Two proud businessmen with strong opinions about donairs have settled their beef in court.
Restaurateur Jack Khoury, who claims to be an unrivalled East Coast donair expert, had refused to pay $1,566 to Nabil Toulany’s Lake Echo, N.S., firm, Billy Stick Food Ltd., for dozens of meat “cones.”
Khoury sells donairs at his restaurant in Saint John, N.B., and he complained that Billy Stick’s cones had a tendency to split apart while roasting.
“This is not ideal,” Nova Scotia small claims court adjudicator Eric Slone noted in a written ruling released Monday.
The cones weigh about 10 kilograms each and cost $68 apiece. And Khoury, who lives in Shubenacadie, N.S., thought he knew what the problem was.
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“Mr. Khoury, who claims credentials second to none as a donair expert in this region, says that the reason cones will split is because there are layers of excess fat that, once they melt under the heat of the broiler, cause the adhesion of the meat to fail and for large chunks to start to fall off.”
Toulany, though, said none of his other customers had complained, and maybe the problem was that the cones were allowed to thaw during transport, or were cooked incorrectly.
Donairs are not a minor matter on the East Coast: Halifax council named them the city’s official food in late 2015.
Toulany explained for the court how he makes his cones: He buys frozen meat and minces it while still frozen, adds spices, and moulds it into the cones that are placed on a spit and roasted while turning.
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Toulany said he supplies major grocery chains including Sobeys, as well as many other buyers in Nova Scotia.
“Both parties appear sincere and the matter is likely mostly a point of pride for both of them,” Slone noted.
Slone decided to split the difference. He said there may have been problems with some of the cones, but Khoury didn’t just throw the meat away.
He ordered Khoury to pay Billy Stick $783, plus some costs.