Shawn Rusich of Butter PR should be on the cover of GQ.
He's smart, affable and a classic gentleman. He has a dapper sensibility and a winning ask-me-anything attitude.
Lucky for my photographer Dixie and I, Shawn was kind enough to invite us over to his trendy downtown loft last weekend -- or I was bold enough to invite myself over, but that's neither here nor there -- to talk shop and find out how his niche business concept took off so quickly.
To our delight, Shawn was feeling celebratory with the launch of Butter's new website and he prepared us his decadent white chocolate and pomegranate cheesecake (recipe included below) to mark the occasion. He ensures it's a recipe he's perfected over the years and while he prefers the pomegranate topping, he's also found blood oranges are an excellent substitute when pomegranates aren't in season.
When I was browsing your new website I saw that your mom was a chef and your uncle was a restaurateur. What was life like growing up in a family of cooks? I can't help but picture you eating caviar at a very young age.
Well... [laughs] I definitely wasn't eating caviar at a very young age but my family always ate together except for Saturdays when we were allowed to hang out with our friends. Friday nights were reserved for going out to restaurants.
On any given night we had the most beautiful roasts or hand-made pastas. But really, all I wanted was a pop tart.
All my friends would be all "OMG, your mom makes the best food." And I'm thinking, "I wish I had a pizza pop right now."
Your website explains that you originally got your start in PR and communications working for Diesel and Chloe. How or why did you make the switch from fashion to food?
When I was young I was a creative kid and always had an interest in design and fashion. I went to school for design but switched to marketing and when I graduated I got a job at Diesel.
While I was away at school I started to hone my cooking. Despite being a chef, my mom never taught me to cook because the kitchen was her territory. So before going to school I barely knew how to boil pasta properly. It was pretty pathetic.
I got a weekend job as a prep cook while working in marketing. I was interested in doing culinary school. But I found working in the industry took away from the pleasure I got cooking as a hobby.
Anyways, I went away to Paris to work for Chloe. When that contract was done, I ended up working for my roommate who was a chef. I got to work with amazing products like iberico ham that you wouldn't purchase here because it's so expensive. I really knew then that I wanted to get into food.
Okay, so when I moved back to Canada it was around the same time people started recognizing the impact of social media -- sorry, I'm not sure if this story is following a logical path or not -- anyways, so I wanted to go back to school for social media marketing but there wasn't much available. What I ended up doing was getting a job in advertising with a focus on social media.
After two years I realized it wasn't right for me. At that point I realized I worked better for myself and wanted more freedom to do what I want. I decided then to follow the passion I had for food all along and create my own business.
What year did Butter PR launch?
In 2010.
And where would you like to take Butter PR?
Good question. We've grown very quickly and I'm very grateful for that. There's now five of us on the team but I think ideally in the next five years I'd like a staff of ten. There's also an opportunity to open a satellite office in L.A.
Kind of a funny question: the fashion industry and the culinary industry are both notoriously cutthroat. Who'd win in a knife fight?
[Laughing and a very long pause ;) ]
Um, I think fashion is more cutthroat. It's cattier. More emotional. Um, I'm not sure how to talk about this diplomatically [Laughing]. I guess it's just more emotional. Yeah...
Butter PR is the only food-focused public relations agency in Toronto that I've ever heard of. What interesting insights do you think you have on our city's quickly exploding food scene from your angle?
I think it's changed drastically since Butter first started. It was almost serendipitous that we started at the time we did. Because within a year/year-and-a-half Toronto's scene just exploded.
The industry has changed so much since Butter arrived. Just take the taco and Mexican craze as an example. Before Grand Electric opened up, there was only Milagro and now there's just a crazy amount of Mexican restaurants and so much competition.
So many great cuisines are being brought into the city.
I don't really think restaurants traditionally have the cash flow for too much PR. How do you grow your client base in such a tough-to-crack industry?
We don't only focus on restaurants. At the beginning we did but there was a bit of a lull early on so we opened up to more corporate and product clients for that exact reason.
However, I've never found it too much of a challenge. I've been lucky enough to have most of my clients come to me for PR.
So you're a well-traveled guy; how do you think Toronto's food scene compares to other international destinations?
We're up there. I think it's really, really great. We're doing fantastic.
I think we have a slight issue with portions here. They are definitely smaller here. The Grove for example, I went there with a photographer and we had to go to the KFC across the street after. It was fantastic food but the portions were so small.
FLASH FRY!!!!!!!!!!!
Pork belly or shoulder? Shoulder
Guinea fowl or squab? Squab
Ramen or Pho? Ramen
Beet root or squid ink pasta? Squid ink pasta
Microbrew beer or vintage wine? Microbrew
East or west coast oysters? West
Bahn mi or Po' Boy? Neither
Macaron or bonbon? Marcaron are pretty but I'm not a fan of either.
Amuse bouche or Petite four? Petite four
Heirloom or Organic? Heirloom
Foraged or home-grown? [Laughs] Home-grown
Don't worry, I don't buy that chefs are foraging as many chanterelles as they'd like people to believe either. [Laughing]
Cured or fermented? Cured
Slow food movement or micro gastronomy movement? Slow
Sous-vide or foamed? Sous-vide one hundred percent.
Photography by Dixie Gong, a Toronto-based writer, photographer and stylist.
White Chocolate and Pomegranate Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons salted butter (melted)
Cake
750g cream cheese
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (In a pinch, extract will work as well)
4 large eggs
Topping
6oz white chocolate
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 large pomegranate
Directions
Crust
1 - Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly butter a 9" springform pan and wrap the outside tightly with aluminum foil, shiny-side out. Ensure the foil doesn't tear.
2 - In a bowl combine graham crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Gently press the mixture into the base of the prepared pan and about 2" up the sides. Use the base of a flat-bottom glass or mug to press the crumb down. Refrigerate while making the cake batter.
Cake
3 - In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on high until smooth (about 3 minutes). Reduce the speed to low and add the sugar followed by the vanilla until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. On low, add the eggs one at a time ensuring each egg is completely beaten in before introducing the next. Scrape down the sides again and beat one last time for ten seconds. (Tip: don't over-beat the batter at any stage. This will over-aerate your cheesecake and cause large cracks in the cake when it's baking.)
4 - Neatly pour your cheesecake batter into the prepared graham crust. Fill a large roasting pan with an inch or two of hot water. Very carefully place your tinfoil wrapped cheesecake into the water and put the roasting pan into the oven (this is a water basin). Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the centre is firm.
5 - Remove the cheesecake from the oven and the water basin. Allow to cool in it's pan on the counter for 45 minutes. Refrigerate for 3 hours or over night. When it's completely chilled, carefully remove the cheesecake from the springform pan and place on a cake stand.
Topping
6 - Place white chocolate and cream in a stainless steel bowl. Put a small pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and place your bowl of chocolate on the pot. Allow chocolate to melt completely.
7 - Pour 2/3 of the chocolate and cream mixture (called a ganache) over the cake. With an offset spatula, spread the ganache evenly. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and allow to cool in the fridge for a few minutes. Finally, drizzle the last bit of the ganache over the pomegranates. If your ganache has thickened too much to drizzle, simply place back on the stove to heat until fully melted again.