Cinq 01 defines the decade
As the first decade of the 21st century ends, I celebrate by going to a restaurant that defines eating out in the noughties – the resto-lounge. A resto-lounge is the anti-restaurant: It’s a rejection of formal dining and of intimate bistros, a play for the young and the restless (millennials, echoboomers, Y gen) who want to play as they eat. The style is metrosexual fashionista. The resto lounge must be designed to startle and amuse – a cross between an amusement arcade and a theatrical production. The music must be loud. The cocktails custom made. The food must be luxe and cosmopolitan, preferred delivery is the shared plate.
At first, resto lounges were not taken very seriously – and Oh, the noise. But as the food got better, they couldn’t be ignored by anyone who wanted to eat well. Roger Mooking at Nyood has a Mediterranean -inspired menu – rack of lamb with apricot fig glaze, violet artichokes, taro, tapenade- that is more alluring than many menus in more conventional dining spots.
Now RL culture is creeping up the food chain, breaking up traditional patterns, shaping new ones. Shared plates are today everywhere. One of the first major chefs who incorporated the RL rhythms was Claudio Aprile at Colborne Lane: the room glitters with Morticia’s menace, and his techno emotional cooking morphs smoothly into the later bar scene. Recently the Rubino Brothers opened Ame in a shimmering Shogun’s palace, replete with jujube cocktails.
As my emblematic RL, I pick the just opened Cinq O1, College west of Bathurst. The owner Toufik Sarwa is one of Toronto’s enduring players with the perennially successful Amber on Yorkville, a white on white subbasement that blossoms with a patio in the Summer.
Sarwa calls Cinq 01 a bistro, I call it second gen RL: a refinement of the format. It looks like a luxury dining railroad car, a long skinny space divided into bar and dining room. The lighting, part of Commute Home’s deceptively simple design, is so soft and glowing that it lures you in. A sexy joint. Just one or two quirky touches, some lights are encased in what looks like scarlet birdcages.
We arrive at 7, de rigueur if you wish to eat with pleasure at a resto lounge. After 8.30 the noise rises sharply. The room is almost empty at this early hour and we get fine and interested service.
The split pea soup $11 with ham, chestnuts, hazelnuts and seared sweetbreads is tempting, but we opt for a terrific pureed garlic soup $11, made with chicken broth, cream and garnished with a seared scallop. Grilled octopus $21 is a test – octopus is so often tough. But here the tentacles are chopped into tender morsels spiked with sherry vinegar, lemon and olive oil, chopped spring onions and capers.
The moment I see there’s a foie gras hot dog with onion confit and mango ketchup I must have it. A goodsized sausage arrives and the first bite reveals the most unctuous mouthfeel, like 88% percent butter fat butter but even richer. However the aftertaste is a letdown - the sausage meat/foie gras ratio is out of whack. What I’m eating is a creamy Bratwurst with only a fugitive flavour of foie gras. The bun is low rent housing for such a luxury dog, and the French fries don’t meet the McDonald’s standard.
Now the chef Jo Castrinos (formerly of Splendido) comes through with a superb dish, little pink lamb rib chops with Moroccan spices with a Provencal vegetable gratin , glazed potatoes, a zap of mint coriander chutney and creamy Lebanese taratur sauce. $33. The fish of the day is Black Grouper, $39, a handsome hunk and perfectly seared. It’s just that the grouper’s flavour is irresolute, perhaps because it’s a transgender fish. A bath is needed in something like the accompaniment of delicious spiced lentils and olives.
We didn’t plan on dessert but then Toufik’s trio of tarts arrived and we couldn’t resist white chocolate banana cream. A feathery croustade of armagnac laced apples and prunes with vanilla bean ice cream was even better.
We left around 10 as the room filled up and decibel levels rose. Now we notice the gym horse in the middle of the room. Perhaps bondage is planned later in the evening…..
** 1/2 two and a half stars Cinq 01 501 College St 416-964 1555. No wheelchair access. Dinner for two: food plus tax $150
