Elegant, Cutting-Edge CuiseineAwaits Toronto Visitors

By Howard E. Book, M.D.
Task Force on Local Arrangements

A world-class city with world-class dining, Toronto boasts a restaurant scene with exciting Ital/Cal fusion, market-fresh continental delicacies, authentic Canadian cuisine, and myriad traditional ethnic meals. I have organized these restaurants geographically with reference to their distance from the Toronto Convention Centre hotels or from the Yorkville area hotels. The long-distance area code for all restaurants is 416.

Convention Centre Hotels

• Canoe: 54th Floor, Toronto Dominion Bank Tower, 66 Wellington Street West, 364-0054. Creative Canadian regional cuisine, championing roast hind of Yukon caribou and herb-stuffed breast of Ontario pheasant, is complemented by outstanding wines and heightened by a stunning view of the Toronto waterfront. (CN$125 to $140 per couple; US$85 to $100)



• Rosewater Supper Club: 19 Toronto Street, 214-5888. The restaurant's ultra-hip bar scene segues to an elegant dining room showcasing rigorously creative cuisine, nuanced by diverse ethnic influences and harmonized by a thoughtful and growing wine list. (CN$110 to $120 per couple; US$75 to $85)



• Mercer Street Grill: 36 Mercer Street, 599-3399. One of my favorites, overseen by owner impresario Simon Bower, this Mercer Street hideaway prepares imaginative fresh-market cuisine with southeastern influences, featuring such delicacies as grilled Chilean sea bass with wok--seared Asian greens, showcasing ocean-treasure dumplings, all comple-mented by excellent wines from boutique California wineries. Diners can eat in the mega--decibel indoor environs or outdoors on the exotic Japanese garden patio. (CN$110 to $120 per couple; US$75 to $85)



• Avalon: 270 Adelaide Street West, 979-9918. Diners will enjoy a fresh, marvelous repast embracing Mediterranean, French, and Italian influences. The menu changes daily. The extensive international wine list favors California and Oregon, as well as France and Italy. (CN$120 to $130 per couple; US$85 to $90)



• Monsoon: 100 Simcoe Street, 979-7172. Secreted behind an unprepossessing door, this elegant, balanced new-Asian (Indian to Japanese) restaurant with its cool subdued lighting entices with such specialties as bamboo-steamed red snapper in coconut kaffir lime curry with jasmine rice served on banana leaf, maple ginger grouper layered with crisp wontons, sauteed leeks, and grilled portobello mushrooms under a ginger glaze. There is a superb selection of wines, notably Alsatian and Oregon gewürtztraminers, as well as other new world wines. (CN$120 per couple; US$85)



• Chiaro's: 37 King Street East, King Edward Hotel, 863-4126. This restaurant offers impeccably elegant fine French dining, blending visual and gustatorial marvels in such first courses as tepid roasted portobello mushroom with duck confit accompanied by frizzy endive and an aged sherry vinaigrette to main courses such as sage-marinated pork tenderloin with roasted chipolini onions on a plum and pear jus, complemented by both new and old world wines. (CN$110 to $120 per couple; US$75 to $155)

Yorkville Area Hotels

• Black and Blue: 150 Bloor Street West, 920-9900. To-die-for steaks at to-die-for prices are served in understated Italian minimalist elegance, complemented by an international and stellar selection of rich, flavorful wines favoring France but with respectable representations from Italy and the new world. (CN$200 per couple; US$140)



• Boba: 90 Avenue Road, 961-2622. Bob Bermann and Barbara Gordon host contemplative, contemporary cuisine marrying imaginative flavors and lusty tastes, as in seared tuna influenced by mango-avocado salsa and chicken wrapped in Asian rice paper counterbalanced with black rice stir-fry. The "Wine Spectator Award List" features hard-to-find California boutique wines and memorable French wines. (CN$125 to $140 per couple; US$85 to $95)



• Truffles: Four Seasons Hotel, 21 Avenue Road, 928-7331. A highly esteemed restaurant with its wonderfully understated elegance, attentive nonintrusive service, and novel menu offers French cuisine with Eurasian influences represented in eucalyptus-smoked Atlantic salmon, Dungeness crab cakes, pan-seared caribou with whole-grain mustard spaetzle wrapped in bacon, and an imaginative wine list showcasing California boutique wineries. (CN$180 to $200 per couple; US$125 to $140)



• Scaramouche Restaurant: One Ben-ven-uto Place, 961-8011. This restaurant offers a stunning view of the city and features excellent continental dining and a wide selection of wines in elegantly subdued surroundings (CN$140 to $160 per couple; US$95 to $110)



• Scaramouche Pasta Bar: One Benvenuto Place, 961-8011. Positioned alongside Scaramouche Restaurant, this pasta bar also offers a splendid view of the city, along with memorable pasta and alluring fish dishes accompanied by satisfying Ital/Cal wines by the glass or bottle. (CN$80 to $120 per couple; US$55 to $85)



• Mistura: 265 Davenport Road, 515-0009. Some say this restaurant offers the best dining value in Toronto in terms of cost and quality. Orchestrated by owner/restaurateur par excellence Paolo Paolini, this newly opened spot specializes in upscale Italian cuisine with international influences, underscored by fine Ital/Cal wines by the glass or bottle. (CN$l00 per couple; US$70)



• Splendido: 28 Harbord Street, 929-7788. Overseen by chef and owner Arpi Magyar, this upscale, ebullient, spacious restaurant with Santa Fe-inspired colors and magnificent floral centerpiece has its decor rivaled only by contemporary pastas, worthy pizzas, and consistently exciting main courses. Specialties include seared tuna carpaccio and boneless rabbit stuffed with Swiss chard. Diners can choose from more than 100 fine wines, mostly Ital/Cal. (CN$115 to $130 per couple; US$80 to $90. A five- to 10-minute cab ride from the Four Seasons Hotel, 10 to 15 minutes from the Toronto Convention Centre.)

More information on Toronto restaurants will appear in the next issue.