Name: Cactus Club Café
Contact: 77 Adelaide St. W., 647-748-2025, cactusclubcafe.com, @cactusclubcafe
Neighbourhood: Financial District
Chef: Rob Feenie
Founder: Richard Jaffray
The food: Iron Chef Feenie’s globally inspired “creative fine dining” menu uses fresh, local and sustainable ingredients (all fish is Ocean Wise–approved), and includes Cactus Club classics like tuna tataki and the Feenie Burger. The Toronto flagship also has eight dishes unique to the location including the lingcod cocotte, duck confit and Feenie’s Beef Duo (a tag team of tenderloin and double-braised short ribs.)
Seared albacore tuna with a papaya slaw, pine nuts, yuzu vinaigrette and micro cilantro. $15.50.
Another Feenie classic: ravioli filled with butternut squash and mascarpone, topped with jumbo prawns, truffle butter, pine nuts and crispy sage. $25.75.
Line-caught lingcod with roasted mushrooms, brioche croutons, pearl onions and truffle butter. $33.
Duck confit with braised lentils, double-smoked bacon, baby frisée salad and a soy-truffle vinaigrette. $26 (add another duck leg for an extra $9).
Feenie’s Beef Duo: roasted beef tenderloin and braised short ribs, served with potato pavé, celeriac purée and port wine jus. $44.
Key lime pie made with fresh-squeezed key limes, a graham cracker crust and whipped cream. $8.25.
Chocolate-caramel mousse: chocolate mousse, sponge toffee and caramel foam. $9 for three.
The drinks: Wine’s the thing here. Sommelier Sebastien Le Goff has put together a list that features Canadian wines (many of them from B.C., of course) mixed with Old and New World bottles. An impressive selection of reserve wine is available by the glass thanks to an Enomatic system.
The space: The chain’s 28th location boasts 500 seats and three different dining concepts, spread across 15,200-square-feet: Kate’s Bar (ground floor), the Rob Feenie Dining Room and Lounge (second floor), and the Deck (the rooftop patio with a fully retractable roof). Art lovers take note: Jaffray’s collection of original pieces on display includes work by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mr. Brainwash.
This is Kate’s Bar on the ground floor.
And that’s why it’s called Kate’s Bar. (Those are Mr. Brainwash originals.)
The second floor dining room. Those paintings to the left? Just a few Andy Warhols. No biggie. To the right: Graham Gillmore.
The Deck, Cactus Club Café‘s all-season rooftop bar.
Chef Rob Feenie.
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