Best Restaurants The
top By James Chatto 10
From boutique hotel to major museum to wacky boîte, this was a very good year for new restaurants. I don’t know what was more exciting: seeing established stars taking risks with new ventures or watching unknown 30-somethings make dazzlingly successful debuts. It looks as though the next generation of chefs has finally found the self-confidence (and the backing) to cook for itself. Specific delights abounded. Chef-made charcuterie continued its macho march across the city’s menus, while Monforte and Thunder Oak added local glory to cheeseboards already richly laden with the treasures of Quebec. East Coast oysters were wonderfully plump and sweet—even in months without an “r”—which was tragic for dutiful locavores stuck on their 100-mile diets but lovely for the rest of us. Above all, this was the year meat won back an adoring audience. Carnivores found many new restaurants specializing in flesh, from the slow-cooked barbecue at Cluck, Grunt & Low to $170 steaks at glitzy Jacobs & Co. and even glitzier Prime. In any other year, all three would have made their way onto this list, as would my Number 11, Tom Thai’s Foxley, on Ossington’s up-and-coming restaurant strip. But not in this exceptional vintage. Starting with my favourite, these are the 10 places that gave me the most pleasure.
Photography by M a rga r e t Mu l l i ga n a n d Rya n S z u l c 68 Toronto Life | torontolife.com | april 2008
Lucien embodies the city’s current passion for faultless food in laid-back rooms. At right, pickerel with spiced chickpeas, broccoli, serrano ham and idiazabal cheese
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It started out with a perfect partnership: the veteran, velvet-smooth restaurateur looking to get back into the game, and the hot young chef ready for a place of his own. Simon Bower (Mercer Street Grill, YYZ) and Scot Woods (Habitat) found each other, and the dividend has been huge—for us as well as for them. Bower designed the room—an eccentric decor involving leather walls, faux wrought iron flourishes and a meltedwine-bottle chandelier—and sets a casual mood with his suave meeting and greeting. In the kitchen, glimpsed through antique doors salvaged from an Egyptian apartment building, Woods shows his growing maturity in everything from
lucien
the tissue-thin flatbread with house-churned butter to a dessert of saffron crème Catalan. Holding our attention like an expert magician, he transforms a world of ingredients. Bincho-grilled octopus is sliced thinly with chorizo, fingerlings, black olive “leather” and pimento caviar. Pork belly sings along beautifully with clams, cuttlefish and spicy minced kimchee, the sort of multicultural harmony that gives hope to the notion that Toronto might one day develop a cuisine of its own. With other curious chefs grazing at the bar, foodies lining up to be fed and scenesters eager to schmooze at the latest hot spot, energy levels can shoot through the backlit, sunset-coloured ceiling, but that’s half the fun. These days, you don’t need a hushed gastronomic temple in which to worship good food. april 2008 | torontolife.com | Toronto Life 69
The
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Claudio Aprile’s highly technical cuisine always seemed a tad precious when surrounded by the starched linen and formal service of Senses. Framed in a much more hip, modern environment of antique brick walls and distressed industrial detail at Colborne Lane, his culinary ideas can flow freely, swirling among intellectuality, sensuality and pure whimsy. Much as he may dislike the title (few chefs enjoy being pigeonholed), Aprile is Toronto’s molecular maestro—a true master, not just a trickster, for his use of the new techniques is firmly rooted in gastronomic integrity. And the city’s boomers and A-list celebs are eating it up. A curl of paper made from pure dijon mustard and miso enhances superb glazed black cod
colborne lane
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with green onion emulsion. Corn doused in Dinner at Colborne Lane can be a liquid nitrogen is so cold that it freezes your surreal experience. breath (dragon-like vapour pouring from Here nori and the nostrils), but the taste fits in perfectly tapioca noodles with the flavours of raw salmon, cauliflower tower over Alaskan purée and saffron-infused cod and sesame potato. This is one restaupanna cotta rant where the chef’s tasting menu (a choice of seven, 10 or 15 courses) is an absolute must. Aprile organizes the progression of delicious surprises in a dazzlingly creative way, though servers have their work cut out for them trying to find wine or sake matches from a much too small and much too expensive drinks list. 45 Colborne St., 416-368-9009.
Cash Cows CAN A STEAK REALLY BE WORTH $170? A skeptic’s guide to wagyu beef
By Sasha Chapman Grass-fed beef might be all the rage in Parkdale, but in down- town steak houses, guilty pleasures are alive and well with artery-clogging, super-expensive, locavores-be-damned Kobe beef. Leading the charge is Jacobs & Co. (12 Brant St., 416-366-0200), where stockbrokers and stag partiers gleefully tuck into wagyu, a breed of Japanese cattle that originated in Kobe. Is it worth the splurge? We tried three of Jacobs’ wagyu options—Canadian, American and Japanese—to see how they stack up.
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If, like Mrs. Sprat, you can’t stomach lean, the Japanese wagyu ($170 for a sixounce California-cut strip loin) is for you: a major river of molten fat runs through it, thanks to a sedentary life of confined living and massage. But while it cuts like butter, only a client dinner could justify the expense.
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Mark McEwan had planned an August opening for his new place in Yorkville’s Hazelton hotel; fate delayed matters until mere days before the film festival began. He had to hit the ground running, and service in those early weeks was chaotic. Not that the glitterati seemed to care. They adored the high-ceilinged bar and its clever new cocktails; the sofas on the sidewalk patio were an instant superstar rendezvous. One is still party central—and why wouldn’t it be? McEwan knows what his well-heeled clientele enjoy: relatively simple but delicious food, simply presented. You won’t find a fancy tasting menu here. Instead, perfectly roasted sweetbreads come garnished with onion purée and crispy pancetta—a portion big enough to share. Starches and vegetables are served as side dishes, steak house style, though one could make a meal of the warm salad of roasted heirloom carrots imaginatively paired with chunks of ripe avocado and fresh orange, all moistened by a mild cumin and coriander dressing. There is gentle wit in a starter of scrambled eggs and bacon cloaked with silky shavings of black truffle. All across the menu, a sly use of butter carries flavours straight to the pleasure zone. Toronto’s restaurant industry needs leadership; founded on business savvy, micromanaged systems and straight forward cooking, McEwan’s cluster of high-end restaurants earns him a place on the board. 116 yorkville Ave., 416-961-9600.
photographs: beef by jenna marie wakani
At One, executive chef Drew Ellerby (below) upgrades humble scrambled eggs and bacon with black truffle shavings
Cast against type, the Canadian wagyu ($75 for a six-ounce tenderloin) oozes personality, with a bloody, almost ferric flavour. Flown in from the Rockies, it’s not exactly carbon neutral, but Alberta is a lot closer than Kobe.
The Idaho herd may not get massage treatments, but the cows do roam free. Riven with fat, Snake River’s meat ($94 for a 12-ounce American wagyu strip loin) isn’t quite as tender as the Japanese cut—but a happy herd makes for a cleaner conscience. april 2008 | torontolife.com | Toronto Life 71
Buzz Worthy
The
top 10
THE YEAR’S KICKIEST NEW COCKTAILS. DON’T TRY THESE AT HOME By Stéphanie Verge In 2008, you wouldn’t dream of opening a restaurant without first creating a house drink. This is the age of the lounge, after all, where every dining room worth its fleur de sel has a carefully curated drink menu.
Tokyo tea, $16 One’s zippy combo of jasmine tea, sake, Grey Goose, ginger beer and a splash of lemon juice delivers three ounces of tongue-numbing heat. It’s as sneaky as Tokyo Rose.
Champagne punch, $12 Shirley Temple, all grown up: C5’s demure blend of champers, Chambord, Cointreau and Grand Marnier is topped with an elegant skewer of fresh raspberries. More subtle than a tap-dancing child superstar, it packs a wallop nonetheless.
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Kheera-Mirchi gimlet, $9 This unorthodox marriage of Bombay Sapphire gin, and cucumber, lime and green chili juices is Amaya’s spicy spin on an old-boy classic. An irresistible refreshment that conjures up images of leisurely summer afternoons and boozy cricket matches.
The ROM’s C5 lived up to heavy-duty expectations. Below, strawberries four ways: berry tartare, sorbet, baba cake and mojito
Apple crisp martini, $12.95 Mixing Stolichnaya with apple Sourz, Kismi, amaretto and lime, Lucien offers up liquid nostalgia. On cool spring nights, it’s as fortifying as its sweet namesake.
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c ry s ta l five
It was headline news when the Royal Ontario Museum brought in a huge—and hugely experienced—U.S. company to create a restaurant in the light-filled crown of the Crystal. But how would the place do when the American start-up crew went home? And what could be expected from its young, unknown chef, Teddy Corrado? It’s all good news. A host of lilac-shirted servers personify pampering (as they should, given the hefty prices), and Corrado has proven more than up to the task. His disciplined style shows the influence of years spent under Guy Rubino at Zoom, Rain and Luce, and Lorenzo Loseto at George—so technically accomplished, such an easy familiarity with the world’s ingredients. At the same time, many dishes reflect an almost Japanese concern for clarity of flavour and texture. A slice of tuna sashimi, for example, garnished with a single black dot of intensely flavourful nori paste, was one of five miniature raw creations on a single plate, along with a shot glass containing prosecco granita, an oyster and a teaspoonful of wakame salad. Prices are higher than gallery-goers are used to, but that isn’t deterring them. With plans to bring in guest chefs and local producers, Corrado is determined that C5 will be accepted, not just as a museum piece, but as a restaurant in its own right. 100 Queen’s park, 416-586-7928.
photographs: cocktails, One and c5 by jenna marie wakani, amaya by robert gagnon
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It was great to welcome Greg Couillard back to the city last spring (he’d been away for a year), though the irony of such a quintessential bohemian pitching his tent in the chichi heart of Hazelton greg couillard’s Lanes did not go unnospice room ticed. But Yorkville needed some spicing up, and Couillard stepped in with his usual flair, turning a former bagel joint into an Aladdin’s cave of indigo walls, backlit gold silk and hand-painted lanterns. His menu is drawn from the same exotic fantasy, full of faraway names and flamboyant flavours dashingly juxtaposed. Garnishes look like Martian flora, but sauces amaze and satisfy at a visceral level, each one a unique braid of saltiness and acidity, sweetness and chili heat. A dark pan jus flavoured with ginger and Madagascar pepper steals the show from a meaty, nyonya-spiced beef tenderloin crowned with foie gras. There’s subtlety, too—Maraboo slashand-burn red snapper is an impeccably timed fillet lifted by an unexpectedly
Hazelton habitués swoon gentle marinade of garlic, ginger and congo peppers. And imagine a dessert over Greg Couillard’s exotic concoctions. Before that layers orange-scented praline grilling the Maraboo red meringue with caramel mascarpone snapper, he slashes the fish and a bittersweet orange sauce: the (at left) with fresh thyme stuff of dreams. Couillard himself prowls the room—some customers seem quite awestruck at meeting the legend—or will spend real quality time in the sanctum sanctorum (a 30-seat private room deep inside the restaurant) with those who dare to book it. 55 Avenue Rd., 416-935-0000.
Chef Doug Neigel (from the Park Hyatt) is cooking simple, hearty Italian but using local ingredients and a relaxed approach to tradition. Hence a celeriac and fennel salad with impossibly tender braised lamb shank (the best version of the dish I tasted all year). If you’re not so hungry, there’s plenty to delight, from a fritto misto of seafood and vegetables to a generous platter of mostly Canadian charcuterie to excellent cheeses. Wines are reasonably priced, with the best bargains brought in l’ u n i t à from southern Italy and Niagara. So many of our Italian restaurants are run by glum old men. This young team understands that energy, For decades, Av and Dav has been a graveyard for restaurants. like smiling, is contagious. Now two experienced young managers, Sam Kalogiros (Ultra 134 Avenue rd., 416-964-8686. Supper Club) and David Minicucci (Xacutti), have laid that ghost to rest with L’Unità. Trusting their instincts, they’ve got the mood just right: warm lighting to flatter any complexion, music that L’Unità has dodged the swings from Sinatra to Dylan, and a convivial vibe around a comAv and Dav curse. Above, munal high-top table. Annex boomers (some dressed to kill, othDoug Neigel in the kitchen; ers in jeans) are loving it: this place has found that elusive sweet at right, his impossibly spot where everyone feels comfortable. And then there’s the food. tender braised lamb shank
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The
top 10 a m aya Sometimes a restaurateur just happens to pick the right moment, the right mood and the ideal location. The sitars were perfectly Amaya brought haute aligned for Amaya’s openIndian to Leaside. Below, ing on the Bayview gourmet jumbo prawns perfumed strip, the comfortable (if with fenugreek leaves noisy) room’s popularity and green mango assured from day one. It isn’t the first Toronto restaurant to offer contemporary, high-end, slightly westernized Indian cooking in the style of Vij’s in Vancouver—it just seems to have got everything right. The formula is simple: high-quality ingredients; light, fresh textures; smart, friendly service; good cocktails and compatible wines. Amaya goes further, however, with the best Indian breads in the city, and scrumptious ideas like okra masquerading as frites—julienned, dusted with powdered mango and fried to a crisp. There’s another difference between this kind of restaurant and the traditional curry house: spicing is much more subtle and interesting than any hot-as-hell vindaloo. Not to be missed: fat, juicy prawns perfumed with fenugreek greens and a gently building green chili heat. Since it opened, the owners have added a takeout-delivery store down the street, and other restaurants are in the works. This could be the start of something big. 1701 bayview Ave., 416-322-3270.
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It doesn’t look terribly promismarben ing: a dimly lit, retooled watering hole for Wellington West condottieri tricked out in glowing backlit onyx; a wine list arranged alphabetically by grape; a menu that reads like a UN committee. But there’s heart to the darkly glamorous room, provided by first-time owner Simon Benstead, veteran manager Terry Hughes and a young chef named Craig Alley (another Guy Rubino protégé, via Perigee). Alley seems to have been given carte blanche and is having fun juggling Latin, Asian, Cantonese and Cajun ideas; even pierogies put in an appearance, full of molten smoked cheddar and roasted garlic, topped with sour cream foam and soft bacon, and unexpectedly paired with smoked mango jam. The best thing on the menu is southern-fried quail in batter as crisp and dry as a Noël Coward quip; Alley serves it with collard greens, smoked corn sauce, dirty rice and big chunks of turnip. Then he finishes the dish with more quail, this time blackened à la bayou. Overkill? Who cares! By now we’re into the kitchen’s eclectic aesthetic, nodding to the sounds of a classic rock playlist and generally having a ball. Desserts are the icing on the cake: a gooey fried cheesecake rolled in panko crumbs is served beside a demitasse of thick, rich hot chocolate spiked with espresso and drizzled with pistachio cream—sugar-coated javelins thud-thud-thudding into the bull’s eye of self-indulgence. 488 Wellington St. W., 416-979-1990.
Collard greens, smoked corn sauce, dirty rice and turnip share the plate with crisp southern-fried quail at Marben
Din Din
Every new restaurant covets that all-important buzz factor, but some of our favourite nosh houses are so loud you could crank up a chainsaw and go unnoticed. We visited five of them on a recent Saturday night, decibel meter in hand By Courtney Shea
115 dB S C REAMING BABY
Satori Supper Club 85.8 dB The vibe: King Street on Queen West. The champagnesipping condo crowd invades hipster territory. The volume: Stock up on lozenges and bring your earplugs. After 10:30, you’ll have to shout over Dance Mix 2007. Perfect for: Bachelors on the prowl. With the music at full blast, there’s no need to waste time on pickup lines.
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Victorians loved watercolours of gypsies camping in the ruins of Babylon. Hip, casual Terroni’s expansion into the splendid neo-classical chambers of the courthouse is a similar act of colonization. Shelves of Italian groceries clamber toward grandly coffered ceilings; a wine bar has been installed in the spacious marble vestibule. Terroni has the savvy staff and efficient operating systems to cope with the milling crowds; there’s a slick professionalism underpinning the youthful merriment. A clever DJ is on site to control the musical vibe; sommelier Lesley Martin deftly administers the wine list, which has terroni adelaide grown into a fascinating document full of rare southern Italian bargains. Above all, Terroni knows to stick to its strengths—crisp-crusted pizzas, hearty pastas, fresh antipasti—and keep things simple. What more does pristine tuna carpaccio need than great olive oil and fresh citrus? A few crunchy knots of dough are the perfect foil for a salumi plate starring Pingue prosciutto from Niagara, funky cacciatorino sausage and richly fatty slivers of pork jowl guanciale. The kitchen falters slightly when tackling some of the more involved main courses but redeems Terroni keeps itself with desserts, including the city’s most delectable panna cotta. A small things casual in Italian rebirth is hapthe courthouse. pening in downtown Below, chef Toronto; Terroni is Giovanna Alonzi one of the midwives. at the bar. Right,
the sumptuous salumi plate
57A ADELAIDE ST. E., 416-203-3093.
85 dB H AIR DRYER
Marben 83.1 dB The vibe: Chic and cheerful. The volume: After 10, an in-house DJ compels diners to dance in their seats. Perfect for: The calorieconscious—serious post-meal booty shaking burns off molten chocolate cake in no time.
82 dB RU S H - H OUR T RAFFI C
Foxley 80.2 dB The vibe: Minimal decor suits the neighbourhood mantra: “I’m not trying to be hip, I just am.” The volume: A small room full of big personalities debating the pros and cons of gentrification. Be prepared to use your outside voice—if you can get a table. Perfect for: Dinner and drinks with friends before moving on to another deafening Ossington drink house.
80 dB VA C UUM C L EANER
Terroni Adelaide 77 dB The vibe: Old World style in the downtown core. The volume: As busy as the Spanish Steps during tourist season, but if you wanted to eat pizza in silence, you should have called 967. Perfect for: Wine-fuelled afterwork socializing, so long as your co-workers aren’t strong, silent types.
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Age of Empire By Chris Nuttall-Smith
It’s not enough to own just one stellar restaurant anymore. Blame New York’s Mario Batali (he has 14 restaurants) or London’s Gordon Ramsay (he’s got 22), but many of today’s restaurateurs start dreaming of horizontally integrated, multiple-location food service empires before the paint on their first place is even dry. Can these ambitious kitchen micromanagers maintain quality with expanding quantity? Here, the lowdown on Toronto’s culinary colonialists.
Jamie Kennedy The making of a monarch: Headed up the kitchen (with Michael Stadtländer) at Scaramouche in 1980. Opened Palmerston in 1985; ruled the Yorkville lunch scene with JK ROM from 1994 to 2003. Territorial holdings: Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner and his booming catering company. Expansion plans: A new café-style restaurant, retail food shop and event space, called The Gilead, in Corktown (this spring); a 30-seat restaurant and tavern on Kennedy’s farm in Prince Edward County (next year); plus a restaurant at the Brickworks (2010). The city’s love affair with the Kennedy brand is far from over.
Derek Valleau and Hemant Bhagwani The making of a monarch: Two sommeliers opened Amaya on Bayview last June, serving haute Indian (think fresh ingredients, made-toorder dishes and actual textures on the plate). Territorial holdings: Amaya, plus Amaya Express, a booming takeout joint nearby.
Expansion plans: Inspired by recent travels to London, New York and Delhi, they’ve got realtors looking for a spot to open a more refined restaurant. Also planning a line of heat-and-serve dishes. With a great concept and great food, the old-style stew-and-sitar places have reason to fear.
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Mark McEwan The making of a monarch: In 1990, at age 32, he was head chef at both Pronto and North 44°. Territorial holdings: North 44°, Bymark, One, North 44° Caters (where
monthly revenue often tops $300,000). Expansion plans: A 23,000square-foot upmarket grocery store at the new Don Mills Centre. (Pusateri’s honchos, consider yourselves warned.)
Wesley Thuro The making of a monarch: Ex-owner of the Bovine Sex Club, he opened a southern barbie place called Cluck, Grunt & Low last summer at Bloor and Walmer with chef Paul Boehmer. Territorial holdings: The original location of Cluck, Grunt & Low (sans Boehmer), plus a new outpost on Bayview. (Marc Thuet, consulting chef, is now in charge of the menu.) Expansion plans: Thuro and Co. are still tweaking the menu and design, but once it’s solid, he’s gunning for more locations as far afield as Parry Sound. After that, Thuro says, he’d like to find a deep-pocketed buyer for the chain.
Photographs: kennedy by stacey brandford; valleau and bhagwani by robert gagnon; thuro by paula wilson
H T PLATES
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TRENDY DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A DIRTY WORD. THESE DISHES, STARRING ON A MENU NEAR YOU, ARE AS PALATE PLEASING AS THEY ARE OF THE MOMENT By Chris Nuttall-Smith
Crudo
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The difference between crudo and sashimi? Olive oil, essentially. The Italian raw fish specialty migrated from New York and California to Toronto last year and quickly began turning up on big-name menus around town. L’Unità’s Doug Neigel drizzles yellowfin tuna with a lemon aïoli, then spikes it with capers and red onion. $14.
Gnudi
Consider these plump and impossibly decadent semolinaskinned ricotta balls gnocchi’s spoiled cousins. Rodney Bowers, chef at The Citizen, bathes them in a light tomato sauce for zip. $17.
Reaction was mixed when chef Mark Cutrara left the newly opened Globe Bistro in January 2007 to cut meat at the Healthy Butcher. Was he slicing up his career or was he taking it to the next level? Cowbell is his answer, at once a showcase for his expertise and a shrine for those who have recently come to revere meat of impeccable local provenance and quality. It’s a pretty room, furnished with pews and glossy wooden tables spaced comfortably far apart. And friendly prices reflect its location at the still relatively ungentrified Parkdale end of Queen Street. A glance at the chalkboard menu reveals that meat is the mainstay, cooked precisely as Cutrara prefers—which will be much too rare for many. But it’s a treat to see how he uses the complete animal, flanking pink, sweetly fat lamb chops with a slice of shoulder and a flavourful ragoût of neck meat. Ingredients have been carefully sourced and are presented on the plate with equal precision, condiments keeping a respectful distance from the protein, slightly firm seasonal vege tables seeming stiffly selfrighteous. The mood only starts to relax a little later in the evening as the chandeliers are dimmed and dessert arrives—a gorgeous tarte tatin made with perfect pastry, its dome of apple on the brink of a transformation into caramel-apple jam. 1564 Queen St. W.,
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Having apprenticed at the Healthy Butcher, Mark Cutrara takes his meat seriously. Below, his frenched Berkshire pork chop
Rabbit
We should thank the current nose-to-tail fixation for making us less squeamish about this other white meat—bunnies may be cuddly, but they’re awfully tasty, too. At C5, chef Teddy Corrado’s pulled braised rabbit—paired with crispy sweetbreads and kissed with pea cream—is a revelation. $22.
Panna cotta
An Italian classic, this eggless custard has become the city’s sweet—and even savoury, in some cases—dish du jour. At One, Mark McEwan fashions an irresistible vanilla and coconut version, topped with candied kumquats. $14.
Ontario lake fish No longer relegated to summertime campfire fry-ups, wild local pickerel, yellow perch, lake trout and whitefish are suddenly swimming in fine-dining circles, too. Mark Cutrara, the chef at Cowbell, smokes his own Lake Erie whitefish over alder wood; it’s a regular on his ever-changing menu. $25.
416-849‑1095.
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