Eddie Huang likes the flavour of Toronto
Host of Viceland show wants seconds after sampling city’s varied fare
Eddie Huang hesitates before he makes the proclamation and, coming from the proudly American chef, it’s a big one.
Toronto’s food scene is even “more interesting and diverse” than Los Angeles and New York, he says in an interview with the Star.
“I’m going to be flamed just saying that,” says the host of Viceland’s Huang’s World. “I really feel Toronto exceeded all expectations. The level of diversity is insane. America is very proud of the melting pot. But in Canada you can be Canadian but still be who you are.”
The multi-talented Huang is the owner of popular Taiwanese restaurants named BaoHaus in both New York and Los Angeles, where he is based. He’s also a chef, writer, fashion designer and his book provided the inspiration for the ABC television series Fresh Off the Boat.
(That little Eddie in the ABC sitcom who likes hip hop? That’s supposed to be Huang.)
In the second season of Huang’s World, Eddie checks out Toronto as well as Washington, Japan, Hawaii, New York and Peru. The show airs Tuesdays on Rogers’ Viceland, with the Toronto episode available online to viewers who already have access to that channel.
The travelogue isn’t about food necessarily, but food invariably provides Huang a lens to examine culture and identity in the series.
“I didn’t come into the game saying I want to make a travel show or a food show. The network wanted to do a travel and food show. They could have called it Horse and Hound, but I would still have looked at issues of race and culture,” he says.
The formula for Huang’s World is familiar to anyone who has seen CNN’s Parts Unknown with host Anthony Bourdain, though the Vice incarnation has a grittier esthetic in keeping with the millennial target audience and the 35-year-old Huang’s bad-boy persona.
Where it does suffer in the inevitable comparisons to Parts Unknown is the cinematography. CNN’s camera guys capture images unparalleled for a food show, making places such as Brooklyn look lush and exotic. Perhaps the Vice show is more honest: it doesn’t exoticize the locale.
The attraction here is Huang, anyhow. While Bourdain’s show has the benefit of news channel CNN’s veteran documentary team to help with production, Huang’s approach is fast, loose and guerrilla-style. The fact that he is a fish out of water is an advantage as he moves into communities and neighbourhoods that are off the radar for most.
“I really try to go out of my way to go to places where people really eat, that really represents the community,” Huang says. “That’s where the culture resides.”
He first visited Toronto on an invitation from fellow Vice network star and chef Matty Matheson. Looking to fill a prescription for a scratchy throat, Huang found himself at a food court in Mississauga.
“I walked around and there was Jamaican food, there was Indian food and I thought this is wild. This is like a night market right beside Walmart. Everyone had great accents and I thought, ‘This is paradigm-shifting. I have to come back here.’ ”
On his return, Huang deliberately targets local eateries. Don’t expect a visit to the usual suspects of top diners such as Buca, Alo or Scaramouche. In Scarborough, Huang is so pleased with the lobster at Fishman Lobster Clubhouse Restaurant that he promptly takes off his shirt to show his pleasure, as stunned patrons look on.
“It was hands down the best Cantonese seafood spot I’ve been to,” Huang says.
That’s high praise coming from the picky Chinese-American chef. “There are places with more refined cooking but, for a family-style restaurant, it’s the best.”
He also checks out George’s Tastee Foods in Markham for the Jamaican-style patties. And when he does visit an upscale establishment such as Harbour Sixty Steakhouse, it is really to talk to the predominantly Sri Lankan staff (although he does have a pretty awesome porterhouse).
Huang also does some “Canadian stuff,” including playing hockey, visiting the set of Degrassi and, oddly, throwing axes with journalist Jeffrey Dvorkin.
The visit, he says, made him want to make a return trip.
“It’s just an incredible city and it appreciates the fact that everyone is dynamic regardless of race.”