Chapter 2 DINING
1530 Words
And then there's tobacco. Some of Toronto's early champions of temperance might be puzzled to know that under the current system, children can frequent an establishment where the grown-ups drink liquor, but not one where they smoke cigarettes. Toronto's Smoking Bylaw came into effect in October 1999. (It replaced the disastrous and quickly repealed - total ban that was so severely flouted as to obliterate previously existing "non-smoking areas in many places.) The present bylaw is a "multiphase" one, and at the beginning it merely restricted smoking areas to a certain proportion of the space.
As of June 1, 2001, the second phase came into effect, requiring all public places and workplaces to be smoke-free, with certain exemptions. Among these, any establishment that already held a liquor license could choose to designate itself as a bar, as long as it promised not to admit anyone under 19. Other restaurants could serve liquor and admit children, but could not allow smoking. (There's also an option to have a fully enclosed and separately ventilated smoking room, but it can't take up more than a quarter of the dining area.)
But, smokers, beware! In June 2004, the exemption for bars expires and all establishments will have to be smoke-free. The exact date is being contested, but there is a general movement among municipalities to eliminate even these last bastions of nicotine indulgence (on the grounds of health risk for the servers), and Toronto is unlikely to buck the trend.
ROMANCE OVER $30
There's something about its
physical location, in a little secluded dip in the road just off Avenue Road, that makes you feel you're in another world while you're dining at Le Paradis (166 Bedford Rd., 416-921-0995). A faithful local clientele has kept it in business in its out-of-the way corner since 1986. What could be more romantic than a tucked-away authentic French bistro serving such classic selections as terrine (chicken and duck liver paté) and bavette frites? Order a sip of one of their fine cognacs or armagnacs to finish the meal and warm your heart for post-prandial cuddling.
Hail to the Chef
Oasis
Oasis
ROMANCE UNDER $30
You may end up deciding you can't
stand each other after confronting the
tapas menu at Oasis (294 College
St., 416-975-0845) together, but
isn't it better to find out sooner rather
than later? They offer eight- and ten-
item specials, which you choose from
a list of 68 possible little dishes, like
quinoa salad, Thai coconut rice balls,
seafood cakes with wasabi sour
cream, and mashed yams with maple
syrup. Many choices are vegetarian,
but there are three kinds of
aphrodisiac mussels. And if you
negotiate the challenges of agreeing
Haute cuisine may not be this city's strongest suit, but we do have our share of hot shot chefs like Susur Lee. His Lotus was located in a run-down storefront in a residential neighbourhood; now he operates Susur (601 King St. W., 416-603-2205, susur.com) in what was once an old-school Italian dining room. He's kept the arched windows and the "restaurant" sign; a small brass plate announces the change of ownership. The interior is as everyone says meticulous and minimalist... but
with a sense of humour. Lee has a penchant for Pillsbury Dough Boys, vintage squeaky toys, landscapes on velvet, and he somehow manages to slide them into the rest of the decor in a way that seems to fit with the orchids and the white-on-white design. Maybe that's the secret of his food. A single dinner at Susur could easily cost between $100 and $200, but it's not only exquisite, it's also funny. In the same way that a punch line makes you laugh because you don't expect it, Lee's food delights with surprise; his gentle, off-the-wall creative imagination makes him truly amazing.
Like Castor and Pollux, the two other most obvious stars of Toronto chefdom have led linked careers. Together, Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtlander made Scaramouche one of the best places in town, and cofounded the organic growers' market Knives and Forks. The list of their individual endeavours - Stadtlanders, Nekah, Palmerston's has been likewise stellar. Most recently, Kennedy took over the restaurant atop the Royal Ontario Museum, known simply as JK ROM. (It closed as of fall 2002 for the ROM's extensive renovations.)
Stadtlander has pursued the ideal of local ingredients to its only logical conclusion: his own 100-acre Eigensinn Farm near Collingwood, Ontario Singhampton, 519-922-3128). There, he and his wife Nobuyo book intimate meals for barely a dozen people at a time, feeding them largely upon produce they raise themselves. In 1998, they experienced a brief bout of unpleasantness when undercover police officers posing as a honeymoon couple charged them with selling wine without a license. (The Stadtlanders had erroneously made a profit of $1.50 on the bottle, which they thought they were selling at cost. Charges were subsequently dropped.) In 2002, the London-based Restaurant magazine named Eigensinn as the ninth best restaurant in the entire world; lately, Stadtlander also hosts a TV show on Food Network Canada.
ROMANCE UNDER $30
You may end up deciding you can't
stand each other after confronting the
tapas menu at Oasis (294 College
St., 416-975-0845) together, but
isn't it better to find out sooner rather
than later? They offer eight- and ten-
item specials, which you choose from
a list of 68 possible little dishes, like
quinoa salad, Thai coconut rice balls,
seafood cakes with wasabi sour
cream, and mashed yams with maple
syrup. Many choices are vegetarian,
but there are three kinds of
aphrodisiac mussels. And if you
negotiate the challenges of agreeing
on an order, you'll have the fun of sharing a feast of intimate finger foods in a cozily dim setting. If you go to Fez Batik ( bandofgypsies.com)
early in the evening, you'll find its four floors virtually empty, but as 10 p.m. rolls around, it heats up into the popular club that it is. Before the throng arrives, you can snuggle up with pillows and carpets in the Moroccan lounge or next to the fireplace and share combinations like the Gypsy Platter, with its bruschetta, olives, pepper jelly, and optional chorizo.
Who's Really Who?
on an order, you'll have the fun of sharing a feast of intimate finger foods in a cozily dim setting. If you go to Fez Batik ( bandofgypsies.com)
early in the evening, you'll find its four floors virtually empty, but as 10 p.m. rolls around, it heats up into the popular club that it is. Before the throng arrives, you can snuggle up with pillows and carpets in the Moroccan lounge or next to the fireplace and share combinations like the Gypsy Platter, with its bruschetta, olives, pepper jelly, and optional chorizo.
Unless it's obviously a McDonald's, a Red Lobster, or a Swiss Chalet, we diners tend to perceive each restaurant as a separate entity. But of course many places that look like one-offs have been carefully engineered to seem unique. Some of these may be exquisitely individual in their own right, while others may be the jumping-off point to an entire franchise operation.
An example of the first category would be Oliver Bonacini. That's not one person but two: Peter Oliver and Michael Bonacini, who run some of the ritziest spots in town. Their upscale empire began with the no-longer extant North Toronto favourite Oliver's Bistro. Now they own the minimalist mecca Canoe, the radiantly rustic Auberge du Pommier, the vibrant Jump, the cheerfully classy Biff's, Steakfrites (with its live ficus tree growing up through several stories of the building), and the recently opened Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill at Bayview Village.
There are probably lots of habitués of the toney business bistro Reds in First Canadian Place who don't realize that it's a cousin of the much more laid-back Jack Astor's Bar and Grill. Both are creations of SIR CORP, which also runs Soul of the Vine, Far Niente, Alice Fazooli's, Canyon Creek Steak and Chop House, Armadillo Texas Grill, Leoni's, and Al Frisco's. (It's moved now, but back in the late '80s, when it was on the north side of Adelaide east of Duncan, their Loose Moose was the very first pioneer of what is now the
almost-too-exuberant nightclub scene. In those days,
while the rest of the buildings in the area were still
darkened industrial warehouses, would-be-clubbers
would pack the sidewalk for a block hoping to get into
the ground-level night spot.)
Also carefully designed for their audience tastes are
the Prime Restaurants: the East Side Mario's chain, RD's
(originally "Red Devil") BBQ & Blues, Pat & Mario's,
Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub, Esplanade Bier Markt,
and Casey's Bar and Grill. Five "Duke" pubs are
owned by Imago Restaurants. These are the Duke of Kent (2315 Yonge St.), the venerable Duke of York (39 Prince Arthur Ave.), the Duke of Argyle (86 John St.), the Duke of Westminster (First Canadian Place), and the Duke of Richmond (20 Queen St. W.). (But they're not related in any way to any of the other Duke-named pubs.) And if a pub has the word "firkin" in the name, it's a member of the Firkin Group of Pubs. But you already knew that.
- Writer
