Concept of the Year
Prestigious Partners
As a full-time chophouse, whole-animal butcher, live-fire caterer, local commissary and bottle shop, St. Catharines’ Fat Rabbit is not your average restaurant.
The food and wine scene in Southern Ontario is booming, thanks in part to one Fat Rabbit. The rabbit may be a restaurant in name, but as the name suggests, it’s much bigger than that. Think of it as an all-day eatery and zero-waste butchery – with a live-fire catering business, in-house bottle shop and small grocer on the side.
Farmer name tags are pitched in the sirloins, flank steaks and Barese sausages on display at the meat counter.
The multihyphenate enterprise fittingly resides at the edge of a five-way intersection in a once-abandoned lot not far from St. Catharines Farmers Market and the performing arts centre. “I see it as a place where you can slip out for a quick and cheerful lunch, gather with your friends and family on special occasions, or have a glass of wine and house-cured charcuterie while grocery shopping,” co-owner and chef Zach Smith tells me on a recent pop in for the latter. It’s a daytime hangout and nighttime destination, a small-scale community hub that outdoes Big Chain and Big Industry alternatives in its own wily ways.
The freezer is stocked with Miami short ribs, Argentinian chorizo, T-bones, meatballs and everything in between.
On Tuesdays, three meats, three cheeses and two glasses of wine goes for $40 – a deal one-upped by head butcher, Justin Upper: all day every day, diners get 20 percent off frozen goods and 10 percent off fresh meats. The whole-animal butcher and charcuterie program sources pasture- and ethically raised meat from nearby farmers and leaves nothing to waste, turning bones into stock and scraps into ragu, salami, sausage and even dog treats. Not sure how to grill your lamp chops? The kitchen will do it for you.
Small-batch condiments made by chefs and creators, including panellist Pay Chen’s Sacha-ish Chili Miso.
In the shop, a combo of premium imports and local treasures line the shelves, from Oro di Sicilia’s Green Gold extra virgin olive oil to jars of sweet and salty pickles made with Smith’s grandpa’s recipe and Chez Nous Farm’s The Spicy Side hot sauces (they also supply lots of veg). Hand-picked with the help of Ellen Shrybman at Grape Witches, a Toronto-based, women-led natural-wine shop, bottles on offer lean low-intervention, skin contact, local and small producer.
This Fat Rabbit has more than a few tricks up its sleeves.
Prestigious Partners
