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The dining scene in and around the Financial District has seen a lot of changes since last year’s festival, with new restaurants (Aria, Estiatorio Volos) and new chefs at existing restaurants (Lucien, Brassaii). Here, 24 Winterlicious picks south of College.
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Trying to choose a selection of our favourite lunch picks from the last year proved too much like choosing a selection of our favourite children. So instead we present a complete year of lunch picks, ranked by price, from a humble porchetta sandwich (a reasonable $6.75) to a somewhat less humble five-course feast (treat yourself for $100).
Luscious Italian cheeses are the best things to emerge from Toronto’s enduring rustic Italian infatuation. From buffalo milk ricotta to burrata, the finest mozz-and-cream concoction ever invented, they turn a simple starter into an eye-closing, table-pounding affair.
Inside Modus (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Modus Ristorante, a new restaurant in the Financial District, might serve Italian food, but refreshingly, no one’s anxious to label it “rustic.” Behind Modus is Sam Genkov, owner of the 16-year-old District favourite Bravi Ristorante, and chef Bruce Woods, formerly of Brassaii.
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Smiling for the camera at a Barney’s Version press conference at TIFF 2010 (Image: Karon Liu)
Now that every fan with a cell phone has become a part-time paparazzo, it ain’t easy out there for a star. Apparently, curmudgeonly old Barney Panofsky Paul Giamatti has taken this to heart: spotted by a fan across from King West resto-lounge Brassaii, the Ides of March co-star dared to not mug for the camera (allegedly). What’s next? A merely begrudging red carpet walk?
Find this story on our Star Spotting Map, where we plot the locations of celebrities spotted around Toronto.
Rocco Agostino and Matthew DeMille, both of Enoteca Sociale (Image: Renée Suen)
Earlier this month, Enoteca Sociale, the popular west-end Italian wine bar, posted a notice on their website that their long search for a new chef was over. Executive chef and co-owner Rocco Agostino told us that the restaurant was looking for someone willing to take the concept of the Roman-style wine bar and make it their own. Their pick? Matthew DeMille, most recently known as Matty Matheson’s sous chef at Parts and Labour; his new gig starts tomorrow.
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Toronto restaurants are firmly in the grip of Summerlicious, which continues to this Sunday, so we decided to find out how the annual prix-fixe fete has treated them. The consensus? It’s been a wild week-and-a-half. “It’s definitely crazier than normal,” the folks at Brassaii told us. “Crazy busy,” echoed the people at Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill, who also had some sage advice for those spurned by packed houses and peculiarly empty tables: “If you’re unsure [of availabilities], call in or swing past, because there are always no-shows” (ah, the infamous Summerlicious no-shows). With less than a week left before the summer food fest wraps up, we got in touch with the 10 restaurants whose menus got the most hits from our list of the 63 best bets to find out whether and when tables are still available.
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Chef Robbie Hojilla, the man of the hour, pictured with his family. (Image: Renée Suen)
Over the last couple of months, we’ve reported on events where cooks and restaurateurs have donated their time and resources to give to others. Last Monday at Frank’s Kitchen, we dropped in on a fundraiser thrown for one of their own: Woodlot cook Robbie Hojilla. Just 25 years old, Hojilla has been diagnosed with heart failure and is currently not able to work. Given that the restaurant business lacks the sort of financial fallbacks of other jobs (like health benefits or sick leave), chef Frank Parhizgar and his wife, Shawn Cooper, the owners of Frank’s Kitchen, decided to help the talented young chef with an industry-wide fundraiser. Donating space, food and alcohol, the couple joined up with the staff of Frank’s and Woodlot to offer a multi-course dinner complete with wine pairings.
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Power lunchers and after-work diners are the bread and butter of Summerlicious. Here, 22 Toronto Life picks for where to go. Read the rest of this entry »
Owner Luc Essiambre mans the counter at his eponymous ice cream shop (Image: Gizelle Lau)
King Street West has seen a lot of action this month, with the revamp of Brassaii’s menu, the closing of M:brgr, the opening of WVRST and now the launch of its first ice cream shop, Cool Hand Luc, which opened on June 3 with free samples for all. Behind the counter at the new shop, cleverly named after the Paul Newman flick Cool Hand Luke, is the affable Luc Essiambre (whose nickname growing up was, of course, “Cool Hand Luc”). After spending 15 stressful years in logistics for the aviation industry, Essiambre decided that he’d had enough and began working in an ice cream shop, serving scoops and mastering the art of making it from scratch.
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Wvrst’s dining room features long, communal tables (Image: Signe Langford)
More and more, it seems as though Clubland is outgrowing its old epicentre at the Richmond and John area and oozing west along King Street into what was once a much more sedate dining destination led by Susur, Lee, Marc Thuet’s nom-de-jour resto, Brassaii and Rodney’s. As we reported back in April, it’s into this shifting scene that chef and simple food enthusiast Aldo Lanzillotta has opened his first restaurant, Wvrst, which serves up artisanal sausages and brews in a casual beer hall setting.
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Brassaii’s dining room was renovated last year (Image: Karon Liu)
The makeover of King West has been going on for over a decade now, and members of the old guard (relatively speaking) are trying to reinvent themselves to keep up with some of the new kids on the block. Brassaii, one of the first resto-lounges to call King West home, is doing just that, with a newly renovated patio and accompanying menu—executed by a new chef.
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Brassaii’s bison burger
Furnished with black lacquered tables and barnwood accents, Brassaii’s King West dining room is an airy setting for executive chef Bruce Woods’s Mediterranean-inspired menu.
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Scenes from a never-ending party
2:45 a.m., Cobra
“Let’s get drunk and fuck! Let’s get drunk and fuck!”
I’m at Cobra, a King West club in a sprawling basement underneath a 19th-century warehouse. In this neighbourhood, the best parties are either deep underground or high above in a rooftop bar. Cobra is decorated like a gothic funhouse, with a wall of glowing skulls and lots of black. The get-drunk-and-fuck directive bleats from a techno remix as coloured lights, inducing a kind of electric synesthesia, pulsate on the basement ceiling. To my left, two girls make out and topple over, knocking down their bottle service glassware. Guys eagerly watch from the sidelines, plotting how to make their move. My teeth chatter from the vibrating bass. I down a shot that’s half Sour Puss and half vodka, proffered by a human Barbie doll bartender. Read the rest of this entry »
(Image: Jon Sufrin)
With the recent arrival of such hot spots as The Hideout, Tattoo Rock Parlour and Barchef, the Queen and Bathurst area has seen a boom in late-night hangout options (with the notable exception of the Bip Bop Big Bop’s closure). But a few steps north on Bathurst used to mean immediate entry into a nightlife dead zone. At least, that was before Adrian Ravinsky and David Stewart opened 416 Snack Bar on Monday, bringing with them a cosmopolitan menu of palm-sized grub options.
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