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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary, Top Chef Canada

Chef David Zilber on Top Chef Canada’s landmark Season 10: “It is a litmus test for the state of gastronomy in this country”

Top Chef Canada is celebrating its landmark 10th season this year, and the homegrown version is celebrating in style.

First, the season is being dubbed Top Chef Canada X, and is rife with newer, bigger challenges, devious twists and a new face on the judging panel in Chef David Zilber. Zilber, originally from Toronto, has worked in some of the top kitchens around the globe, most recently as head of the Fermentation Lab at the revolutionary three-Michelin-star restaurant NOMA in Copenhagen, ranked as the top restaurant in the world.

Returning Monday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network Canada, the first challenge for the chefs—the traditional showing off of knife skills—has its stress and energy level upped because they’re doing it outside in front of a crowd of people, host Eden Grinshpan and judge Janet Zuccarini. It only gets better from there.

As in past seasons, Top Chef Canada‘s casting team deserves a gold star for landing a diverse crop of chefs from across the country, serving up dishes celebrating their regions and backgrounds.

We spoke to David Zilber—who joins Grinshpan, Zuccarini, Mijune Pak, Mark McEwan and Chris Nuttall-Smith—ahead of Monday’s return.

How did you end up on Top Chef Canada as a judge?
David Zilber: I was a guest judge on Season 8 and I enjoyed it. It was fun and pretty inspiring and I meshed well with all of the other judges—some of them I had known before—and it was an honour to come back.

What are your thoughts on the Top Chef franchise overall?
DZ: It’s become a household name. It has launched whole careers. So many chefs from the U.S., Canada, and overseas, capture the hearts of a nation and become the next generation in food television or opening restaurants. In that regard, it’s a catapult for all of these people. The talent is real. It’s not like a reality TV show where they are getting the craziest personalities; these are the people with the chops to actually cut it. The number of former co-workers who have been on Top Chef Canada that I have worked alongside, I’ve looked up to or have taught me things, is extensive. It becomes a colosseum for culinary talent that champions a worthy contestant in the best sense.

What was the experience like being alongside the Top Chef Canada judges more long-term?
DZ: I’ve known Mijune for years, cooking for her in Vancouver and then at NOMA before I was ever a judge; Chris Nuttall-Smith I’ve known through his food writing and he did a profile on me years ago; I’ve cooked in Mark McEwan’s restaurants and he has cooked at places where I was a sous chef… there is actually a lot of culinary history in Canada. I say big country, small industry. So, I didn’t feel intimated, they knew me. [Laughs.] Sometimes on my good behaviour and sometimes on my not-so-good behaviour. Kitchens are heated places, what can I say?

On the judging panel, there are a lot of voices vying for a position, if you will. There are a lot of opinions. [Laughs.] It’s understanding what angle to take and what one’s specialty is. Mark might be looking more for the classical technique if that’s there. Mijune is super-poetic with her words. Chris is super-witty. That was the learning curve for me. What is my voice and how do I contribute to this in a way that is true to myself and not stepping on anyone else’s toes?

What are your thoughts on the 11 competitors this season?
DZ: I was supremely surprised at how good some of these cooks were. They were putting out two-star Michellin dishes in the time trials. There was a lot of talent. Early on, I could see who wasn’t going to last based on some of the Quickfire’s and lo and behold it turned out to be true. The chaff fell to the wayside quickly and what we were left with was strength on strength. And there were some sleepers; people who I thought wouldn’t last that long who ended up in it for the long haul.

It really is a litmus test for the state of gastronomy in this country and it’s a positive test at that because the contestants really show Canada’s mettle.

Top Chef Canada airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network Canada.

Image courtesy of Food Network Canada.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: The Great Lakes takes centre stage in TVO’s must-see Great Lakes Untamed

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I vividly recall where I was when I first watched Paddle to the Sea.

I was sitting, cross-legged, in my elementary school’s library with my fellow students and watched, transfixed. The 1966 National Film Board of Canada film, based on Holling C. Holling’s book of the same name, is the tale of an Indigenous boy who sets out to carve a man and a canoe. Calling the man Paddle to the Sea, the boy sets his carving down on a frozen stream to await spring. The film follows the adventures the canoe experiences on its long trip from Lake Superior to the Atlantic ocean. Directed by Bill Mason, I never forgot the film.

Neither did Ted Oakes. The veteran producer, director and biologist was so impacted by the film as a child—followed by meeting Mason and holding that carved canoe in his hands as an adult—that the result is Great Lakes Untamed.

Debuting Monday at 9 p.m. ET on TVO as well as on TVO’s YouTube channel, Great Lakes Untamed is a must-see three-part documentary that goes deep—sometimes literally—on the five lakes that straddle Canada and the United States.

Narrated by Allegra Fulton, Monday’s first instalment, “Source to Sea,” begins where little Paddle to the Sea did, at the headwaters of Lake Superior. It’s there that viewers are introduced to not only the water but the animals that depend on it for survival. Among them are the wolf and beaver, whose predator-prey relationship helps regulate the flow of clean water into the lakes. That clear water offers the filmmakers the opportunity to capture loons on the hunt for shiners and a few of the more than 500 documented shipwrecks claimed by the sometimes ferocious inland sea. Then it’s off to Lake Michigan, with over 12 million people surrounding its shores and the incredible Sleeping Bear Dune, a 55 km stretch of sandy wilderness created by glaciers and home to the endangered piping plover. Explorations to Lake Huron, Erie and Ontario follow.

To me, the best documentaries are ones where I am madly scrambling to write down something to look or later or grab my phone and Google it. Great Lakes Untamed had me doing that several times just in Episode 1.

“Source to Sea” is followed by “The Big Freeze,” which explores how animals, people and the landscape have been forged by snow and ice, on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET; and “Marvels and Mysteries,” which delves into how life and the landscape of the Great Lakes have adapted to changes in temperature that arrive each year, on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET.

Stunningly filmed, Great Lakes Untamed is at the top of my list of favourite nature documentaries made about this county second only to The Nature of Things‘ “The Wild Canadian Year.”

Great Lakes Untamed airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET, followed by “The Big Freeze” on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET and “Marvels and Mysteries” on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on TVO, as well as on TVO’s YouTube channel.

Image courtesy of Christian Dalbec Photography.

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Featured, Transplant

Preview: CTV’s Transplant kicks off Season 3 in shocking style

When we last left Bash, his career and those around him were at a crossroads. He was offered a job in the new trauma OR, but his mentor, Jed, left the hospital. Mags, meanwhile, aimed to change her residency, June was about to get a new roommate in the almost stepsister she didn’t know she had and Theo’s life was on the line following a helicopter crash.

So, yeah, there is a lot to address when the award-winning Transplant returns this Friday on CTV. Here’s what the network released as the official synopsis for “Fracture,” written by creator Joseph Kay and directed by Stefan Pleszczynski.

Bash’s decisions lead to conflict with the new Chief of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Neeta Devi (Rekha Sharma). Mags (Laurence Leboeuf) struggles to save a patient who thinks the system gave up on her. June (Ayisha Issa) has trouble with her new roommate – who happens to be her almost-step-sister – and gets a work proposal from Novak (Gord Rand). Theo (Jim Watson) has trouble adapting.

And here are some non-spoilery tidbits I picked up while watching a preview:

Bash and Amira become Canadian citizens
A month after the events of the Season 2 finale, we meet up with Bash and Amira, who are nervously waiting in a government office to begin the citizenship process (no word on how long they’d been waiting for an appointment), when a woman has difficulty breathing and Bash leaps to action. As an aside, I’m very impressed with Sirena Gulamgaus’ acting chops. She wasn’t a newbie actress when she started on Transplant, but her growth as a performer has evolved over the past two seasons.

We’re introduced to Dr. Neeta Devi
Played by Rekha Sharma—who has been so great in Yellowjackets—Chief of Emergency Medicine Dr. Devi dramatically enters York Memorial on the heels of a shocking chain reaction accident.

Theo fights to survive
Spoiler alert! Jim survived the helicopter crash. But now the real test begins; can he make his way to safety in Ontario’s unforgiving North? And if he does, how will what happened affect him?

A memorable guest gig
Veteran actor Joe Cobden (This Life, Bellevue) turns in one heck of a performance as a man who confounds Bash with his post-op demeanour. First responder series like Transplant rely on killer casting to supply episodes with engaging characters dipping in and out of York Memorial and Cobden nails his gig.

Are Mags and Bash … a thing?
There are lots of longing looks between the two during the first half of Friday’s return, but nothing to suggest anything intimate might have occurred in the last month.

Transplant airs Fridays at 9 p.m. Eastern on CTV.

Images courtesy of Bell Media.

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Featured

Preview: Rick Mercer returns to CBC with Comedy Night

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Rick Mercer is back on the CBC, and all is right in the world.

I’ve felt a Mercer-sized hole in the network’s primetime schedule since 2018, when The Mercer Report made its final, well, report. Since then, there has been a global pandemic, dozens of political gaffes and untold silly situations that could have used Mercer’s wry take on.

Let’s get things out of the way first. His first series back on the CBC, Comedy Night with Rick Mercer is not The Mercer Report. The veteran funnyman isn’t behind a desk, by himself, reporting on the world while starring in short skits. And that’s totally OK.

Debuting Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CBC, the eight-episode Comedy Night with Rick Mercer is a great comedy showcase, with Mercer stalking the stage of theatres across Canada, performing standup.

“I’ve done two tours of Comedy Night in Canada, and they are big tours, going from St. John’s to Victoria, 28 rooms, 1,000 to 2,000 seats,” Mercer says.

These tours and this show, of course, offer him the chance to talk about what’s been going on with his life since COVID-19 emerged and observations about the world at large. And, it’s a showcase for Canadian comedians, who perform sets in front of the live audience before sitting down with Mercer for one-on-ones. The project is something Mercer has been doing for years, albeit the first with cameras rolling for TV.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel here,” Mercer says. “There have always been comedy showcases. The difference is, there hasn’t been a comedy showcase in primetime in a very long time.”

Comedy Night with Rick Mercer airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of JFL.

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Featured, Strays

Preview: Strays returns for Season 2 on CBC

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September is a busy month for the CBC. There are several new shows to debut and a pile of returning ones to schedule; it can be easy to miss Strays. Returning for its second season, Strays grabbed a lot of headlines last year because it is the companion series to that cancelled-to-soon award-winner Kim’s Convenience.

Unfairly or not, Strays—which follows Shannon Ross as she leaves Toronto and Handy car rental behind for Hamilton and a gig as manager at Hamilton East Animal Shelter—was compared to Kim’s. Though it features Nicole Power in the lead role of Shannon and boasts many Kim’s creative staff, Strays quickly established itself as a project worthy of standing on its own.

Returning Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on CBC, “Friends and Neighbours,” written by co-creators and executive producers Kevin White and Anita Kapila, Shannon deals with an unwanted guest in the parking lot and then struggles to balance her commitment to the community with her desire to impress a new board member, Tonya. Meanwhile, a dance party at the shelter leaves Kristian yearning for his perfect “moment” with Lara.

The strength of Strays will always be Power’s portrayal of Shannon’s adorable kindness and awkwardness, as the centrepiece to an incredibly strong supporting cast and their characters. Standouts continue to be Kevin Vidal’s Liam, Nikki Duval’s Nikki, Tony Nappo’s Paul, Tina Jung’s Joy, Emily Piggoford’s Lara and Frank Cox-O’Connell’s Kristian. Tuesday’s return sees guest gigs by Dennis Andres (Workin’ Moms) as the aforementioned unwanted guest and Varun Sanga (Wynonna Earp) as Lara’s boyfriend, who complement the key cast.

Strays airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of CBC.

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