Bar Prima in Toronto takes the number seven spot on the Top 10 list of Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants 2024.
Bar Prima
Toronto, ON
7 7
Prestigious Partners
Cocooned in the bend of a banquette, I feel like I’ve slipped into a genie’s lamp. In sleek jacketed uniforms complete with bow ties and enamel lapel pins, servers glide across a room that glimmers in gold. Above, the gilded ceiling gleams as if it’s been shined a few times. The centrepiece, a black marble bar, glints with amber light cast by antique sconces. The mood is moody. The polish is without pretense.
Barman Andrew Cipollone pours out an Uncut Gem, one of six signature cocktails on rotation, featuring Tito’s, chartreuse, Carpano bitters, bergamot and pomegranate.
Those who know chefs Craig Harding and Julian D’Ippolito know about the 100-layer lasagna, the famous signature dish at La Palma, where the pair first came together before opening Constantine and this new nostalgic spot. With these two, the magic is in the invisible details. Take the Old-meets-New World Italian menu. At a glance, it’s short on words. But the brevity is by design. It’s meant to encourage conversation with the restaurant’s attentive servers.
Chatting with our server reveals there’s cleverness afoot, devised by executive chef D’Ippolito and chef de cuisine Nicholas Iaboni. The Rockefeller is made with broiled scallops, not oysters. The clam toast lolls in a saffron-tinged and deeply briny clam sauce seasoned with chili paste, butter and lots of fresh herbs so the bread softens and the broth thickens. The pea and asparagus primavera is made gutsier with agliata verde, the creamy and cheesy precursor to pesto.
Bar Prima’s primo team: culinary director Craig Harding, chef de cuisine Nicholas Iaboni and executive chef Julian D’Ippolito.
Line cook Keshendran Seran (left) and agnolotti doppio cut to measure (right).
A primo trio: Beef tartare, triangoli primavera and classic Negroni, complete with a P-engraved ice cube.
Holding down the front of house: barman Cade Wykes and head host Jayde Matis.
For dessert, we settle on the gianduja tartufo, a chocolate-enrobed dome of barely solid semifreddo. It’s utterly ethereal and completely divine. Who could wish for anything more?
The world is your scallop, not oyster, with Bar Prima’s béchamel, lemon gremolata and crispy prosciutto riff on oysters Rockefeller.
Finish dinner on a decadent note with the gianduja tartufo, a semifreddo filled with white chocolate cremeux.
Don’t miss: Vintage details like the clock lamps bookending the bar, or antique cigarette cases (from Harding’s personal collection) that hold the night’s bill.
Prestigious Partners
