Where to Dine for Wine in Ontario
Wine Access (first appeared September 2006)
By Margaret Swaine

Best Wine Bar
Crush
455 King St. W, Toronto ON
416-977-1234
www.crushwinebar.com
Every month a different wine region is featured at this hip open-kitchen French style bistro located in the strip of trendy renovated warehouses that now grace King West. Over 20 still wines, ten dessert and seven sparklers by 3 or 5 ounce flights or a bottle can be chosen from among the always interesting, ever-changing, wide-ranging wine list. Expect the likes of tuna tartar in the summer and braised dishes in winter.
Recommended Dish: Caribou with four kinds of Cookstown carrots $36

Best Cocktail Bar
Bymark
66 Wellington St. W. (at Bay), Toronto ON
Tel: 416-777-1144
www.bymark.ca
This courtyard level Yabu Pushelberg designed bar rocks especially after-work when the suits descend from the surrounding bank towers. Porn Star, Bar Fly, Lipstick Martini and 18 or so other three-ounce cocktails add sass to the list of over two dozen wines by the glass. Lobster on frites with béarnaise "poutine style" is one of many playful twists on classics.
Recommended Dish: lettuce wrapped miso glazed black cod $18.95 (appetizer)

Best Local Wine List
Epic at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel
100 Front St. W, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-368-2511
www.fairmont.com
The hotel claims honours as the largest purchaser of VQA wines in North America. The approximately 40 reds and 27 icewines on their "Great Canadian Wine List" were selected after sampling over 600 Canadian wines. Whites, mainly from Niagara number another 40. Décor is contemporary, bright and open despite its lower level locale. Quebec foie gras, Alberta beef and Atlantic salmon are cooked with continental flare.
Recommended Dish: Pacific Halibut "En Papillote" $33

Best International Wine List
Opus
37 Prince Arthur Ave., Toronto ON
Tel: 416-921-3105
www.opusrestaurant.com
Chef Jason Cox serves up French classical based on regional ingredients in this elegantly comfortable star-studded hideaway. The intimate bar and interior courtyard patio add to its allure but most beckoning is the stunning wine list of over 2,500 labels. Brothers Tony and Mario Amaro have amassed a 40,000 bottle cellar of greats such as verticals of Méo-Camuzet, Harlan and Mouton as well as deliciously inexpensive J.P. Ramos Santa 2003.
Recommended Dish: Roast Isle Verte lamb rack $43

Best Vintage Dining
Barberian's Steak House
7 Elm St., Toronto ON
Tel: 416-597-0335
Web: www.barberians.com
A haven for carnivores, this steak house is defiantly old-fashioned traditional in look. Authentic Group of Seven paintings adorn the walls and glasses are strictly Riedel. Aaron Barberian's 20,000 bottle, 2,000-label cellar is dominated by French and Californian with a special focus on Rhone reds, including over 60 different Châteauneuf du Pape. Some fine first growth Bordeaux date back to the fifties and vintages like '82 are in full force.
Recommended Dish: 16 ounce rib steak $38

Best Small Meals with matching wines
Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar
9 Church St, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-362-1957
www.jkkitchens.com
Chef-patron Jamie Kennedy's scrumptious 18 appetizer size dishes change daily but remain constant to seasonal slow food as locally sourced as possible. Sommelier Jamie Drummond suggests a pairing for each, as well as for the five dessert dishes. All 23 wines by the glass change daily and are mostly sourced from private import with an emphasis on hidden gems. Heinrich Zweigelt/Blaufränkisch for the roast duck breast with sausage salad for example.
Recommended Dish: pulled pork $10

Best Oyster Bar
Starfish
100 Adelaide St. E, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-366-7827
www.starfishoysterbed.com
Owner and world champion shucker Patrick McMurray can most often be found behind his long bar prying open only the best, fresh from the ocean beds in this maritime themed cozy seafood diner. In the kitchen chef Martha Wright skillfully cooks sea bream, sardines, sea scallops, lobster and even steak frites for those who prefer meat. The wine list features seafood friendly French and Californian sauvignon blancs, chardonnays and pinot noirs.
Recommended Dish: Tasmanian ocean trout $28

Best Place to Splurge
Splendido
88 Harbord St, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-929-7788
www.splendido.ca
Chef David Lee's refined eight course tasting menus matched with wines by sommelier Carlo Catallo rightfully draw raves. While there's no à la carte menu, the simpler three course table d'hôte may include Brier Island sea scallop, sweet English pea soup and Cumbrae Farms ribeye. Over 850 different old and new world wines rest in the underground cellar room.
Recommended Dish: Tasting Menu with pairing Champagne Flight $195.

Best Tapas
Cava
1560 Yonge St, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-979-9918
www.cavarestaurant.ca
Owner/Chef Chris McDonald closed Avalon, a gourmets' wet dream, after 11 years and barely took a breath before he opened Cava, a homage to tapas. First blush décor is minimalist with plans to add screens and sculptural pictures. The Avalon wine list came with, so selection is good. Thirty five Spanish/Mexican influenced dishes from black bean oxtail soup to beef tripe basquaise show McDonald has not lost his deft, unique touch.
Recommended Dish: wild mushroom socca $15.

Best Tasting Menu
Senses
Soho Met Hotel, 238 Wellington St. W, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-599-8801
www.senses.ca
Creator of innovative, provocative, astonishingly tasty dishes, Claudio Aprile is a chef at his perfectionist peak. The intimate, stylishly upscale hotel restaurant is subdued and neutral compared to what's on the plate. A 14 course experience may bring forth wokked calamari, tea smoke squab, 36 hour fresh bacon, spiced h2o, bee pollen panna cotta and tempranillo poached cherries. Wine pairing is part of the game.
Recommended dish: triple seared beef tenderloin $55

Best mystery & imagination
Rain
19 Mercer St. (at John St.), Toronto ON
Tel: 416-599-7246
www.rainlounge.ca
Bamboo dividers, a rain fall wall, flickering low lights all speak to chef Guy Rubino's theme of pan Asia. Hot pot, bison Singapore, Korean Chap Chae noodles and pairing of Abalone and Wagyu beef are served family style at either a communal table or in the private dining area. Sake along with fruit forward Alsacien, Kiwi and Oz wines dominate the list devised by sommelier Dan Volway.
Recommended Dish: peanut and tamarind black cod $31

Best Organic Menu
Treadwell, Port Dalhousie, Ontario
61 Lakeport Road, Port Dalhousie, ON
Tel: 905-934-9797
www.treadwellcuisine.com
Buying from small, local farmers who sell direct to the restaurant, chef/owner Stephen Treadwell epitomizes farm to table cuisine. White fish is bought fresh from Port Dover day boats, artisan greens from Wyndym Farm. Water vistas of the old Welland Canal provide a soothing dining experience. Sommelier and son James Treadwell sources VQA Canadian and European wines.
Recommended Dish: Huron Lake white fish with lobster knuckles $30/or $48 for three course prix fix

Best Bistro (wine)
Le Select Bistro
432 Wellington St. W, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-596-6405
www.leselect.com
When Le Select moved this year to new their abode, 12,000 bottles representing 1,000 labels had to be transported too, causing much liquor board grief to owners Jean-Jacques Quinsac and Frédéric Geisweiller. The mainly French list is strong in Bordeaux, Languedoc, Rhone and Loire with vintages spanning from the late forties up. JP Chalet supervises the bistro kitchen.
Recommended Dish: cassoulet $24.95

Best Hotel Dining
Truffles at the Four Seasons
21 Avenue Road, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-928-7331
www.fourseasons.com
The room on the second floor of a gracious hotel is fittingly elegant. Toronto's only AAA
Five Diamond restaurant, the contemporary French cuisine is consistently top notch under the skillful hands of Chef Lynn Crawford. Sommelier Sara d'Amato finds matches from a list strong on French and American, including Canada. Tasting menus with wine pairings are a regular feature.
Recommended Dish: spaghettini with truffle foam $20

Best Small Cellar
Amuse Bouche
96 Tecumseth St, Toronto ON
Tel: 416-913-5830
www.amuseboucherestaurant.com
Casual, cozy and tiny this 12 table bistro's menu has Island and French twists from its chefs/co-owners. Coconut and cashew crusted tuna, venison tartar and butter poached lobster are some of the creations of Barbados born Jason Inniss and ex-Parisian Bertrand Alépée. Sommelier Sarah Lyons looks for outstanding small producers for her always changing eclectic wine list.
Recommended Dish: Lamb three ways - loin, shank, merguez $27.

Best Ambiance
The Fifth
225 Richmond St. W. (at Duncan)
Tel: 416-979-3005
www.thefifthgrill.com
The entrance is still through a night club and up a freight elevator, but the cuisine has changed to upscale steak house. Expect Kobe beef carpaccio, lobster and asparagus salad, sides of wasabi potato mash and heirloom tomatoes along with the striploins and porterhouses. The room remains charming, candle lit and romantic. Chef de service, Kimberly Humby offers a solid French and American wine list jazzed up with other countries.
Recommended Dish: 10 oz bison ribeye $42

Top Five Ontario - Green and white asparagus and sauvignon blanc
Green asparagus has always been a favoured harbinger of spring in Ontario but now specialty farmers are growing succulent, nutty white asparagus that outclasses imports from Europe. The Fifth, Bymark, Cava, Splendido all in Toronto and Treadwell, Port Dalhousie feature dishes when it's the season.