When the Culinary Adventure Company started up in April 2011, the idea for the entire endeavour was literally one borne out of love. Picture an exuberant travelling chef who is facing a crossroads in his life, and who decides to give up his wandering ways by setting down some roots in Toronto. Now envision this worldly chef, known as Scott Savoie, somewhat ironically finding himself in a new city without any concrete ideas as to where to…well…eat. Enter the heroine of this story, the feisty but practical Tania Daviduke. Scott and Tania build their courtship around her remarkable tour-guide skills as a major Toronto foodie, and together they travel from India, to China, to Italy (or, more accurately, from Gerrard Street, to Spadina Avenue, to College Street). As their relationship grows, so does their taste for exploring the city, with food as the focus. “Wouldn’t it be great to combine our knowledge and skills into fantastic culinary ‘adventures’ for locals and tourists?” they dream. Well, as of today, October 2011, that dream is now a successful reality, with Scott and Tania at the helm of multiple tours, events, and classes that are happening in Toronto each month.

It all began in the spring, with a calendar of specialized cooking classes that were titled “The Ultimate Canadian Ingredient…Cooking with Ontario Maple Syrup,” “Discover Ontario Lamb,” and “Meals on Reels…Menus from the Movies.” The pair were off to a great start, and there was still plenty in the pipeline for the summer, with one of the company’s first major events scheduled for the end of May—the highly anticipated Mushroom Hike. Chef Scott brought his fellow foragers deep into the Don Valley to discover an amazingly abundant crop of wild morel mushrooms, and guests on this urban expedition did not go home disappointed (or empty-handed), as is indicated by the telling photographs on the company’s website.

June, July, and August brought the warmer weather and the perfect backdrops for the company’s three headlining tours: A Chef’s Tour of Little Italy, the Leslieville Food & Cultural Walking Tour, and Escape the City…Canoe and Beach Dining Adventure. Each of these events happened once a week through to September, and while eager customers can sign up year-round for A Chef’s Tour of Little Italy, those who missed out on the Leslieville excursion (which runs until the end of October) and Canoe voyage (which is finished for the season) will have to wait until Spring 2012, when these events are due to return. A sample, however, of what awaits on the Leslieville Walking Tour includes an extremely comprehensive circuit with 11 stops at which customers will be guaranteed to be eating and drinking. Guests looking forward to the Canoe trip can pine for a paddle (by way of a traditional fur-trader freighter canoe) across Lake Ontario to the Toronto Islands, where they will drift through the bird sanctuary before hitting dry land to settle in for a picnic dinner and a view of the sunset on the beach. And the pièce de résistance? A nighttime canoe trip back to the harbourfront, during which the tour group sits on the water, taking in the Toronto skyline in all its glory before landing at the docks for a flambéed bananas foster dessert, which is prepared by Chef Scott himself as he lights up the shoreline with his culinary mastery.

The always-available Chef’s Tour of Little Italy is no less impressive, as this progressive dinner tour takes in three restaurants for a total of nine courses, two cocktails, and three wines. The kicker? The first establishment guests enter is a secret location that is a members’ only club modelled after, and run in the spirit of, a 1920s speakeasy. In other words, don’t ask for a Cosmopolitan, because it ain’t comin’. Classic drinks are the order of the day, and as the group moves on from what Chef Scott describes as “the best little bathtub-gin joint in town,” they will experience their second location of the circuit—a wildcard restaurant that might be debuting anything from a new menu to a new chef. Last on the Little Italy tour is a visit with Chef Howard Dubrovsky at LAB, which is, for those in the know, a delicious exercise in moderate Italian cuisine, complete with overtones of molecular gastronomy. What’s also great about the Little Italy tour (and many of the other company’s events) is that there is no fixed end to the evening—Scott and Tania encourage the delicious spontaneity that is so often associated with a fabulous meal and even more fabulous drinks.

Chef Scott’s personal anecdotes about the fantastic times he’s had with his tour groups could take up hours of conversation, but if you’re in doubt at all about whether to sign up for one of the company’s events, consider this: at this summer’s pop-up Seafood in the Sky event that took place on the rooftop of a downtown condo, Chef Scott served up seven courses that were each sourced, with the exception of the lobster, from the locally run and sustainable fishmonger Hooked. The lobster feast came, instead, from a personal acquaintance of the chef’s, a lobster fisherman in New Brunswick, with whom Chef Scott placed an order for 24 lobsters. These 24 lobsters were caught and put on a plane, and arrived in Toronto to be cooked and eaten in little more than 12 hours after they had left the ocean. Cue the weak knees and wild jealousy.

Don’t worry—there are many more chances to take part in first-class events such as the ones described above. In the upcoming months, check out Spanish Tapas in October, Holiday Party Entertaining in November, and Spanish Paella in December, all of which takes place in Olive & Olives, Toronto’s premier store that specializes in olive oil and other products from Spain. Each experience is also unique to both its title and the group that signs up for the event on a first-come, first-served basis (which is the policy for all listed company events—Scott and Tania are proud to be equal-opportunity foodies!).

Also in the works at the company are seafood cooking classes, food and wine pairing seminars, a second progressive dinner tour (this one in Leslieville), and the goal of six different tour options set to debut in the spring. No matter what the event, however, Scott and Tania always give it a trial run so their guests receive the best possible culinary experience while at the same time gaining the most bang for their buck. In fact, Scott and Tania jokingly refer to themselves as “the unofficial culinary ambassadors for the city of Toronto,” but , as it turns out, this is no joke, because in the eight months since the company began, this couple has created a business that truly offers some of the most unique insights into Toronto’s culinary past, present, and future. And, most importantly, they do it while whipping up an atmosphere of fun, excitement, and passion, which is, of course, where this dynamic duo started out in the first place.

Carla MacKay, My Destination Ontario
October 2011