Chef Teo Paul is responsible for some of Ontario’s most raved-about restaurants, but compared to his peers, he cuts an unassuming figure. His might not be a household name, and you won’t find him working on branded collabs, but Côte de Bœuf and Union continue to defy the odds by captivating the goldfish-like attention spans of Toronto diners for over a decade.
Wind the tape all the way back to 2009, when Paul was honing his craft in Europe’s kitchens, inspired but beginning to feel the tug of home. Under the heavy burden of Paris’s culinary prestige, his imposter syndrome loomed large. “I felt I had no heritage — I just didn’t feel like I had cooking roots that I could stand behind. I thought I was imitating.”
After six years in France, he headed to Italy, where everything finally began to click into place. “I spent a big chunk of time in Paris cooking, and then I got to Piedmont, and I cracked my own code, I guess you could say, of finding my own confidence, my way.”
Teo Paul, chef and owner of Union restaurant Toronto
Ashley van der Laan
In place of the iconic Parisian dishes, Paul found rustic food and an entry into the kind of cuisine he wanted to make. “It was all built on poverty — what people could find, rabbits and that kind of stuff,” says Paul. “It reminded me of Ontario and being around my dad’s farm, the rolling hills. I started feeling like I had some identity with what I was doing … There were parallels to the way they were cooking in Piedmont and the way my grandparents cooked.”
This farm-to-table revelation was a full-circle moment for Paul, who worked under celebrated chef Michael Stadtländer at Eigensinn Farm at the age of just 22. His formative experience, coupled with the wild and earthy flavours of rural Italy, would form the blueprint for his locally influenced style of cooking.
Upon moving home, a space became available on Ossington Avenue, at that time an “up-and-coming street.” Paul’s father passed away shortly after the opening, and in the intervening years, Union has become a love letter to him and to restaurants in general.
“It was where our family was best behaved,” he laughs. “My dad was present. At home, everyone would retreat to their own spaces, so restaurants were always such a warm place for me.”
Though the menu at Union fluctuates seasonally, a few iconic plates are hits he plays to his customers every night. “I wrote those dishes on opening night in the back of my pickup truck, and they never left. It was like my Bob Dylan moment.”
In 2014, the young chef hit gold again when he and Tyler Wilson teamed up to open Côte de Bœuf. What began as a scheme to outsource the butchery Paul was doing in-house for Union transitioned into a wine bar and restaurant. “I thought of those old French butcher shops, with all the meat hanging in the window,” he recalls romantically.
Restaurants have never been easy, but Paul appears as enthralled as ever. “My engine’s been revving hard, just with the emotion of restaurants and people bringing people together.”
During the pandemic, Paul returned to his roots, opening Hearts Tavern, a much-awarded restaurant in Grey County. Then, in 2023, Hamilton got a slice of his Parisian prowess with the launch of Le Tambour Tavern, a steakhouse complete with an open-fire grill and meat locker.
Despite the passage of time and his subsequent successes, Paul remains resolutely humble.
“Some guy showed me a new AI app,” says Paul. “He asked who owned Côte de Bœuf, and it showed my name. I said, ‘Oh shit, at least someone knows.’”
Union restaurant's most iconic dishes
Steak tartare
Ashley van der Laan
“All the tartares in Paris use mustard, a bit of Worcestershire sauce … So I just combined the two. I found this olive oil from Spain, which had a really lemony note. Someone who worked for my dad at the time told me to use Yummy House Soy Sauce. She was bang on, so I put a touch of that in there, and then Kozlik’s Dijon Mustard. That’s it; I just mix it off with salt and pepper. I love duck fat, so that was always part of it. The cornbread is from a Portuguese bakery that used to be on Ossington. [One night] there was this TV chef at the chef’s bar at Union, and he had the tartare. He was kind of drunk, and he says, ‘This needs hot sauce!’ My friend who was working there had just learned how to make this habanero sauce, so bam, that went on it.”
Union salad
Ashley van der Laan
“I had this idea of using rosti in the salad because I’d been in Switzerland. I figured out how to cook the potatoes — parboil them, and it gets really starchy, so when you grate them, they stick together. I had a local honey I wanted to use, so that went on the goat’s cheese. It was lettuce season in Ontario, and I wanted something nice and crisp. I had this amazing bacon from up near the farm. At restaurants, they always make the vinaigrette beforehand, and it always spills in the frigging fridge, so for the rest of its tenure it stinks like vinegar and whatever the hell else. I was like, ‘I’m not pre-making a fucking vinaigrette here.’ At the bar, we make the vinaigrette. I use Kolzik’s Triple Crunch, then a pinot vinegar from Niagara. All these parts that I wanted to use came together, so I made this vinaigrette à la minute-style in the bowl.”
Elk sliders
Ashley van der Laan
“I had a dinner at my dad’s farm, and I invited all these farmers over. They brought the products that they were working with. There was an elk farmer. He was raising these elks for the antlers, and the meat was a by-product. I really wanted to work with his product, so I came up with these elk sliders. I remember seeing these burgers on an 80s TV show and I wanted to make the same thing. Harbord Bakery is iconic, and they make this amazing challah bread, so I wanted to use that. I make the spicy mayo and then put my grandmother’s bread and butter pickles on top. I learned how to make this glaze with my friend Chris Mathias. He would make it with a mushroom glaze and ginger; I use galangal. Then I use a touch of maple syrup, Kozlik’s Dijon Mustard and Yummy House Soy Sauce — my holy trinity.”
Polenta gratin
Ashley van der Laan
“I made this dish in Paris a lot with my friend Chris [Mathias]. I’ve been carrying that one around for a while. It’s his excellent dish, but I changed it a little bit — the way we fry the polenta and melt the cheese on top with the vegetables underneath in the tomato sauce. We used to serve it on a plate, but now it’s in a boat, which is way more rustic. It’s like John Prine said, ‘These are the only four chords you’ll ever need to know.’ It’s the only vegetarian dish I ever had to learn.”
Sticky ribs
Ashley van der Laan
“I had this kid memory — there was this place around the corner when I was a kid called Mickey’s Ribs. Ribs were always expensive, but I remember for special occasions, whatever was happening in life, my dad would pick up these ribs, bring them home, and we would eat them on the bed, watching this little TV. My mom was probably working. I had this taste memory in me, and so I just cracked how to make them, how I remembered it. I call them Sticky Ribs, and they’re kind of sweet and sour, just like Mickey’s.”
