FLAME + Food + Design

A place of passion, creativity and vision

By Brie Jarrett

Having a background in marketing and advertising, Turkish born restaurateur Serhat Sacildi astutely named his new restaurant, Flame, a simple yet powerful name. Cooking only with a charcoal grill (no gas) it’s fitting, but the meaning drives much deeper.

“Flame connects with passion," Sacildi explains. "When you start to talk about love, when you start to talk about passion, when you start to feel deeply about something, we use words like fire and flame. Like melting iron and creating something altogether new, Flame is about creating new things.”

This newly opened, two-level restaurant in the west end of Toronto, Ontario is based upon the distilled flavours from the ancient cultures of Anatolia, passionately executed by Sacildi. His wife Irem, an associate professor at the University of Guelph, pipes in “He’s so talented, I fell in love. Every plate is like art.”

Sacildi even named his son Siyah Alaz which means "black flame". The significance of the black being the charcoal of the grill, but also some of their food items, such as their 14-generation-recipe black bread. Much like their traditions from Turkey, where one could knock upon a strangers door and say “we are guests of God” and be fed and looked after; Serhat has called his black bread "nice to meet" and it is designed to welcome and greet those that enter the restaurant.

Made from coconut charcoal ash which imbues the bread with its colour, the recipe constantly evolves with new flavours and tastes. Flame serves the bread with a dip made with Grana Padano and Tulum cheeses, sundried tomatoes from Turkey, eight different spices, olive oil and of course garlic. What a way to be greeted!

One of Sacildi's favourite main dishes is the Deliciosso plate; Osso Bucco cooked in broth with dried plums, apricots, grapes, figs, tomatoes, bell peppers, scallions, a unique combination of spices and pepper.

"We define our kitchen by how we feed our son," says Sacildi. "We want only the best and freshest ingredients. We do not use any canned goods and the only thing we deep-fry is the calamari.”

A signature in Sacildi’s dishes is his use of clementine juice, which has a balanced blend of acidity and sugars, perfect for marinating meats. Sacildi grew up in a region of Turkey that grew oranges and clementines and has many fond memories of cooking with his father, especially on outings in the mountains, where they would grill under the orange blossoms.

“The smell and aroma of the blossoms is unbelievable,” he reminisces.

The food is served on beautiful marble dishes, all custom designed by Sacildi and are part of the vision and creativity Sacildi and his wife have for Flame. The restaurant comprises of two floors - the Grill Bar and Main Kitchen with the Argentinian Charcoal grill on the first floor and the Café and Design Store upstairs. It is here where one can enjoy authentic Turkish coffee and browse through the tablewares, aprons, plates and notebooks for sale, all designed by Sacildi.

Write Your Fire is a unique notebook with a design that has a striking surface to light a match. Bringing to life in a very clever, tangible way, of lighting your passion. When asked how a notebook ties in with a restaurant, Sacildi says, “Creativity is not just in the kitchen, we must also write. Write our thoughts and recipes, our life history. This is very important.”

One thing is for certain, though only a newly opened restaurant, Flame holds the promise of many exciting adventures and flavour experimentation for years to come and a place to perhaps ignite your own passion. ~

A Turkish Meze

Cheese and Nuts with Grilled Avocado “Cretan” (Girit Ezmesi)

Chef Jagger Gordon Fusion

An incredible appetizer to serve to your friends and family that will have an Amuse Bouche inspired from Turkey

Ingredients

4 whole avocados

½ cup avocado or olive oil

½ cup of crumbled feta cheese

½ cup goat cheese

½ cup shredded Tulum cheese (substitue cheddar)

½ cup chopped sundried tomatoes

½ cup chopped parsley ¼

cup chopped pistachios ¼

cup chopped walnuts ¼

cup chopped almonds 2

tsp paprika (smoked if available) 1

tbsp chopped fresh garlic

1 tbsp onion powder

Juice from ½ a lemon

1. Combine all ingredients except avocados together and refrigerate for one hour.

2. Prepare a hot grill or barbecue on high temperature approximately 10 minutes.

3. Cut avocados in half removing the pits.

4. Grill avocados on open cut side for two minutes and remove.

5. Take mixture out of fridge and make little balls and place on top of grilled avocados.

6. Make a little finger hole on the top of the cheese ball for the Balsamic caviar pearls.

THE FUSION TWIST: Balsamic Vinegar Pearls

Ingredients

2-3 cups olive oil ⅔ cup balsamic vinegar 2 grams agar-agar 3 cups water

1. Pour olive oil into a pint glass or medium carafe and place into the freezer for 30 minutes.

2. Heat the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan over medium heat and add agar-agar. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly then immediately remove from heat.

3. Remove oil from the freezer.

4. Using a syringe or pipette, draw up the balsamic mixture and begin to slowly drop into the cold olive oil.

5. Using a spoon, transfer the balsamic pearls to a bowl filled with thewater. Give it a good stir to rinse the pearls of the oil. Serve on top of the cheese ball.

No time to make this? Contact us at veganpearls@gmail.com and we can ship you a jar of Balsamic Vinegar Caviar created by our team.