Canada's food talent migrates west

Torontonians have long been flattered by the "New York of the North" conceit. Canada's largest city, after all, is also the country's business capital and, one could argue, its key cultural and entertainment hub.

So one might forgive a self-respecting Toronto foodie for recoiling at the news that two of Manhattan's legendary culinary stars, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud, are bypassing the Centre of the Universe to set up their first Canadian outposts thousands of miles away in, yes, Vancouver.

As reported in this newspaper last week, Mr. Vongerichten is negotiating a new restaurant in the Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver, scheduled to open early next year. Though nothing's been signed, the project is rumoured to be a high-end destination restaurant.

Mr. Vongerichten, who oversees 17 restaurants and has been dubbed a "superchef" by New York Times critic Frank Bruni, would follow in the clog steps of fellow French expatriate Mr. Boulud, best known for the Manhattan dining temple Daniel.

Last month, Mr. Boulud announced a partnership with David and Manjy Sidoo, owners of Lumière and Feenie's, two restaurants founded by the recently departed Rob Feenie. Under the plan, the New Yorker will take over both locations and rebrand the less formal Feenie's as DB Bistro Moderne Vancouver.

All of which, with due respect to Montreal, which has always excelled at French-based cuisine, would seem to raise the question: Has Vancouver trumped Toronto as Canada's culinary capital?

It depends on whom you ask, of course, but it seems to be getting easier to find an unqualified yes.

Chris Nuttall-Smith, a former food editor for Toronto Life magazine, says while he is continually excited by Toronto restaurants, new, creative chefs sometimes aren't drawing the crowds they deserve. As a former Vancouverite, he says patrons on the West Coast tend to be more adventurous and keen for avant-garde cuisine.

Much of the problem, he believes, has to do with "old money" Toronto wealth compared with the "new money" of Vancouver's predominantly young entrepreneurs in technology and real estate. "In Vancouver, it's not all tied up in corduroy curtains and starched shirts," he said. "People with money in Vancouver don't need to go to the guy who's been doing it for 20 years. It's a less conservative audience."

Indeed, among Vancouver's estimated 100 new openings in 2007, about 40 were fine-dining spots.