Our main course: roasted sea scallops with a sweet apple-vanilla chutney (Image: Andrew Brudz)
At Reds, the 12-year-old Financial District staple of the power lunch crowd, award-winning chef Michael Steh has created an uncommonly attractive Winterlicious lunch menu ($20). Unlike so many, which require careful planning to weed out the duds, the prix fixe offerings here feel practically fool-proof (in addition to our selections, high praise goes to the spinach salad with duck breast and the bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin). We start with the ham hock and pig’s head terrine, which is formed into a patty, deep-fried and served warm. It’s smoky, salty and crispy, with a sweet apple and pear sauce that benefits from the coarse texture of stone-crushed mustard seeds. We suggest tiny bites; you’ll want to savour this dish. Next up, roasted sea scallops with a sweet apple-vanilla chutney. The plump bivalves arrive perfectly blackened on the outside and are served on a bed of creamy pumpkin risotto, with the added crunch of salt-candied pumpkin seeds. For dessert, the panna cotta tasting is an adorable collection of three flavours: strawberry with white chocolate–covered rice crisps; tart lemon with meringue; and rich Nutella with crushed hazelnuts. You’ll want to hurry up and get here before the prices soar back after February 9.
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Every year, some restaurants decide to opt out of the prix fixe madness of Winterlicious and offer their own special menus and bargains outside the strictures of the official program. “We do it to give Winterlicious a bit of competition, to bring people in,” Elle M’a Dit’s Gregory Furstoss told The Dish. “But we don’t have to have the pressure of being under Winterlicious—we don’t have 200 people booked!” Meanwhile, Ross Bonfanti of midtown’s Il Sogno Ristorante launched his winter prix fixe back when it was tough to get into the official festival and now, several years later, feels no need to jump on board. “I have a good thing going,” he told us. After the jump, a roundup of winter prix fixe menus and deals. 
Get those dialing digits ready: Toronto Special Events has just announced the slate of restaurants for Winterlicious 2012. The prix fixe extravaganza has now reached its 10th year, and it’s come such a long way from the winter pick-me-up for 36 Toronto restaurants hoping to draw people out of their homes and into the cold night. This year, 175 restaurants have signed up—up from last year’s 150—and prices have stayed the same: lunch menus will go for $15, $20 or $25, and dinner menus for $25, $35 or $45 (see charts below for a breakdown). The madness kicks off on January 10, when American Express cardholders can start making their reservations. The lines open up to the plebs on January 12, and the menus themselves will be served from January 27 to February 9. Tickets for the associated 
