Tuesday, July 1, 7:00 p.m.
Members $90, guests $115

A first-class golf course can bring guests from all over the world, and put a somewhat unknown area on the map. That’s what resort owners and brothers Norm and Elly Reisman were counting on when they started work on Taboo, an adjunct to the resort hotel they own on the shores of the spectacular Lake Muskoka, in Ontario’s cottage country. But once you make a play to be among the world’s greatest resorts, you need the cuisine off the course to be up to par. That’s where Wildfire and chef Michael Pataran come in.

Located in the resort’s lakeside hotel, which first opened in 1926 as the Muskoka Beach Inn, Wildfire offers gorgeous views of the lake, accented by the lodge’s rustic wood paneling and classic decor. However, Pataran’s menu goes far beyond typically stodgy lodge fare. His cooking brings a worldly perspective to local ingredients, the result of an international résumé and a curiosity about new flavors and ingredients. As the Examiner-Banner put it, Pataran challenges “traditional culinary boundaries by skillfully adopting innovative fusion techniques using indigenous local ingredients.” The result? Dishes such as birch-syrup-and-beet-cured squab breast with caramelized onions, apple chips, and Mutsu-maple glaze, or drunken Blue Mountain venison rack with blackberry-togarashi glaze, sautéed chanterelles, root mash summer mousse, and pak choi.

After graduating from the University of Toronto, Pataran traveled to Mexico, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, and places in between, imprinting his palate with the flavors of the world. In Australia he attended culinary school for the first time, and upon graduation he worked in restaurants around Sydney. Back in Toronto, he worked at Blues on Bellair, Rain, and Monsoon (nominated for a Beard Restaurant Design Award), before Pataran and chef de cuisine Jay Scaife, who will also be coming to the Beard House, took on the challenge of running Wildfire. The Muskokan critic Andrew Wagner-Chazalon loved Pataran’s signature dish of maple-miso cod on a Muskoka stone with cha soba and lotus chips, writing, “Like all of the food at Wildfire… it is both delicious and beautiful.” Wagner-Chazalon continued, “Every plate that comes out of the kitchen here is culinary artistry, designed to appeal to the eye as well as the nose and palate.”