April 2026.
We have a spy in the form of a friend of our daughter who lives in the city and is keen on great food. He recommended this restaurant and said the Obamas had eaten here, which didn’t impress us. We went for lunch on a sunny cool spring Sunday. It was a busy moderately noisy big room of which there are a great many everywhere. But the food! Delicious, creative, strongly seasoned, and unusually satiffying.
We tried to choose a table with the minimum of captious nasal yapping of other diners and were partly successful. Our server was a young South Asian guy who was quick and pleasantly conversational. There’s a nicely-chosen succinct wine list covering most of the major regions. We were in the mood for a white and so chose a Sicilian item listed at $80 which was pleasantly fragrant, acidic in the mouth, and carried some persistence.
Our shared starter was a beef tartare which was unusual in its coarse consistency and a late onset persisting heat, perfectly seasoned. Delicious and satisfying although it was covered with small potato crisps.
The mains were a pork papardelle for me and the lobster salad for Robin. The pasta was really delicious and it was clear the chef is fully unafraid of salt and sour. The rich sauce lined up nicely with the perfectly al dente fat noodles with a good Reggiano shaved on top. Much more than just nicely done pasta with what I thought was a daring use of vinegar and salt. Perfectly balanced for me. Robin’s lobster salad was similarly perfectly set up with the chunks of crustacean cool and tender and the dressing mouthwatering with its balance and gentle tarragon.
The clientele seemed consistently 30-something fun and at times noisy hilarious well-off people going to Sunday lunch. We paid just over C$300 which was worth it for the quality of the food.
This place would be one of any number of big noisy trendy eating places if it weren’t for the perfect flavour and seasoning of the food. We thought it was really unusual and could see going back again if we and the big apple both find ourselves in the same place.
Food 9.5, service 8.8, ambience 8.3, value 8.4, peace and quiet 7.8.
