C5 chef swap: Corbin Tomaszeski’s in, Ted Corrado’s out (or, rather, up)

The Royal Ontario Museum announced an interesting change of the guard today at C5, the continental fine dining restaurant perched atop of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Ted Corrado, who’s been the executive chef since the restaurant opened, has been promoted to regional executive chef at Compass Leisure, a subsidiary of the Compass Group, the national food-service company that runs C5 for the museum (we took a look inside Corrado’s fridge for our Crisper Confidential series in March). Replacing Corrado is Corbin Tomaszeski, of Restaurant Makeover and Dinner Party Wars fame, who also ran the kitchen at Holt Renfrew’s café. While Corrado’s menus have tended toward innovative dishes with the occasional molecular touch—one tasting menu started with butternut squash that had been cured, compressed and shaved, with a citrus tea syrup and crumbled caramelized cream—Tomaszeski is better known for less complicated fare. “My style is simple, but classic,” he said in a release. “I believe the best meals use everyday ingredients to create beautifully presented dishes that are uncomplicated, accessible and appealing to everyone.” Tomaszeski’s new menu at C5 includes truffled chips with fleur de sel, flatbreads with seasonal toppings and a lobster B.L.T. salad. He’ll also be responsible for the food at the Food Studio Café and C5’s catering service.
This must hurt! Sorry Teddy your food just wasn’t good enough.
I’m sorry Phil, you have no taste buds and I totally disagree with your assumptions.
We just discovered the amazing food at C5 this year and it won our hearts over. Chef Corrado is innovative and his food is always superb. I was looking forward to going to C5 tomorrow for brunch and was checking the menu out again to see what interesting dishes were on the menu only to discover sadly that something was wrong — it seemed basic and boring and I knew that there must have been a change.
We will miss you Chef Corrado and your unique and delicious creations. Not sure if we will venture back to C5 again.
We are looking forward to the change. My husband and I went for dinner just before the change and were not too thrilled with the experience. First of all the place was empty of patrons which was not a good sign. The food was pretty to look at but seriously overpriced for what was on the plate. The flavour was not there and we were joking about hitting the Danforth for a souvlaki, as we left the building.
My husband and I are both foodies and we don’t mind shelling out for a special dinner and a nice glass of wine. We have gone to many restaurants in the city that have been expensive and fantastic as well as reasonable and amazing. C5 was not one of these restaurants.
As member’s of The ROM, we are excited about the change and are looking forward trying out the new menu!
My husband & I have been to C5 several times – partaking of the tasting menu on more than one occasion, we never knew what we’d discover….There was always something unique and intriguing waitiing.
Teddy Corrado brought something we would not have found anywhere else. We may visit C5 again someday but today, I want to know when and where Chef Corrado will be creating again!!