Cinq 01
501 College St., Toronto
416-964-1555
$120 for dinner for two with wine, tax and tip
When I go see my lawyer, I dress up, even though I know it's butt dumb. I'm paying him buckets of money, so who has to impress whom? By rights, I should be schlepping downtown in jeans, but I don't. And I bet you don't either.
Same deal with going to restaurants. Many of the places I review in this space tend to provoke a similar response in diners. Case in point: Cinq 01. Before you drop in, you may wish to don your psychological Kevlar vest in preparation, as there is a lot of straight blond hair and tight black jeans with stilettos here. The restaurant - whose name refers to its address, 501 College - is the creation of Toufik Sarwa, owner of Amber nightclub in Yorkville. Cinq 01's ultra-cool vibe gives it a kind of clubby feel, but the decor is a clever hybrid. The black velvet curtain blocking the draft from the door is College Street, while the design of the dining room is Yorkvillian. Running down the middle of the room is a long, leather-covered pommel horse topped with orchids and deer antlers. The general look of the place is oddly similar to the gorgeous Grace next door, save for the long oak bar that dominates Cinq 01's front room.
The food, over all, is very of the moment. There's a foie gras hot dog, which I think you're supposed to want under circumstances that I do not find myself in: It might be great drunk food at the back end of a long night, but a sober person engaged in the ritual called dinner might find it kinda dumb because they've entombed the foie gras in casing so tough that your teeth have to do battle with it to get at the filling. In my case, the casing won, and I ended up scraping the foie gras off it, which wasn't as exciting as you might imagine because this foie gras tastes as if it's been cut with way too much of something farinaceous.
In my (perhaps excessively traditional) view, flour ought to announce itself rather than hide its light under a bushel. Pizza is one of its best vehicles and Cinq 01's is a stellar example: It has ultra-crisp thin crust dusted with cornmeal for more crunch, with just enough mascarpone, fontina and mushrooms on top and big fragrance thanks to generous lashings of truffle oil.
From here, though, matters go back downhill. Salt-baked chili shrimp have almost no flavour and are not crisp. Lobster terrine has scant flavour, as does its tomato-pepper-saffron sauce.
The waiter sells chickpea fries hard. I've seen and disliked chickpea fries elsewhere and wonder why anyone would want to boil chickpeas, purée them, roll out the resulting mush and cut it into thick batons, dip them in flour and deep fry them. Why all that work for no taste save for the salt? Serving them with hot chipotle mayo and wondrously tangy lemon aioli is like asking us to dip moistened cardboard in mayonnaise.
Braised bison short ribs with sweet chestnut gnocchi are the best main we eat, thanks to unctuous tender beef in deep, rich sauce. But don't even put the accompanying gnocchi in your mouth; they're that bad - heavy enough for ballast.
Lavender-roasted chicken breast with leek-ginger pearl couscous, roasted root vegetables, wilted greens and chicken jus is a credible bistro item, although a confusion of tastes. The chicken is plump and moist, there is ginger flavour in the couscous and the veg are pleasant.
Cinq 01 is a date restaurant. A great date, even for a foodie, ought not to be so much about food, but more about the company. If food is the No. 1 appetite being satisfied, the relationship isn't going anywhere exciting. So Cinq 01, which has some especially fab desserts, would be just fine for a hot date. Sugar is good on dates because it feeds the adrenalin rush, so do try the little tarts: lemon curd with a cloud of meringue topping and oozing caramel in a chocolate robe.
In short, come to Cinq 01 for pizza, maybe the skinny sweet frites, drinks, eye candy and dessert. Skip the middle act.
xxx
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is what happens in most restaurants on Feb. 14. They turn too many tables to do it well. Many of them take advantage of the captive market by selling banal prix-fixe "Valentine's Day specials" that are both less and more - less good than their usual food but costing more.
So how to wow your honey better: Let Ezra Title do the cooking. For $65 per person (plus $20 more if you want lobster), Title delivers pre-made ingredients directly to your house, where you assemble and heat either lobster gratin or veal-loin-and-braised-beef pot pie with all the fixings, a first course and the requisite chocolate-oozing dessert. Visit www.chezvousdining.ca, e-mail ezra@chezvousdining.ca or call 416-347-3609 for more details.