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.
Stock, Trump International Hotel and Tower, 325 Bay Street, 416-637-5550, stockrestaurant.com
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