Posted by Greg Clow in in the papers, news and media on April 21, 2007 at 6:00 pm

In the three months or so that I've been doing news round-ups for Taste T.O., I've been paying even closer attention than before to the restaurant reviews in the three major dailies, as well as the reviews and features by James Chatto and others in Toronto Life, and I've been constantly amused by the differences of opinion exhibited by our city's esteemed critics. Today's papers have some great examples of this, as three of Toronto Life's Best New Restaurants 2007 - Lai Toh Heen, Coca and Vertical - are given write-ups, with two of them getting reviews that are quite the opposite of what Chatto thought of them.

First up, Gina Mallet of the National Post is not so keen on Lai Toh Heen:

Apprehensive, we sample the soup: Hot and sour is glutinously pink and mild. The eyebrows of the Gourmand Couple rise simultaneously. Why, you can eat spicier, tastier hot and sour from Soup's On's version at the supermarket. The Skeptic reports the wonton soup is listless.

The Beijing duck takes at least 20 minutes and looks wonderful, like a shard of French polished walnut, but the little pancakes curl dryly and the glistening, crackly skin is lined with unwanted fat. Even a second-class combination of skin, scallion and pancake tastes good -- then the second course arrives, a terminally bland mixture of chopped duck and veg on an iceberg lettuce leaf.

And to add insult to injury, the final paragraph of her column recounts a subsequent visit to Cha Liu, a hole-in-the-wall dim sum joint where the food is much, much better for just a fraction of the price.

Also in the Post:

• Zenya Sirant visits Surati Sweet Mart, one of our favourite shops in Little India.
• Michael Vaughan draws some interesting analogies between American network television shows and wines from last Monday's California Wine Fair.
• Jason Chow introduces us to gochujang, a spicy condiment that's sometimes referred to as "Korean ketchup".
• Bonnie Stern gets into the spirit of Earth Day after reading The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating, and suggests some recipes that Torontonians can make with locally sourced ingredients.

Over in the Toronto Star, Amy Pataki sides with Mallet in her dislike of one of Toronto Life's top picks, and does quite a number on Coca:

Reading the menu sure is entertaining, with its "carbs" category and the promise of beef cheeks "cooked for 53 hours, 12 minutes and 2 seconds." But it's not fun discovering dried-out mushroom paella ($10) tastes like Rice-A-Roni or that the signature crunchy-crumbly flatbread ($3) – "coca" in Catalan – is as bland as cardboard. Forget sprinkling the salt on top. Work it into the lard-enriched dough.

Fabada asturiana ($12) is a peasant bean stew that stars blood sausage, creamy pork belly and the hardest, saltiest chorizo I've come across in a long while. Cannelloni ($12) turns out to be a burrito filled with buttery fried mushrooms, the promised walnuts nowhere to be seen.

Elsewhere in the Star:

• Marion Kane offers two different recipes for healthy and tasty oatmeal-raisin cookies.
• Matthew Chung reports on the progress of City Councillor John Filion's attempts to bring better street eats to Toronto, and asks six local fine dining chefs what they would offer if they ran a road-side food cart.
• In the special Live Green! section, Elvira Cordileone examines the pros and cons of eating local.

Finally, in the Globe & Mail, Joanne Kates in the lone reviewer to agree with one of Chatto's picks, as she's generally pleased with Vertical:

His butternut squash gnocchi are sweet, light and splendidly accompanied by oodles of freshly toasted hazelnuts. His charred octopus salad is equally correct: tender tentacles nicely dressed. Only the mushroom, rapini and parmesan "gnudi" disappoints. Gnudi is just what it sounds like (the "g" being silent in Italian). They are naked ravioli: pasta-less. What arrives are two brownish spheres somewhat larger than golf balls whose physical appearance calls to mind something that Borat might make fun of. Not so appetizing.

They taste lovely, however, especially when slathered in their basil-scented butter sauce. But chef would be advised to cover them up next time.

Also in The Globe:

• Lucy Waverman suggests recipes for a three-course dinner party that draw inspiration from a variety of cultures and cuisines.
• Beppi Crosariol recommends a couple of solid Spanish reds, as well as a few picks from last week's Vintages release.