Page 83 - Sharp November 2024

The restaurant industry Pro Loco is a cool idea — do you see yourselves trying to grow this and materialize it over time?
Baldassarre: It's all about organic growth and what makes sense — to expect a firm membership from other restaurateurs is very hard. Every year we do this, I pull out my phone and call people to see if they're interested, expecting them to say they’re too busy. Yet to my surprise and happiness, every year everyone says they’re in.
Mercanti: People who have supported and volunteered in the past will often call us to see if we’re doing another sagra, asking how they can help. That's what this is all about.
Joerin: We want it to be for everyone, and so by making it less about us and the restaurants representing it, and more about the communities that it will be supporting, it creates the environment where people can come and support for the right reasons.
If an expansion happens, where would be the best home for it?
Baldassarre: The chefs that help from Montreal are thinking of doing one there. When the time comes, we’ll throw on aprons and help them as they’ve helped us. Maybe that’s how it will grow; it’ll be this thing put on by cooks and restaurant people, for the community, that just spreads throughout Canada, or even along the east coast. Hopefully it can become a tradition like it is in Italy.
Between the three of you and the other chefs and restaurants involved, there’s obviously a lot of hype. How do you keep it grounded and not just another food pop-up?
Baldassarre: This year, our biggest worry is crowd control, so we’re trying to think of everything to manage it. How can we keep it community-based? We thought about just giving flyers to neighbours, and we were going to remove tickets this year. It’ll be first-come, first-serve, like how we do it here at my shop. It’s more democratic, and it gives everyone an equal opportunity. You want to wait? Great! You don’t? You don’t have to. Last summer, I was at a lake shrimp sagra in Italy — there was a crowd of people with organizers just picking people out of the crowd two at a time. I must’ve waited five hours but I was just happy to be there.
Joerin: If we keep it community-oriented, people will feel compelled to be more patient — because everyone around ends up becoming acquainted with each other. That’s harder in a city like Toronto, but we’re trying to give it that county-fair feeling to try and promote that sentiment.
The fourth annual Sagra di Toronto takes place on Sunday, October 27th, in Toronto. All proceeds from the festival will benefit Albion Neighbourhood Services, helping youth food and sports programs in the community. The event is open to the public. For more information, visit instagram.com/sagra_di_toronto.
FOOD & DRINK
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