Entertainment @ home Hope rises in Toronto’s hard-hit restaurant scene
First came dim sum.
Later: bouillabaisse, which led to baba ghanoush.
If you stick around long enough in this town, you inevitably get to see the spaces that housed one hot restaurant turn into another — and then another. True enough for the second-level aerie facing the Gucci boutique on Bloor Street West, which poofed into something new this week. For years, it was the upscale Dynasty, a resto where blended Rosedale families would head to get their dumpling on without having to set foot in Chinatown.
Then, in 2011, there was a change when impresario Charles Khabouth took over the space, bringing with him the francophile mirage that was La Société, a restaurant that threw an opening that defined the earlier part of that decade. Writing about its lusty opening soirée then — as I braved throngs pulled from the worlds of fashion, society and business — I recall a foodie at the time handing me a tailormade quote when he said, “Toronto, your Pastis/Wolseley has arrived,” drawing a comparison to à la mode hangouts in Manhattan and London, respectively.
It did not hurt when Deepak Chopra, of all people, stopped there for lunch two days later, the guru having the distinction of being the first in-town celeb to pop into the resto. A frisée salad was had.
Faster than you can say “Mind Body and Soul” we have the latest metamorphosis: Amal. “Laid-back luxury,” is how Khabouth put it recently, filling me in on his new modern Lebanese concept. Amal was a project announced a while back, but in pandemic times — when the restaurant-scene was essentially frozen in time during the lockdown — it might as well have been another era. So its opening is like a big breath release in the land of the swank. Particularly since Amal literally translates as hope.
Describing the conversion — the new space is awash in white, with hints of blue, orange and minty green, complete with hand-painted tapestry ceiling and pendant lighting, all conceived by the design firm Studio Munge — it is obvious how personal this all is. It represents the first time Khabouth, born in Beirut, has tackled a Lebanese eatery, per se. And the fact that it comes just weeks after the deadly tragedy in Beirut, all the more poignant.
Aspiring to avoid “any clichés or nostalgia,” but still hoping to pay tribute to the Lebanese people in a way that “brings awareness to the amazing yet challenged country, especially during this time of need” (Khabouth is also leading a philanthropic drive for his native country), the menu reflects this. Think: labneh and halloumi. Think: pistachio kebab and skewers galore, but also an Icelandic cod loin (with cilantro tahini and pine nuts). The chef, Rony Ghaleb, comes direct from Beirut.
There is a zig for every zag, of course, in these times, especially when it comes to the dining scene in Bloor-Yorkville, a bellwether possibly for the entire city. While many things are opening, reopening … for every Amal, there is a Brothers. There was a cognoscenti mass mourning, back in June, when the mellow, narrow restaurant on Bay St. — which had even won kudos from the New York Times — announced that it was closing (largely because social distancing is oxymoronic in a space like that).
Example: socialite-slash-food-influencer Devin Connell, who’s still in grief mode. “Brothers’ closing felt personal,” she told me the other day. “Ate there more than any other restaurant in the city. Chris White created what every restaurant aspires to be. It felt like a secret handshake sort of thing … It just set the bar so high and, in my opinion, changed Toronto dining.”
But the beat goes on. (Insert: prayerhand emoji.)
Chabrol, one of the most soulful places in the city — certainly one of my faves — just moved into slightly bigger digs on Cumberland, in the same ’hood. Then, there is the 16-seater Hana, a restaurant that upped the ante on the modern Kyo-Kaiseki experience when it opened earlier this year and has now rebooted. Think: dishes that pair uni and caviar. Think: dishes that look like Yayoi Kusama palettes.
Then there is the mainstay, One, in the Hazelton Hotel — its patio a sort of sound stage for Yorkville. Stopping there for dinner recently with his girlfriend, Kristin, Ryan Emberley — an in-demand photographer for events and parties around town — told me about the cathartic experience: “Other than food delivery, this was more or less our first foray back into real-lifestyle dining. My business has been hit hard by COVID … I had the black cod — one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in quite a while — perfectly buttery and sweet. It was nice, too, to see other random scenesters walking by in Yorkville … And we finished with the Boston cream doughnuts.” Always finish with the Boston cream doughnuts.
Up a bit, on that Rosedale-Summerhill stretch of Yonge Street — in the part of uptown where people still like to think of themselves as downtown — there have also been signs of a feverbreak. Slivers, even, of a carpe diem feel at places such as Pastis and the rooftop terrace at Terroni. A friend gave me the scoop: “The vibe is really Euro. People getting dressed up and treating it like a special occasion again. Places are really busy. Maybe this means people will stop wearing sweatpants when they fly.”
Right. We will see how long all that lasts. Seems to me, some people are just way overexcited about seeing the bottoms of people after months of Zoom socials.
The upheaval? Palpable in other parts of town.
Closing: Don Alfonso 1890, the superaspirational restaurant on Toronto Street, which opened with a lot of hoopla in 2018 and scooped up multiple international awards in the process.
Opening: Dova, a new spot on Carlton, which has been much anticipated for a while because it is a sister restaurant to Ardo (an in-the-know Sicilian place).
The tremors are still forming, of course. One chef I know — who has several spots around town — told me the other day, “We’ll likely end up closing at least one … October/November will be when most restos start dropping like flies. Summer vacay over soon and reality sets in.”
Hopefully not too much reality.