What ingredient is key in making a stand-out top ten veal sandwich in Ontario?
Well, according to Food Network star and Ontario's Best Veal Sandwich judge John Catucci it's love.
"Everybody in the kitchen has had their hands into making the sandwich. Someone was making the focaccia in-house, they were breading the veal and the eggplant and making the aioli's and stuff like that, you can tell they really care about what they are doing and it really shows in the final product," said Catucci. "You can definitely tell it's made with love and when something is made with love it tastes even better."
Downtown Chatham's Mamma Maria's Ristorante is definitely feeling the love.
The restaurant had the honour of hosting the Ontario Best Veal Sandwich judging panel on Wednesday, serving up the veal sandwich that earned them a top ten spot.
Head Chef Joshua Deneau is excited the sandwich is in the top ten but hopes this visit will push them into the top two.
"I'm hoping the team gets number one overall, but being top ten out of 70 contestants is pretty cool," said Deneau.
This year, in addition to the judging panel, 250 mystery judges were trained to help find the best veal sandwich in Ontario.
Chatham resident Bill Harron was one of those mystery judges and he was sent to Mamma Maria's to try out their creation. He was invited back for the official top ten tasting and his original scoring is what pushed this particular sandwich into the top ten.
"It really had a lot of flavour. You can still taste the veal even with the cheese and you can taste the eggplant with the sauce," said Harron.
Like any good sandwich, this one has layers. Veal, eggplant, cheese, homemade focaccia, and teamwork. The term 'too many cooks in the kitchen' does not apply to Mamma Maria's veal sandwich.
"In the kitchen, teamwork makes the dream work that's what we say here at Mamma's. We all work together as a team and that's how you gain success," said Deneau.
Now that the tasting has taken place, the team will need to wait until sometime in September to find out if they are in the top two -- the judges are still visiting all the top ten restaurants. Catucci also revealed that while these sandwiches go down easy, selecting a top two is much more difficult.
"It's going to be so hard," said Catucci. "They are all delicious in their own way. It becomes so subjective what a judge likes more than another. Somebody might like the toppings, or the sauce, is there enough cheese, is there too much cheese, is it crispy enough? There are so many different check marks and stuff that goes through at the end when the judges do the final scores."
In past years, the final two competitors come together for a cook-off to determine the winner.
"We are waiting to see where we are scored at... and see if we can make Chatham a culinary destination people want to go to," said Deneau.