SMITH (553 Church, at Dundonald, 416-926-2501, 553church.com) Complete brunches for $25 per person, including tax, tip and a $6 Caesar. Average main $10. Open Thursday 2 pm to 4 am, Friday noon to 4 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 4 am. Brunch Saturday, Sunday and Monday 10 am to 4 pm. Licensed. Access: nine steps at door, washrooms upstairs. Rating: NNN
Renda Abdo knows all about brunch.
You’d expect that of the owner of 7 West, the long-running café on Charles that’s been dishing up breakfast 24 hours a day for more than two decades. She’s also responsible for Wish, quite possibly the area’s most stylish midday weekend nosh. Smith on nearby Church – her latest – makes it three in a row.
And so to Smith for brunch, where they take 10 per cent off the bill if you show up on your bike. Suitably sweaty, we find the stately pile a mashup of Abdo’s other two restos, as if she’d taken the South Beach chic of Wish and crammed it into a three-storey Victorian.
Bypassing the breakfast bottle service – a 750 ml bottle of Cava and a pitcher of orange juice ($48) – we begin with mismatched mugs of organic fair trade coffee ($3) and a pair of what ex-Jamie Kennedy chef Taylor Quinn calls mint chocolate scones ($6). They’re closer to round brownies and more dessert than starter, but who complains about chocolate?
Quinn puts a health-conscious spin on a traditional frisée salad, here upgraded with barely wilted kale, crunchy quinoa, a toss of smoked almonds, a shaving of Grana Padano cheese and the requisite poached runny egg ($11). A grilled tomato dressed with fresh thyme ($3.50) makes the perfect side.
A wooden caddy holding a dozen bottles of commercial hot sauce ranging in heat from milquetoast to meltdown announces the arrival of Smith’s take on huevos rancheros ($13). Not that it needs them the chunky house-made salsa and guacamole that accompany them already pack a considerable punch.
The omelette du jour – today caramelized onion, leek, diced peameal and cheddar ($10, both with spicy baked hash browns) – comes with a wayward slice of brunch-garnish cantaloupe.
The kitchen only misfires with leaden, undercooked pineapple waffles finished with maple syrup, whipped cream and fresh strawberries ($11), something a crispy side of bacon ($4) can’t fix. Better to order another round of those fab mint chocolate scones instead.
stevend@nowtoronto.com
