Opinion | Jenna Ortega discovers much depends on a fine Toronto dinner — and 2023 promises some stellar new spots

Wednesday came on a Friday.

Spotted here in Toronto a few weeks back: the hottest new star in celebrity-ville, Jenna Ortega. With her popularity skyrocketing lately, starring as the eponymous “Wednesday” — more than conspicuous at the Golden Globes; in the front row at a YSL show in Paris just the other day — she may be enjoying the spoils of new fame, but here, the other week, she had just scooted in for a personal visit: to see Percy Hynes White (the Canadian actor who is her co-star in the Addams Family extended universe that Netflix brought us not long ago with this new series). The internet tells me they are an item. So, maybe?

Where to … for dinner? Off the beaten path — and well done! That cosy gem in Little India called Lake Inez. There, on Gerrard East, the two of them, with a couple of other friends, a spy tells moi. Apparently, they sampled most of the menu: a beef cheek dish, the Kimchi’d Beef Tartare, Chef Jay’s Mom’s Cornbread and some sort of beet dish (with grilled Macedonia feta). Drinks, too, went around: a mescal sour, Yuzu Margaritas, something called The Waves (a gin-sake concoction).

Jenna, I am told, was polite and unassuming, and just taking in the night. “It’s such an ideal spot for someone high profile to go, since it’s chill and away from the centre of things,” my source mused.

What it reminded me, actually, once more: that no matter what rung of fame you climb, what tax bracket you fall, the common denominator remains: people just wanna go to dinner! Get that table at that restaurant. It is something I have thought about ever since hearing a story from a restaurateur a few years back about how Jeff Bezos was blowing up their phone to get a table at their hot resto in another city. Not to mention, restaurants remain the set-pieces for how we mark occasions: anniversaries, birthdays, reunions, schmoozy catch-ups. See, be seen, have the sea bream.

Even in the cruelest months of January, going out do dinner, amidst the happy glow of a restaurant, can be a balm. More so. I highly recommend it! During the worst of the pandemic I found myself particularly missing the whole sound bath of restaurants: that tinkle of cutlery, the hum of a room with other diners, even some of the more quotidian rituals, like taking butter knife to bread. For all the legitimate issues restaurants have faced, over the last couple years — labour shortages, rising food prices, etc. — restaurants remain singular places of enchantment.

A thought that burnished again when I went to Bouffe this week, on Dundas West. The dusky, 40-seat spot by David Adjey, opened just last summer, is an ode to French classics (think: bouillabaisse) and clearly a labour of love for him. “I have had these on the menu since Nectar. They wont let me take them off!” he said, referring to his hot spot restaurant, on Wellington, during the mid-2000s, as he came dispatching plates of lobster croquettes swimming in a marvellous remoulade. One bite, and you can understand why.

Adjey, who was ubiquitous at one point on TV as one of the regulars on the show “Restaurant Makeover,” and once also served as the personal chef to actor Dan Aykroyd, came back to T.O. just before the pandemic after doing a stint as the chef to a Saudi princess, based in — get this! — Bali. There is not enough room here to get into his stories, but one of the pleasures of going to Bouffe, especially if you dine at the bar, is hearing him tell them! Again: recommended.

Alas, there was even more Francophilia to be had when I got to the even newer Taverne Tamblyn, on the Danforth, during the holidays. A puff of new energy to that neighbourhood, it really does give good tavern, courtesy of chef-owner Ben Gundy (of Olliffe Butchers fame). Cannot help but dig a restaurant that has a whole distinct moules section on the menu … right? I also like that the restaurant is in the place where Tamblyn, the pharmacy, once stood (at one time, part of the largest drugstore chain in Toronto). Hence, the name. And, hence, why there is still a discernible Tamblyn logo at the entrance. The only prescription being given here these days, however? The steak au poivre.

Other spots that have given me pleasure recently and are in my Little Black Book? The tiny, heart-filled Alma, in Bloordale, courtesy of Anna Chen, who nabbed a Michelin Bib Gourmand recently. She is doing Hakka cuisine, with Italian riffs. Unexpected in parts, and wholly personal. Likewise: Azhar, on Ossington Avenue, which gives savoury bang for buck, Middle Eastern-style, and has a pretty chic room. That baba ganoush, man — with date molasses and black sesame seeds.

One place that is definitely on my radar is the upcoming Lao Lao Bar, on St. Joseph Street. I am down with the idea of Laotian food, especially coming from some alum from the much-missed Sabai Sabai restaurant, on Bloor. It is supposed to open any day. (A tip, perhaps for Wednesday the next time she slips into town?)

Meanwhile, in other parts — phew — I am also happy to report: nooners are back (after much chatter amongst gourmands that, even while restaurants came back roaring last year, lunch service itself was rare to find at the finer places). Tutti Matti, on Adelaide, though, laid down the gauntlet this week when it posted on the gram: “The Return of Lunch.” That, I remind you, is the restaurant that just turned a remarkable 20 years old, celebrated with a happy, dance-heavy party that I attended (giving truth to the advertising to the literal translation in its name that everyone is mad). People have been clamouring for a proper lunch spot, frontwoman Alida Solomon told me then.

If anyone can do it, I think, Solomon can! I mean, she is the one who told me last year, “I have survived two pandemics (including SARS), two recessions, and a flood.” Pass the pappardelle.

Shinan Govani is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist covering culture and society. Follow him on Twitter: @shinangovani

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