Toronto’s omakase scene has officially moved beyond sushi and sashimi, with one local chef now giving the tasting-menu treatment to something a little less expected: dry-aged beef.
Chef Joe Friday, the man behind Friday Burger Company, has launched a hidden Burger Omakase experience that is the first of its kind in Toronto. Instead of ordering a burger and fries, guests are served a chef-led burger tasting experience inspired by Friday’s years working in kitchens around the world.
The catch? The hidden experience can only be booked by DMing @fridayburgerco on Instagram to find out when the next seating drops!
It’s still somewhat hush-hush, but influencers say that every beef burger at Friday Burger Company is made using a premium dry-aged AAA short rib and chuck blend sourced from trusted local suppliers. The six-course experience starts with a lobster caviar grilled cheese, followed by a Wagyu bacon jam burger. The third course is Friday’s Nashville hot chicken sandwich, made with crispy halal chicken, a Nashville hot spice blend, shredded lettuce, housemade pickles and Alabama white BBQ sauce.
Next comes the Monday Burger, featuring two dry-aged halal beef patties with American cheese, raw onions, ketchup and Alabama white BBQ sauce. The savoury portion of the tasting ends with the signature Friday Burger, made with a single dry-aged halal beef patty, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, housemade pickles, crispy onions and Friday sauce, before Mississippi mud pie rounds out the meal for dessert.
Friday’s interest in burgers goes way back. He first developed a passion for them while working at a burger chain in North Carolina as a teenager before studying Restaurant Management at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. His career later took him to restaurants around the world, including a stage at The French Laundry in California and a saucier position at Nobu in Honolulu.
He literally tasted more than 700 burgers around the world before deciding it was time to put all that research to the test and create his own signature burger! You can now dig into it at Friday Burger Company, which has two Toronto locations. Whether or not you score a spot at the hidden Burger Omakase, you can still try Friday’s creations at 81 Bay St. inside TABLE Fare + Social or at 2162 Danforth Ave.
Follow @fridayburgerco for more info.