The Toronto dining scene is in the “middle of a great reset,” said Chris Nuttall-Smith in Toronto Life. A shake-up started by the recession is now being shaped as well by changing tastes, particularly those of “a new generation of food-obsessed diners” who are bent on “showing their spending power.” Some new hot spots are “blessedly cheap,” but fine dining has bounced back, and restaurateurs are no longer playing it safe. Here are the best of the newcomers that are “redefining” the city’s culinary culture.
Origin Chef Claudio Aprile mortgaged his family’s home to open Origin, and the gamble has given the city’s “gastro groupies” a “brash, meticulous, and beautifully trashy” culinary cathedral. Try the squid, which is “wokked” and then deep-fried: It “tastes as “lucid and tense as a half-starved stroll through a sweet shop in Southeast Asia.” 107 King St. E., (416) 603-8009
Enoteca Sociale “You always find at least a couple of dishes that taste like magic” at this soulful Roman trattoria, the first restaurant in the city with its own cheese-aging room. Pork lovers, take note: The bucatini all’amatriciana here is “quite possibly better than any noodle dish you’ve ever had.” 1288 Dundas St. W., (416) 534-1200
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Ici Bistro Skilled chef J.P. Challet mans the open kitchen nightly at this 24-seat “wine-savvy bistro,” and the passion he puts into his contemporary French fare is “evident on every plate.” Try the Barbadian cod cakes—“fried thought-bubble light” and dipped in Meyer lemon rouille. 538 Manning Ave., (416) 536-0079
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