Tom Gandey

As much as Toronto isn't great, you are absolutely right...

← Perigee is a place I still haven't made it to and want to try, have heard mostly good things about it. Splendido? No way. David is a nice guy and he is technically excellent, but many dishes come up short due to poor conception/lack of balance. Eigensinn is expensive and overpriced, but it is still better than anything else in the GTA. Susur has generally excellent conception with the ingredient quality falling well short. Splendido has better ingredients that most, but who will put a super-strong olive paste on top of a tuna tartare (totally obliterating any fish taste) other than David Lee?

Avoid Toque, its crap... unbalanced dishes, small portions, snotty staff, overpriced for what they were serving. It was also empty when we went on a Friday night which should tell you something. Total tourist trap. Saving grace was their foie gras, excellent. For the Montreal restaurant scene, it pretty much sucks as bad as Toque with the exception of Milos (high prices, but excellent quality fish). Save your money and drop it all in QC when you go to: L'Initiale (just outside of the old city, old port) Laurie Raphael (old port) Both offer the best cuisine in QC and reasonably good wine lists. The focus at both of these restos are seasonal top-quality ingredients, which is something the Quebecois excel at. I would try L'Initiale for lunch and LR for dinner if they are open. Lots of tourist traps in QC, so be careful. One highly-touted one to avoid is Serge Bruyere, absolute garbage. I live for food and have eaten at many of the world's best, trust me when I tell you to avoid Toque... you will be disappointed. He tried opening a restuarant up in NYC and failed miserably... if you are foolish enough to dine there you will find out why he failed. That said, check out the Atwater and Jean-Talon markets in Montreal as well as the old-port market in QC. Great cheeses (Berthaut raw milk Epoisses, Bouq D'Emissiare, Coulet Roquefort), bread and capicollo (Premiere Moisson), maybe even some late tomatoes if you go soon... all great. Have fun.

I opened a can of Splendido plum tomatoes, and found that they are actually not bad, the difference with SM is fairly negligible! They are slightly sweet, and you won't find that in a domestic product unless they add sugar. But it begs the question: Why pay $3. and up for San Marzano? Especially with our own local fresh crop now coming on the market. ← Diminishing returns. I'd rather pay $3 compared to $1.29 for better tomatoes if I'm not cooking them too much.

I think Splendido is a hit-or-miss type of place, but I definitely see David Lee as a passionate chef that can appreciate the best quality ingredients (had some great white Loire aspargus there this spring).

Marc's drug use is not the issue, its his food. Satisfactory, but hardly worth special mention. I don't care how many drugs Gagnaire uses, because his food is great and artistic. Good, some people love what Marc does, that is the cornerstone of every good business, but it doesn't mean his food is great. He survives in Toronto because people here don't know sh!t about food. You know his food is infinitely better than The Keg, but you are missing the point... he is trying to be high-end and The Keg is not. The Keg appeals to the masses and offers (as far as the steak goes at least) a passable product that the majority of Toronto diners find as good value. Your food is decent, your wine list sucks, and like most Toronto restaurants... your staff are a bunch of students that don't know what service is. You simply cannot charge what you do for what you offer and hope to stay in business.

Exactly.

I live here and if you are a real foodie, you will be dissapointed. Best places in town: Sushi Kaji, Susur, Avalon, Starfish (great oysters and shellfish in particular), JK Wine Bar (simple tapas size dishes, best value in the city). Out-of-town (90 mins): Eigensinn Farm (hands down best restaurant in Canada and Canada's only world-class food). Good luck getting a reservation without booking months ahead, but great food in a farm setting. BYO too, no corkage but very expensive by Canadian standards (we are cheap). Only Canadian resto I would recommend and stake my reputation on. Enjoy!