Unclear why John Tory needed to make the announcement alongside Boulud and Leung, seemingly giving them elevated status. There are other Michelin star chefs like Masaki Saito or Alfonso Iaacrino who weren’t present.
R&D is part of the O&B group and, my 2 cents, none of their restaurants are MIchelin star worthy. I’ve recently been to Canoe and a few of dishes in their tasting menu were mediocre to downright bad. Similarly with Café Boulud, been there several times, very mediocre. If either Boulud or R&D gets a star, I’d suspect some kind of political capital was expended and/or founded on fumes of celebrity chefs rather than by pure merit.
If I had to bet on Toronto restaurants earning a star, it’d likely be Masaki Saito and Alo.
I chuckled when I read the Narcity list. Pai is okay for what it is, but it is not Michelin-star or Bib Gourmand level. Neither is NaNa, but I like generally like the food better at NaNa. The service at both is very casual, same level as any casual restaurants in TO.
I don’t really care about most of the places that probably want to be listed.
The restaurants and shops I like most probably aren’t in the running.
That said, Dreyfus and maybe Taverne Bernhardt might get a nod. Those 2 places are on my wishlist.
I haven’t been to Café Boulud since the Pandemic began, since I haven’t been dining indoors. I have been for breakfast or brunch around 8 times, and for dinner at least 3 times.
I don’t think it’s Michelin-star quality. The food I have ordered has been much better than mediocre when it’s a regular meal. It was mediocre at one Winterlicious dinner, and good at another Winterlicious dinner. The dishes I’ve have ordered many times? The brunch main with duck confit and eggs, the lemon ricotta pancakes, the Benny (one of the better Hollandaise sauces in town). It is expensive for what it is. It’s also the best quality breakfast and brunch in Yorkville.
Maison Boulud in Montréal is a better restaurant, that could easily be at the 1 star level, based on the 2 dinners and 1 brunch I’ve enjoyed there. There’s no reason that Café Boulud couldn’t be performing at the same level.
I haven’t been to Pai recently. I had been going a few times a year up until around 2018, when I realized I liked the food at NaNa better.
I had been going to Pai because some of my friends had befriended the chef, I think, more than for the food itself.
It might depend on which dishes you like to order. I was usually getting Khao Soi, Pad Gra Prow, or red curry at Pai.
At NaNa, I tend to get the fried chicken larb, sometimes the Pad Thai, Pad Gra Prow, sometimes the Vietnamese style fried spring rolls , have to check what else. I haven’t been lately.
I could see Favourites getting a Bib Gourmand. I had 3 good meals there, pre-pandemic.
OMG!! Once again some so-called food-critic/reviewer tried putting together a so called ’ list ’ without doing their home work just to satisfied some editor’s request?!!
First off…’ SotoSoto '?! Are you kidding me? IMO, just a mediocre Yorkville spot with ’ convenience ’ as selling point more than food, catering to stars & celebrities during film festival. Any Italian kitchen putting powdered Parmesan Cheese on a ’ Spaghetti con Vongole ’ dish ( see photo ) should suffer the wrath of Italy.
Second ’ MiMi ’ Chinese?! Once again, like Fisherman Lobster Clubhouse, here, some self proclaimed foodie was blinded by gimmicky presentation rather than quality and taste of the food ( as quoted as #1 criteria in the Michelin Guide ).
’ Don Alfonso '.…one of the worst fine dining experience I had in their Casa Loma location. The Lamb was BAD!! The amuse and appetizer gimmicky more than tasty…Dry ice fog does not good food make!!
…and the list left out ’ Scaramouche ’ and put some outfit like ’ Lee ’ in?!.. just because the owner is some celebrity chef named Susur Lee!!!
Three - Four notable omissions, ( obvious result of lack of research )!..’ Actinonite ', ’ Enigma ', ’ Masaki Saito ’ and ’ Sushi Kaji '. Suggest writer return to drawing board!!
MiMi pissed me off when they refused to offer takeout. I live nearby. I understand that fancy Chinese food is better tasting when it’s dine-in. I was willing to pay the big bucks and get takeout, even if the food is less than crispy, and that’s my fault, and the person responding to my request replied with “Being all your family and friends and dine in!”. I don’t want to dine in, that’s why I asked for takeout, but I’m happy to take my business elsewhere!
Well as prima mentioned its Narcity Charles. Mimi has the right kind of advertising/marketing for all the TikTok videos and Instagram worthy dishes. It is packed every day (I live a few blocks away and walk by it on occasion) and I am sure they are paying/catering to the right influencers to get the word out. Lee was surprisingly good when I went as there is a dearth of good food options in the area though its no Susur in its heydays . Sotto Sotto have tried a few times meh agree with your take. Again I think the demographic market is very different for these online outfits like Torontolife, Narcity etc. Maybe generalizing here it more about the experience i.e. decor, insta worthy , hard to secure a reservation as opposed to the service and food itself. As being a yelp user for over a decade I have met a lot of them over the years and most of them don’t even have a reference point for great food as even the most generic item is "life changing!!!’ I think a lot of experience comes from exposure and the number of meals one has had. Example you have had decades worth of more meals than moi! Lets see what they come up with for Toronto as I am sure we will be debating it for bit
Boulud will be awarded a star I guess given they launched the Red Book there. I really enjoyed their desserts but food was ho-hum and very salty on the few occasions. The service was unacceptable on the last visit as we had a person in a wheelchair and I specifically made a note of it on the reservation and even called in the make sure they provide proper seating and that we were on a tight schedule due to the wheeltransit time limit for the person. They made us wait over 45min!!! unacceptable as we were on time and they kept saying we can’t find your table! If I was hosting the event I would have given them an earful but didn’t want to spoil the birthday dinner. I don’t think I will go back again after that instance.
I remember an hour long wait for a table, then being rushed by the wait staff, the last time I had dinner at Café Boulud. This experience was probably in Feb 2017, possibly Feb 2018.
Service in Toronto needs a tune-up, especially at finer dining establishments. I’ve run into quite a few situations where staff comes across as condescending. I think it’s partly due to fact many staff, especially at dinner in It spots,
are hired because they’re good looking, not because they have good FOH skills.
Very different crew serving breakfast compared to dinner at Café Boulud, Toca, and the other fancy hotel restaurants. It looks racist and ageist, in some instances.
I haven’t been to Café Boulud for breakfast in 2 years. Most of the midweek breakfast servers are hard-working, middle-aged New Canadians. The evening staff tended to be much younger, and seemed to take their jobs less seriously.
Café Boulud is good, but uneven and not great. Dinner was originally quite good. I had a pike quenelle dish that was quite impressive - a newer version has appeared on the menu I see. However a subsequent dinner was only OK. The last brunch I had there (pre-pandemic) was pretty good - shortrib and mushrooms with poached egg. The grapefruit givre was great as a dessert and I see it is still on the menu.
The last time I recall we went to Boulud in Toronto was many years ago when Daniel was in town and he did a special chefs’ tasting dinner where chefs from Boulud restaurants from around the world create one dish from their own restaurant to form the overall tasting dinner. It was good but not great for the premium price, which is what I term “mediocre,” i.e., nothing to write home about. Nothing like Daniel in NYC.
Ah! The ’ original ’ Daniel on upper east side across from the museum! Great memory! One of the best meal I had in North America. At that time Boulud was still manning the kitchen in person and his ’ Crisp Paupiette od Sea Bass in Barolo ’ was absolutely delicious! No wonder, at that time, Daniel was the highest ’ Gault Millau’ rated restaurant in NYC. He actually sat down at my table and chat after noticing my copy of Gault Millau on the table! Still recalled him telling me to give Alain Ducasse’s cuisine a try if have a chance!
I think it is changing location - moving around the corner (? lower rent) rather than closing.
Not that that would encourage me to revisit!
If Michelin is “all about the food” then the various ‘chef owned spinoffs’ (Boulud, Don Alfonso, R&D etc) shouldn’t make it (based on my experiences there).
If they beat out creative places , such as Actinolite, then I fear for the future of dining in Toronto - but let’s not judge before the list appears.
Yes, heard that but we shall see if he’ll really reopen elsewhere. Susur is still living off the fumes of his longtime past and his restaurants really hasn’t been relevant for well over a decade.
Agree each restaurant should be rewarded based on it’s on merit and not the reputation of the chef. That said, Sushi Masaki Saito is good enough to earn at least a star IMO. William Cheng’s other restaurant, Shoshin, could be in the mix too. If effort is a sign, Chef Jackie Lin has worked very hard.
