Will Predhomme belongs to a competitive cabal of top sommeliers who sniff, sip and spit their way through hundreds of bottles a week. They do this to help you decide what to drink with your dinner, while making you think it was your idea all along
By Jason McBride | Photography by Sandy Nicholson

One hundred and fifty-one people have reservations at Canoe tonight. Among these are many Bay Streeters, a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, dozens of people on dates, including the bar manager from Crush, and a young woman who plans to propose to her boyfriend over dinner. The two private dining rooms are fully booked.

Canoe, part of the ever-expanding Oliver and Bonacini empire, is routinely considered one of the finest restaurants in the city. Last summer, in a rigorous competition held by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, known as CAPS, Canoe’s head sommelier, Will Predhomme, was proclaimed Ontario’s best. Predhomme has devoted a third of his life—he’s 29—to wine scholarship. He now knows more about wine than almost anyone in Toronto.

Just after 5 p.m., the bar area begins to fill up with commuters sipping cocktails as they wait for the traffic on the clogged Gardiner, 54 floors below, to dissipate. One of the restaurant’s first guests, a retired trial lawyer, arrives. As a young female host escorts him to his large corner table, he puts an arm around her shoulder. “I don’t like to pay bills,” he says. “I want a fucking account. Last time I was here, I offered those ladies”—referring to the hosts who greeted him at his last visit—“$300 and told them to set up an account for me. And I still don’t have one.” He and his three dining companions, Canoe regulars, have brought in several bottles of their own wine, including a cabernet franc from the ex-lawyer’s private vineyard in Tuscany. When Predhomme arrives at the table to discuss the wine, the ex-lawyer, captivatingly bratty in a way that only the rich and sort-of-powerful can be, repeats his complaint. “Look, I spend about $50,000 a year at Bymark, and I’d do the same here if I had a fucking account.” Predhomme is unmoved, but gracious. “If you give me your contact information,” he says, “I’ll make sure that it gets to the right people.”

“You’ll get me an account?”

“I’ll look into it.”

Despite how much money this guy has (several million dollars, apparently), no matter how many times he insists Predhomme join him at their table (a half-dozen) or extends an invitation to his 55-room Italian villa (at least twice), he’ll never get an account. Canoe doesn’t set up accounts. Predhomme’s job is to make him feel special while also saying no. So he allows him a few indulgences. He decants the party’s wines with extraordinary patience and precision, holding the bottles over a flickering candle so he can better spot sediment. And later, he will invite the ex-lawyer and his friends into Canoe’s wine cellar, a very rare privilege, to select a 2001 La Spinetta Barolo Campè, priced at $500, that the foursome purchases after draining their own stash.

Predhomme is an expert performer of a complicated, occasionally absurd dance of enlightened hospitality. It requires that he convince the ex-lawyer, no matter how inebriated and insufferable he becomes by ten o’clock, that he is in capable, caring hands, so that this particular gathering will be one of the best nights in a long life presumably full of great, boozy nights—while making sure the 150 other guests in the dining room also feel special and this night is one of the best nights of their lives. This is not an easy job. But Predhomme is earnestly obsessed with the idea of service. It’s a weirdly self-punishing thing to be preoccupied with—like obsessing over being the best, most professional shepherd on the tallest, toughest mountain—but it’s also kind of nice when you’re on the receiving end. In the several days we spend together, I don’t think I ever put on my own coat or refilled my own water glass.

Just beneath Predhomme’s modest affability is a bracing current of ambition. If the chef is the engine of a restaurant, the sommelier, at least at high-end establishments like Canoe, is increasingly the drivetrain. Predhomme is keenly aware of his importance to the restaurant and of how much more important he could become. And not just at Canoe; Predhomme is also the sommelier at Jump, the O&B bistro next door, and while there is currently no such thing as a wine director at the company, Predhomme is strategically building such a role for himself. He teaches a weekly wine class to the O&B staff, is grooming his lieutenant, assistant sommelier Ben Shillow, to take over elsewhere, and is further augmenting his own credentials—in the next year, he’ll take the Master Sommelier exam, which, if he passes, will make him one of only 180 Masters in the world.

The tinga tostada and lime charlotte at Agave y Aguacate (Image: Renée Suen)

Desperate for decent street food, eager Torontonians line up daily at this little Mexican food stall in Kensington Market. Francisco Alejandri makes each item to order, employing the expert knife skills he honed during his years at Scaramouche, Torito and the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar. Different combinations of avocado, tomato, lime juice, red onion and pork-fat fried black beans adorn most of the dishes, but each has its own charms. The heavenly tinga tostada ($5.50) is a mound of tender, pulled chipotle chicken sautéed with cabbage, that comes on a crunchy, fried-to-order tortilla shell. A cooling slice of creamy avocado, dribbled crema fresca and slivered red onions provide a nice contrast to the bold flavours below. The meal is best enjoyed al fresco on a nearby park bench with a decadent square of tart lime charlotte ($2.75): rich lime custard sandwiched between Maria biscuits dusted with lime zest and a drizzle of buttery Arbequina olive oil.

The cost: $8.25, tax included. Cash only.

The time: 20 minutes on a rainy weekday (from order until the last crumb was polished off)—relatively speedy compared to the snaking lines you find on sunnier days.

Agave y Aguacate, 214 Augusta Ave. (look for El Gordo Fine Foods), 647-208-3091.

Back in October, we reported that chef Tom Brodi (formerly of Canoe, North 44 and Gramercy Tavern in New York, under Tom Colicchio) would be behind the new Ritz-Carlton’s signature restaurant. When the luxury hotel opened last week, we got our first glimpse at Brodi’s year-long project, Toca (the name is a play on TOronto, CAnada).

Brodi describes his vision as “humble, farm-to-table Canadiana cuisine that supports local farmers and producers.” Going local is nothing new to the chef, who was one of the driving forces behind using sustainable, local food at Canoe. To that end, the restaurant will be working with purveyors like Afrim Pristine from the Cheese Boutique (80 percent will be Canadian cheeses; 20 percent will be international); Balzac’s in the Distillery District for coffee; and Marc Thuet, whose Thuet Fine Foods will supply some of the bread at Toca. In March, Brodi will begin planting Toca’s own garden at Matchbox Garden & Seed Co. in Vaughan.

In the dining room, Canadian walnut floors create a warm space, dotted with works by Ontario artists and red glass chandeliers by Toronto glass maker Jeff Goodman. In one of the kitchen’s nooks is the chef’s table: a massive 1,400-pound black granite countertop (it took 11 workers to carry it into the restaurant). Here, Brodi offers four-to-six-course tasting menus for up to eight people (at a minimum of $1,800 in food and drinks).

In the kitchen, Brodi’s team turns out appetizers like B.C. Dungeness crab with bone marrow ($20), Wolfhead smoked salmon on top of a Hungarian flatbread ($16 or $28) and a “fancy fish and chips” ($20 or $32), featuring beer-battered Nova Scotia lobster. Mains include a glazed B.C. black cod ($36), pan-seared East Coast scallops ($34) and Alberta and Angus beef ($44–$68), aged for 30- to 45 days.

Toca’s wine program is run by Taylor Thompson, formerly of Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar and Reds. The restaurant offers 50 wines by the glass; house-labelled wines by Niagara’s Stratus Vineyards, Flat Rock Cellars and Cave Springs Cellars; and hard-to-find bottles of Ace of Spades Champagne by Armand de Brignac at $650 per bottle (endorsed by Jay-Z and Beyoncé, no less).

Downstairs, Toca Bar will bring sophisticated cocktails to the Ritz-Carlton. The Latin-themed space includes a raw bar with ceviche, B.C. Dungeness crab salad, Malpeque oysters and sustainable sturgeon caviar from New Brunswick.

Toca, 181 Wellington St. W. (at Simcoe St.), 416-585-2500, tocarestaurant.com.

The place: No, it’s not déjà vu. Yes, Hank’s has been featured here before. But since then, chef and owner Jamie Kennedy has abandoned ship (along with the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar next door) and kitchen power couple Scott Vivian and Rachelle Cadwell have taken the helm, giving the downtown café their own culinary spin. The most obvious improvement is the interior. The dining area has doubled, with the stunning sepia-toned mural now a commanding backdrop. The rustic look is carried throughout, with old pews for seating, mason jars for water glasses, and chunky wooden tables.

The crowd: Despite the touristy neighbourhood, Hank’s is predominantly the coffee and lunch spot of choice for area office workers. They’re mostly of the grab-and-go variety, giving sit-down diners lots of room to spread out.

The deal: Like Kennedy, Vivian still focuses on local and seasonal ingredients, with gourmet sandwiches (available in half portions), daily soup specials and salads, including couscous with currants and apple cider vinegar ($6.75), and roasted beet with pine nuts and goat cheese ($7.25). Pastry chef Cadwell has improved the previously underwhelming selection of daily baked goods, offering more options, like red velvet cake, mint bars and meringues.

The dish: The half portion of the roasted capon sandwich ($5) with green onion mayo and smoked cheddar features a perfectly moist piece of capon breast between hearty slices of ancient grain and honey bread, but it looks a little sad and unsubstantial on the plate. (We suggest getting the full-size sandwich for a few bucks more.) Good thing we ordered the spicy, satisfying and vibrant cabbage and chorizo stew ($6.50), which comes loaded with carrots and whole mushrooms. A sampling of a friend’s side of fries ($5) reveals that they aren’t as light or crisp as they once were, but they come in a cute little bucket. We can’t leave without giving one of Cadwell’s cookies a try: the buttery, crumbly chocolate chip–walnut cookie ($1.75) with warm and melting chocolate seemed appropriately excessive for Fat Tuesday.

The time: A respectable 50 minutes.

The cost: $20, including tax, tip and a Pop Shoppe cream soda ($1.65).

Hank’s, 9 1/2 Church St., 416-505-2657, hankstoronto.blogspot.com.

Out with the old: the former sign in front of what is now the Wine Bar (Photo by 416style)

It’s been four months since foodie power couples Ted and Mary Koutsogiannopoulos (Joy Bistro) and Scott Vivian and Rachelle Caldwell (Jamie Kennedy Kitchens) bought the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar and adjoining Hank’s café. Their rebrand is evident everywhere: Hank’s now has table service and dinner (a barbecue-inspired evening menu debuted this week), but the big change that has locavores squealing like whey-fed pigs is that the Wine Bar now takes reservations. “I got a lot of shit about it,” says Vivian about the old policy, “especially from people like Joanne Kates.”

At Hank’s, the space now opens up almost directly onto the Wine Bar, and new signage and seating improve the flow of the place. On the menu, Vivian’s talent for southern accents (most of which he learned during his years in Atlanta) is emphasized, including baby back ribs, mac and cheese, and grits and cornbread. There is also a new weekend brunch featuring eggs Benedict, fresh preserves and house-brined peameal bacon. The famous fries are still on order, though Vivian says he does them slightly differently, blanching the potatoes in water, not oil, for a lighter shoestring fry. The menu remains all Ontario and all seasonal, so expect changes every few months.

The Wine Bar is seven years old, so a new identity is more difficult to assert. “What am I going to do so that people aren’t constantly comparing me to Jamie Kennedy?” mused Vivian when he first bought the spot. He appears to have found the answer: ethnic roots (his father is Italian, his mother Indian). Small plates get playful, like grilled naan served with black bean purées, and marinated Moroccan carrot salad, with pairings from sommelier Richard Healy. “It’s more elegant food,” says Vivian of the symbiotic concepts. “In Hank’s, it’s down-home comfort food and kick-your-shoes-off laid back.”

Kennedy was once one of the city’s dinner masters, having prepared the much-lauded plates at his former restaurants, Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar and Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner. He placed the blame for those failures on his fervent support for the local and slow food movements. “I may have been asleep at the wheel in terms of the overall business,” Kennedy bemoans on the National Post Web site today. His focus on the Gilead indicates that he is still in driver’s seat, but far from nodding off.

Parked on College Street: Cinq 01 contains elements from Toufik Sarwa's childhood (Photo by Karon Liu)

Lounge king Toufik Sarwa, owner of Amber, is branching out of Yorkville with the opening of a quaint bistro called Cinq 01 in Little Italy.

“When I set out at Amber, I thought I’d devote 10 years of my life to it. I had offers to be partners in other projects, but I turned them down,” Sarwa says. But last September, four months before his one-decade anniversary at Amber, the space formerly occupied by Arthur’s became available and Sarwa snatched it up. “It was just perfect timing; everything fell into place.”

The place is now a rustic but contemporary French bistro that is part art gallery and part stroll down memory lane (remnants of Sarwa’s childhood are everywhere). Designed by Hamid Samad and Sara Parisotto of Commute Home (they also had a hand in Colborne Lane, Nyood and Terroni Adelaide), the restaurant features a giant cut-out of a ’60s Citroën DS, Sarwa’s family car when he was a kid, and part of an Air France cargo crate, the same airline that brought Sarwa to Canada many years ago.

Compared to Amber, Cinq 01 places a stronger emphasis on the menu. It was concocted by Jo Castrinos (previously of Splendido) and features traditional French items (moules frites, croque-monsieur) along with some whimsical North American fare, like mac-and-cheese with duck ($17) and foie gras hot dogs ($22). The wine list was designed by sommelier Jamie Drummond (formerly of the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar), and there is a selection of cocktails ($15) with literary monikers: the Hemingway involves coconut rum, strawberries, mint and lime; the Fleurs du Mal, vodka, Pernod and black pepper.

Though it is a departure in many ways, Cinq 01 is not a sign that Sarwa is abandoning the place that put him on a first-name basis with Toronto’s social elite. “I don’t know if I could let go of Amber. It’s just not something I’m considering right now,” he says. “But Amber is a little bit more grown up now, and I can leave her alone once or twice a week.”

Cinq 01, 501 College St. (at Palmerston Blvd.), 416-964-1555.

As for Kennedy, he is leaving to focus on some newer ventures: the Gilead Café and his Prince Edward County farm and event venue. Look for the Wine Bar to change hands and phone numbers (the new one is 416-504-9463) in early October.

• Read the original post about the sale of Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar>>

Bar none: Jamie Kennedy's sale of his Wine Bar appears to be near completion (Photo by Kate Allen)

The much-anticipated sale of the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, which has been in the works for several weeks, is slated to close mid-October. Two foodie power couples are poised to take over the hot spot, which is not expected to retain Jamie Kennedy’s name. Former Joy Bistro owners Ted Koutsogiannopoulos and his wife, Mary, have teamed up with newlyweds Scott Vivian and Rachelle Caldwell (former executive chef and pastry chef of Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner, respectively) to breathe new life into the downtown classic.

When Kennedy first announced plans to sell the Wine Bar back in June (after news of his bum financials broke), the restaurant was offered to senior staff, but those prospective buyers reportedly didn’t pan out. Koutsogiannopoulos confirms that his quartet is currently negotiating the purchase, but he prefers to stay tight lipped until the ink is dry. A press release has been promised for this week.  “We still haven’t passed all the hurdles,” says Koutsogiannopoulos. A source close to Toronto Life says that the deal is tied up with government red tape, including the tax complexities of passing a restaurant from Kennedy’s hands to new owners.

While there has been speculation that sommelier Jamie Drummond would stay on, the man who made sure the Wine Bar lived up to its name will decamp for a full-time position as director of programs with the new not-for-profit Good Food Media, started by Gremolata’s Malcolm Jolley. “It feels like the end of an era,” says the restaurant’s wine guru of almost six years, who still plans to be professionally associated with Kennedy. “Everybody is looking forward to seeing what Scott’s going to do with the place and how it’s going to evolve.”

Um—need we say it?—ditto.

Backcountry bias: COCO: 100 Emerging Culinary Stars Chosen by 10 of the World’s Greatest Chefs snubs Canuck chefs

The country’s top chefs and food writers are outraged that an upcoming book profiling the world’s 100 most promising chefs does not include any Canadians. The 448-page book titled COCO: 100 Emerging Culinary Stars Chosen by 10 of the World’s Greatest Chefs will also contain recipes by these young, non-Canadian chefs. When Toronto writer Shaun Smith learned that there is still one slot left in the book, he promptly started a letter-writing campaign to the COCO’s British publisher, Phaidon, making the case for squeezing in some CanCon.

The letter (full text below) explains how disappointed the signatories are with the list. It’s an impressive collection of names: 24 of Canada’s top chefs and food writers have thrown their support behind Smith’s campaign, including Susur Lee, Jamie Kennedy, Marc Thuet, Anthony Walsh, Guy Rubino, Anne Yarymowich, Lucy Waverman and Toronto Life’s own James Chatto.

For the most part, the culinary A-listers say it’s Canada’s penchant for humility that led to the omission. Ame (formerly Rain) chef Guy Rubino told us that “Canadians do not celebrate Canadian talent nowhere near to the extent other countries celebrate their own talent…Books are created to sell books, and publishers/authors are going to feature chefs that will maximize their sales.” Globe food writer Lucy Waverman agrees. “We don’t toot our own horn enough so we miss out on getting included in these food lists. We don’t push what’s good even though we have many up-and-coming young chefs. I don’t know where Gordon Ramsey ate when he was here.”

Anthony Walsh of Canoe was shocked about the list. “If Jamie Kennedy was on the panel we’d get some Canadian contingent,” he says. “[The book has] a broad topic, but they should still do due diligence. It’s complete ignorance.”

Curious about the melee, we contacted the publisher in London. Phaidon’s representative, Aimee Bianca, had this to say:

We understand the disappointment of not being included. However, the decision of who is chosen in the book is not Phaidon’s, rather the 10 noted chefs who curated the emerging talents in the book. That’s what makes this book so special, that they are chefs chosen by their peers, without editorial interference.

That became obvious to us when we looked closely at the list of 99 confirmed chefs. Most of the chosen ones are from the same countries as the panel members. Here’s how the numbers break down:

CHOSEN CHEFS
Japan, six
Spain, six
Hong Kong, five
Australia, five
U.K., 17
France, 11
U.S.A., 21

PANEL OF CHEFS
Ferran Adria (Spain)
Mario Batali (U.S.)
Shannon Bennett (Australia)
Alain Ducasse (France)
Fergus Henderson (U.K.)
Yoshihiro Murata (Japan)
Gordon Ramsay (U.K.)
Rene Redzepi (Sweden)
Alice Waters (U.S.)
Jacky Yu (Hong Kong)

“I don’t know if we were snubbed because it was all personal opinion,” said Mildred’s Temple Kitchen chef and co-owner Donna Dooher, who also signed the letter. “Maybe it’s time to look internally to see what’s wrong with us because we’re the only ones who can really make a change.”

She says it’s great to see the country’s culinary community band together, something she doesn’t see very often, to raise the country’s profile. Still, Dooher isn’t bitter about the exclusion: “I’m a cookbook and food book junkie so I’ll buy it even if there’s no Canadian talent. Boycotting the book isn’t going to solve the problem.”

*This story has been updated. For further developments, click here.

FULL TEXT OF LETTER

Trim the fat: Jamie Kennedy is scaling back his restaurant empire to suit the times (Photo by Davida Aronovitch)

Last month, Jamie Kennedy called a press conference to talk about the transformation of his Gardiner restaurant from a fine dining destination to a café lunch spot—but that was only the beginning of the story. Kennedy is also facing crippling debt, bailout bids and the sale of his signature Wine Bar.

Kennedy says he will sell the Wine Bar, but only under the right circumstances. “I’m in no hurry,” he says, “This is not a fire sale.” In a Splendido-style hand off, Kennedy has offered the place to the next generation: senior staff Jamie Drummond, Laura Cleland, Aron Mohr and Scott Vivian. If the new JK cohort can scrape the funds together, the founder favours a clean break, though he’s conscious that his managers may want to keep up the association. “The Wine Bar was a beautiful thing and it should continue,” he says, “It occupies an important niche in the landscape of Toronto as a meeting point for local food.”

Not just for the money (Kennedy says the sale would cover only part of the company’s considerable debt), the Wine Bar transfer is part of a career shift that Kennedy has long contemplated. “Clearly the cash factor is one motivating thing, but it’s also my own journey. Philosophically, it was the right thing to happen,” says Kennedy of the move away from daily resto operations.

He wants to get back to an emphasis on artisanal, local food—which had been hindered by the commercial model of a large company. “I think one of the main strategic errors that I’ve made in this company in the last five years is the rapid expansion of the brand,” he explains after a thoughtful pause. “Much of the work of the past six months, including the restructuring of the Gardiner, has been to refocus our core values.”

Moving forward, the Gilead Café will be the centre of operations for the paired down outfit. The year-old restaurant has gained an all-important educational role as the site of Kennedy’s local dinner series. “Hank’s and Gilead are definitely a growing segment of our business,” he says. Kennedy is also working on his own bailout plan, by getting creative and uncovering new streams of revenue. He’s working with Rowe Farms, which provides animal bones for stock that he in turn sells at the company’s three stores. He also sells his charcuterie wholesale to The Healthy Butcher.

While plans are on hold until the economy brightens, Kennedy still intends to open a restaurant at his Prince Edward Country farm. When we asked if he would go the downtown fine dining route again, he said not to rule it out.

A place setting at the soon-to-be-shuttered Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner (Photo by StudioGabe)

Having opened two café-style eateries in the past year, the once-unstoppable Jamie Kennedy will shutter one of his original haute-cuisine headquarters, Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner. Whispers were confirmed today in a letter from the Gardiner’s chef de cuisine, Scott Vivian. After being stationed there for two years, Vivian will serve up the restaurant’s last lunch to woebegone locavores on June 7.

The news may surprise the keen J.K. following, but there was no Cluck, Grunt and Low–style controversy around this closure. Vivian tells us that the announcement was made to staff two weeks ago and that Kennedy is doing his best to get displaced personnel absorbed around the city. When we talked shop with Kennedy at the Brewer’s Plate dinner in April, there was already a hint of apprehension in his voice. He harped on the new democratic dining culture central to the Wine Bar, as opposed to the outmoded fine-dining formula of the Gardiner. Rumours are already floating about that the chef’s midday spot, Hank’s, will evolve into an after-work drinking venue.

“I think there’s some restructuring going on in the company,” says Vivian, who confirms that the Gardiner was the weakest link in the Kennedy chain—it wasn’t making money anymore. Big bucks or bust, Vivian will miss the place and the “dysfunctional family bond” with his staff. The chef said in his official announcement, “I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for making [this place] so successful and the highlight of my culinary career.” Vivian, who’s taking time off to get married and honeymoon this summer, is considering his options. He’ll be cooking something up in Toronto soon—maybe even a venture of his own.

Vivian predicts that the Kennedy kingdom will remain strong, even without the Gardiner. Kennedy himself will continue to be the museum’s go-to gourmand for events and parties, but he will also be concentrating on expanding his broader catering business around the city (look for him at Distillery venues this summer) and on eat-local initiatives at the Gilead Café. As for future expansion, there’s no official word yet. But if the past year is any indication, there’s more moving and shaking yet to come from the curly-haired cook.