Jamie Oliver likes it, we like it
If an out-of-towner asked me for a typical Toronto restaurant, I’d say Buca, for it signifies a hat trick of edible Toronto: first, our ethnic background in general and specifically our strong Italian immigrant presence. Second, how cool we’ve become. Who needs the Big Apple when we have restaurants like this, in a reclaimed warehouse with soaring ceilings, washed brick, industrial fixtures and a multiplicity of clever little spaces, all grace and no attitude? And third, Buca is one of the reasons why Toronto is one of the great food cities of the world, for pure food quality. That chef Rob Gentile trained under Mark McEwan shows in his impeccable technique. I love his thin-crust pizzas with clever toppings and his pasta, especially when he fills them with the likes of veal, grana padano and mortadella and makes matters even richer with a deep, strong veal sauce. His charcuterie is superb, and even the desserts, not usually an Italian strong suit, are worth every calorie.
Buca is located at 604 King St. E., 416-865-1600.
More than just a legendary burger
Masters of the universe frequent the impeccable Bymark restaurant for its unfussy luxe, the service that says that you really matter and a menu based on the best ingredients flown in from the four corners of the globe. Bymark is also where the thousand dollar suits go to kick back after work, for the bar is an elegance of stone and wood. After a few $12.50 to $14 cocktails, they own the world, and a $35 Bymark burger in the bar goes down like a bear market on the run. Eight ounces of U.S. prime garnished with ultra crisp onion rings and unimpeachable French brie, it makes those 80-hour work weeks feel worth it. As does the ridiculously delicious $27 grilled cheese sandwich with lobster, pancetta and more of that upmarket French brie. But the most fun at the Bymark bar (other than pretending you’re richer than you think) is the $27 poutine perfect fries with juicy, sweet butter-braised lobster and fabulous Béarnaise sauce strong with tarragon scent.
Bymark is located at 66 Wellington St. W., 416-777-1144.
Liberty Village hot spot
Toronto would love to hate Scarpetta because who wants to like a resto brought to us by a globe-trotting New York chef for whom we’re just an extension of his brand, a little frisson of franchising? But dinner at Scarpetta is a deluxe delight, deeply layered complex Italian cooking in a glamorous room with fine and formal service. Nowhere in this town do we find polenta as smooth as here; how cosseted does one feel when the waiter spoons our fragrant truffled mushroom stew onto the silken polenta? The short ribs are more moist, more high-flavoured, more elegant than such a homespun cut of meat has a right to be. Even the simplest of Italiana — tomato basil spaghetti — has deeper flavour than one imagined possible. There are superb complex constructions like sablefish with roasted cherry tomatoes and lightly caramelized fennel, and duck breast with Sicilian spices and preserved orange. Small wonder the Thompson Hotel copped the wunderkind of New York Italiana.
Scarpetta is located at 550 Wellington St. W., 416-601-3590.
Outdoor fun with fine Japanese fare
Drive by Guu any night and check out the lineup snaking around the parking lot. Are these people all nuts? No, they are aficionados of Toronto’s only real izakaya joint. In Japan izakaya is where you get drunk and snack after work, and the servers yell hello and goodbye in unison to all comers. Same deal here, which creates more fun than most Torontonians have ever had in a restaurant, which explains why we’re willing to line up for as long as two hours to get in. Guu takes no reservations and you sit at plain wooden tables on backless benches. And the food is wonderful. Takowasabi is octopus with chopped wasabi stem in hot/sweet sauce. Maguro tataki is almost-raw tuna with ponzu sauce and crisp fried garlic. Salmon natto uke is raw salmon, with natto (fermented soybeans), crisp fried garlic and wonton chips, shibazuke (pickled eggplant and cucumber in plum vinegar seasoned with ginger), takuan (pickled daikon), green onion and raw egg yolk. We mix these elements and wrap them in crisp nori to make fabulous little flavour packages.
Guu Izakaya is located at 398 Church St., 416-977-0999.