Edulis, One of Canada's Foremost Restaurant Experiences

Today, I will share my Sunday lunch experience at Edulis a somewhat scaled down version of dinner. No, they do not do "brunch". I have posted Edulis lunches before, but, they are so worthy, I am prompted to share the experience because, once again, I must state that Sunday lunch at Edulis is the very best restaurant value in Canada. What restaurant anywhere, at the top of the food chain, charges only 40 bucks for a pre-set seven course lunch and charges half price on all wines ("just for fun"). Edulis ONLY does this for Sunday lunch. The truffles ($15.00 extra) and cheeses are extra.

Regarding the cheeses...I think chef Tobey Nemeth is the genius here, with her highly discriminating, impeccable taste. She finds and selects the cheeses for Edulis and describes her taste experiences in the cheese menu. The cheese selection at Edulis is the best selection of consistently great cheeses in Toronto.

And, what a lunch (keep in mind that the complete Sunday menu changes each time so what you see is merely representative):

Crispy Fogo Island shrimp tortillas.

Cabbage with ginger, macadamia nuts, fermented chili and bonito flakes.

Carrot salad flavoured with mint, with dates and pumpkin seeds. 

Salad gourmand with mache, salt cured foie gras, creme fraiche and potato, all topped with julienned black Spanish truffles and dotted with truffle cream. 

Freshly shucked scallop in a smoked butter marinara sauce made from freshly shucked scallop stock, all topped with caviar. 

Straight of Georgia skate, roasted on the bone topped with oxeye daisy capers and pickled wild leeks.

Smoked chanticler rouge chicken thigh with chicken fat rice and broken turnips. The skin of the chicken was smokey and remarkably crispy and of course the meat perfectly cooked.

Three wonderful cheeses, our personal selection, from left: Ossau-Iraty sheep's milk cheese from northern Basque country, Spain, a firm, traditional Basque cheese, supple, creamy and buttery with hints of flowers, herbs and nuts; Nettle Meadow Kunik goat and cow's milk cheese, Nettle Meadows Farm, Adirondack park, NY, a triple cream, goat milk enriched with fatty jersey cow cream, mushroomy and buttery; Grazier's Edge cow's milk cheese, Lone Grazer, Minnesota. Handcrafted with milk from grass fed cows from 2 farms, washed in St. Paul's 11 Wells Rye Whiskey, a pungent, grassy and sweet cheese.

A dreamy cream cake with hazelnuts, pistachios, and meringue. If everyone was not so satisfyingly full we would have asked for seconds!

Four Sunday Lunches at Edulis: A wonderful Series of Gustatory Experiences.

Here I go again about Edulis, but, this restaurant and what it serves is unique in the Pan-Canadian field of restaurants.

Sunday lunches at Edulis are for me, one of the great ways to while away an afternoon with friends. There is no menu, only what chef Cabbalo has just locally discovered and been inspired by. Four to 5 courses, another trust the chef menu and chef Cabbalo is one of the most trustworthy chefs in North America. Chef Cabbalo expresses his rustic sensibilities in a remarkably creative, down to earth sophisticated manner. What may not be well known is that co-owner chef Nemeth, Cabbalo's wife, it an erudite source of inspiration on this team. For me, this Edulis experience, as well said by chef Tobey Nemeth, is a celebration of the craft and tradition of cooking.

Sunday lunches are an exceptionally reasonable $40.00 and all wines are available at half price ("just for fun"), a remarkably whimsical turn of events for a restauranteur and a truly generous gift by co-owner chefs Cabbalo and Nemeth, to their patrons.

In this review, I will present what I was served at more than one lunch to give you all an opportunity to see the range of dishes and flavours that Cabbalo and Nemeth create so admirably, just for lunch.

Sunday Lunch #1

Squash soup with fresh porcini and bacon.

Last of the season heirloom tomatoes, frisee and Monforte feta.

Fennel salad with fresh albacore tuna, coriander seed and fried bread (no photo).

Cucumber salad with smoked beef schnitzel.

Pickerel baked with peppers, onions and potatoes, served family style.

Chocolate cake with hazelnut toffee and chantilly creme, the perfect finish.

Sunday Lunch #2

Tuna conserva with peeled tomatoes and new onion. 

Schiacchiata a l'uva (bread with grapes) with thyme,  taleggio cheese and torpedo onion.

 Frisee gently warmed with Cantabrian anchovy and fried bread.

 Wood roasted romanesco broccoli with raisin vinaigrette.

 Green beans with cucumber, bacon and celery leaf.

Wild arctic char with fennel and artichoke salad.

Smoked pork shoulder and spiced meatballs with radicchio, fresh shelling beans and tomatillo, served family style. This was a terrific stick to your ribs dish. 

Blackberry cake with vanilla ice cream.

Sunday Lunch #4

A Special version of the featured lunch was prepared for me as i was going for some routine tests the next day. My version had no salt, no milk products and little oil.

 The squash presentation for my squash soup.

 My squash soup with kale florets, pumpkin seeds and wild sumac.

 Everyone else's version of squash soup with the addition of buffala yogourt.

Mussels 2 ways, escabeche (sauteed in a vinegar sauce) and tigres (stuffed with chopped mussels, onion and tomato sauce).

Chard with raisin and pine nut gremolata.

Crispy squid and pig's foot sausage with ajo blanco (puree of bread, olive oil, garlic and almonds) and frisee. This was a terrific dish.

Welks and pine mushrooms, a remarkable combination of harmonious flavours and textures.

Soft scrambled duck egg with white truffles....eaten before the photo! Delicious!

Chum salmon with radish, black garlic sauce, apple and green chick peas

Blanquette de veau, the version for my guests, served family style, with chanterelle mushrooms, carrots, shallots and turnips.

 Blanquette de veau, my version.

The wonderful veggies that accompanied my veal dish, carrots shallots and turnips.

The rice for my dish.

Mixed green salad.

A fabulous apple cake with chestnut mousse.