{"id":516,"date":"2010-10-08T14:33:47","date_gmt":"2010-10-08T19:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=516"},"modified":"2012-05-01T10:19:56","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T15:19:56","slug":"luma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/?p=516","title":{"rendered":"Luma"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Luma's divine Italian burrata<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toronto has an excellent new spot for lunch (and dinner too, of course) in Oliver Bonacini\u2019s spiffy Luma, up on the second storey of the new TIFF Bell Lightbox building. Appropriately enough, the space is awash with daylight flooding through the wall of south-facing glass that loooks down over the King West restaurant strip. Architects Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg have designed the interior \u2013 all very cool and laid back but with enough visual drama to delight rather than bore the eye. Finishes are in different woods on the floor and high partition walls, chairs in mushroom leather, sofas more of a butterscotch while a massive planter filled with curly willow wands gives focus to the centre of the room.
\nThe chef is Jason Bangerter who has finally left his beloved Auberge du Pommier to come downtown, running Luma and its attached BlackBerry Lounge, the much-more-casual Canteen downstairs and the parties and functions that occur up on the rooftop and in other areas of the building. For Luma, he has put together a menu that doesn\u2019t make a massive opening impact. Sandwiches, salads, tuna, chicken, beef tenderloin, steak frites\u2026 At first glance it seems determinedly middle-of-the-road, without any of the haut French glamour of Auberge \u2013 rather in the manner of Nota Bene (I suspect Luma is destined to be NB\u2019s most signifcant rival). But Oliver Bonacini is nothing if not detail-oriented and both Bangerter and general manager Richard Arnold (also from Auberge) have never been known to drop the ball. It\u2019s true my friend and I virtually had the place to ourselves on Monday at lunchtime (Luma\u2019s opening was overshadowed by the Film Festival and OB has done no publicity since) but service was impeccable and the dishes we tried thoroughly delicious.
\nBurrata is the fromage du jour in Toronto these days and some impressive versions are being made in Ontario. But Bangerter gets his flown in from Italy through Cheese Boutique, barely a day or two old and still oozing rich buffalo cream when one slips a knife into its glistening, tender, snow-white heart. The cheese is set on top of a thin but richly flavoured slice of grilled eggplant and surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colourful beets, some cut into soft chunks, others firmer but thinly sliced. A marjoram and pine nut vinaigrette echoes the earthy sweetness of the beets and it\u2019s impossible not to mop the plate with chunks of the lovely crusty breads baked by David Wilson, that masterful artisan of the ovens and the man responsible for Marc Thuet\u2019s loaves, back in the day.
\nFoie gras torchon appears on the dinner menu and it\u2019s a fine version, a slice of the pink cylinder that\u2019s as smooth and soft as a baby\u2019s arm, served with square-cut blocks of toasted brioche. Bangerter usually likes to pair it with pineapple but today sliced fresh peach and morsels of soft stewed peach nuzzle up to the foie while pretty green coriander seedlings do their undetectably subtle thing.<\/p>\n

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A little octopus; a lot of plate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pale seafood is something of a speciality here but luckily it\u2019s exactly what I feel like at lunchtime. Pan-seared scallops are meticulously timed, surrounded by tiny grilled artichokes and perched on top of a disc of smashed potato. Curls of cured ham are the crown, lemon vinaigrette the dressing. Another dish poses tender grilled octopus with soft, delicately earthy orange lentils, tucked in as if they were some kind of roe. Cleverly orchestrated, secondary flavours don\u2019t mask the octopus\u2019s own taste \u2013 preserved lemon, baby arugula, honeyed olives, piquillo peppers \u2013 while a tangy arugula pesto brings everything to attention.
\nWe weren\u2019t going to have any dessert but the pastry chef sent out some miniature treats \u2013 a creamy finger of lemon curd on ethereal pastry, a doll-sized opera cake. Certainly that end of the experience requires further exploration.
\nWines? Quite properly, Ontario is the principal provider abetted by a couple of BC reds and a good back-up from the rest of the world. Incidentally, there are still restaurants in Toronto that don\u2019t have Ontario wines on their lists. I\u2019m thinking of writing a little note on the bill where it says \u201ctip:\u201d Offer Ontario wine. That\u2019s my tip to you, buddy.
\nMeanwhile, I see a bright future for Luma. It\u2019s luxuriously spacious, elegant but not posh, unhurried and airily contemporary \u2013 and the prices are pretty reasonable. It\u2019s funny how many of our best lunch restaurants are in institutions \u2013 a phenomenon started by Jamie Kennedy at the ROM, I suppose. These days we have Frank at the AGO, c5 at the ROM, the Gallery Grill at Hart House, Osgoode Hall and now Luma in the Lightbox. Long may it shine.
\nLunch: Daily, 11:30am-3:00pm. Dinner: Daily, 5:00pm-11:00pm<\/p>\n

Luma. 330 King Street West (at John Street). 647 288-4715. www.oliverbonacini.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto has an excellent new spot for lunch (and dinner too, of course) in Oliver Bonacini\u2019s spiffy Luma, up on the second storey of the new TIFF Bell Lightbox building. Appropriately enough, the space is awash with daylight flooding through the wall of south-facing glass that loooks down over the King West restaurant strip. Architects […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,19,95],"tags":[152,149,151,150,153],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=516"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2098,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516\/revisions\/2098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jameschatto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}