Caviar, once reserved for special indulgences and the finest high-end restaurants, is popping up everywhere. As Toronto’s diners’ palates become more sophisticated, they’re seeking luxury ingredients in average places. And restaurateurs are responding.
These dainty pearls are now a go-to garnish for just about anything, showing up on menus in Italian joints, contemporary Peruvian and Japanese restaurants, modern American eateries and even cocktail bars. Some restaurants even have the option to make brunch boujee with the addition of caviar on top of your eggs.
My introduction to caviar began with a unique twist on a classic sazerac at Parc Ave, a bar in Yorkville. I sit transfixed as my cocktail glass, filled with amber Rémy Martin XO cognac from a small, wooden barrel perched behind the bar, is topped with a tiny spoon containing a dainty scoop of glistening jet-black caviar.
The Sazerac vintage reserve cocktail topped with Kaluga Gold Caviar
Christine Hogg
With the woody, spicy burn of cognac still in my throat, I pick up the spoon. The caviar is briney, and the immediate contrast eases the sting, like salt before a tequila shot.
“Caviar pairs well with brown spirits like whiskies or cognacs because of the salt,” says Ben Kingstone, the barman who set me up with that first taste of those shiny eggs. In the past, Kingstone was the creative genius behind several successful cocktail programs in Toronto, including Roses Cocina and Valerie at Hotel X, and Kasa Moto in Yorkville. Since my visit back in the spring, he’s moved out to Vancouver, B.C. and is starting a new business venture.
The bar snacks Kingstone gives me next follow the caviar theme: a generous pile of plain Ruffles chips, two finely minced piles of green and red onion, a dollop of sour cream and a tin of Malossol sturgeon caviar. “It’s our take on a mini sandwich,” he explains to me, outlining that the idea is to layer the chip with sour cream and then dress it with the toppings. It struck a perfect balance of opulence and approachability — and I can still taste it, even now.
Parc Ave's Kaluga Gold Caviar served with potato chips
Christine Hogg
Erica Karbelnik is a two-time Food Network show winner (Top Chef Canada, 2021; Chopped Canada, 2016), and is now the executive chef and co-owner of Karbs Catering & Private Events, where she creates in-home tasting menu experiences with her husband and business partner, Jeff Karbelnik. Caviar is an ingredient she knows well.
Erica and Jeff Karbelnik co-own Karbs Catering & Private Events
“The luxury aspect of our business sees a lot of our clients requesting it and enjoying it,” she says. But Karbelnik has reservations about caviar being used as a topping outside of the fine-dining realm.
“I think it’s a fad — people want to eat it so that they can feel fancy.”
“I think it’s a fad,” she says. “A lot of the time, people want to eat it so that they can feel fancy, rather than knowing about it and appreciating it. There’s a big difference between high-quality caviar like Osetra and mediocre caviar that looks the part.”
Erica and Jeff Karbelnik use caviar in dishes for their catering company
Rob Rossi, owner and chef of one-Michelin-star restaurant Osteria Giulia, agrees. “I don’t love that caviar is being put on everything now, because realistically, these restaurants aren’t using the best caviar,” he says. “When we put caviar on the menu, we charge what we need to at least make the money back. When you see such low prices for caviar, it can’t be good.” Their Burrata a Caviale ($45) incorporates a piece of BelGioioso family burrata cheese, Italian caviar and Sardinian ‘Asfodelo’ honey.
The Burrata a Caviale incorporates Italian caviar
Chef Rob Rossi uses caviar in moderation at Osteria Giluia
But what exactly is caviar and why is it so expensive? The delicacy, used as a spread or garnish, is made from the unfertilized eggs (or roe) from the large sturgeon fish. Though the term is sometimes used to describe the orange roe of other fish like salmon, traditional caviar only refers to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and Black Sea.
The word caviar comes from the Turkish word khavyar, which referred to the sturgeon eggs collected along the banks of the rivers that flowed into the south end of the Caspian Sea. Along these waters, caviar became an affordable Russian staple food because it was easier and cheaper to harvest than meat.
In the U.S., before the Civil War, sturgeon eggs were so common that they were given away for free at markets and shared freely between households. Over-harvesting eventually tapped the sturgeon population, driving the price up and cutting out the middle and lower classes. Despite a global marketplace and its appearances in cuisines from around the world, caviar is still most closely associated with Russia — although that seems to be changing quickly.
Today, quantity, quality, species and geopolitics all contribute to the fluctuations in price for caviar. The beluga sturgeon is a popular choice for fine-dining restaurants. But it’s listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to heavy overfishing, and importing it has been banned by certain countries, including the United States. This makes beluga caviar one of the most expensive on the market, ranging from $3,200 to $10,000 a pound, with more expensive caviar likely to be named by brand on the menu.
Karbs Catering & Private Events uses caviar in their in-home tasting menu experiences
Any black sturgeon caviar imported into Canada must be farmed, and not wild-caught. This is why Parc Ave’s chips and beluga gold caviar combo is $165, and why Casa Madera’s Eggs+Eggs ($34) more than doubles in price when it’s topped with 14 grams of truffle caviar.
“A lot goes into getting good quality caviar,” says Karbelnik. “It shouldn’t be watery. The eggs should be firm and creamy. It should never smell fishy, pungent, sour or metallic.”
The overall taste of caviar can be traced to the fish’s diet, breeding conditions and age. Mass-produced, cheaper caviar tends to come from overcrowded fish populations, and you can taste the difference.
“And you want to make sure the fish are being treated correctly, and not being killed just for the caviar,” says Karbelnik.
Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc. fishes for local sturgeon species in areas of Canada where it is legal but still heavily regulated
Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc.
Though the idea of truly ethical caviar is a myth, Cornel Ceapa, owner and president of Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc., believes he’s doing better than most. A PhD in Sturgeon Biology at the University of Bordeaux, Ceapa researched ways to stop the decline of the species before founding his company out in Saint John, N.B.
“We local producers are very strictly regulated, but a lot of the stuff that comes from overseas is not,” he adds, noting that many international suppliers even use borax (a cleaning product and insect repellent) as an additive to preserve freshness.
Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc. only uses local species for the extraction of caviar. Canada has five species of sturgeon from coast to coast, and Acadian focuses on two sources: Atlantic sturgeon and shortnose sturgeon. The company also supplies a mix of wild and farmed caviar. All of the farmed caviar is land-based, Ceapa says, noting that many international suppliers still farm their fish in cages in the ocean, which isn’t environmentally conscious.
Caviar, the unfertilized eggs or roe of a fish, are a popular delicacy
Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc.
When farming, the water is warmed, and the fish are fed from around May to the beginning of December. The other half of the year, the water temperature drops to around 3 C, and the fish sleep. In most cases, fish are killed during the caviar extraction process, however, some can be surgically repaired and re-farmed. “The result is a product that’s very good, and I have many people who prefer our farmed caviar to its wild counterparts,” Cepea says.
According to Ceapa, the agriculture of sturgeon is relatively new, and a direct result of previously overfishing certain populations in the wild on a global scale.
“I’m sad that these restaurants don’t realize that they’re being misled.”
“Everything right now with caviar is upside down,” says Ceapa, noting that he’s seen an uptick in demand from restaurants across Canada, with specific requests for private label caviar. “It has completely changed in the last 20 to 30 years. The problem is that the caviar being supplied now is typically really bad. I’m sad that these restaurants don’t realize that they’re being misled.”
Not only is sourcing the caviar a difficult feat, but actually utilizing it poses another challenge.
Toronto chef Elias Salazar spent months testing caviar-inspired recipes for his new restaurant
“It’s extremely difficult to work with caviar because the flavour is so unique that it can overpower other things,” says Toronto chef Elias Salazar, who spent months testing caviar-inspired recipes for his new restaurant Rhapsody. “But if you’re a creative person and a creative chef, you can utilize any ingredient that’s given to you.”
Patrick Kriss, owner of Alo Food Group and chef at one-Michelin-star restaurant Alo, agrees. His tasting menu currently has an A5 wagyu beef tartare topped with caviar, along with starters featuring Venetian caviar: one served in French white asparagus custard cream and the other served on top of delicate salmon sashimi.
“I think if the customer likes it and you’re having fun with caviar, I don’t see anything wrong with it,” he says.
Patrick Kriss, owner of Alo Food Group and chef at one-Michelin-star restaurant Alo
Alo
Wagyu beef tartare topped with caviar at Alo
Alo
Time will tell whether caviar finds a permanent home in the broader palate. Salazar thinks caviar’s time might have finally come. “The stereotype of caviar being something you eat out of a tin with a tiny spoon has completely expired.”
But Karbelnik and Rossi, both of whom cater to a crowd who might not share Salazar’s take on caviar, aren’t sold. “Social media plays a large part of what our industry has become and I think a lot of people are using caviar as that gimmick that puts their menu on Instagram,” says Karbelnik.
Rossi echoes that sentiment. “We’ll always have chefs using caviar to catch attention, but I don’t think people are fooled by it. Eventually, caviar will end up in the hands of people who truly respect it.”
