With New York Chef Scott Conant at the helm, Scarpetta enjoyed a much-anticipated opening late last month.
Located in the avant-garde Thompson Hotel, the restaurant is very modern and minimal but, at the same time, quite comfortable.
We began with puree of cauliflower soup with poached oysters, small chunks of cauliflower, crispy shallots and bottarga di muggine.
The ingredients were presented "dry" in the bowl and the soup was poured over them at the table. The creamy soup had a very pleasant, well-developed cauliflower flavour with the raw oyster and bottarga adding to the taste.
Next, "crispy" fritto misto came in a light, truly crispy batter that enrobed slivers of artichoke, eggplant, whitefish, rock shrimp and small rings of calamari. All were tossed with crispy sprigs of sage, rosemary and thyme and sprinkled lightly with chili pepper flakes. This was a terrific dish and will be a regular favourite on my returns.
We followed with creamy polenta with a fricassee of truffled mushrooms. The polenta was deliciously creamy and was accompanied by a side pot of a dark, rich sauce consisting of chicken stock, truffle juice and wild mushroom reduction with wild mushrooms. The sauce was then lovingly spooned over the polenta.
Spaghetti with tomato and basil, a dish that also had some garlic parmesan cheese and olive oil, was introduced to us as Chef Conant’s classic dish and one of the most requested at the New York Restaurant. However, although this dish was good, it did not blow us away because it lacked the depth of flavour that all the other dishes had.
We followed with lardo wrapped halibut accompanied by morels, asparagus and smoked potatoes. The smoky taste of the potatoes was the hallmark of this dish but, unfortunately, the halibut was overcooked.
Moist roasted capretto was served with rapini, pancettta and potatoes. The capretto was slow cooked to perfection and "moist" as advertised. This dish was a big hit.
Ocean trout, with its delicious, crisply seared skin, was served on a bed of braised lentils and almond puree and topped with salmon roe. The salmon roe was superfluous but the trout was properly cooked and the almond puree served as an original and highly flattering complement for the fish.
Our first dessert was a very good Amadei chocolate cake served with burnt orange-caramel gelato and espresso sauce.
Our second dessert was amaretto flan with rosemary roasted apricot and marsala zabaglione gelato. Although this dessert was good overall, the menu does not tell you that the amaretto flan was actually a chocolate amaretto flan. This was a dish that one dreams about, sending us to heaven as we savoured each small spoon of its goodness.
550 Wellington Street West Toronto, ON M5V 2V4 (416) 640-7778
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.
