{Charity event} THE STOP’S 11th Annual What’s On the Table

Website: http://wott.thestop.org/ #TheStopWOTT
Location: Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St. E., Toronto, ON
When I attended: Nov. 4th, 2015
Ticket Price: $300 for all-you-can-eat and drink. 19 + ($205 tax receipt will be issued)

On the evening of The Stop’s What’s On the Table event, Daniels Spectrum was transformed into a beautiful event space with over 25 chef stations and 7 beverage vendors from various Niagara wineries and Steam Whistle as the beer vendor. The ceiling was decorated with large white lantern-like fixtures which made the space look fun, yet classy. There were also stations located in the front lobby with a pianist who serenaded the attendees.

The evening featured many of Toronto’s top restaurants including Beast, Dailo, The Good Son, and Tundra (full list of food and beverage stations here). It was incredible to see Toronto’s top chefs at their stations preparing their creations to support the cause, which meant that I had an opportunity to speak with the chefs, aside from stuffing my face.

Left to right: Salt, Cafe Belong, Richmond Station, DaiLo, Beast, Beretta and The Good Son

Chefs and Beverage vendors

What’s on the Table was a benefit to support The Stop’s Community Food Centre, with all the proceeds going to their critical anti-hunger programs. As an example of one of The Stop’s programs, each week their Davenport kitchen prepares a healthy hot lunch for more than 1000 community members in a welcoming environment. Fundraising events such as these really make a difference in providing nourishing meals to those in need (read more about The Stop’s programs).

At the event, there was a silent and live auction. The live auction included luxurious getaways and private dinners. Chef Carl Heinrich and butcher Ryan Donovan from Richmond Station auctioned off an expertly-butchered half cow from West Side Beef Co. With everyone’s generous support, this year’s What’s on The Table event raised over $328, 000. That is incredible! (To support/volunteer/donate to The Stop, check out their website http://thestop.org/).

Silent auction

Live auction at The Stop’s What on the Table

I spent about 3 hours at the event, which gave me plenty of time to circle around to all the stations more than once. The mouth-watering pictures are examples of the delicious dishes I had eaten at the event:

I love oysters and as usual, I had no shame hogging the station at Hooked, where they served a selection of East and West Coast oysters.

Citizen Catering had roasted duck on a savoury pumpkin pie with a maple whisky sauce and topped with black walnuts. Look at the beautiful slice of duck meat…perfection!

What a beautiful plate of smoked sweetbreads from The Good Son with a pistachio crust. I enjoyed the parsnip puree and apple mostarda that accompanied the sweetbreads to complete the dish.

Tundra made all the ingredients in the sandwich in-house which was impressive. The packed sandwich had wild boar pastrami, ramp kimchi in a milk bun.

Beretta served a filling caramelized onion and pulled beef stuffed sesame bun with smoked, and tangy glazed beef brisket.

Providore Catering served smoked duck, barley miso and a kumquat marmalade.

DaiLo served their famous Big Mac Bao with a meaty filling on top of their “special sauce”. I have had this at the restaurant and can’t get enough of this!

Aria served homemade potato gnocchi with a choice of a mushroom cream sauce or a marinara sauce. I really enjoyed the hearty tomato meat sauce.

I love my savoury foods, so that was what I mainly ate. Of course, I always leave room for dessert.

It was a truly special evening that helped with The Stop’s fundraising efforts. The food was outstanding and I was stuffed…really stuffed! I look forward to The Stop’s food events including The Stop’s Night Market (Read about my June 2015 experience). I leave you with a selfie of my fellow blogger friend Linda (Twitter @lindamatarasso) and I having a wonderful time. Thank you so much to The Stop for the invitation!

Linda and I

Come out to support The Stop’s future events. You will have a blast and help support their anti-hunger programs. Remember to follow them on Twitter (@TheStopCFC) for updates.

* Disclosure: The ticket to attend was provided by The Stop. The opinions in the post are entirely my own.