TORONTO Colborne Lane’s Space and Taste Blend Culinary Ironies with Iconic Toronto ST. LAWRENCE MARKET AREA, TORONTO / - When Claudio Aprile was ready to open his own restaurant, after six years at Senses (three as executive chef after its move to the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel), he wanted to create something unique. Not that he didn’t have the freedom to explore at Senses, just that it was time to interpret an entire experience, and one he wanted unmistakably to be Toronto in character. “I know a lot of restaurants open with owners talking about how it has a Manhattan feel, but in my business plan I stated we would never say we are trying to be something else,” says Aprile, the owner and chef at Colborne Lane, who is known for his progressive modern cuisine style, which uses alternative methods to create innovative reactions in food.
LANDMARKING A ‘Toronto’ restaurant, he explains, is one in a landmark building such as this, where the food and the attitude draw from a global palette, says Aprile. One of a recent spate of restaurants to open on this block, the front space’s focal point is a 60-foot long onyx bar with a macro print of a painted fence decorating the wall behind it. The dining area features custom-made communal tables and eclectic, high-tech light fixtures and modern art installations mix with the bare brick and solid wood beams to give the overall space a stylishly raw appearance. In looks and taste, it is something other than its predecessor, Café du Marché, a successful eatery run by a husband and wife team for 35 years before they chose to retire. “That was great karma,” says Aprile of the former business’s longevity, “I didn’t feel like I was going into some failed restaurant.” PROGRESSIVE WITH A PAST Although he admits to originally having some trepidation about opening East of Yonge Street, he was taken by the aesthetics of the space itself, its historic character and how this fit with his agenda of finding a place that could be progressive without ignoring its past.
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“Because the concept here at Colborne Lane is ironies,” says Aprile, whose kitchen adopts a very open experimental style to its creations. A lemon tart, for example, will feature curds frozen into little pearls using liquid nitrogen. “So there’s an emphasis on texture and temperature, and a visual aspect to what we do,” he explains, hesitant to use any one term to describe his cuisine.
LOOSE INTERPRETATIONS Rather than following a food trend (highly progressive cuisine often entails following a lot of rules, he says) Colborne Lane offers a very loose interpretation of modern food. “Here, you can do what you want,” he says. “Have one dish and a glass of wine, whatever. We have a tasting menu that changes every day.” Where Colborne Lane is about changing and enhancing food, Aprile’s newest project, slated to open in the summer, will be something entirely different. The concept is still in development, but more news on it will be available in coming issues.
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About Aprile... 2007 En Route Magazine names Colborne Lane one of the top 10 new restaurants in Canada. 2006 Toronto Life names Aprile one of the top four chefs in Toronto. 2003 Aprile was one of 25 chefs selected from around the world to take part in the annual James Beard awards in New York City. 2003 Sara Waxman names Aprile Chef of the Year. 2001 Vancouver Magazine names Aprile best chef in Toronto “and the one to watch”. In the same year, Toronto.com awards Aprile six out of five stars.