EGGPLANTDebuting on the Toronto scene in December 2005, this urban, comfortably elegant restaurant offers fresh, creative cuisine from local and sustainably harvested ingredients. For those who appreciate the warmth of neighbourhood hospitality, Eggplant envelops you in flavours and attention that lets the hustle of the city slip away.

Located in what was Toronto's original downtown core, now gently sandwiched between the Distillery District and Bay Street Business, Eggplant is one of several new resto/lounges that have opened recently helping to redefine and revitalize the neighbourhood. Recent condo developments have drawn young urban dwellers to King East, and Eggplant has emerged as the perfect place to dine and unwind. A comfortable lounge awaits as you enter, boasting a casual yet chic metropolitan feel, featuring high-top tables and large TV screens showing classic movies or sports depending upon the guests' request. The main dining area invites you to nosh in the open and softly lit space, offering an intimate, stylish, and comfortable atmosphere.

Eggplant’s new addition, Deron Engbers, chef de cuisine, serves up delicious "regional" cuisine, starting with local, fresh and in-season ingredients and spinning them into his classically inspired culinary style bringing patrons flavour, sustenance and a little stylistic whimsy with every bite. Private functions are welcomed as the space can quickly be transformed to accommodate a variety of needs for any group. This dining and lounge concept offers a truly unique and stimulating experience, and is unlike any other place in Toronto.

Escape to Eggplant's Lounge for their Happy Hour Menu. Available Monday to Friday, 4:00pm - 7:00pm. Courtyard Patio is Open!

REVIEW
The Development of Fine Dining
Located at the unlikely intersection of King and Sherbourne, Eggplant has become a lifestyle force to be reckoned with. In an area newly adorned with modern condominiums jutting out of refurbished old bank buildings and warehouses, Eggplant is just up the street from the Distillery Historic District, galleries, furniture shops, and internet and web technology company headquarters. Indeed, it is the newest phase in the area’s development: fine dining.

Music Production to Food
Eggplant the parent company is actually in the music production business, producing sound for the television, advertising and gaming industries. Eggplant is a top-notch lounge and restaurant. Rather than playing up the old wooden floors, support beams, and exposed brick in the style of most converted warehouse spaces, Eggplant remembers its own roots. The folks at “EP” have decided to dress the restaurant up a bit, with black tiled floors and white wall panels.

Traditional with a Twist
Eggplant features cuisine heavily indebted to French traditional cooking, modernized and spiced up with twists from the Southern Hemisphere. With two floors to choose from, the menu changes slightly depending on the atmosphere you’ve decided on. In the lounge area, the menu is smaller, featuring more manageable items like high end chicken wings. The main dining room, with its sleek wooden tables and high backed chairs, might feature items like lobster and hand made ravioli with accents of truffle and saffron. Nonetheless, the menu changes weekly.
Unlike West Queen West, which is hemorrhaging development and gentrification, the east end has removed itself from the radar and remained an area of play where a different breed of mover and shaker is turning to. Amidst the furniture shops and galleries comes a new resto-bar, Eggplant.

REVIEW
If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Eggplant is a music production company for the television, advertising and the gaming communities (clients include Rogers, Ford and X-Box and currently have productions with NBC, BBC and PBS). After buying out the building, owners Rocco Gagliesse, Dave Conlon and Terry Tompkins decided they not only wanted to install a restaurant but a hub that will service the burgeoning King Street district - not just for the community but a destination for all things cool.

“There’s no real restaurant around here aside from the pubs, greasy spoons or a jazz bar up the street,” says Gagliese in his calm tone but looking like he’s ready for action. “I think this neighbourhood is starting to build up around here with all the condos being built and the ad agencies and production companies. We feel there are many people like ourselves in the neighbourhood that don’t have a place. We decided that we would build it and they will come.”

Eggplant is an open-concept, two-floor restaurant with high ceilings that gives hints of what is to come in the ‘hood. This resto has an über-slick design that embraces urban flair while sticking to simplicity. Both floors are black tiled with a combination of white wall space and exposed brick. Mod wooden chairs and tables line both floors, a comfortable banquette owns the dining room and hi-back wood stools gather at the bar. There’s also a stage on the main floor that will host planned performances - don’t be surprised if an impromptu music jam breaks out with some of the cities top players.

Executive Chef Christopher M. Stracker (Ultra Supper Club, Four Seasons) is at the helm providing a modern French menu with a Caribbean and Latin twist. The lounge area features a small menu with items such as mango-jerk seasoned chicken wings and the chorizo sausage and root vegetable chips served nacho style. The dining room boasts East Coast Lobster and white bean ravioli, braised New Zealand lamb shank, sticky spiced chicken breast and truffled red lentils with Yukon gold, and other fine dishes on a menu that changes on a weekly basis.

With the amount of creative energy and deal making that will be done here, Eggplant looks like it’s bound for success and this place has the potential of being one of Toronto’s hotspots. But with anything cool that opens, the lame and pretentious will be lured, risking a mild Drake-ification. Gagliese adds, “We don’t want to be anything specific, we just want to have a cool vibe. We want to attract a good portion of the music and art community as well as people who love food and a good time. We’re going to continue to fix it up but prevent having a snooty environment.” I’m all for that. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Source: John Britton at martiniboys.com