Fine dining in Toronto is undergoing a seismic shift: the landscape underneath the table-cloth is moving as we eat. Some marquee restaurants (like Perigree) are shuttered. Many others (Susur, Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner, and Splendido) are retooling into bistros to offer fine food in a less grandiose manner.
Perhaps we can pin this realignment on the recession, but this ignores the larger (and more interesting) trend toward the “casual gourmet”. Restaurants want your business even if you are wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt. As hipsters become foodies and foodies become hip, there’s growing pressure to create dining experiences that are inexpensive and unpretentious.
At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I confess that I will miss the somber formality that is disappearing from Toronto’s restaurants. Perhaps this is because I’m a wine critic: wine is approximately 14 percent alcohol and the remaining 86 percent is pretension. Both are needed to whet the appetite.
The highest echelon of restaurants understood that fine dining is not merely about good food: it is performance art where a disciplined wait staff mimes the eternal rituals of wealth and status for the patrons. I like visiting this strange land as a tourist. When I am in Paris, I also go for mass in Notre Dame even though I’m not a Catholic.
To celebrate the decline of the old religion, a few weeks ago I attended Splendido on the eve of its reinvention under new management. Toronto Life astutely described the Splendido as “fine dining at its most accomplished”. But now the proprietor Yannick Bigourdan and chef David Lee are selling to two of the staff they have mentored, general manager Carlo Cattalo and chef de cuisine Victor Barry. Although Carlo and Victor promise to maintain the high quality, renovations to the space and to the menu reveal a brighter, more informal approach.
I wanted one last taste of Splendido when it was still dark, brooding and cripplingly expensive. A friend of mine who worked as a waiter at Splendido secured us a sitting during their final tasting menu, an eight course extravaganza where the chef prepared one dish from each of the last eight years.
Highlights included Tunisian octopus, truffle ratatouille, quail eggs, squab breast and Grand Marnier Soufflé. In general, the food had the molecular complexity and precision that made Spendido famous. However, like many tasting menus, it was so rich and demanding that if left me feeling full but not nourished. I suppose that’s the price you pay for eight courses of the best food Toronto can make.
Stay tuned next week when I reveal the best wine to drink at Splendido.
Matthew Sullivan is a civil litigator in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca NEW! Follow along on Twitter: @shortcellar.