Update 2013:
The Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar is re-opening! i’m not sure if it’ll be in the same place, but expect a locavore menu (food and wine), great ambiance, and some killer fries, hopefully still served in a cone.
Update 2011:
This restaurant no longer exists!!! Well, it does, but it isn’t owned by Jamie Kennedy, whose love of the local food movement is blamed for wracking up his restaurant’s debt. Apparently ‘local’ is too expensive and impractical. I beg to differ. His prices were just too reasonable for the high-quality of food offered. He could have looked to Montreal’s sky-high restaurant prices at mediocre establishments and up-ed what he charged. People will pay it. It does make it unaffordable to most, but for the variety of ingredients, especially meats, cheeses and heirloom varietals of vegetables, it was just too much of a good thing to last. This review pre-dates the ownership change and name change to, just, “The Wine Bar”, but the first paragraph was added before the sale while the restaurant was trying to re-create itself as something it was not. The Gilead Café, however, still exists.
Update 2009:
Since reviewing this incredible restaurant, the tides have turned. The front room is now a casual coffee and sandwich bar with happy hour style snacks. Nothing to write home, or here, about. With bankruptcy issues, sourcing local and organic at the amazing prices described below stopped being economically feasible. Isn’t local supposed to be cheaper? Not when it’s meat. Maybe that’s why soups and sandwiches are the fare of the day now. A homemade broth from organic bones courtesy of Rowe farms makes an unpretentious lunch the more reasonable option. Come on, Jamie. You’re not Splendido. You’re disappointing a city who expect more from you. Have a little respect and make your own bread at least. Ace is great, but you can go to Ace Bakery if you want it. Previous to this disaster the review read as follows:
In the age of celebrity chefs, should it surprise me that I have friends, both gay and straight, who are attracted to Jamie Kennedy? If there is an attraction to a man who can cook then this man is the all-Canadian poster-boy pin-up of food.
From a menu that changes weekly, according to what he can get locally in season, the two tapas-sized items that I’ll never forget are tomato soup and fries. Well, think more along the lines of yellow tomato purée drizzled with olive oil and crème fraiche, and five-year aged cheddar on organic potatoes in the most high-end version of poutine to grace the palettes of fortunate Torontonians.
Amazingly affordable until you add wine (and why wouldn’t you when you can choose one of three different tasting sizes up to a full 12 oz glass to each brilliantly paired with a food item on the menu?) this is the best restaurant in the city in terms of food quality, service, atmosphere and innovation. The soup was almost enough for lunch on it’s own, but withso many appetizer-sized options on the menu ranging from $5 to $15, it’s impossible to not let you curiosity expand the bill to just under what you would expect to pay at such an amazing restaurant. How is it affordable? Well the funny thing about buying in season and local is that you’re not paying for the food to be transported over long distances. Having great connections to producers certainly doesn’t hurt. Who would have thought that you should be friends with the people whose produce you buy? Perhaps they may even start to care about the quality of their produce when they know who will be eating it. Kind of like the fast food server that spits in your food because you are being rude, the farmer is certainly capable of proverbially spitting in the food of the animal that makes it’s way up the food chain to your mouth. Hormones, anyone?
Not at Jamie Kennedy’s…
Unfortunately, his most recent venture, the Gilead Café near the Distillery District, needs a little work. Mostly, the servers need a little work. They probably should have at least said “bacon and cheese” when I asked what was in the lima bean and potato salad. Instead they said “An oil and vinegar vinaigrette” which would kind of make a vegetarian, vegan, lactose-intolerant or non-red meat eating person a little upset when they bit into the salad.
Expect to pay: $12 for lunch, $5 for coffee and a treat.
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