Roy Thomson Hall, Saturday, August 27, 2011

“It looked like Hallowe’en in there!” chuckled a guest in full stage whisper as she exited the funeral service for Jack Layton into the North Lobby of Roy Thomson Hall.  The service had just ended and I looked at her to see her expression as the tone was light and, well, giddy.  She was already busy popping a mini Beef Wellington into her mouth as were the others around her, nodding in happy agreement.  Her statement was without guile; it couldn’t have been with any—she herself was wearing a somber black outfit that was accented with an orange Fascinator-like hat.  Her comment had just echoed the optimism of the ceremony.  She craned her neck, scanned the crowd and asked, “Where can I get a drink?” of the now empty-trayed, blonde waiter.

Our VP Russell Day writes about his BoxedToronto experience.

Thinking inside the box

I was invited to dinner this Wednesday by my boss, Daniel Megly, co-founder of Daniel et Daniel Event Creation & Catering. He had been invited to dinner at “Boxed Toronto” and had an extra seat. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, of course I said yes—people don’t typically invite the owners of Daniel et Daniel to dinner at McDonald’s. I knew immediately that this would be a treat.

In the summer of 2010 we were approached by POP Kollaborative to cater an office opening party for Corus Entertainment. Initial planning was very hush-hush as the event was to be new and fabulous. Our menu had to reflect a “MINDJAM” theme; something spontaneous, unexpected and most of all spectacular. It soon became clear that this was a unique opportunity. As our VP Russell Day described our initial meetings with POP,

“We realized that we had been given a once-in-a-career opportunity: to be able to use every freaky idea we’d ever had!”

Last week, Daniel et Daniel had the pleasure of providing catering for Mount Sinai Hospital’s inaugural Chef’s Challenge for a Cure, hosted by famed Chef Gordon Ramsay. The event, which took place at The Carlu, saw five of Canada’s top celebrity chefs leading teams of non-chefs in an on-stage cook-off to raise funds for breast and ovarian cancer research. Meanwhile, D&D provided the event’s guests with a gourmet five-course meal designed by Chef Ramsay himself. The evening was a great success, raising more than $1.1 million for an important cause, and our experience bringing Chef Ramsay’s creations to life? Bloody brilliant!