In The Kitchen With Chef BACK

Wining and dining VIPs has never been easier in a city brimming with excellent restaurants. But sometimes even the latest and greatest seems a little ho hum when the stakes are high on delivering something extra special.

That’s when it’s time to sit your celebration down at a Chef’s Table and explore the truism that the best parties are always in the kitchen. Privy to the theatre of a top culinary kitchen, showered by the personal attention of private service and Chef, a Chef’s Table engages your guests in an exclusive, memory-making, experiential food-and-wine epiphany.

Elevate your dining event with a seat at one of these Chef’s Tables:

Windsor Arms Hotel
Dine among the stars, or at least watch the food preparation for the celebrities who make this old-world, elegant hotel a home-away-from-home. Award your group of A-listers prime-viewing seats at the wonderful Chef’s Table set into a cozy alcove of the hotel’s kitchen. Not only are you first-hand witnesses to the kitchen’s synchronicity, but you also bask in Chef’s personalized attention as he prepares your meal at the table’s own cooktop. 

Enjoy Chef Stephen Ricci’s flavourfully modern takes on classic cuisine. Work together to create a customized five-course menu or put your tastebuds completely in his hands for a wine-paired tasting adventure. U-shaped banquette seating for 10 encourages flowing conversation as Chef chats up the courses and his experiences. Afterwards, hit one of the hotel’s swank lounges for a little star spotting.

18 Thomas St., 416-971-9666, www.windsorarmshotel.com

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Colborne Lane
The Chef’s Table in Chef Claudio Aprile’s kitchen offers a revered adventure for both culinary novices and followers of the acclaimed alchemist of molecular gastronomy. Ensconced in the restaurant’s kitchen in a private room set for six, the intimate surrounds are befittingly spare with lab-like edginess: shelves of jarred spices and potions, overblown test tube-like chandelier overhead a handsome hardwood butcher-block table, all eyes on the huge picture window framing the extreme culinary masters at work.

Chef Aprile sets a wondrous 15-plus-course tasting menu, each plate cradling an inventive tour de force of inspired textures and flavours skillfully executed using traditional and cutting-edge cooking techniques. Chefs frequently pop in and out, ushering in courses, passionately detailing ingredients and unique preparation methods such as sous vide (slow cooking in vacuum-packed bags). Ice cream made using liquid nitrogen right at the table is a show-stopping thrill.

45 Colborne St., 416-368-9009, www.colbornelane.com

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International Convention Centre
The new Chef’s Table Tasting Room gives diners a rare behind-the-scenes look at the perfect orchestration it takes to prepare and serve over 1,000 banquet guests at a time. The room is among the attractions of the new state-of-the-art kitchen, created as part of the centre's 42,000 sq. ft. expansion.

Designed as a stylish, intimate home dining area, the room fronts the chef’s adjoining office; a glass partition gives a kitchen view. Warm hues, contemporary accent pieces and lighting preside. A gorgeous hand-carved African wood butcher-block table seats eight. The room is multi-functional: for event clients to taste-test their chosen menus, for entertaining VIP guests away from the trade show floor, or a novel meeting space for a working lunch or dinner.

6900 Airport Rd., 905-677-6131, www.internationalcentre.com

 

 

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The Culinary Studio
Give your group of foodies a chance to meet the next-hot chefs at this hidden gem. Students of George Brown’s Chef School, with media celebrity and instructor Chef James Smith at the helm, heat up their ultra-modern training kitchen with a dynamic Chef’s Table for up to 16 people. Whether you customize a lunch or dinner menu or let Chef set a multi-course tasting feast, kitchen-counter seating brings you up close and personal to its lively preparation.

Chef Ramsay he’s not, as the affable Smith’s media work on programs such as the Food Network’s Christine Cushing Live surfaces in his entertaining, information-packed delivery, demos and coaching of his young apprentices. The chefs-in-training lap up the audience attention. Excellent wine pairing choices come courtesy of the school’s sommelier instructors.

300 Adelaide St. E., 416-415-5000, ext. 3616, www.georgebrown.ca/culinarystudio

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Perigee
Technically, this Distillery District dining establishment doesn’t have a designated Chef’s Table. However, the very nature of the large open kitchen’s central location in the dining room provides ringside seating for up to 28 at the tables closest in proximity to the kitchen action and dialogue exchange. In fact, this chef’s table-style layout is where Perigee derives its name: the closest point in orbit to earth, or, in this case, chef’s at work.

While magnificent à la carte items can be tailored for groups, go for the thrill of the omakase menu, entrusting your palate to Executive Chef Christopher Brown’s choice of nine tasting plates. Gorgeous ingredients, inventive flavour pairings and stunning execution impress. Brother, general manager and sommelier Michael teases out the exquisite food nuances with artfully selected wines. The District’s historical post-and-beam and exposed brick architecture embraces with the perfect ambience.

55 Mill St., The Cannery Building, 416-364-1397, www.perigeerestaurant.com

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Hemispheres Restaurant & Bistro
Nestled between towering, blond beechwood walls and a glassed-in kitchen view, groups of 10 enjoy a completely customized multi-course food and wine experience. Begin with cocktails at the restaurant’s elegant, curvaceous bar — a fab vibe prevails — before moving to the heady privacy of just you, your guests and the kitchen theatre.

Top toque Chef Jay Tanuwidjaja is completely hands-on with menu suggestions that showcase his signature cross-cultural-style cuisine. Each course is presented and personalized with a side of Chef’s culinary knowledge and enthusiasm for questions and answers. Located in the Metropolitan Toronto Hotel, the Chef’s Table makes a memorable end to an on-site meeting program, sales conference or brainstorming session.

110 Chestnut St., 416-599-8000, www.metropolitan.com