TORONTO —He’s the owner of and chief chef at Marron Bistro Moderne (948 Eglinton Ave. W.), a strictly kosher restaurant that he has operated since 2006 and is frequented primarily by Orthodox diners.

Eran Marron

TORONTO —The shelves in Eran Marron’s refrigerator are virtually bare.

“It’s very rare to find food in my fridge,” he said.

You might think that Marron is oblivious to the joys and pleasures of food, but appearances can be deceiving.

As he put it, “I really like food, and love to eat.”

Which is an understatement.

Marron, in fact, is a foodie par excellence, though he is not given to eating at home.

He’s the owner of and chief chef at Marron Bistro Moderne (948 Eglinton Ave. W.), a strictly kosher restaurant that he has operated since 2006 and is frequented primarily by Orthodox diners.

Although he was raised in a secular Jewish household, Marron, a 28-year-old Israeli, has be­come observant since settling in Toronto sev­eral years ago.

And now that he has found his religious bearings, he is tightly focused. “I’m on a mission to bring kosher food to the wider community,” explained Mar­­ron, who specializes in simple French bistro fare.

To Marron, kosher cuisine transcends bagels and brisket, as a glance at one of his recent menus reveals.

Appetizers included a beet and en­dive salad garnished with caramelized wal­nuts and poached pears and drizzled with balsamic dressing.

Main courses ran the gamut from duck, accompanied by cabbage in red wine, sweet potato purée and orange sauce, to the house burger, a ground beef patty served with tomatoes, onions and french fries.

Marron changes his menu quite often, but his specialties remain constant, including cured chicken slathered with Portobello mushrooms and smoked sal­mon and trout pâté with a charcuterie salad.

Marron’s culinary wizardry is not cheap. A three-course meal for two, with wine, is about $120.

“Our meat costs are very high,” explained Marron, who uses only home-made products that he and his two assistants confect in his kitchen. “I pay top dollar for the best products.”

Since he is a great believer in local pro­duce, 90 per cent of his ingredients are Canadian. But in a nod to his Middle Eastern origins, he buys a date spread made in Israel.

Business has been good so far. On average, he and his staff serve 40 to 60 meals a day.

Marron’s bistro, with a bright Pa­ri­sian-style exterior and a muted interior graced by mirrors, stands out in a busy neighbourhood brimming with forgettably bland fa­çades.

He employs two cooks, two waiters, a manager and a dishwasher. “I ­couldn’t do it without them.”

The restaurant is open Sunday to Thursday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Ordinarily, Marron arrives at around 8 a.m. and doesn’t leave until at least midnight.

A bachelor, he arrived in Canada by way of New York City, where he ­worked for celebrity chef Daniel Boulud at his restaurant’s soup, canape and appetizer stations.

On a trip to Vancouver, he met fel­low Israeli Igal Abergel, who convin­ced him to move to Toronto to work at his res­taurant, Shemen Zait. Marron remained there for about a year.

Prior to New York, Marron studied culinary arts at the Harvard of cooking schools, the Paul Bo­cuse Institute, near Lyon, France. “It made me what I am today,” he said.

Marron was born and raised in Haifa, the son of Romanian immigrants. His father, Micah, is a contractor who once owned a pizzeria. His mother, Var­da, is a cosmetician.
Since she was invariably too busy to cook for the family, Marron and his brother had to fend for themselves.

“I was a big fan of chicken wings and red peppers stuffed with cottage cheese,” he said, savouring the memory of these disparate dishes.

In part, Marron’s career path was paved by his grandparents. Grandpa made sausages to die for, while grandma whip­ped up amazing verenikas, borscht and Romanian-flavoured kebabs.

During his army service from 1997 to 2000, Marron was designated to be a cook.

“Making schnitzels for 900 soldiers taught me the value of discipline, structure and hard work,” he said.

As a French-trained chef, Marron is accustomed to cooking with butter and cream, but since these ingredients are taboo in meat-based kosher cuisine, he has had to adapt and learn to be more cre­ative than the chef who does not have to worry about such considerations.

Although he has amassed considerable experience in the kitchen, Marron realizes that he still has a lot to learn.

He has taken a cake design course and recently finished an apprenticeship with a butcher. He now plans to appren­tice himself out to a bread baker.

In addition, he reads cookbooks as if they were novels.

Although his passion is French food, Marron still admires the popular fare of Israel – hummus, shawarma, falafel, bur­ekas and the like.

As well, he enjoys chicken, veal and turkey schnitzel, not to mention pizza.

Far from his home in Israel, he has blended astonishingly well into the To­ronto restaurant scene, and there is no better indication of that than the success of the Marron Bistro Moderne.

“The best clientele I’ve ever had is in Toronto,” he said. “The people are kind and they appreciate good food.”