Over the past few years King West’s hip strip has morphed into a yuppie condo-land Nirvana with restaurants and bars popping up like dandelions. Brassaii has been a local King West restaurant favourite for some time, offering well-heeled guests an architectural heritage integrated with modern trends of progressive, SOHO-inspired design innovations.
The restaurant is best known for its epic weekend Brassaii brunch which features finger-licking-good calorie clogging items such as sweet Oreo Pancakes and pulled short rib topped Waffle Benedict. Come September the sidewalk out front fills with celeb stalkers who wait for hours in hopes of catching a glimpse of A-listers. During the Toronto International Film Festival Brassaii transforms into the Hollywood Reporter Lounge. Top talent are interviewed about their buzz-worthy films and then enjoy LA-centric dinning with such requests as a vegan salad (Michelle Rodriguez), grilled chicken salad with avocado (Jennifer Garner) and a vegan Mediterranean platter (Natalie Portman).
Chef Marcus Monteiro’s culinary skills are best appreciated as a meat and cheese-filled bacchanal. I sat down with Chef Monteiro shortly after the holidays and wasn’t surprised when he mentioned the restaurant was wildly busy over Christmas and New Years, so much so that they sold out of all of their in-house aged meat.
As Brassaii’s new choir of well-marbled steaks readies for ripening, flip the finger to your winter woes and enjoy a post-work sip and nibble featuring a parade of craft cocktails, goat cheese adorned Forager’s Toast, pickled honey mushroom topped Beef Tartare, corn and parmigiano muddled risotto and deep fried full-rack of Moroccan Crispy Ribs doused in mint chutney (say that 10 times fast then drool).
Fifty Shades of Grape | grey goose vodka, st. germain, lime juice, concord grape, wine float
Forager’s Toast | toasted brioche, goat’s butter, crumbled goat’s cheese, foraged mushrooms, fresh thyme, black truffle, white truffle oil
Beef Tartare | tenderloin, egg three ways, truffle, pickled honey mushrooms, aged cheddar, capers
The Artuso | cava infused risotto, grilled corn, parmigiano-reggiano
Crispy Ribs | full-rack, moroccan glaze, mint chutney
Honey Cotton Cheesecake | asian pear carpaccio with ginger honey mead sorbet
