National Post
August 09, 2008

Pop Goes The Menu

by Gina Mallet

Nota Bene Rating 3

Nota Bene is a glimpse of the future Toronto, the one now seeding new condos and five-star hotels. It's hidden in a new silvery high-rise just west of University. I felt I was in a time warp. Outside, Queen Street channels 2000 grunge, leather and rags and spangles, the burnt-caramel smell of hot dogs on the grill; inside, a cool executive suite, as sleek and gleaming as Mad Men. In fact, the maitre d' is so stylish he must have come straight from the set.

So this is Franco Prevedello's new restaurant. The burning question is, does Prevedello, who dominated the '80s, his fingerprints all over the restoscape -- Pronto, Biffi, Centro, Acqua, Acrobat, Splendido -- still have the mojo?

It's been almost a decade since he dropped out of active restaurant management. Prevedello's restaurants were Fellini beachheads, Italy as always warm and welcoming, bling and pasta with a boisterous machismo thrown in. This was the '80s after all, and Prevedello had made his bones as maitre d' of Winston's, where the boys of Queen's Park and Bay Street intersected over bottles of big Burgundy, the era's tipple.

For his comeback, Prevedello has teamed up with the present owners of Splendido, Yannick Bigourdan and chef David Lee, who have taken the restaurant to new heights, a suavely cosmopolitan menu and superb service, with prices to match.

We enter through a bar that might grace a CEO's boardroom, then up a few steps to an airy room where white columns serve as lights and white walls are warmed with colourful abstracts by Canadian Alex D'Arcy.

Food is all comfort. Call it Splendido Pop. Courses are called Begin and Follow -- say goodbye once more to trad nomenclature. The menu, the same for lunch and dinner, is a smooth amalgam of the familiar and exotic. There are daily specials --if it's Tuesday, it must be Jennifer's Stilton beef brisket burger, $25; Wednesday it's a lobster club, $28. And for steak freaks, there's a 33-ounce bone-in rib steak ($89) from David Lee's private stock.

Lobster salad is full of meaty chunks, if overly refreshed with lettuce. Of course, the pasta is expected to delight and it does. Mafalda ($14), ripple-edged ribbon pasta garnished with a subtle mushroom Bolognese and shaved summer truffle, is a knockout.

Better still, on my second visit, we ordered the pappardelle with big pieces of rabbit in a richly savoury sauce and sweet peaches 'n' cream corn and Niagara pancetta. Another winner: a grilled hangar steak with a spicy avocado chutney, which is perfectly rare -- as this lean steak must be.

But I also probed some weak spots. The tandoor-spiced barramundi with cucumber and mango, wrapped in an iceberg lettuce leaf was dry and heavy, and there was the same problem with the suckling pig and boudin noir tart. The maple-smoked bacon and truffle vinaigrette couldn't save the dish.

The baby pork was pulled. I don't know why a baby pig needs pulling. Suckling pig falls off the knife in velvety pink petals, its delicate taste as toothsome as human flesh, or so declared the German cannibal Armin Meiwes. The pork loses its intensity when rendered as string and does nothing for the dry chips of blood pudding -- one of those Old World legacies that requires a radical rethink before it appears on a mod menu.

Four little pots de creme -- coconut, pistachio, coffee and chocolate ($10) -- make an irresistible dessert. A lemon yogourt panna cotta comes with blueberries and a crunchy meringue. Pistachio ice cream matched with poached apricots looks like a painting but, alas, it is taste-challenged.

Now to the service. For some diners, service is more important than the food. Back in May, I visited a little family place in Dieppe where the owner, Madame Mouny, defined everything that service should mean. She made her customers feel loved.

At Nota Bene, I meet Ian who is channelling Mme Mouny. He has been seconded from Splendido and like any good waiter is an actor. He is at first tentative, probing. But once he's got your measure, he plays you with the skill of a fly fisherman snagging salmon. He interprets the food in an eater-friendly way. Want to see the giant steak -- sure. Next thing he appears with a couple of them on a platter and gives us a concise guide to eating beef.

Ian is spot-on with his suggestions for our glasses of wine (a sauvignon blanc from Bordeaux) and brings them Splendido style--a little triangular carafe so we can pour our own measure. - No wheelchair access. Conversation OK. Music. Dinner for two: $130.