The chicken galantine sandwich and curried pumpkin purée soup at Gilead Café (Image: Andrew Brudz)
With Jamie Kennedy’s withdrawal from the Wine Bar and Hank’s, and his Gardiner Museum restaurant turned into an event and catering space, the Gilead Café and Bistro is now the best place to go for his French-inflected locavore cuisine. Inside, the trademark wall of colourful preserved fruit and vegetables makes a cozy spot for a fall lunch. A long chalkboard menu lists salads, soups, burgers, sandwiches and desserts, from which we create our own soup-and-sandwich combo. The organic chicken galantine sandwich ($10) comes hot off the panini press, stuffed with flavourful morsels of chicken that’s been roasted with bread, onions, herbs and milk, along with thick slices of white cheddar. On the side is a cold salad of couscous, pumpkin seed, and dried cranberry. Our soup, a curried pumpkin purée ($9) with swirls of crème fraiche and parsley oil, is impossibly smooth and gently spicy.
The cost: $24 including tax and tip.
The time: 35 minutes to order at the counter, eat, and hit the road.
Gilead Café and Bistro, 4 Gilead Pl., 647-288-0680, jamiekennedy.ca
With so much attention given to “hot new spots” (not to take away some some wonderful great new places), this is one of those restaurants you just want to keep going back to again and again. The room is casual, the menu is thoughtful, down to earth and locally inspired, evenings are warm and cozy with flickers of candles and happy people. Jamie and his staff will always make you feel at home – truly at home!
November 15, 2011 at 9:34 am | by scottI live in Don Mills but my daughter is steps away from the restaurant so she takes me there on a regular basis; it’s the first restaurant that comes to mind when deciding where to go and we usually end up there. Great food.
March 10, 2012 at 12:44 pm | by shirley