Lakeview Revisited

As much as I love gourmet, barbecue will always be my ultimate - and unapologetic - favorite. If my next meal had to be my last, it would be smoked. When I say barbecue, I'm not talking about hot dogs, I'm talking about slow-cooking: ribs, brisket, and the favorite - pulled pork. My quest to find the best pulled pork in the city is what originally brought me to Lakeview, but other devilish items brought me back.

After some brief correspondence with Derek Newall, the executive chef of Lakeview, I was invited in for a chat. It turns out that Derek and I both worked at Urban Restaurant in Toronto. I was a prep cook, peeling shrimp for hours, and he was an executive sous chef, working alongside executive chef Robert Mutch. When I was there, Urban had great items on the menu, including a beef steak sourced from a Mennonite farm, and aged for 28 days.

Derek Newall

Derek began his training at George Brown in Toronto. Growing unsatisfied with the program, he went on to cut his teeth at Splendido under David Lee. Derek feels that he did most of his learning there, citing a change in staff that allowed him to have greater creative control, while working with noted pastry chef Charmaine Baan. A source of pride for Derek is his hand in bringing Splendido to #1 in Toronto Life during his time there. No rookie, he's also worked at The Bloor Street Diner/Eatertainment, and MEATing at the Bottom Line.

At Lakeview, Derek enjoys the downtime that a 24-hour restaurant provides, "It let's me experiment and do more from scratch". When I arrived at the restaurant, Derek was half-way through a tasting with the owners. He's currently developing menu items, one of which I managed to get a sneak sample of.

Derek is genuinely excited for the ambitious future of Lakeview, which includes the opening of a satellite kitchen, which will function as a market and catering prep area for the restaurant and the public. He's thrilled to be able to design the kitchen from the ground up. The kitchen's revolutionary scanning and organizing system will help him "facilitate the inventory side of the business, which is always at odds with the creative side". The kitchen will allow Derek to indulge in a favorite aspect of his work - shopping for random items and getting the creative process going. However, like a true chef, his favorite thing to cook is "whatever uses up the leftovers".

Next time you're at Lakeview, Derek recommends the Ossington Massive breakfast, the Lakeview burger, and the Poutine Lakeview: with sweet potato and fresh cut fries, cheese curds, peameal bacon, garlic onion crunch, sauteed mushrooms, and house gravy.

So the new menu item? An evil genius eggs benedict, consisting of a cheddar cheese biscuit, topped with a corn flake crusted chicken filet, poached egg, and country gravy. You're going to want to try this.

GG