Best New Restaurants 2015: #12, Branca
Best New Restaurants 2015: #12, Branca
An Argentine restaurant is only as good as its meat. Some of the city’s finest is slow-roasted, braised and charred to perfection in a custom-designed cookhouse in the yard behind this Brockton Village spot. Chef Kanida Chey and his helpers begin each day chopping logs for a pit grill, over which they hang suckling pig, lamb leg, Mennonite chicken and fat-streaked accordions of ribs. It’s rustic gaucho fare, but the restaurant is refined, just two rows of marble tables, a small bar and the glow of the sun setting on the parkette across the street. As word has travelled, there seem to be more South American expats making it their go-to, chattering over long dinners, ecstatic over a taste of home.
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- Two-bite empanadas are stuffed with roast pork, duck fat confit potatoes and sultanas soaked in licoricey Fernet Branca (the restaurant’s namesake).
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- Chey tracked down an elusive Toronto supplier of wild-caught, incredibly sweet Argentine shrimp, which he pickles ceviche-style and plates prettily with cream, microgreens and peppery radish rounds.
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- A 12-ounce slab of Alaskan halibut comes with the bone in for extra flavour oomph and slathered with the house-made chimichurri.
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- Thick short ribs self-baste under a cap of smoky fat.
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- The well-aged, rosemary-scented skirt steak is grilled over a parrilla (that’s a coal barbecue).
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- Chef Chey experiments with the al asador method pioneered by Argentina’s roaming gauchos, and slow roasts chicken, beef, pork and lamb on stakes over a smoldering pit.
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- Whole suckling pigs are roasted in a fire-brick hut behind the restaurant.
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- Chey's desserts are traditional and unfussy. He prettifies an eggy flan with fresh raspberries and shards of honeycomb.
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- The restaurant occupies a converted semi that sits next door to a gas station. The only clue that Branca isn't someone's home is the pink neon sign in what used to be the living room. When it gets busy, which is most nights, it's like attending a well-dressed dinner party.
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- Chef Kanida Chey isn’t from Argentina (he grew up near the St. Lawrence Market) but he’s a savant in gastro mimicry.
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/best-new-restaurants-2015-branca/&title=Best New Restaurants 2015: #12, Branca&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/best-new-restaurants-2015-branca.jpg&description=By Mark Pupo | Photography by Dave Gillespie
An Argentine restaurant is only as good as its meat. Some of the city’s finest is slow-roasted, braised and charred to perfection in a custom-designed cookhouse in the yard behind this Brockton Village spot. Chef Kanida Chey and his helpers begin each day chopping logs for a pit grill, over which they hang suckling pig, lamb leg, Mennonite chicken and fat-streaked accordions of ribs. It’s rustic gaucho fare, but the restaurant is refined, just two rows of marble tables, a small bar and the glow of the sun setting on the parkette across the street. As word has travelled, there seem to be more South American expats making it their go-to, chattering over long dinners, ecstatic over a taste of home.
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West: 53
East: 3
New York: 3,231
Chicago: 985
San Francisco: 532
Toronto: 58
keep it up. darren. it’s fascinating to see TL live up to their rep. i’m sure the top 10 will have plenty from the east.