TORONTO — Four Seasons Hotel will be relaunching Café Boulud as a French brasserie at the hotel’s flagship location in Toronto. The restaurant is set to close after brunch service on June 28, for renovations and will reopen in time for the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
As part of the changes, the restaurant will undergo a complete physical transformation, creating a space that is warm and comfortable, defined by a wraparound bar and intimate, low-banquette seating. Bringing some of the high-energy from D bar downstairs, the new Café Boulud is set to become a destination place for a meal with friends, a quick, easy business lunch or a casual bite at the bar.
“There is something strong yet simple about mid-century design that creates harmony in an interior. We wanted to build on this balance with Café Boulud, to design a space that displays a modernist playfulness yet feels comfortably current,” said designer Martin Brudnizki.
The new menu will focus on “the way my family gathered for a meal in Lyon,” says chef Daniel Boulud, whose Lynonnaise background influences the menu. “It will feature classic French dishes as well as a selection of unexpected items inspired by my curiosity and love for travel,” says Boulud. “There will be a real focus on generosity. We are really getting to the heart of the French culinary DNA.”
Menu items include French bistro classics such as Quenelles de Brochet, Handcut Tartares (seasoned tableside), Niçoise Salad and Escargots Persillade, as well as Boulud favourites such as Crispy Calamari and the Frenchie.
A new feature of the restaurant will be a gleaming rotisserie, like those found in France with meats and poultry turning slowly over open flames. The product is manufactured by Rotisol, the largest and oldest rotisserie factory in France and a top choice of many celebrity chefs.
Café Boulud will be helmed by chef de cuisine Sylvain Assié, one of Boulud’s protégés, who spent much of his youth in Montpellier.
“We want our guests to enjoy an atmosphere that is completely relaxed and comfortable. A place they can come to at any point in the day to meet, laugh, eat or drink amidst a lively environment,” says Dimitrios Zarikos, regional VP and GM at Four Seasons Hotel Toronto. “That’s what we are bringing to the new Café Boulud.”
