant have been recognized for the quality of their food and use of local ingredients in a national food competition.
ZEST Kitchen and head chef of five years, Anthony Greco, received gold recognition from the Food Day Canada’s and Good Food Innovation Awards.
Greco said the restaurant has participated in the awards for three years. This is the second time one of its menus has received a gold award and before that it earned silver.
Food Day Canada is an annual initiative that focuses on celebrating chefs and restaurants that use locallysourced ingredients. Likewise, the Good Food Innovation Awards, hosted by the University of Guelph, seeks out local chefs and restaurants that build their menus with local ingredients and support local farmers.
Anita Stewart, founder of Food Day Canada and food laureate at the University of Guelph, said the judging this year was really difficult because of how many great entires submitted.
“They’ve understood the message: shopping locally is important,” Stewart said of seeing so many new chefs and restaurants submitting their menus.
For the awards, a panel of judges looked over the menus and where the restaurants source their food from to determine the winners. The winners for 2017 were announced on Dec. 1 last year.
Greco said the win not only highlights the restaurant and its menu, but also his own achievements as a chef. It’s a boost to both reputations and helps put them on the map.
He said a number of the restaurants that also received gold recognition are larger establishments that can seat hundreds of people with numerous chefs and cooks on staff. To have ZEST, which is a team of himself and three others cooking and can seat 42 people, included among that group is something he said is impressive.
Gold award winners receive more than just recognition, however.
“If you get a gold medal, then you get to go cook at the James Beard House which is like the Oscars for chefs,” Greco said of the Manhattan, NY- based establishment.
Stewart said many of the chefs feel there is really no Canadian equivalent to the James Beard House. When the group goes down there, she said they will also be bringing some local ingredients to work with.
Another win for Greco is being able to showcase the local farmers and resources that contribute to the food he makes every day for ZEST’s patrons.
He said the staff use only local and seasonal ingredients for its dishes. That means the menu is constantly changing, but being able to support the local industry is important to the team. That hasn’t limited what they can offers as there are still a variety of choices either, though it does focus predominantly on Canadian cuisine.
The restaurant has been a part of the Pelham community for 15 years and Greco said it’s continuing to grow. It’s pretty regularly busy, with lots of locals stopping in to dine. More and more out- of- towners are coming to ZEST too, though, which he said is great to see.
Other Niagara winners include Chef Stephen Treadwell and Treadwell Cuisine in Niagara- on-the-Lake, who also received a gold award. Peller Estates Restaurant in Niagara- on- the- Lake and Ravine Vineyard Estate in St. Davids. Honourable mentions include The Garrison House in Niagara- on- the-Lake and Good Earth Food and Wine from Beamsville.