Foodies,
Last night board members Mike Grammer, Jay Shampur, myself and our friend Mike Grammer had a spectacular 7 course tasting menu at upscale Mexican restaurant Los Colibris. Head chef Elia Herrera and her sommelier/floor manager Marissa have a huge success on King Street West and are literally turning away people at the door months after opening, a great problem for a restaurant to have.
By far the single most successful tasting menu I have ever had, not only was every dish spectacular but to quote Mrs. Grammer and Wright, you know you’ve had an amazing menu when it’s actually impossible to pick out your favorite dish because of the overall awesomeness.
First off was a tangy and spicy Tamarind Mango Ceviche that cleverly used sour tamarind and mango to substitute for the traditional lemon and lime juice spiced up with Serrano peppers.
Next up was an upscaling of what is normally traditional Mexican peasant food, the empanada turnover. Filled with chicken and mushrooms and topped with crema and queso, the pastry was perfect on this.
Next was the tantalizing Camarones al Diablo, literally translated as The Devil’s Shrimp – large shrimp marinated in chipotle and topped with corn salsa and avocado on the side.
And finally for dessert, we had a Mexican Vanilla Flan topped with Cinnamon Galleta Crumble, Pomengranate and Translucent Granny Smith Slices, the secret of which I must discover how to do.
Is this not all drool worthy? I am resolved that we are taking every single Wine Berserker who ever visits Toronto to this restaurant. I cannot say enough about the amazing service and food.
Interestingly, as we were dining both the chef and the owner of the restaurant came out as the night was winding down and we were one of only three tables left. Sensing our experience in wine and food, they had a great frank discussion with us on the serious mistakes they made in opening other restaurants (some of which they admitted they still have not fully recovered from) and how they learned from all of them and made sure that the opening of Los Colibris would be fine-tuned so as not to repeat the same errors and have a successful launch. One thing they mentioned is that many people who open restaurants are successful chefs but not successful restauranteurs and there’s a difference, as the former tend to go under rather quickly. It’s not impossible to succeed without that restaurant experience first but certainly a lot harder.
Given the extreme amount of business they are doing, I’d say they’ve learned a great deal. The food is fantastic and very affordable for a downtown Toronto location in the heart of the theater district and service was pretty much impeccable. Highly recommended if you are ever visiting TO.
