Richmond Station Serves Cultured Comfort Food on the Yonge Line

This bright, bustling, casually sophisticated space, with its circular streetside window and tube-and-tunnel motif helps fill a strangely food-barren stretch on the Yonge subway line, just north of the Financial District. Reclaimed lights from a rural schoolhouse dangle from high ceilings over bench and table seating in the long, narrow front room. Large black and white archival photos that document early subway construction adorn the white tile walls. At the back, an elevated and more intimate room offers chef’s rail seating and views into the busy kitchen.

Designed by Stacklab, the resto is the brainchild of Carl Heinrich, of Top Chef Canada fame, and Ryan Donovan, founding partner and head butcher at West Side Beef. The pair previously collaborated at meat-focused, locavore-obsessed Marben. Richmond Station features apps, mains and specials made with quality local ingredients for Bay Street worker bees and foodies from afar.

Technique and presentation are paramount in a sweet, refreshing and texturally complex salad of roasted beets, arugula, hazelnuts, and goat cheese in maple vinaigrette ($12), while the stewed Perth Pork wild boar ragu with homemade orecchiette, Monforte Dairy Toscana and tomatoes say cultured comfort food at its best ($24).

1 Richmond St W 647 748 1444 Mon-Fri 11:30-10:30, Sat 5-10:30 richmondstation.ca

Originally published in our Spring 2013 issue.