Antoni in Montreal's Kitchen

Antoni Porowski returned home to a final sold-out night of his book tour to promote his first ever cookbook, Antoni in the Kitchen that was released last month. Known for his role as the cooking expert on the Netflix reboot of Queer Eye,Antoni is also an actor, model and self-taught chef. Born and raised in Montreal, his family and friends came out to the show to support him; making the night special not just for the audience, but for Antoni too.

The event took place at the Rialto Theatre, individuals who purchased tickets for the event received a copy of the cookbook. The doors opened at 6 p.m., but by 7:15 p.m. people were still piling with a large crowd around the bar. Once everyone found a seat in the general admission venue, a local volunteer from the Mile End Mission came out to present their charity which had partnered with Antoni and then welcomed him to the stage to a roaring crowd.

Antoni ran out and you could't help but smile,the cheerful cook was clearly as excited as us. A quick roll call showed that people from across Canada and even from across the border were at the show. Antoni introduced and greeted some of his family and friends sitting in the front section of the floor, and pledged to match the rooms total donations to the Mile End Mission by the end of the night. The stage had a cooking station on the left and two armchairs on the right, and as Antoni threw his iconic towel over his shoulder it was clear which was going to be used first.

With the help of an audience member named Darcy, Antoni whipped up one of his favourite recipes from the book, the Hi-Lo Poutine. It's a classic poutine in structure, but with a couple extra ingredients and Tater Tots, Anotoni made this dish unique. As they cooked, Antoni interviewed Darcy, discovering she is an interior design student who has never cooked anything that wasn't in a box. He showed her the ropes of dicing vegetables and making your own gravy. After they tasted their creation, he gifted her with two more copies of the book. After they finished cooking, Antoni made Darcy promise to cook for her mom more often. He explained to the crowd how cooking isn't as hard as the world makes it seem. You just gotta "Learn the rules, and then you can f*** with them!".

The second half of the night was just as entertaining. Local personality, and mother of a picky eater, Julie Snyder, sat down with Antoni for an interview. We learnt about his  behind the scenes experience on  Taylor Swift's “You Need To Calm Down”  music video shoot, the inspiration behind the cookbook, and the highs and lows of going on this book tour. As the night  approached its end, a crew member handed Julie some questions from the audience, these were much sillier in comparison. If he was stuck in a room for 24 hours, he would pick Tan, from the Fab Five, to be stuck with him. If he was gifted a Corgi he would name it Flufferoni, and the three restaurants he recommends from his past in Montreal: Stash Café, Garde Manger, and, the iconic, Joe Beef. 

Antoni thanked the crowd and his family for their support as the hour came to an end. With a final wave goodbye, and to a standing ovation, Antoni left the stage. Antoni took a simple cookbook tour and turned it into a quality event, filled with laughs, witty stories and some deep moments.