Dîner en Blanc Toronto

I participate in a lot of Toronto events that give people pause, probably none more so than Dîner en Blanc, an annual al fresco summer dining event, now in its third year. The original Dîner en Blanc was born in Paris over 25 years ago and today Dîner en Blanc events take place in cities all over the world. Basically, guests are assembled in groups around the city, dressed head to toe in white (elegance is encouraged), and bring with them a table, chairs and a multi-course picnic meal (gourmet is encouraged) including table service and white table linens. Once assembled, guests are led by their "table leader" to an undisclosed location and upon arrival, tables and chairs are quickly set-up en masse and the evening begins. Last year Dîner en Blanc took us to historic Fort York, a lovely spot despite the fact that it rained most of the evening and many carefully planned white outfits were hidden by dollar store ponchos. With the forecast calling for sunny and clear skies, this year's event looked like it would win by default.

 

My group met at Trinity Bellwoods Park on West Queen West, which is close to home so it wasn't too difficult to lug our stuff over. My date for the evening was my mother, who was very excited to attend based on my stories from last year (traditionally, couples at Dîner en Blanc are male-female but this preferred pairing is not enforced). Once our table group had all arrived, we were given a token each and we boarded a Queen streetcar* heading east. (*Apologies to everyone riding that streetcar who was delayed by our presence.) As we made our way to our secret location we tried to guess where we'd end up. I'd wager that not a single person attending guessed that we were going to end up in an empty lot at Queen & Dalhousie, just west of Moss Park. I want to say this as diplomatically as possible... the general consensus was disappointment. The hope was that we would end up somewhere more scenic, or a noted Toronto landmark. Maybe next year? No matter. There wasn't time to dwell as it was time to set ourselves up for diner and get on with the evening as planned.

Once everyone is set-up, the evening begins officially by waving our white napkins in the air all together. Then we eat! It's always fun to see what everyone else has in their picnic baskets. Some people went all out, bringing tiered plates of cold seafood, or kebabs, or sushi or BBQ. Bravo to those guys, way to make us all look like slackers! My mum and I decided to opt for simpler fare, bringing a cheese and cracker plate to start (brie appeared to be the preferred cheese of the evening). Our main was a spring salad with brie (yup), dried cranberries, salted pecans and a balsamic fig dressing and chicken potato salad (my mum's secret recipe). I kind of cheated for dessert and brought a baker's dozen of French macarons from Nadège (who can blame me, they're spectacular).

Coming in a close second to the food for best part of the evening, were the outfits. If you think a gathering of people dressed in a single colour sounds boring, you really need to come see for yourself one year. I'm always impressed with the variations on the theme that people come up with for Dîner en Blanc. There was more casual fare (as much as was permitted) and those who went all out glam with gowns and heels and luxe accessories. My mum and I were somewhere in between, both in white dresses, and did not stand out too much from the crowd until we decided to take a stroll with what turned out to be the best choice in accessory for the evening: the parasol. We wandered around lazily spinning our parasols and we were stopped a surprising amount of times to pose for pictures. Who knew? My mum seemed especially tickled by the attention, which allowed for me to push my camera anxiety aside for the evening.

As the sun descended and the sky became dark, we continued to enjoy the sights and the sounds. We tried in vain to finish our dessert (13 macarons is too much for two people, no matter how delicious) and chatted with our neighbours. Soon it was time for the official end to the meal. At 9:30pm exactly everyone lit their sparklers (provided by Dîner en Blanc) and the empty lot's transformation into a place of beauty was complete. Sadly, this moment was somewhat marred for me by being attacked by sparkler debris. I ended up with two small burns on my finger and spent the rest of the evening carrying around a cooler pack for relief. Whoops. Only me guys, only me. After the (no good rotten) sparklers all burned out, the dancing began and lasted into the night. Another fun and lovely Dîner en Blanc experience! If you're interested in attending next year's event, I recommend registering for the wait list ASAP as they are coveted spots.

A special thanks to Dîner en Blanc staff for snapping the great pic of me and my mum: