Last week, the Trump International Tower’s much-anticipated flagship restaurant Stock opened its doors, and you’d better believe it’s as flashy as we predicted it would be back in December. Part of the “Talon Luxury Collection” (which also includes Quartz Crystal Spa and Suits Lobby Lounge), Stock is owned by Inna and Val Levitan of Talon International, the developers behind the Trump. We stopped by to check it out.
Inna Levitan headed up the luxury aesthetic and concept throughout the tower. Inside the restaurant, she included dramatic 24-foot ceilings, set off by heavy velvet drapes. On the large feature wall is a white, handmade art piece carved from plaster and crystal with amethyst-coloured highlights. Tufted banquettes in the bar and dining room evoke the plush Las Vegas glam of restaurants like, say, Joel Robuchon at the Mansion. Starting in April, Stock will also offer something totally new in the city: al fresco dining on a balcony 31 floors above the financial district.
At the head of Stock’s all-star culinary team is executive chef Todd Clarmo, who’s coming from a 15-year stint with Oliver and Bonacini, and had a hand in opening restaurants like Canoe, the Café Grill outposts and Biff’s. In the kitchen are chef de cuisine Paul Benallick(Auberge du Pommier, Chef’s House at George Brown), executive sous-chef Paul Hoag (Canoe) and sous-chef Tommy McHugh (Spoke Club, Nota Bene). The seafood-meets-steakhouse menu sticks to Mediterranean-European cooking, with starters like blue crab and avocado guacamole ($20) and burrata with fire-roasted sweet peppers ($19), and mains like braised rabbit and potato gnocchi ($34) and beef short ribs ($34). Naturally, there’s a healthy selection of pricey steaks, like a 32-ounce bone-in ribeye ($98) and a 10-ounce wagyu striploin ($110). For dessert, there’s the chocolate cart designed by pastry chef David Chow (Drake Hotel), which features intricate creations made from Valrhona Grand Cru, all constructed by hand in Stock’s humidity- and temperature-controlled chocolate lab (no, not that kind). And of course, what power lunch would be complete without bottle from a master sommelier–run wine program? Stock has engaged John Szabo, Canada’s first master sommelier, for the task—which means that high rollers can rest assured they’ll find some rare, expensive bottles stashed away in the bar’s 1,000-bottle wine wall, which, incidentally, is designed to match the outline of the skyscrapers outside.
Blue crab and avocado guacamole with spiced lavash crisps ($20)
117555
(Image: Gizelle Lau)
Chocolate cart: selection of custom bars, barks, bonbons, caramels, candies, marshmallows and toffees to eat in or to go ($3 per truffle or $10 per 50g)
Chocolate cart: selection of custom bars, barks, bonbons, caramels, candies, marshmallows and toffees to eat in or to go ($3 per truffle or $10 per 50g)
117554
(Image: Gizelle Lau)
Hoping to broker a little power? Why not do it at the bar, on the 31st floor?
$20 for guacomale… hhmmm…dont you think you arepaying for the trump name ? So interested to know if anyone ate there and their review as I would never support Donald Trump if you offered me free food!
Food is fantastic, service by Graham as good as it gets, and room is just beautiful. It will be a nice change from One.
Chad- Its the high rollers tables, of course name but when you run a team of seasoned professionals labour isn’t cheap.
Let me close a few more deals and maybe have dinner here later this year.
Yeah but com eon…$110 for the wagyu is not bad… i paid $156 for really bad Kobe in Dubai…labor cost is not my concern as a diner, you open a high end restaurant, you deal with it. You want to pass on all costs to the diners at ridiculous costs, then go away!
Net worth under 6 figures?…Ki, Bymark and S/o/T are down the street.
Pontiff- are you headed down the road ? Or did you mean income versus net worth..whats a 6 figure net worth, nothing. Use some common sense and Chad has a point. Le Soiciete is another example – I went to Chiado and paid over $900 for dinner for 2 justified. Not paying that for Trump or any of these places who underpay the poor workers! No way!
Chad, you say that labour cost isn’t your concern as a diner. Labour and all costs need to be passed onto the diner-that is how they make money.
Have you been following the boards that suggest that tips should be folded into the cost as well?
How much do you expect to pay anyway?
My escort always blushes when I take her to Stock, because half way through dinner I’m all like “Hey baby, I think my stock is rising.” Ba chika ba-wow
When you pay $900 for a meal for two at Les Ambassadeurs, in the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, you have a memorable evening that is impossible to get anywhere in Toronto. All you get here for that much money is more expensive wine.
BG011, you made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. Thanks. Guys like you put the “D” in Douchebag.
You couldn’t pay me to do anything that is associated with the Trump name. That family is disgusting. He and his children are wannabes just like every fool who runs out to spend $110 on a steak. Wow you’re a great human being because you’ve made lots of money! Congrats. How do you people live with yourselves when so many go without you’ve convinced yourself that somehow it’s okay to pay $110 for a piece of animal flesh. You serving the innocent elephants your son kills? You all make me sick.
It’s a step up from Texarcana when you can’t get a table at Dorsia.
Hooters offers better food, bigger cups and keeps the hookers out on the street.
Stock is for Toronto’s underclass. Unable to make intelligent decisions on dining nor on accomodation they llisten then follow those who shout the loudest. Yes there is a timid herd of underlings in this city primed to be taken advantage of by the Trump shysters.