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Foie gras, surprise caviar orders and one tight ship: my 12-hour stage at Splendido

The service entrance at Splendido (click any image for more info)

Our regular contributor Renée Suen was recently invited to put away her fork and don an apron to stage at Splendido (a culinary stage is a brief and usually unpaid educational stint at a restaurant). Renée is an ambitious home cook, but her professional experience consists mostly of high school summers working at a soup and sandwich shop and weekends slinging bubble tea during university. Can she handle the heat of 12 hours in a professional kitchen? Will chef de cuisine Patrick Kriss make her cry? Find out below, and check out our behind-the-scenes gallery at the end. Words and pictures by Renée Suen

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The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

December 5, 2011 | 7:30 am

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Weekly Lunch Pick: the refined decadence of Splendido’s holiday tasting menu

Weekly Lunch Pick: Splendido’s European Retreat

The foie gras appetizer in Splendido’s luxurious European Retreat lunch tasting menu (Image: Matthew Fox)

December’s here, and that means cold weather and holiday decadence. Splendido, Harbord Street’s temple of special-occasion dining, has responded in its usual fashion: the $75 five-course European Retreat lunch special, available every Friday (and certain Thursdays) for the rest of the month. The pace and flavours of this marathon tasting menu are inspired by the Mediterranean, but the ease and luxury of the meal reflect chef Victor Barry’s attention to detail.

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The Dish

Locavoracious

October 13, 2011 | 4:36 pm

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In a bid to stop the “mega-quarry,” Michael Stadtländer rallies (nearly) every chef we’ve ever heard of for Foodstock

Michael Stadtländer has rallied 100 of the best chefs from across Canada to participate in Foodstock, an epic, pay-what-you-can public food event on October 16 to raise money to fight the construction of a huge limestone quarry in the town of Honeywood, Ontario. The Highland Companies’ plan aims to span 2,316 acres of land and run 189 feet deep (deeper than Niagara Falls), and will have to pump 600 million litres of groundwater out of the pit each day (about the same amount used by 2.7 million Ontarians), all to extract crushed stone known as amabel dolostone.

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The Dish

Opening

October 3, 2011 | 1:34 pm

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Introducing: The County General, Splendido’s younger sibling on Queen West

Splendido’s younger, hipper (and possibly drunker) younger sibling (Image: Laurent Hilaire)

When we heard that Splendido co-owners Carlo Catallo and Victor Barry were taking over the Queen West space formerly occupied by Oddfellows, we were eager to see how they were going to bring their high-end background into a new spot and neighbourhood that were anything but. The result is The County General, a casual restaurant and bar where, it turns out, Catallo and Barry have a few new tricks up their sleeves—and aptly, in Catallo’s case, a bunch of tattoos as well.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

June 16, 2011 | 3:58 pm

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Toronto Taste 2011: We get the latest news from top chefs and restaurateurs from Woodlot, Buca, Nota Bene, O&B and many more

Rob Gentile (Buca), David Lee (Nota Bene), Andrea Nicholson (Great Cooks on Eight), Paul Boehmer (Böhmer), Teo Paul (Union)

Two thousand of Toronto’s food lovers and makers gathered at the ROM on Sunday for the 21st edition of Toronto Taste. The annual fundraiser—which raises money for Second Harvest—saw more than 60 restaurants and 30 beverage purveyors offering their best to the guests. Burgers and tacos might have been the plats du jour, but new restaurant openings seemed to be the hottest item on the plates of many chefs and restaurateurs we spoke to. Here’s what we heard from Buca’s Rob Gentile, Woodlot’s David Haman, Scarpetta’s Scott Conant, Splendido’s Victor Barry, Top Chef Canada contestants Dustin Gallagher and Andrea Nicholson and many more. Words and images by Renée Suen

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

January 5, 2011 | 2:12 pm

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The 10 best pickled foods at Toronto restaurants

Pickled things—lovingly brined, jarred and served by the city’s star chefs—are the hottest grandmotherly food since cookies and milk. Here, the best of the puckery pack By Eric Vellend

See the list »

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

April 8, 2010 | 4:00 am

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Best New Restaurants 2010

This time last year, the future looked awfully grim. We braced for restaurant closures and recessionary menus, but 2009 was surprising. Though we lost some good places (Perigee, Truffles, Alice’s and Gamelle, in particular), and mac-and-cheese quickly wore out its welcome, it was an exciting time to dine out. Anxious restaurateurs dropped corkage fees and slashed wine markups, while chefs cooked up imaginative prix fixe menus. It suited our mood as well as our wallets: these days, Torontonians want informality. We’re still hungry for local produce and nose-to-tail dining, chefs are once again finding inspiration in Italy and Japan, and the city is finally beginning to develop a serious cocktail culture. Most encouraging of all is the number of new restaurants opening. Here, the best of the vintage.

By James Chatto, Photographs by Brendan Meadows and Ryan Szulc, Illustrations by Jack Dylan

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

February 12, 2010 | 12:12 pm

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Splendido’s Victor Barry heading to Calgary on chef exchange—and Rush’s Justin Leboe comes here

As Splendido’s second incarnation continues to draw praise, chef-proprietor Victor Barry is taking the restaurant’s buzz out west, where he will be taking over the kitchen at Calgary’s famous restaurant Rush—owned by Barry’s friend, chef Justin Leboe. “Justin and I worked together in Bermuda back in 2006, and we talked about getting back together,” explains Barry as he prepares for the Eat, Drink and Give benefit at Roy Thomson Hall Tuesday evening. “He’s going to be here on April 7, and I’m going to be there on March 24.” Menus for the Leboe-Barry exchange will be available next week.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

December 18, 2009 | 3:40 pm

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Prix fixe, midnight madness: where to eat on New Year’s Eve

(Photo by Sally Mahoney)

December 31st is rapidly approaching, and the pressure’s on: what to do on New Year’s Eve? For those who hate crowds, messy house parties and shivering in Nathan Phillips Square but still don’t want to feel curmudgeonly come the stroke of midnight, Toronto’s best restaurants are offering multi-course meals at bargain prices. Here, our list of nine of the best prix fixe menus throughout the city. (Looking for the guide to Toronto’s high profile NYE parties? Click here »)

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The Dish

Opening

July 30, 2009 | 1:00 pm

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Splendido re-opens with lower prices and less champagne

Champagne is out and cocktails are in at the newly made-over Splendido, which opened Tuesday for dinner. “Everything but the pea soup has changed,” says co-owner Carlo Cattalo, who recently bought the Harbord Street mainstay along with chef Victor Barry. The top-notch service will also remain, despite dramatically different decor, prices and menu.

The first thing regulars noticed were the chipper sky blue walls (we also spotted trendy new high-top tables and swanky lights at the bar), but the real shock likely came at the end of the meal. The bills are now about half of what they used to be.

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The Dish

Read All About It

June 27, 2009 | 12:28 pm

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Susur Lee for $385, popcorn as Viagra, prison food gripes

Slaw slinger: Susur Lee gives Torontonians a taste of his new menus

• For $385, fans of Susur Lee can experience the All Things Susur Lee package at the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel. Included is an overnight stay at the hotel and a five-course tasting meal with selections from Lee’s restaurants in Toronto, New York, Washington and his not-yet-open RUYI, which will be located in Singapore. [National Post]

• 36-year-old journalist Leanne Davis tries a mid-career transformation into a pastry chef with help from Splendido’s Michael Angeloni and Victor Barry. Turns out pastry making is a more exacting—and back-breaking—discipline than she ever imagined. [Toronto Star]

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

March 26, 2009 | 2:54 pm

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Splendido changes ownership but stays in the “family”

The new guard: Carlo Cattalo, left, and Victor Barry (Photo by Davida Aronovitch)

Splendido is changing hands. The star-powered duo that revived the powerhouse Harbord Street restaurant—proprietor Yannick Bigourdan and chef David Lee—announced this week that they will be handing the shop to general manager Carlo Cattalo and chef de cuisine Victor Barry. According to those involved, the transfer has been in the works for some time. Loyalists may rest easy, though: major evolution is envisioned for this summer, but Cattalo promises that “the spirit of Splendido has been passed on. It’s all about refreshing, not recreating.”

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