“Opening a restaurant is like lifting a mammoth and trying to make him run!” says Daniel Boulud, who is about to make his debut on the Toronto dining scene. The famed chef — who has some 40-odd years in the industry tucked beneath his kitchen whites — is about to open a new Café Boulud in Yorkville’s upcoming Four Seasons Hotel.

Currently in the midst of construction work at the new hotel, Boulud plans to open a refined yet relaxed restaurant in the landmark building early in October.

As the renowned chef prepares to make is arrival on Toronto’s food scene, he says he has been inspired by the restaurants already here, comparing this country’s rapidly changing culinary landscape to that of Scandinavia in years past.

“I think it’s really the puberty of Canada,” he says. “I can already see the attention being paid to Canada — what’s happening with the cheese, the farmers, the chefs. There are so many unique ingredients that belong to the region and nowhere else.”

French by birth, Boulud has called New York City home for decades, opening his first restaurant, Daniel, back in 1993.

“I stayed in America,” he explains, “because I was a little disappointed by the possibilities of cooking in France.”

For Boulud, cooking has always been about the ingredients and the possibilities hidden within each one. While the French would turn up their noses at the more unusual cuts of meat, he feels Americans have always enjoyed approaching food from atypical vantage points.

“It’s kind of shameful,” he notes. “In France we’re so sophisticatedly trained. What’s beautiful in North America, today, is that there’s a lot of creativity.”

Having climbed his way up the ladder, Boulud is now an inspiration to chefs worldwide and has built a food empire that is now truly international. The Toronto restaurant will join 14 others in a Boulud family that includes locations in London, Singapore and Beijing, as well as a slew in America. Toronto has, until now, remained an untapped location. But that doesn’t mean he is unfamiliar with Canada’s biggest city.

“My first time in Toronto was when the [rebuilt] Windsor Arms opened [in 1999],” he explains. “There was a big charity dinner with [French chef] J. P. Challet. Every time I returned, my friends would tell me, ‘Daniel, you’ve got to open a restaurant in Toronto!’ ”

If all goes as planned, Café Boulud, named after his New York eatery, should open on Oct. 5. His skillful timing ensures his restaurant’s debut will come on the heels of another highly anticipated
addition from a celebrated Manhattan–based chef: David Chang’s Momofuku troika.

“I hope it doesn’t seem like we’re invading!” Boulud says. “We want to partner with the local chefs to keep the buzz in Toronto — it’s the chefs here that really make the city.”

Though his café is the third of its kind (the second incarnation sits in Miami), he insists that it won’t be a cookie-cutter copy. It will keep the urbanity of the N.Y.C. original, but with a Toronto twist.

Café Boulud will be reached by a staircase from its attached street-level bar. Called D-Bar, it will be a casual space for cocktails and light bites. Upstairs, in Café Boulud, large windows will offer diners views over Yorkville’s upmarket shopping streets below.

With a food philosophy that demands the embracing of local offerings, Boulud looks forward to exploring the bounty of Ontario, noting that the menu will be seasonally driven.

Meanwhile, the wine list, overseen by sommelier Drew Walker, will include Niagara picks in addition to the expected global choices.

“There’s definitely the soul of Café Boulud in the menu,” the chef explains. The four cornerstones to Boulud’s cuisine will certainly be in place: “We will still have the traditional, seasonal, vegetarian and ethnic elements.”

Though Boulud will oversee things at the café as much as possible, it’s B.C.’s Tyler Shedden who will be taking the reins in the kitchen, stepping up as chef de cuisine for his first prime-time gig.

Having earned his stripes over the past two years at Daniel — and before that at the Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the London in New York — Boulud notes that the hardworking Shedden was an obvious choice for the job.

Still familiarizing himself with the ins and outs of Hogtown’s food scene, the master chef is keen to continue uncovering the city’s eateries. Recently, a brief tour of some hot spots left him more than impressed.

“Nota Bene was very interesting. At Ursa, you can see the chef [Jacob Sharkey Pearce] has a background with a pedigree. Grand Electric was very casual, very fun. [The young chefs] do the best they can with the most they can afford, and it’s really beautiful to see.” Actinolite is next on his list.

Though Boulud’s restaurants have racked up a number of Michelin stars — including a whopping three for Daniel —Canada has yet to be recognized by the guide, though, undoubtedly, there are restaurants deserving of the honour. 

Boulud agrees: “If we can bring Michelin to Toronto, that would be a good thing. I don’t know if I can get any — but at least it would be good if they paid attention!”

For someone who has had such longevity in the culinary industry, Boulud maintains that he’s still witnessing the same commitment and dedication as he did back in the day. What has changed with the younger generation, however, is their freewheeling style.

“I enjoy the creativity from young chefs,” Boulud notes, “though I don’t always understand the structure of it. For me, I’m French — I often lay on a foundation that has a little more structure.”

Given the choice of cooking for regular folks or chefs, Boulud favours his peers. Reminiscing, he brings up a party he threw with New York’s finest chefs.

Dedicating the evening to fondue, eight chefs crammed into his kitchen filled with just as many pots. “You should have seen the scene.” He laughs. “It was the craziest thing! The apartment smelled like cheese for at least two weeks — but it was very cool.”

So, maybe fondue will be on the menu when Café Boulud throws open its doors.