After living in Los Angeles for the past year, Michelin-trained Toronto chef Alexander Fields is back with a revived version of his supper club. This time, Rhyz is pairing Fields’ take on Afro-Caribbean cuisine with quality Ontario wines.
Fields is a Montréal native who got his start working in top establishments including Henry’s Restaurant and Café Boulud in Toronto. During the pandemic, he launched Rhyz with the goal of achieving his “lifelong” dream to celebrate his Afro-Caribbean roots through his love of cooking.
“I always wanted to give back to the community and I wanted to find a way to do that through food and just creating this concept that pays homage to Black history in a multitude of ways — but that also unites the Afro-Caribbean diaspora,” he says. “We’re all one people so I try to convey that by bringing all those cuisines into usually one menu.”
What began with a line of Afro-Caribbean barbeque sauces turned into tasting events and pop-ups. Now, Rhyz — boasting a logo of a twisted, crown-wearing snake pouring a glass of wine — combines the best of a supper club with that of a wine club. Fields has partnered with wine consultant Julia Clarke to create an elevated experience with a combination you may not have seen before: Afro-Caribbean cuisine with wine. The duo will be hosting monthly private events at the Dymon Wine Club in Etobicoke.
“It’s contemporary Afro-Caribbean cuisine, so it’s definitely not authentic. I put my twist or my style of cooking into the cuisine, so nothing really spicy or overpowered — but well-balanced and flavourful, much as the cuisine” Fields says. “So, when that happens you have more room to play in terms of what you can offer with it.”
Promising “more than dinner,” Rhyz is a whole experience where patrons will learn about the wines and dishes, and there will be plenty of conversations and connections had over a shared meal and drinks.
For the first event, being held on Friday, April 24, Rhyz will be presenting a seven-course menu using wine from 80x Wine Company. Bottles of Ontario-made pinot noirs, chardonnays and rosés will be presented by André Proulx and Guillaume Frenehard and paired with the decadent menu. Mains include a take on Jamaica’s popular stew chicken, paired with mac pie, and a cornmeal-fried catfish, which Fields describes as a “Caribbean version of fried fish.”
