Posted by Rebecca Zamon in SOLE food, comfort food, restaurant profile on July 11, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Sequel
3362 Yonge Street
416-480-0996
Sequel is a restaurant on a mission. A local food, carbon-footprinted, biodegradable mission that takes all of the buzzwords from the past year and brings them together in the decidedly unexpected locale of North Toronto.
Mind you, you'd never guess it from walking through the glass-doored entryway — there's no smell of patchouli in the air, no vegetarian dishes being foisted upon patrons, nary a dreadlock to be seen. Neutrally toned walls hold images of benign landscapes, soft jazz plays in the air, wrought-iron banisters lead toward a second level and a wooden wine rack crawls toward the ceiling, a scene that hardly screams revolution. But look a little closer—at the Bullfrog Power, Green Enterprise Toronto and Local Food Plus (LFP) logos on the menu, the soy-based candles adorning the tables and the Green Shift take-out packaging—and the rebellion starts to show its roots.
Conceived of by husband-and-wife team Eric te Boekhorst and Lisa Rutland, Sequel has been satisfying the discerning palates of the area for the past three-and-a-half years, all the while keeping an eye toward educating customers and staff about a more sustainable way of eating and living. On the evening of my visit, Lisa couldn't stop gushing about the fantastic eggs she'd just received from a St. Jacob's-area Mennonite farm, or the start of the Ontario strawberry season. She finds her producers through research, both via LFP and what Lisa calls the "meet 'n greets" with sellers at Fiesta Farms.
And as such, the menu reads like a "spot the bountiful region" map of Ontario: Prince Edward County, Creemore, Stratford, Lake Huron. Described by Lisa as "cool urban comfort food" with a foundation in French traditions, the menu has chef du cuisine Matthew Kennedy crafting original dishes almost bi-weekly.
My meal began with house-made walnut and cranberry flatbread, a crispy delight that fortunately left room for my "appetizer" — a frisée and bacon salad, composed of asparagus and topped with poached egg and matchstick potatoes. A champagne vinaigrette lightly touched the mixture, and the multitude of textures and flavours came together in a salty, crispy and fresh medley. It would have been enough for a meal, but that didn't stop me from delving into my main, after a brief hiatus with a pineapple, watermelon and vodka palate cleanser.
The Atlantic salmon ("we use farmed fish at this the time of year," Lisa explained) was ensconced in fennel and surrounded by soy beans, baby bok choy, sun choke and a spectacular parsnip and plantain mash. A beet gastrique added colour to the already multi-hued plate, cutting the slightly salty taste of the fish’s crust. Dessert was a peach cobbler, created with peaches frozen during the fall harvest, those ubiquitous Ontario strawberries on the plate, vanilla ice cream and an almost too intense caramel sauce. The piping hot peaches retained their sweetness nicely, playing off the simple and straightforward ice cream. Proclaiming it “ridiculously delicious,” it was all I could do to keep from licking the bowl once I was done
Asked about the non-downtown location for this very urban enterprise, Lisa has an answer at the ready. "I live in this community, and have for years," she says. "I want to educate diners who may not be as aware and be an ambassador for these innovations." She directs patrons to Culinarium (705 Mount Pleasant Road) (slogan: "a local Ontario food experience") to encourage purchasing food for their own homes, and she's unapologetic in her conviction that this is how people should be eating. "We need to consider everything when we create a meal. The more people moving in this direction, the better."
