SAVOUR SUMMER BY DINING AL FRESCO LIKE A PRO

There’s a bit of pressure when I’m hosting, given what I do, but as long as I’m outside with people around me, I feel alive.

From low-key to luxe, Beth Hitchcock rounds up fresh inspiration for mid-summer entertaining

OUR INSIDER: Olivier Le Calvez, executive chef at the newly opened Casa Madera, a buzzed-about restaurant serving elevated Mexican Mediterranean cuisine at Toronto’s 1 Hotel.

ON HIS TABLE: Family-style helpings of approachable Mexican food.

SUMMER ENTERTAINING STYLE: Super-casual; no “fine dining” in sight. “Family and neighbours drop by around 2 p.m. and we start with beer or tequila, then put on some Latin music and start cooking for a late lunch.”

CAN’T HOST WITHOUT: The freshest ingredients. “I wake up in the mornings and go to the market with my kids and take inspiration from what I see.”

BEST PARTY TRICK: “I never put garlic in guacamole, it’s too overpowering. My secret is the right amount of lime juice and serrano chili, sometimes with a bit of cilantro root, which has more flavour than the leaf.”

Olivier Le Calvez revels in firing up the BBQ and entertaining neighbours, family and friends at his home in Toronto’s east end

It all started with an offer he couldn’t refuse. Ten years ago, Olivier Le Calvez was teaching at Le Cordon Bleu Mexico when a former student called to ask if he’d be interested in opening a Mexican restaurant in Toronto. “I wasn’t looking to relocate at the time, so I joked that if they offered me $10-million, I’d move,” he says with a laugh. Though the salary didn’t quite meet the fantasy, the opportunity felt right and he moved to Toronto with his wife, Andrea, and two children.

After an eight-year stint at El Catrin, in the city’s Distillery District, Le Calvez is now executive chef at the newly opened Casa Madera, the beachy-chic restaurant at 1 Hotel.

“It’s the next step for me,” he says. “My food showcases the similarities between

French and Mexican techniques and the way product is used. I think the city’s really ready for that now.” In his pandemic off-time, Le Calvez become an entrepreneur, co-founding the Casa Bonita tortilla chip brand, now carried at national grocery chains. Earlier this year, he also became a proud Canadian citizen. Now, from his home in Toronto’s east end, Le Calvez revels in firing up the barbecue and entertaining neighbours, family (his brother lives nearby now, too) and friends for late lunch, Mexican style.

“When I’m at home on the deck in my apron, I’m cooking simple things and just putting out platters,” he says. “We spend the day enjoying each others’ company and sharing stories while the kids run around the cul de sac. That’s summer for me.”