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A caribou etching adorns the wall near the soapstone bar (Image: Suresh Doss)
Last December we reported that Canoe would be closing up shop for a million-dollar facelift. Unlike most construction projects in the city, the restaurant was remodeled on schedule, and opened last night with insiders reporting (ok, tweeting) its down-to-the-wire progress. We snagged some images at the start of yesterday’s service for this first look at Canoe’s new digs.
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Sesame balls at Lai Toh Heen (Image: Benson Kua)
After 17 days of furious jockeying for reservations, Winterlicious—the city’s annual festival of prix-fixe menus, packed dining rooms and run-ragged servers—is finally underway. In case you don’t already have the next two weeks worth of dining planned out, take a look at our comprehensive coverage:
• The Best of Winterlicious 2011: Toronto Life’s 62 favourite restaurants
• 12 best bets for Winterlicious 2011: our chief critic goes through the menus so you don’t have to
• Alternalicious: a roundup of this year’s Winterlicious rebels
Winterlicious runs from today, January 28, to February 10.
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Few subjects are as divisive among Toronto diners and industry people as the merits of Summer- and Winterlicious. While the biannual culinary event may help restaurants fill empty tables during an otherwise slow season, as we’ve explored before, participation in the city-run festival can have its limitations (dining rooms filled with stingy tippers, owners bound by the city’s rules). As in previous years, a number of restaurants have decided to strike out on their own with prix fixe specials.
1. CONNECTING: TORONTO IS AN AWFUL CITY
As part of the ROM’s regular Connecting series, Toronto Star urban affairs columnist Christopher Hume expounds on gridlock, pollution and—shudder—transit. Counterintuitively, Hume also explains how the much-yearned-for “better future” is happening right now. Jan. 28. $50. Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, 416-586-8000, rom.on.ca.
2. WINTERLICIOUS Read the rest of this entry »
The most delicious part of winter is here! In addition to the prix fixe menus at some of the city’s best restaurants, there are 14 extra foodie events, including a maharaja-themed evening at the AGO, a Chinese New Year celebration at Spice Route and an Iron Chef–style competition at Fort York between C5′s Ted Corrado and Beast’s Scott Vivian. Jan. 28 to Feb. 10. toronto.ca/special_events/winterlicious.
The view from Toula: be a tourist in your own city (Image: Ian Muttoo)
First things first: there’s not much change under the Summerlicious sun. All of the old favourites are here (including Canoe and Bymark, which always sell out first). Seven Numbers, which by Winter/Summerlicious rules is allowed only one location, has swapped out its Danforth location for its Eglinton one. Winterlicious participant Conviction is out for the summer edition as the second season of Conviction Kitchen films in Vancouver. The new owners of Crush Wine Bar are apparently not feeling the ’licious love—nor is Moroco. And while The Citizen’s digs are alive and kicking under new ownership, its vaunted replacement, Ruby Watchco, is opting out.
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It’s the day every frugal foodie has been looking forward to since February: the Summerlicious restaurants have been announced. Reservations can be made starting June 24. One hundred and fifty restaurants are participating in the 2010 edition of the prix fixe extravaganza, which runs from July 9 to 25.
At first blush, Summerlicious 2010—the eighth edition—looks pretty similar to Winterlicious 2010. There have been no controversial price hikes. In fact, compared to last year’s Summerlicious, the cost of the most expensive lunch has come down by $5. This year, lunch is being served for $15, $20 or $25 and dinner for $25, $35 or $45.
See Toronto Life‘s picks for the 64 best bets at Summerlicious 2010 »
A farewell to Arms: J.P. Challet bids farewell to the Yorkville institution (Image: windsorarmshotel.com)
Master chef J.P. Challet is leaving the Windsor Arms Hotel’s Prime just five months into his tenure—and nine years after doing it the first time. His company Jean-Pierre and Co. unceremoniously pulled out of the steak house after a deal to take over the hotel’s food and beverage program fell through. Challet served his last supper for the Arms at a 2,000-person function at Exhibition Place last Sunday and is now looking to restart construction on his once-hyped Harbord Street project, Ici Bistro.
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Every year, Toronto Life’s April edition names the current food and restaurant trends we love, hate and those with which we have a love-hate relationship. Here, in no particular order, are our hated trends for 2010
The cozy Elm Street restaurant serves one of the more exceptional lunch menus to be had during Winterlicious
(Photos by Matthew Fox)
Closed for now or forever? The entrance to the Spice Room is presently blocked (Photo by Karon Liu)
It seems as though every restaurant nightmare is presently playing out in the basement of Hazelton Lanes, where Greg Couillard’s Spice Room and Chutney Bar sits abandoned behind a barrier of bar stools and a sign that reads “Restaurant Closed.” At Manyata, the restaurant’s courtyard café, dusty Christmas decorations have been pushed to the corner, and exposed wires hang from the ceiling like an abandoned renovation project. “Since David Nganga took over, it’s been a shit show,” says one Spice Room–Manyata server. “I’m madder than hell.”
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(Photo by Alpha)
Summer- and Winterlicious are divisive topics among those in the restaurant biz: some enjoy the increased business, while others hate working within the city’s rules. This year, however, there seems to be a surge in non-Winterlicious events—or, as it’s known in the Twitterverse, Antilicious.
The Samovar Room, for example, is holding Vodkalicious, with a three-course vodka-inspired menu for $30. “It was simply too late to apply to be a part of it,” said Samovar’s Rumen Dimitroff, whose vodka bar opened in late August (the deadline for this year’s applicants is August 10). “Winterlicious is a great event, and I still wanted to do something special around the same time.”
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It seems like just yesterday that we spoke with Greg Couillard at the Spice Room about his trips to Toronto to prepare special menus—now, the place looks like it’s been ransacked, with cash machines gone and serviettes scattered everywhere. “It was Friday night and the restaurant was totally empty. It looked like a ghost town,” says one Hazelton Lanes shopper, who strolled past last week at 8 p.m.—prime dining time. A tipster even contacted us, alleging that employees were having difficulty getting paid and that management has not been responding to messages. A quick call to the restaurant yielded a recording that asked us if we were interested in a table for Summerlicious.
What does this mean for the future of the once-adventurous Yorkville restaurant? And for diners who booked tables for Winterlicious? We’re not sure, but we hope to find out.
Peter Tsang, Jennifer Decorte and J.P. Challet (Photo by Jessica Darmanin)
More than a decade after he reopened the restaurant at the Windsor Arms, French chef J.P. Challet is returning to revamp the dining options at the classic hotel, along with partners Jennifer Decorte and Peter Tsang. Their company Ici La-bas Partout, which has been operating out of an as-yet-unopened bistro on Harbord, will be transforming Prime, the hotel’s steakhouse, into a modern French restaurant called Ici. As for the spot on Harbord, it’s still coming, assures Decorte; they plan to open Ici Aussi in March.
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Today is the biggest pre-festival day for Winterlicious: reservations are now being taken at the 150 participating restaurants. Tables at the most renowned spots always go quickly, but there is more to this event than Canoe and Bymark. For the discerning diner, Toronto Life has picked the 69 best bets of Winterlicious and presents complete lunch and dinner menus, as well as our starred reviews.
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