Restaurants
Origin Restaurant
Origin is Claudio Aprile's second restaurant in Toronto. Located on the corner of King and Church, this $1.3-million project was envisioned to be a casual dining place for fans of Aprile's contemporary tapas fare.
Designed by the same team behind Aprile's Colborne Lane, Stroudfoot Inc. stamps its signature urban decay look throughout the restaurant. There's a stripped-down brick wall infused with glowing light from industrial-type lamps. There's an organic piece of reclaimed wood sculptured into an eating counter around a glossy, open-concept kitchen. It's an exquisite centre stage for the Toronto chef and his staff.
As far as the menu goes, 36 tapas-style dishes with influences from Asia, Europe, and molecular gastronomy are divided into sections: Snacks & Sides, Raw Bar, Mozzarella Bar, Chilled, and Hot.
I opt for Smoked Cod Croquettes ($6) to start. Five perfect spheres arrive in a white bowl with a generous dollop of saffron aioli. It's delicious, although I can't help but notice how other items seem more ambitious.
From the Raw section, the Spicy Tuna Roll ($9) is a hand crafted seaweed cone with spicy tuna tartare, batons of crisp green apples, various shades of shiso leaves, miso mayo, and a sprinkling of puffed amaranth. The dish is absolutely sublime, bursting with robust flavours in each bite - and one that I would order again.
From the Chilled section of the menu, I try Foie Gras Mousse ($27), which is presented in a mason jar. There's a baffling layer of solid fat surrounding the liver mousse inside, and to get to the foie gras, I chip away the coat that's as palatable as bacon lard left to cool in the refrigerator. Needless to say, I am not a fan of this one.
However, the kitchen redeems itself with a dish made in heaven. A thick loin of well-cooked Miso-Glazed Black Cod ($20) shows up on top of al dente soba noodles floating in a light ginger-miso broth. There's a garnish of gentle pea sprouts and a surprising squirt of truffle oil, both of which add an extra dimension to this already wonderful hot entrée.
Overall, I'm hedging my bet on this one - like those traders down on Bay Street. 50% of the food I had, I enjoyed; the other 50% was ho-hum. Yet, I am incorrigibly curious to try some of the other interesting dishes in their market-driven menu. If Aprile continues to do his casual experimentations in the kitchen, then I would certainly bet that something special would rise above all that liquid nitrogen - and Origin's stock would go through the roof!
Writing and photos by Jen Laceda
Discussion
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obviously, not for you :)
thanks!
I've been there twice and the place is great. The beef hand rolls is better than the tuna in my opinion, and the Bangkok Beef Salad is a must try.
I think Foxley is a much much better option for tapas food like this, and the a lot less expensive. Also, Foxley has a better wine menu at amazing prices. If you are looking for tapas but tired of the West side of the city, I think Cava is yet another better tapas restaurant but a different type of food. My point is one has to think about opportunity cost. There are better options.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXjxHQQxcLw
Have you heard about the 6-month Happy Meal test? Somehow I doubt any of Claudio Aprile's food would fail to decompose after sitting on a kitchen counter for 6 months, as was the case when Sally Davies decided to see what would happen when she left a McDonald's Happy Meal on her kitchen counter for 6 months.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319562/McDonalds-Happy-Meal-bought-Sally-Davies-shows-sign-mould-6-months.html#ixzz12FMqfdA9
But hey, if Big Macs are far superior to the food at Origin, why not test it out for yourself? Order 3 dishes from Origin, take them home in a doggy bag, and watch them sit on your kitchen counter for 6 months. Oh, and you need to photograph them each day to make the experiment scientifically accurate. I look forward to the results from your scientific study and your basis for claiming that Big Macs are somehow far superior to the food prepared at Origin.
Would also be interested to hear how many Big Macs you consume per week (a yearly average will do) and where your body weight ranks on the obesity scale. Oh, wait, is that comment fat-ist?
Good luck with watching your nutrition and giving your cash to a corporation like McDonalds.
How is comparing freshly prepared food to Big Macs stating anything significant in the review of this restaurant? I too don't love ALL of Origin's dishes and some seem pretty pricey to me given the ingredients used and preparation methods, but what worth is there in a review of the food in relation to the value of a Big Mac? Seriously, to what end?
In some cases I agree, the food delivered vs. the $$ doled out is somewhat out of whack. But I don't think it deserves a comparison to the Big Mac, or ten of them indeed.
Until I see the wide variety of ingredients and preparation methods of Origin on the menu at McDonalds, I stand solidly in my view. The bucket-loads of sugar, preservatives, antibiotics and the like, along with the re-heating methods at McDonalds, just can't be compared logically.
Now if I hear an argument from either of you which compares an apple to an apple, I'm happy to continue this asinine debate.
I eat burgers from fast food joints as most Canadians do. But I never assume that I can compare a burger from said joint to any restaurant, not just Origin.
A lesson in debating: compare an apple to an apple, otherwise the conversation/debate is null and void.
And no, I'm not an elitist, nor an asshole. I take home enough $$ per year to rank me in the "just over the poverty line" bracket of Canadians. What's needed in food ingredients, preparation and intake these days is not $$, but education. I can prepare a healthy, well balanced meal for less than what I'd spend at McDonalds in a single sitting. But if you're not educated in the manner to do so, you'll end up eating at McDonalds more than you want to. I'm just lucky enough to have been educated in the art of unpreserved ingredients and cooking. If I could teach all of the poorer, McDonalds-eating patrons out there, I would. Which raises the question of responsibility of corporations and governments alike. If you're living under the poverty line, working 3 jobs to make $25K per year, you just don't stand a chance. McDonalds is the only option for the 2 kids you have. Don't shoot the messenger. Get out there and educate/volunteer/promote healthy eating which can be just as economical as McDonald's happy meals.
I've been doing this as best I can. But being someone who lives at the poverty line myself makes that more challenging. What about all those Bay-streeters who take home in excess of $100K per year and eat at restaurants like Origin on a regular basis? Get them involved and we might just find a change in the direction of healthy eating/living. Maybe McDonald's itself will grow a conscience and realize that their food is responsible for the 2,000,000+ Americans who weigh over 500 pounds. Yes, the morbidly obese. They certainlly didn't get that way without the help of McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and countless pizza joints, etc. It's a slippery slope when you start down that road eating and feeding McDonald's to your children. What responsibility do you feel McDonald's should assume in response to this epidemic? Or does the thought of corporate responsibility and regulation make you shiver? Let McDonald's self-regulate and maybe the obesity crisis will melt away...
Let the argument/debate? continue...
I dont' understand the hype of places like this. It's so expensive to eat here & as food turns into poop eventually - is there something special about pinching off a $400 turd?
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LOL what you say is true.