There’s a risk involved, in this digital age, when you deliberately misspell a familiar word as the name of your new restaurant. “Did you mean Charisma?” asks Google. No, actually, I didn’t. You are a search engine not the world’s grammatical conscience. Now do as you’re told… Carisma it is – the latest project of Michael and Margie Pagliaro, who created Il Mulino on Eglinton West, and before that, Barolo… For me, they epitomize the concept of accoglienza, the warm, welcoming hospitality that Italians may have invented and still do so well. I last saw them about a year ago, quite unexpectedly, when my wife and I were having dinner at Haisai and they were there too. Michael had been unwell and they had sold Il Mulino to Oscar Valverde (another master of accoglienza). They were retired now.
Yeah right. They stayed retired less than a year – long enough for Michael to bounce back and to recruit their daughter, Monica, 24 years old and until now working at the Bank of Montreal, into the front-of-house fold. Most interestingly, they moved back downtown – to King Street East. On Eglinton, there were no local rivals. Down here, they are surrounded by the distinct but powerful Italian houses of Biagio, Terroni and Romagna Mia. How they will fare remains to be seen, but there is no diminution in the quality of service from Il Mulino’s glory days – especially if you are an old friend from Forest Hill. And Alan Hilario is in the kitchen here as he was at Il Mulino: indeed, the menu looks uncannily similar to the simple, high-end, traditional pan-Italian card that proved such a success up there.
The room is different. Il Mulino was white; Carisma is black (walls, ceiling and furniture) with a huge, round, marble-topped bar in the centre, where single male condottieri come for an early, after-work dinner. It’s cool and comfortable and already packed, though it’s far too soon to assess the food with any degree of long-term accuracy. Not all the dishes are firing on all cylinders yet but you can still find some precocious treats.
Pan-seared scallops are crusted on the surface, rare inside, paired up with wilted baby spinach and little snippets of oyster mushroom that echo the texture of the scallops and share in the flattering glory of a saffron, lemon and white wine sauce.
Chanterelles, peas and a chardonnay sauce lift a lobster risotto out of the earth’s gravitational pull even when the delicious lobster tail is itself a tad clenched. Nerves, perhaps – or a moment too long in the pan.
More of those super chanterelles (so fresh they are almost crunchy) find their way into the tangled embrace of a dish of very fresh tagliolini tossed with slivers of duck confit and zoomed with thyme and white truffle oil.
A fillet of beef on the bone is crusty on the surface, red and oozy on the inside… It’s lovely to see this cut – keeping the mignon and the bone together adds needed flavour to the tender muscle – but the vegetables (asparagus, peppers, green beans) seem a touch old school.
Not that there’s anything wrong with old school. Old school service is what sets Carisma apart in this cynical and insincere age – and people love it.
Carisma. 73 King Street East. 416 864-7373. www.carismarestaurant.com