Owner Jody Ness knows what it means to give customers excellent quality and service. A former Montrealer, he took over Wildfire Steakhouse and Wine Bar in August 2002, and immediately reduced the menu prices, while increasing the focus on guest satisfaction. "We believe in giving a fair price for incredible value," says Jody.

Located in Lawrence Park, Wildfire is beautifully designed and the colourful interior is cheery, romantic and elegant. The spacious tables with comfy seating are set far apart from each other on the cherry wood floors.

You won't find any frozen foods coming through these kitchen doors. Chef Dave Wheatley makes everything from scratch from only the freshest of ingredients. In summer, herbs grow on the restaurant's rooftop.

The menu offers something for everyone, and the generous portions are served on oversized plates and platters. If you like surprises you might try the Wildfire Appetizer Platter ($13.95 per person), which is re-invented each day. Ours included mussels marinara, grilled calamari with salsa verde, zucchini stuffed with mushroom duxelles, popcorn shrimp, and tender melt-in-your-mouth filet mignon on skewers. At other times you may also find goodies like stuffed peppers, chicken drumettes, or steak tartare as part of the chef's daily creation.

Vegetarians will appreciate the pastas, especially the handmade Ricotta Gnocchi with wild mushrooms, truffle oil, wilted spinach and roasted garlic ($18.75). Each little heavenly dumpling is golden and crunchy on the outside, and tender on the inside. Served with slivers of shaved Parmesan and soft silky spinach, we ooed and aahed after every bite.

Wildfire is known for its Churrasco - a method of barbequing with hardwood charcoal at a very high temperature. This is how they cook many of their fine dishes like Piri Piri Chicken, Back Ribs, Australian Lamb, and of course, the incredible steaks.

The restaurant uses only Sterling Silver certified premium beef, a consistently high quality product from Alberta. Seasoned with house-blended steak spices and cooked over hot coals, the steak is finished with a herb-infused oil and delivered to the table with a mound of dreamy garlic studded Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and vegetables. The juicy and flavourful New York Striploin ($28.95), Filet Mignon ($32.95), Rib Steak ($39.95) or T-Bone ($39.95) will make a steak lover out of anyone.

An educated and trained sommelier can really augment your food experience from before dinner drinks, to the wines throughout the dinner, to after dinner drinks as well. Sommelier Richard Larcombe will show up to your table after you have placed your food order to help you match up the right wines for your meal.

"It's important to build trust with our customers, which enables me to educate them to experience new wines on their next visit that they would not have otherwise tried," says Richard as he shows us his hand crafted wine lists that he has designed and constructed from beautiful paper and wood. The restaurant stocks about 3000 bottles of wine, many of them fine Canadian vintages.

Your delicious dinner can be topped off with homemade Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie ($6.95) made with sweet shortbread-like pastry, cool lemon filling and downy clouds of meringue. The Double Chocolate Crepe ($6.95) filled with caramelized bananas and served with vanilla gelato, will have you whistling to yourself for the rest of the week.

Jody attributes the restaurant's success to "fresh food ingredients, great ambience, and amazing clientele. We give a lot of ourselves and we get an enormous amount of energy back. Our goal everyday is to see our guests have an outstanding experience with us."

 

Wildfire Steakhouse & Wine Bar
3438 Yonge St., Toronto
Phone: 416.483.4800
www.toronto.com/wildfire

Lunch: Monday to Friday 11:30 to 2:30
Dinner: Monday to Saturday from 5pm
Reservations recommended

• Sunday Private Functions
• Private Room Available
• Take Out
• Delivery (Restaurants On The Go)
• Catering