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Convivium Dining Community
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It’s one thing to open a restaurant. It’s another thing entirely to take over a 160-year-old building, meticulously restore its every corner, and open it as a restaurant, event space and community hub. Breathing new life into Yonge and King’s historic Tin & Copper Smith Building, Convivium Dining Community is an ambitious, sleekly sophisticated project that’s a tasteful combination of modernity and tradition.
Maxim Popov isn’t a serial restaurateur. He is, however, passionate about the hospitality business, about food, history and community building. Though the plan to open a restaurant always hovered in the haze of his future, it became a more immediate project upon his arrival to Canada less than two years ago.
“I thought I’d open a restaurant on my retirement. But due to these complex circumstances, my retirement came early,” he laughs. “When I saw this building, I fell in love. Immediately, I saw the final picture.”
Spread across three floors (with a fourth in the works), Convivium comprises a restaurant and cozy covered patio, a series of private dining rooms, for six to 25 guests, and an event venue that can accommodate 150. Designed through a European lens, the space is stylish but never extreme. Trim and chic, it’s almost austere compared to some of the city’s more garish destinations. Set against exposed brick and wood beams, custom textiles, historic photos and comfortable furnishings line every room. Discovering each, one can imagine blissful couples melting into candlelit corners while animated revellers capitalize on their mirth overhead.
“Why Convivium?,” says Popov. “It’s Latin, and has multiple meanings: celebration, feast, sharing food with close ones, conversation while eating, good food and wine.” In short, it’s a term that tidily depicts every one of the building’s admirable purposes.
Guided by a warm welcome, diners swiftly succumb to Convivium’s convivial mood. Then, there’s the comprehensive list of cocktails, which runs from old favourites to seasonal signatures built with premium spirits, house infusions and syrups. For guests with singular appetites, customizable tableside G&Ts offer a wholly unique experience.
In executive chef Oxana Glazkova, Popov has found a kindred spirit. “We have the same vision about the cuisine. It’s a fusion,” he explains. “It’s mostly based on European cuisine — Italian, French, Greek — with some North American touches. We spent many months making the menu. Only the best of the best made it.”
Seemingly simple, dishes here shine thanks to top-quality ingredients and complicated techniques. “These are not simple dishes,” says Popov. “They’re like an iceberg. You only see the shiny top but underneath it takes a huge amount of work to provide a ‘simple’ dish.”
Take, for example, chef’s Black Angus Tartare which is served, not with toast points or crostini, but with 10-hour confit potatoes precisely arranged into a savoury, crisp, edible golden cube. As for the condiments? They’ve been upgraded with the punchy depth of black caviar, and the bold, contemporary notes of zesty chili aioli.
Enriched with Port and chardonnay, beef broth and sweet Spanish onions are coaxed into liquid comfort. A textbook version of French Onion Soup, it’s topped with caramelized Gruyère melted onto oversized baguette rafts.
Stirred together with a jumble of herbs, citrus and chili pepper, multicoloured morsels of branzino, mango, cucumber and onion gird a sweet and tangy passionfruit coulis for a vibrant, fresh ceviche starter.
A menu of mains reads like a Euro hit list; from risotto and duck confit, to tender, Med-inspired grilled octopus set atop red pepper mousse and sea bass napped with sultry beurre blanc.
Still, inspiration for some dishes comes from much closer to home. Take, for example, San Francisco-style Cioppino Seafood Stew. Tangy and fragrant, it’s crowded with mussels, shrimp, and scallops, a single grilled lobster tail draped alluringly at its centre.
Served with parsnip purée and al dente veg, New York Striploin also counts caramelized onion demi-glace and whipped herb butter among its tempting list of accessories.
A project that aims to protect the past as it brings people together, Convivium Dining Community has also provided its owner with a way to give back. “I love this town,” reflects. Popov. “This whole project for me, it’s my contribution to my new home.”
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