Pangaea
read our review | see the menu
Peter Geary and chef Martin Kouprie’s seafood-focused dining room on Bay Street celebrated its 25th 15th anniversary this year, but doesn’t bear many of the usual signs of aging. Summerlicious menu highlights (there’s a $20 lunch version and a $35 option for dinner) include a coconut and cucumber gazpacho with laughing bird shrimp ceviche, squid ink linguine with shellfish and a wild blueberry tart with lemon whipped cream and honey-baked apricots.
Starfish
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Patrick McMurray’s clubby haunt at Adelaide and Jarvis remains one of the country’s best oyster houses; McMurray himself is a champion shucker (with the scars to prove it), and the selection of bivalves here often includes at least a couple things that nobody else can get. There’s good Summerlicious value here: start with the oyster plate (does anybody not start with the oyster plate?), follow with basic moules frites and finish with sticky toffee pudding. And do drink a nice Muscadet with it all. $20 at lunch, $35 for dinner.
The Fifth Grill
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Though its dot com–era apex has long passed, dinner at this power players’ favorite on Richmond Street—and particularly on its gorgeous patio—is still a hoot. The shrimp cocktail is bound to be classic (and good); follow that with the tenderloin (too bad they’re not doing a more interesting cut) with ratatouille and roasted potatoes and then the blueberry-lemon cheesecake. But before all that, be sure start with a cocktail, unwind a little, order a bottle of wine and soak up the great service and the very lovely room. The elevator ride up is an event, by the way: the lift is more than a century old. Be sure to tip the attendant.
Canoe
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No, you probably won’t get a reservation at 8 p.m. on Friday; you’ll be lucky to get one at 6. And yes, I do recommend this standard-bearer every time. The view alone, from the TD Bank Tower’s 54th floor, is worth the $25 price of lunchtime admission. And that goes doubly these days, post-renovation—the place has a new energy that’s got the kitchen here at the top of its game. I’d go for the pan-fried walleye, the bufala mozzarella with honey-glazed walnuts and the pecan tart with Niagara cherries and crème fraiche ice cream at lunchtime. For dinner ($45), the mains are a (deliriously happy) toss-up between pan-roasted pickerel and slow-roasted loin of pork.
DOWNTOWN NORTH | DOWNTOWN SOUTH | EAST | WEST | UPTOWN
Since in this part of the world pickerel and walleye are the same thing, are they different at canoe? Shall I assume pan-roasted and pan-fried are also different? It almost sounds like they’re selling the same dish at both lunch and dinner
June 23, 2011 at 1:23 pm | by ryI love Pangaea but let’s not age them too much. Pangaea will be 15 years old October 2011.
June 28, 2011 at 6:10 am | by OutofItmany people especially in ontario think and refer to walleye as pickeral but they are very different fish.
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=14644
June 28, 2011 at 8:59 am | by MikeI believe in Ontario we refer to Pickerel as Walleye so as not to confuse the Americans that come to fish and spend their money here (or perhaps make them think they’re actually catching Walleye). Case in point, this link clearly shows Pickerel, but they’re being called Walleye. I doubt the people running this site are unaware of the difference.
http://www.walleyeheaven.com/
June 28, 2011 at 6:37 pm | by DavediggerAt first I wanted to disagree with the statement that the hottest, newest and interesting restaurants are never on the list, but then I took a good look at the list.
June 30, 2011 at 12:49 pm | by LiciousFanChris is right.
Nice diverse list. Love it.
July 4, 2011 at 8:55 am | by Krystina RomanI think Pangaea is using the same menu as last summer.
July 8, 2011 at 12:19 pm | by TanyaI’m new to the city so thanks TL.com for this guide. Anyone out there have any other favorite restos aside from Pangaea?
July 8, 2011 at 3:31 pm | by APBAnother you may want to add to the list: Jump. We had a great meal there before the U2 concert. Daniel was a fantastic waiter and really made the night!
July 14, 2011 at 7:57 am | by Dave from LondonI had tried EDO couple nights ago. I was impressed with the dishes, great menu with value. Dishes are well presented and taste excellent. Service was warm and great. They deserved to be mentioned.
July 15, 2011 at 5:03 pm | by Eddie