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The Lost Land
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It’s hard to imagine anywhere you might feel less lost in Toronto than the downtown stretch of Yonge Street between Queen and King. Yet The Lost Land, a new farm-to-table restaurant in the exceedingly well-mapped heart of the Financial District, takes you off the beaten path, plunging you into an alternate culinary universe where the familiar feels – and tastes – a little otherworldly.
Entering The Lost Land from the non-stop urban frenzy of Yonge Street is a disorienting experience in the best way. Feeling “lost” amid a minimalist and surprisingly vast cavern whose industrial edges – exposed earthy brick and metal pipes – are softened and naturalized by warm wood, deep burgundy leather, and a verdant jungle of dangling plants, illuminated by candlelight, turns out to be quite a soothing experience.
The minimalism is less by design than it is a testament to owner Edison Xue’s priorities with this, his first-ever high-end restaurant. At 27, Xue has, rather incredibly, spent more than half of his life in the food industry. He got his start at the extremely tender age of 12 when, still a student, he managed to purchase a closed-down coffee shop in Koreatown with earnings from a part-time job. Since then, he’s barely slowed down – although he did take time out to earn a business degree.
Matching his youth is Xue’s ambition. It’s not enough that The Lost Land transforms the Financial District’s eating scene by offering thoughtful, innovative, sustainable and locally-sourced food and drink, both of which incorporate fresh, organic greens and herbs grown on the building’s rooftop garden-patio (with fabulous 360-degree views). Xue also aspires to earn one – or more – Michelin stars while doing so.
“Toronto is a new city and it’s still growing. Most of the Michelin restaurants here serve Japanese food, particularly omakase. But if you go to the United States, the New American cuisine receives Michelin stars.” says Xue, explaining that he wants to prove that he can replicate the phenomenon in Toronto, with a restaurant that serves impeccable New Canadian cuisine.
Hence the minimalist décor. In his dogged pursuit of stars, instead of accessorizing, Xue is focusing all his efforts – and financing – on the hiring of top-notch collaborators and the purchasing of top-shelf ingredients. Helming the kitchen are Chicago-based Larry Feldmeier, chef de cuisine at Oriole (two Michelin stars), and Cesar Karanapakorn, his former colleague and mentee, who also worked as a sous-chef at Chicago’s Alinea (three Michelin stars) before coming to Toronto where he was recently executive chef at the short-lived, but much-praised Judaline. Add general manager Shayne Herbert – who recently won the Michelin 2024 Award for Exceptional Cocktails – and the stars are literally aligned.
Although Karanapakorn’s own heritage – Mexican and Thai – has endowed him with a double whammy when it comes to culinary DNA, the hands-on chef is driven less by category cooking than by making “good food.” While both Mexican and East Asian influences may creep into his dishes, so do ingredients and inspirations suggested by members of his multicultural kitchen crew. Experimentation is his governing philosophy.
“To me it all comes down to flavour profiles,” says Karanapakorn. “Some chefs like to go by the book and follow a recipe and then do a couple of tweaks. I like to create. If there’s a whole list of things coming in for the season, what can we use? From there, I start mixing, matching flavours, experimenting. We might come up with a classical dish, but the flavours will be new. I’ll add something I’ve never added before and it just connects. And that’s exciting, more exciting than following the rules.”
At The Lost Land, ordering something as essentially simple as brioche and butter – served as a starter – can be like stepping into uncharted territory. Like all the restaurant’s bread, the brioche is baked in house. In addition to its fresh-from-the-oven fragrance and freshness, the loaf possesses a fresh-from-the-fields earthiness that marries satisfyingly with the creaminess of the pale yellow scoop of seasonal butter, infused with whatever happens to be around (in this case, chives, parsley and roasted garlic).
Equally simple and straightforward – although riotously colourful -- is the burrata, an impossibly luscious scoop of it, tantalizingly perched atop a small mountain of juicy, zesty red and yellow heirloom and cherry tomatoes. Adorned with crunchy walnuts and peppery arugula, the entire proceedings are generously drizzled in fragrant basil oil. Slices of springy home-baked sourdough on the side are essential for all the requisite sopping and soaking up of every last shred, drip, and morsel.
In addition to its homegrown rooftop produce, the kitchen works with local suppliers such as ClearWater Farm and Broadfork, a grower-led collective focused on seasonality, regenerative farming techniques and unique seed varieties, all of which maximize flavour and freshness. Both are lushly and lavishly showcased in The Lost Land Salad.
The lofty pile of crisp lettuces and kale glisten greenly thanks to a sweet-and-sour Asian-style dressing spiked with mirin, pomegranate juice and palm sugar. On top are paper-thin half moons of compressed apple and bright tiny suns that turn out to be tart golden kumquats. Ruby red pomegranate seeds, candied almonds, and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds add extra colour and textures. The whole exuberant ensemble is wonderfully refreshing.
Among the entrees, the butter poached halibut is another simple endeavor the results of which are anything but. The thick slab of gleaming white fish rests upon a plush bed of squash puree and sweet baby carrot chunks and is crowned with golden roasted potatoes, rich garlic confit and a tangle of microgreens. Upon arriving at your table, it’s anointed with a pale yellow, herb-flecked beurre blanc sauce that you could easily slurp down on its own. However, stave off your gluttony and scoop it into your mouth together with the fish, so tender that you might want to sob a little as you let it literally melt in your butter-lined mouth.
While pescatarians will rhapsodize about the halibut, carnivores will find their rapture in the lamb rack with mole sauce. On a purely visual level, the primal-looking rack is enough to activate your salivary glands. But take a big chewy bite of succulent, pink meat, wrapped in crackling skin and cooked to medium-rare perfection, and it’s all over. Except it’s not because, tapping into his Mexican roots, Karanapakorn has bathed the lamb in a rich mole, its velvety texture enhanced with crushed almonds. A piquant salsa macha, herb salad and pickled onions add unexpectedly spicy and acidic notes.
Working in tight synergy with Karanapakorn is bar manager Vitus Wight, whose drink menu’s thoughtful offerings play off, complement and enhance the food’s flavours. The wine and beer lists are still works in progress, but expect bold reds, relaxed whites and unusual brews such as palate-cleansing Kagua, a fragrant red beer from Japan brewed with herbs such as Sansho pepper and Yuzu,. When it comes to spirits, in keeping with the farm-to-table ethos, Wight is working with local distillers such as Dillons and Bear Face, whose products contribute to the sharp, structured flavours he seeks to present in his cocktails.
Channeling the Canadian wilderness, Bear Face’s whiskey possesses a woody, earthiness that makes it an ideal foundation for the Wolf, a fierce and spicy yuzu Thai basil smash that also features tart yuzu juice and simple syrup crowned with a creamy yet zesty goji berry and lemon egg white foam.
Dillon’s vodka, infused with black tea, lays a clear, clean foundation for A Black Heart, whose bright flavours and scarlet hue stem from the addition of an unusual triumvirate consisting of blueberry-thyme syrup, sherry and coconut water.
A non-alc iteration of the libation, the Medicine Bag, features the same prescriptive blueberry-thyme syrup and coconut water, but subs in sea buckthorn shrub and lemongrass tea. What you lose in alcohol content, you gain in fruitiness, herbaceousness and pleasant tartness.
The ultimate pick-me-up is The Devil’s Midnight Bourbon. Wight waxes lyrically about the inception of the drink “built on the idea of having an espresso, with a little shot of bourbon, at midnight, when you're working your shift, having a cigarette and trying to get back into the vibe of running any kind of restaurant.”
Based on a classic Buck, the Devil starts out modestly with a shot of bourbon, a shot of espresso, simple syrup, lime and ginger beer before taking a wildly unexpected turn with the addition of Fauxbaco bitters. The original recipe made use of actual tobacco bitters, but then Wight quit smoking and had to reconstruct the flavours sans tobacco. Although he eventually pulled off this tricky feat, it took a while to discover the perfect blend of 12 ingredients that got the smoky, leathery, spiciness just right, allowing him to tout it to curious customers as “a sexy ashtray.”
With or without wolves, black hearts, devils – and even Michelin stars – The Lost Land is a find amid Toronto’s bustling downtown core. For those in search not just of good food, but of “good food,” it’s a delicious place to get your culinary bearings.
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