Rabbit celebrated her birthday in style at Colborne Lane — with two of her favourite people… Mr. Rab and the Rabbit-sister.

Rabbit-sis and I had been to CL for drinks and an app shortly after it opened and we were impressed. Especially after all the superlative press this place has won, I’ve been very eager to take it on for a full meal.

We had a 9:30 reservation on a Saturday evening. They were running a little late so we were asked to grab a seat at the bar — and asked to hang onto our coats because they had run out of hangers. Bar service was slow, and Mr. Rabbit was disappointed to learn they had no Crown Royal for his Manhattan. He eventually found a substitute, but was surprised by the bar’s limited stock. I opted for a glass of tempranillo only to be told that they had recently run out of that too, so Rabbit-sister and I settled on two glasses of Heba from Italy, which were OK. It was about 10:00 before we were actually seated, and we were admittedly getting a little restless (and over-hungry), but the host was very gracious, even quite winning, and we did appreciate his genuine difficulty in turning the tables. Still, we were off to a rocky start.

The main dining room is playful but still elegant. The tables are wider than usual which was a nice bonus for space and privacy. We even liked how the communal table (where we did not sit) was organized so that large flower bunches partitioned separate parties. Banquets are comfortable, and lighting fixtures are funked up and fun. And the music is quirky and great — Depeche Mode and Radiohead somehow seem dignified in this space (I know, I know, it sounds weird).

The menu can seem a bit overwhelming since often the description of any particular dish tend to involve a dizzying array of sometimes rather obscure ingredients. It can be downright puzzling how all of these flavours might work together. But they do — beautifully — and even the most rococo menu descriptions translated onto the plate with surprising harmony and integrity. This kitchen is playful, imaginative and fun, but Chef Aprile’s work never crossed over into being self indulgent or just plain weird. The food was never clever at the expense of being delicious.

We were tempted by the tasting menu (in seven and ten course configurations), but at the later hour we didn’t want that much food, so we ordered from the a la carte menu. Between the three of us this still enabled us to sample a good number of menu items.CL’s menu is divided into smaller and larger dishes, but all are characterized as tasting plates. Our server recommended three dishes per person, but we ended up with nine dishes altogether (including two desserts), and we were all well sated by the end of the meal.

The bread basket presented some pretty soft rolls, warm and squishy, and some crispy puff-pastry bread sticks with a tomato-based paste and some sesame seeds. Both were good, but on to the real food…

We started with four selects from the smaller plate menu:Serrano ham was the unanimous favourite of the starters — a large slice of salty-delicious jamon was filled with fruit and veg and rested vertically on top of a toast with fig jelly. It was a pity to topple the masterpiece, but the flavours were a wonderful mix. I think our table could easily have put back two of these plates.Tuna sashimi and tartare involved lovely slices of raw tuna folded over the tartare, which was mixed with tiny cucumber balls. This was served with a frozen soy sauce — which is interesting food wizardry but doesn’t offer any flavour boost over the traditional sauce. Mr. Rabbit hates Japanese fusion (he’s half Japanese but ironically gets all mad about “purity” when it comes to Japanese cooking), but he said this taste reminded him of Japan — incredibly high praise.Cheddar soup came with balls of fruit, pears and jalapeno, and was flavourful but still surprisingly light. On the side was a baked pastry straw stuffed with ham and cheese that was very tasty.Crispy wokked squid was prepared with caramelized peanut + asian pear + green peppercorn + Chinese sausage + pink grapefruit + mango (yes, that’s how menu descriptions read!). Rabbit-sister found this dish monochromatic compared to the others, and while I get her point, Mr. Rabbit and I both really liked the flavour. I would order this again.So, onto the mains (the bigger plates):Aprile’s take on steak and eggs is very fun. The beef was extremely tender and the poached egg was Platonically perfect. This dish also came with some wonderfully salty potatoes and a slice of a zesty paper-like pappadami-ish wafer that none of us really “got.” Definitely the best steak and eggs I’ve ever had.Squab and foie gras on vanilla french toast with sweet potato puree and blueberries continued the breakfast theme. This dish was quite sweet and had lots of unusual stuff going on but I quite liked it. It was quite quirky, and it appealed to my sweet tooth. Also, it was a good foil for the meat dishes. This is one of the plates that I keep thinking about.Lamb rack was rubbed in spices — although none of us can quite remember the particulars. It was served with a gnocchi with soft cheese and merguez sausages (quite excellent). This dish was also plated with some rather bizarre freeze dried corn that kinda tasted like astronaut food. Fortunately, we could pick around it. Mr. Rabbit went to town on the lamb bones and was really thrilled with the meat. Note that both meat dishes were presented medium/medium rare and while I would have requested a pinker preparation, they were not overcooked, so this is more observation than complaint.Dessert:Colborne’s cheese plate is great. We sampled a French soft goat cheese, English Stilton and a hard Spanish sheep’s milk cheese, presented with some flatbread, fig terrine, fresh figs and curried walnuts. This was so good that we initially overlooked our chocolate-choice — but not for long…The chocolate bar with caramelized bananas and rooibos ice cream is a beautiful presentation including half of the bar wrapped in edible gold foil and a lovely little heap of cookie-ish crumbs to soak up the ice cream. The bananas were so good that the Rabbit sister actually barked at Mr. Rabbit to cut the last bit in half when he was caught trying to pig it back for himself.

With dessert, Mr. Rabbit and Rabbit sister drank a very dry fino and a satisfying port, respectively. Mr. also had a coffee which came with a little macaroon good enough that it earned this mention, while I drank a nicely flavoured chamomile tea with a hint of vanilla.

Service at our table was particularly good, with our affable server steering us toward some his preferred menu items (his picks were consistently great), and very accommodating of our communal eating style (always making sure we had extra side plates to aid this process). We also had some pleasant counsel on the wine, despite our grievances about the overall quality of the list.

As for that wine list… this restaurant needs to work on liquor offerings. The food here is great, but the wine list was very disappointing and actually verged on sucky. The reserve list is largely composed of California wines, many of which are quite over-priced. The by-the-glass list is merely OK, and the short list of bottles (probably 10-12 reds, maybe 8 whites) is uninspired, particularly when measured against what one would expect of a restaurant of this caliber. Also, recall the Crown Royal-less bar, which we observed was minimally stocked all around, missing many of the usual (and anticipated) suspects. Finally, there was no cocktail menu (we were informed that the cocktail menu is in process of being revised). For the record, we ended up drinking the by-the-glass Heba and then some off-list ordinary Bordeaux that did pair nicely with the food.

So, having read about this place on food boards, in Bon Appetit, in local magazines…it really did live up to expectations. In fact, I’ve been thinking about the meal for days. I would like to see this restaurant get a wine list as thoughtful and intriguing as the food, but hopefully this will come (this place is still relatively new). Colborne Lane will definitely be added to my Toronto restaurant rotation, and I’d love to get back here a couple of times each year to can see what happens in that kitchen with different seasonal goods (hopefully the menu will morph accordingly). This is rather intellectual food, and I think it’s best enjoyed with those who want to talk and think about what the table is eating. And this food really is worthy of such talk. Fun and delicious… I am already anticipating what this kitchen does next.

The cheque… 1 cocktail, 5 glasses of wine, 2 dessert wines, coffee, tea, four smaller plates, three bigger plates, a cheese tray and dessert… $325 (tax included, but before tip).

PS - I know Rabbit-photos still really suck. Still working it…

Posted on February 8th, 2008 by rabbit
Filed under: Toronto, Restaurant Reviews