Canada: Best Locavore Experience Near Toronto

Michael Stadtländer, Chef

One of Canada's most maddeningly elusive chefs just got a little more accessible. Star chef Michael Stadtländer left Toronto in 1993 and moved to Eigensinn Farm, two hours outside the city, where he made dinner twice a week for just a dozen diners a night. But it's easier to get a place at the table now that he's opened Haisai, a 28-seat restaurant and bakery down the road.

Stadtländer's daily set menu is an ode to self-sufficiency. It might include red-wattles ham from a beast more boar than pig; he raises the animal, butchers the meat, then cold-smokes it for six months and air-dries it for five more. Stadtländer designed and built much of the solar-powered restaurant himself.

With the help of his sous chefs, he made the tables and chairs from local wood and hand-tossed all the pottery using local clay. "I'm at the point where I know who I am, and I'm happy with it," he says; pilgrims come for a chance to share his vision.

More Star-Chef Openings

Ame
Known for high-style Asian food, Toronto brothers Guy and Michael Rubino are now cooking incredible robata- grill dishes like pork belly tonkatsu.

Gilead Café + Bistro
This revamped Toronto bistro is the only place to find chef Jamie Kennedy behind the stove, creating French comfort food like scallop gratin.

Origin
Known for his haute Colborne Lane in Toronto, Claudio Aprile goes more casual at this brand-new place serving Asian- influenced dishes like a Thai beef salad.

Cabane à Sucre
Martin Picard of Au Pied de Cochon reinterprets maple-sugar-shack cuisine at this year-old spot near Montreal. Open March to May.

 Plus: The Best Places to Eat in Vancouver

More Canadian Travel Experiences:

• Best Outdoor Trips from Fishing to Biking
• Ontario: Chef Prodigy
• Toronto: Best Locavore Experience
• Montreal: Best Spice Shop
• Montreal: Best Wine List
• Vancouver: Best New Bar

Published May 2010