The new Splendido has a very casual but elegant atmosphere. It’s a great place to take a first date, have a 50th anniversary, or just to meet for a business dinner. The new co-owners are Carlo Catallo, a highly experienced and knowledgeable sommelier, and Victor Barry, who served as executive chef alongside former owner, chef David Lee.
Together with a group of good friends, all who have extensive wine cellars, we gathered to taste the fruits of the wonderful 1990 vintage. The tasting was conducted with all of the wines masked and numbered by the restaurant staff. There were 12 wines in all, presented in two flights of six bottles.
Before we began, we enjoyed canapés of butter-poached lobster with a slice of fresh white truffle. The highly fragrant truffle was incredibly flattering to the taste of the very sweet lobster, which in turn was also enhanced by the butter.
As the first six bottles were presented, we enjoyed pork and pistachio torchon touched with a bit of grainy mustard and beef tartar with black pepper on a potato chip. The first six wines turned out to be Charmes Chambertin Castagnier, Tignanello, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Barolo Paolo Scavino Bric del Fiasc, Chateau-Neuf Du Pape Reserve Celestin and Chateau Palmer.
The favourite top three wines were Barolo Paolo Scavino in first, Chateau Cheval Blanc in second and finally the Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape Reserve Celestin. With the exception of the Charmes Chambertin, which was corked, all of the wines were big and bold — possessing a highly aromatic nose while presenting quite a bit of fruit on the palate. Clearly, this was a very successful vintage.
We enjoyed these wines with the courses that followed:
- A foie gras parfait “Victor” — a signature dish of the chef combining duck and chicken liver in a silky-smooth combination, a piece of toasted slice of brioche and a preserved plum in 5 year old rum.
- A house-made pappardelle tossed with parmesan cheese and very liberally dusted with grated Molise black truffle — a sensationally heady aromatic dish with the very well-made, well-textured pasta.
The next flight of six bottles followed: Il Poggione Brunello, Chateau Lynch Bages, Chateau de Beaucastel Hommage a Jacques Perrin, La Turque, Chateau Clinet and Chateau Beausejour. This flight seemed comprised of even bigger wines.
Three of the bottles had received a perfect 100 points on wine critic Robert Parker’s rating system. Those three were the favourites with first place going to Hommage a Jacques Perrin, an exceptional wine that was virtually perfect in every way. In second, Chateau Clinet and third was La Turque.
The final dish we enjoyed with the second flight was an extraordinary, rare Cumbrae Farms Black Angus rib steak, seared and cooked sous-vide, one piece, a cut of the eye and the other, the deckle — the wonderfully flavoured, soft textured flap that surrounds the eye. This privately selected beef, served with a thyme peppercorn jus, had to be one of the very best beef experiences I have had anywhere in Toronto, New York or Buenos Aires!!
The perfectly cooked, well-marbled beauty was wonderfully tender and juicy, possessing the lovely nuttiness characteristic of proper aging. Clearly, this cow was fed a very well selected diet, one that has become typical of the husbandry maintained by Cumbrae’s owner, Steven Alexander, with his farmer partners.
I would come to Splendido once again, just to enjoy this beef perfection before I would venture to any of Toronto’s vaunted steak houses… some of which serve beef that is quite wonderful as well.
Dr. Josh Josephson is the owner of The Cookbook Store and Josephson Opticians. He is a chevalier of Les Chevalier du Tastevin and the Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, a member of L’ordre Mondiale and a member and former president of the International Wine and Food Society, Toronto chapter.