food
MEMOIR
They call me Chef Chefs notoriously don’t like working brunch. But for Suzanne Barr, who has fond memories of the morning meal with her late mother, it’s been essential to her career Written by SUZANNE BARR Illustration by CURTIA WRIGHT
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runch is the service that can break you. In order to keep the hungry crowds moving, the kitchen and floor staff all have to engage in a fast-paced dance. By sunrise, line cooks have already been prepping for more than an hour. Servers are stacking napkins on the table and filling milk containers. The front of house directs traffic, waiters manoeuvring around one another with plates of food before pulling out their pens and pads for the next table. At the back, cooks move seamlessly between stations, careful not to fall behind as new orders come in every few minutes. Luckily, my whole life prepared me for the moment I opened the doors of my first restaurant. A small
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CHATELAINE • DECEMBER 2021
alcove space with checkerboard-tiled floors and black marble tabletops, Saturday Dinette first opened in Toronto’s east end in September 2013 and quickly became a hot brunch spot. Our mornings were always lively, music pumping as we strove to keep people’s spirits high enough that they wouldn’t be bothered by the long lines. I was born in Toronto but grew up in Florida, and the breakfasts of my childhood were a lot calmer. My desire to cook started with my mum and dad, who were chefs in their own right. My mum understood the power of flavours, from curry and boiled salted cod to coconut-infused rice and beans. Even now, the sound of bacon
