Living The Boating Lifestyle:

The Wine Ladies: Are you Game? For Wild Game that is. . .

Join us as we take a walk on the wild side, on a culinary adventure featuring the likes of elk, venison, quail and wild boar! 

For many of us these days, it may feel like ground hog day, so why not step out and experience something new, stir the pot, mix it up a little with unique flavours and textures.  Here on these pages we’ll explore a variety of wild game now trending, with tantalizing dishes. 

We recently had the opportunity to meet up with Anthony Cappuccitti, one of a trio of owners of two restaurants located in downtown Oakville, Ontario. 

Anthony, Vincenzo Ricci and Leucio Palozzi opened up their first restaurant Buca di Bacco a fine dining Italian restaurant in 2010 and two short years ago they opened the doors to their second, the fabulous restaurant One Five One Social. 

Here at One Five One, you will experience delectable dishes, fresh and imaginative.  The environment is warm and friendly with a cool vibe. “Dining out should be fun, not pretentious and stuffy” Anthony tells us over a delish bowl of wild boar pasta, “Good food, good music and lots of laughs, this should be the goal always” 

Well they certainly have met their goals as we enjoy the chatter of cheerful clientele dining around us. 

As we continue chatting with Anthony we learn more about the unique philosophy the partners share here at One Five One Social. With the great success of Buca di Bacco, well established now after ten years, the owners wanted to do a restaurant that was completely non-traditional, in the sense that there are NO menus! They wanted to break the traditional restaurant mold and simply decided to make the food that was based on the things they like to eat.

”Sometimes we want pasta, sometimes a great steak, sometimes seafood and why not different styles of poutine too. While we are at it, why can’t we have Korean, Italian, French and Indian food. Who makes these rules?” This is Anthony Cappuccitti, charming and so passionate about good glorious food, of all styles of cuisine. Susanne and I share a little chuckle and ask “you also offer a wide variety of wild game… that’s a rarity…. excuse the pun, why wild game?

“We chose to focus mainly on wild game because we think it’s awesome and wanted to get away as much as possible from factory raised meats” Here at One Five One they also put great emphasis on farm to table, fresh and local we learn a little later.

Our attention is drawn suddenly to a savory aroma wafting our way, what is that scrumptious smell? 

Enter Chef Kevin Craddock from the open kitchen. Kevin is the  Executive Chef here at One Five One, a brilliant chef whose greatest passion is in the kitchen. Set before us is a wild boar chop, thick and juicy, laid upon a bed of mashed potatoes and fried rapini,  with a delicate sauce of maraschino cherries.  Absolutely delicious, succulent and so tender, another winner Kevin!  

With new weekly specials appearing on the black chalkboard every Wednesday, regulars are always up to experiencing Kevin’s latest creative dishes. Always mouthwatering and divine” enthuses one diner as we engage patrons seated at the handsome live edge harvest table. 

We were hoping Vince Ricci would be able to join us here this afternoon. As Executive Chef of Buca di Bacco, coaxing him out of his kitchen is not an easy task. Anthony tells us that “Vince’s focus is in the kitchen; his passion is cooking and without him much of our wonderful dishes would have not been possible!  

Alas, here he is, bonus! All seated for a few precious moments we take this opportunity to ask Vince and Anthony a few questions we had about wild game. 

TWL: So, tell us a little about wild game” 

Would you say that game meat is going or is already mainstream? 

A: “I wouldn’t say it’s mainstream, but I do think that more people are willing to try different things.  We are seeing that here at One Five One Social… Oakville is definitely ready for a wild game driven menu because the clientele has nothing like it here.” 

TWL: It is exciting to come in and know there will always be something unique on the menu to discover, it makes dining out so much more of an experience. 

Is it difficult or a challenge to source wild game, especially a variety of meats? 

V: No, there are a couple of butchers that we have long standing relationships with. B.J. S Meats is one of them, they’re a family owned business who work directly with small local farms and abattoirs as well as larger processing plants both in Canada the U.S and other parts of the world. 

We know we can depend on them for the highest quality whether it’s wild game or other traditional meats.

A: We also make sure we work closely with farms and certain butchers who buy ethically sourced game, that’s important to us too.

TWL: Actually,  we had an interesting chat with one of the sons, Stefano, who told us that wild boar hunting is very popular in Winnipeg, where much of it is sourced.

V: We do get our wild boar mostly from Winnipeg, that’s true. But there is a pretty constant supply of elk, venison, deer and quite a bit of fowl. Also a lot of people might not know that the wild game served in restaurants is actually farmed, in accordance to the laws here in Ontario, which vary province to province.  With no antibiotics, hormones and chemicals and with the  attention paid to the environment they are farmed in makes all the difference in flavour, texture, and even levels of protein.

TWL: Ahhh..that’s so interesting, I’ll bet most people aren’t aware of that What are some of the attributes that make game meat more attractive to the consumer and the foodie alike?  

A: Wild game is lean, high in protein and has many nutrients that domestic meats can’t provide. I don’t think this should be adventurous at all, cows, elk, bison, deer etc., all share the same habitat but for some reason we only eat cow; The one animal we have removed from this list and farmed. Makes no sense to us.  

TWL: But you don’t only concentrate on wild game here, we’ve had a few spectacular dishes such as your juicy mouthwatering steaks. and that was beef lol!  

V: Thanks for that, that’s true, as Anthony said we mix it up, there’s always something for everyone. 

On that note another dish arrives before our eyes…one of our faves! Who doesn’t love poutine? For Duck Week, this poutine is rich, flavourful and to die for! While we are enjoying our poutine and another glass of vino, description to come, Anthony encourages Vince to tell us about his first experience with wild game, he’s not biting… so Anthony tells us  

“Vince lived in Europe and when he was around 10 years old he was fascinated for a couple of years by pigeons as they were everywhere! His Grandfather caught him 2 and he kept them in a birdcage for a while. One morning they went missing and that night they had chicken with white wine and green olives LOL. “ 

TWL: “Oh No” in unison, pour you Vince! 

These guys are awesome, no wonder everyone has such a great time here. It’s Vince’s turn now, with a telltale story about how he hired Anthony when he was 14 years old.  

As the story goes Anthony walked into Vince’s Italian restaurant called Tony Pistola’s on a busy Friday night at 7pm, (busiest time to bother the manager). He had checked this restaurant out and knew this is where he wanted to work, determined to get into the restaurant business early in life!

Vincenzo Ricci came to greet him, and Anthony asked him if there were any jobs available. He looked at Anthony and basically said that “only a schmuck would go looking for a job wearing a track suit and a hat on sideways.” He told him if Anthony wanted to work, he had to tell him why the 1982 world cup champion Italian soccer team and polenta are important to Italians.  

“He was trying to get rid of me basically LOL, but I showed up the next day with an essay on it. He couldn’t believe it, so he hired me that night and we have been friends and now business partners ever since” 

That’s a great story Anthony and we can totally see you doing that… only now you wear your signature hat the right way lol! Well there’s a third partner too of course, and what’s his story we ask the guys?

Lucio is our front man, everybody loves Luc…. says Vince who grew up with him. Lucio’s focus is to make sure every guest is having a good time. If you don’t know Lucio, then you don’t know! People come from far just to have Lucio tell them a story, or two. “ 

It appears One Five One is a perfect trifecta! It is not a wonder both Buca di Bacco and One Five One Social are such wonderful places to dine, from the minute you walk in the door, to the exciting menus, and the quality an attention paid to each and every dish.  

The two wines we enjoyed today were the Su Soi Vermentino, a beautiful, crisp white wine from Sardinia and the Terra Crestosa Nero Di Troia, a medium bodied red with inviting bouquet of black current and cherry with soft tannins. Both are not available in the LCBO or other provinces’ liquor stores; they are sourced from a select few agents as is all of the wines on their exciting wine list. When you ‘re there be sure to ask Anthony about the best wine and food pairings too, to up your “game” that much more! My bad, lol! 

Anthony, Vince and Lucio would like to invite you to download their app, with that you can earn loyalty points and be kept up with the latest menus on the chalkboard, any events or simply what’s new.  I know we’ll be back and that’s a promise! For more info please visit www.onefiveonsocial.ca

Cheers everyone, and please remember to dine and shop local!

The Wine Ladies, Georgia and Susanne