Do You Know Where Your Restaurant Comes From?
We love a backstory.
A primary reason for starting this newsletter, was to afford myself the time to further research the places that I go (and spend money at). I often plot for vacations and work trips, but I wanted to spend more time getting to know the local spots I frequent in Toronto - both old and new.
Now I find this research guiding the places I pick and influencing my perspective of the place.
Very simply put, Hospitality Groups are single corporate entities that operate multiple restaurant concepts. This is not a chain of restaurants or a franchise. This is a portfolio of food spots. Some are more obvious than others - like Major Food Group of Carbone and Dirty French fame, and the Gusto 54 Restaurant Group of the notorious Gusto restaurants.
Knowing the Hospitality Group behind the restaurant might influence your reservation - you might pick Rasa because you loved Sara, both are by Food Dudes. But could the fact that your restaurant is a concept by a large corporate Hospitality Group, turn you off their offering?
I recently ate at Daphne, the new restaurant by Ink Entertainment (Charles Khabouth) and Dream Unlimited, a real estate developer and asset manager in Toronto. Daphne occupies the ground floor of the office building that Dream owns. For Dream, opening a restaurant in a office building in the Financial District is a really good idea to attract people to the work place and downtown. As for Ink, who has celebrated concepts such as Byblos and Amal, this is their first foray to the Financial District - a riskier bet, but I am sure the terms were attractive enough to make it worth their while.
So, is it any good?
The décor is a consistent Dream pick, Studio Paolo Ferrari designed the 3,900 SF space (+2,000 SF patio). Ferrari also did the interiors for Dream’s recent luxury condominium launch Forma. The menu was as expected, the food was above average: seasonal ingredients (Belgian endives in a Waldorf Salad, a very cute strawberry shortcake) and pretentious (caviar on a baked potato); but the cocktails and mocktails were something to brag about. For a Monday night, the restaurant was busy enough, but the service was slow. Considering they just opened in June, we’ll give them a pass.
I would give my meal a B+ and my company and A+, but I could not escape the feeling I was sitting in the realized rendering of a place that was dreamt up at a boardroom table. This is certainly not a knock at the friendly staff, the talent of John Chee, or my appreciation of Ferrari’s designs.
Not to give away next week’s newsletters, but I plan to eat at Casa Paco this coming week. I’ll look forward to comparing the two experiences.
To Eat: A DAPHNE BURGER | American muenster, green tomato relish, mustard mayonnaise, hand cut fries will set you back $28.
Address: 67 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5H 1Z5:
Recommend For: A weeknight with your work girls
Reservations: Available via OpenTable