VIP Dining BACK

Toronto’s dining scene is red hot with a spate of new restaurant openings, helmed by pedigree chefs catering to the city’s finer tastes. What a boon for when the occasion calls for exclusive gatherings and deal making wining and dining!

Take a quick look at a few of the new premier tables tantalizing tastebuds around town.

The Pinnacle of Gourmet

Dining under the soaring peaks of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal is, in a word, dramatic! Awash in white and light, C5 (Crystal Five) Restaurant Lounge, the new fifth-floor formal dining abode, boasts spectacular views: city from the south and sunset from the west. Best seat is the Director’s Table for eight at the cusp of the angled windows.

Sophisticated in design and details, with original glass art installations, handsome lounge, private elevator and open-kitchen action. Chef de cuisine Ted Corrado’s artfully plated food beautifully showcases the city’s global roots with seasonal ingredients. A comprehensive wine list changes to reflect exhibit origins. Daily luncheon hours with Thursday to Saturday dinner leave ample time for private entertaining. Capacity: 120.

100 Queen’s Park, www.c5restaurant.ca

Delicious Ambience

Suits and local condo dwellers alike mingle and dine seamlessly within the lush, whimsical embrace of Lucien. Elegant with ceiling-to-floor crushed burgundy taffeta drapery, ironwork ceiling flourishes and sparkling chandeliers, the restaurant’s design is a take on the building’s 1862-circa origin. The 15-seat marble-topped bar is a marvelous client warmer with its own menu taking cocktail bites to a whole new level; a primo power table has window real estate.

On duty is the dynamic partnership of Simon Bower on front of house and chef Scot Woods. A dazzler in the kitchen, the highly acclaimed Woods uses au courant cooking methods such as sous vide to spin out modern takes on classic dishes, heavy on the local and organics. New and Old World wines come together with excellent food-pairing choices by the glass. A back dining nook for 15 offers a peek into the kitchen. Capacity: 55.

36 Wellington St. East, www.lucienrestaurant.com

A Carnivorous Lust

Deals are sealed over prime steak and wine. Enter fresh-faced Jacobs & Co Steakhouse adeptly straddling power dining with scene-making opportunity in a welcome twist to traditional expense account schmoozing. Main entrance open on the lower-level piano bar lounge, resplendent with its own light fare menu and haute-designer vibe for 120. A private wine-cellar dining room for 50 will grace the space in 2008.

Upstairs, a subtle femininity polishes the dining room’s masculine lines. Natural light and woods meld with hanging Edison bulb fixtures, brickwork and thoughtful elbowroom (a booth for eight is set for four). Steak is definitely the star with a daily meat menu of ultra-premium selections taking its cue from within the glass-walled aging room. Off the raw bar and lounge at the back with room for 30 guests, a private room seats 32 total and offers presentation tech. Dinner, Tuesday to Saturday. Total venue capacity:300

12 Brant St., www.jacobsandcosteakhouse.com

Urban Delights

Chef Ben Heaton of the Globe Bistro is a master of the source-local-cook-global approach with rave reviews applauding front-of-house bar tapas and seasonal menus that pay delicious homage to the finest Canadian ingredients. A duly impressive wine list presides. With an elegant earthy style, the restaurant boasts tall cornice ceilings and a bowling lane, nods to the location’s former lives as a nickelodeon and bowling lanes. At night, uplighting and unique four-foot. glass “chain-link” chandeliers dramatize the long, narrow space.

With a window on the Danforth, a wine bar lounge (seating 40) gives way to main dining with wall-length banquettes beneath giant canvas photos. Intimate mezzanine seating takes in the hum below. A group of 12 can handily tuck into a raised staging area. On the third level, a multi-purpose room handles meetings and entertaining for up to 50. A rooftop patio is an oasis. Capacity: 100 in main dining room

124 Danforth Ave., www.globebistro.com

Status Address

Culinary fans and the moneyed designer set are eagerly filling the seats of One Restaurant where the stellar reputation of superstar chef Mark McEwan (North 44º, Bymark) further solidifies his fine-dining dynasty. A street level cornerstone of The Hazelton Hotel in Yorkville, the Yabu Pushelberg-designed masterpiece is a study in textures with rich woods, smoked glass, cowhide and tiger-eye onyx. Diaphanous dressings on sky-high windows give a voyeur’s view of who’s who on the 80-seat wraparound patio.

The menu’s continental spin includes McEwan’s signature burgers. À la carte sides are shared family-style. Breakfast to 2 a.m. service daily provides plenty of entertaining options as does the adjoining private dining area for 16, smartly fitted with mirror-paneled privacy doors, plasma screen and chic microsuede red walls. Capacity: 90 in the main dining room.

118 Yorkville Ave., www.thehazeltonhotel.com/one_01.html