He considers himself a beef sommelier.
Standing in front of some of the world’s best Angus and Wagyu beef dry aging in a climate controlled cooler at The Butcher Chef, Toronto’s new “luxury boutique steakhouse,” executive chef Derek von Raesfeld delivers an impassioned account of each steak’s unique flavour profile.
“The lifestyle of the animal really comes through in the quality,” von Raesfeld says. “It could be tenderness, it could be richness, it could be mineral flavours, it could be the nuttiness of the beef. There’s a ton of variety.”
Co-owner Michael Dabic says what you get is more than just a slab of meat.
“What distinguishes The Butcher Chef from other steakhouses is that we’re trying to raise the bar,” Dabic says. “We create tasting menus where you can have a seven course meal and try not just steak, but rabbit, pheasant, duck.”
And there’s a meat to suit everyone’s taste. Von Raesfeld recommends his patrons try a few steaks so they can compare flavour profiles.
The Angus beef raised in Bruce Mines, Ont., is grass fed most of its life, but finished with a diet of peas and barley. The Northern Ontario climate gives it a rich bite.
The Angus from Prince Edward Island has a completely different flavour profile. The cattle are raised by the seaside on grass growing from the island’s beautiful red soil, giving the meat an iron-forward flavour.
Then there’s Wagyu beef varieties from farms in Japan, the United States and Australia. The incredibly rich, big-flavoured Japanese beef known for its incredible marbling is soft and delicate, so much so that you can almost chew it with your tongue.
Dabic says that eating Wagyu beef becomes a ritual for guests.
You take a small bite. And savour it
“You take a small bite. And savour it,” he says. “Like a great bottle of wine.”
Dabic’s restaurants are among a handful in Canada certified to sell the best variety of Wagyu: the buttery smooth, melt-in-your-mouth, much-sought-after Kobe beef that is raised exclusively in Japan’s Hyōgo Prefecture. An 8 oz striploin is $440 — customers are paying for the quality of feed and care that went into the animal, von Raesfeld says.
More than a typical steakhouse, The Butcher Chef’s aims to serve more than just a slab of meat and a side dish — although you can certainly get that.
Von Raesfeld carefully curates a tasting menu that evolves each week. The restaurant also serves up beautiful seafoods and wild game from across Ontario and Canada, including pheasant, duck venison and rabbit.
“So people can really experience everything that you might find in a butcher shop in the way of a tasting menu at a luxury fine dining restaurant,” Von Raesfeld says.
Dabic was manager at the opulent steakhouse Harbour Sixty for almost 10 years before opening his first restaurant in 2012, the eponymous Michael’s on Simcoe, which has hosted the likes of Marion Cotillard and Bill Gates. He also purchased Oliver’s Steakhouse in Oakville in 2018 and rejuvenated the 50-year-old restaurant.
Von Raesfeld has worked for some of Toronto’s top restaurants, including Scaramouche, and trained at Michelin-star restaurants in Europe. He has been the executive chef at Michael’s on Simcoe since 2013. He also runs the kitchen at Oliver’s Steakhouse. The Butcher Chef is his first time as a co-owner with Dabic.
The pair originally had the idea to open a butcher’s shop, to ensure Michael’s on Simcoe would always be supplied with the best quality of meats.
But when the location at 8 Harbour St., just south of the Scotiabank Arena, became available, Dabic saw an opportunity too great to pass up. The butcher shop evolved into a butchery-inspired boutique dining room.
Dabic incorporated a mixture of contemporary and classic elements into the restaurant design, including art deco flooring and an opulent, French 18-carat gold plated chandelier.
He chose the semiprecious gemstone tiger’s eye for the bar top because it looks like a luxury butcher’s block, and the tables are made of fine, black American walnut. The wine cellar, in full view near the entrance, is made of starphire glass.
For von Raesfeld, his job doesn’t begin in the kitchen, but on the farm.
“I like to get to know everything about the animal,” von Raesfeld says. “We want people to understand where the product comes from and how it was raised and why it tastes the way it does.”
The right conditions can take a steak from delicious to divine.
He ages the beef in house, a process that matures the meat, increasing its tenderness and flavour as water is released and the natural enzymes break down.
Sometimes he’ll wrap the meat in coffee, hay or different grasses, or encase it in butter or duck fat to introduce new flavours to the meat.
Von Raesfeld cooks the meat seasoned with just salt and pepper and finished with a dash of olive oil to ensure all of its natural flavours come through.
“We take pride in the fact that we’re one of the few restaurants that really push the actual beef product itself,” he says, adding that people are realizing the vast difference between mass-produced, grocery store steak and meat from top producers in Canada and around the world.
“At The Butcher Chef, we like to distinguish ourselves by providing the next level of experience,” von Raesfeld says. “We like to take care of every aspect, whether it is the actual service of the meats — the quality and the variety that is offered — to the utensils you use…. We like to think we’ve taken it to the next level.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
