Quest
January 2007
Melting Pots
Where to find the best onion soup By Charles Oberdorf
Hot stuff: Jacques Bistro du Parc's winter warmer
Image credit: Angus Fergusson
In the post-war Paris of Gene Kelly and Jean-Paul Sartre, it was de rigueur to head for Les Halles for a crock of soupe à l’oignon gratinée—la vie bohème with cheese. North Americans returned home to a dearth of sidewalk cafés and topless showgirls, but they could find onions and beef bones, and soon enough gruyère and emmenthal, too, which they lavished like no Les Halles soupier ever had. It stuck. Just try running a French restaurant on this continent without it. Four variations on a cheesy theme.
| Place and Price | Vibe | Eyeful | Mouthful |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacques Bistro du Parc 126A Cumberland St., 416-961-1893. Soupe à l'oignon., $8.95 |
Grey heads drop in regularly for familiar French classics at this no-profile Yorkville fixture | Earthenware urns with lion's head handles contain gold broth laced with as much Swiss emmenthal as sweet onion | Almost onion fondue. After 27 years, this one has become Toronto's standard. People's Choice Award |
| Michelle's Brasserie 162 Cumberland St., 416-944-1504. French onion soup, $7.95 |
A Disney version of a fin de siècle Paris pub that's in Yorkville but not of it | The most generous portion: almost a meal's worth of amber broth with just enough onions and gruyère | So close to perfection. Broth complex in aromas and tastes, cheese just right. Too bad about the soggy bread |
| Chez Victor 30 Mercer St., 416-883-3431. French onion soup: foie gras torchon with onion marmalade, $20 |
Cheery if inept servers fail to warm an overlit off-the-lobby hotel dining room. Diners are mostly room guests | A medallion of buttery goose liver on a round of toasted baguette in a slushy puddle of stock and onions. No cheese | "Soup" in a punning nouvelle cuisine sense only. Foie stars; the very dark, sweet onions are a surprisingly apt condiment |
| Thuet 609 King St. W., 416-603-2777. Onion soup gratinée Les Halles, $9 |
The soup brings soul to an interior sleeked up in modern wood and leather; severe servers to match | In an elegant urn, deeply brown stock supports slowly carmelized onions and a single layer of cheese-topped toast | Some diners will want more cheese, but this is probably most like its namesake original—and the best of the bunch |
