Service À La Carte
Drop by Sammarco, the swanky new Italian steakhouse from Rob Rossi and David Minicucci in downtown Toronto, and you will find not one but three custom bar carts on the prowl, peddling cocktails that run to $500, all showcasing ultra-premium ingredients served in Baccarat or Ralph Lauren crystal glassware and one unique add-on.
“Showmanship,” says Minicucci. “It’s a great way to kick-start conversation.”
Tableside cart service—like the fine-dining restaurants that spawned it—has been in retreat for decades. But there are notable and charming exceptions. Champagne carts, for example. In particular, Le Louis XV–Alain Ducasse at l’Hôtel de Paris in Monaco seems to have a designated gold chariot for everything from your bread and butter to the after-dinner tisanes. And anyone who has had the pleasure of drinking a Martini in the lobby bar of boutique hotel Dukes on St. James’s Place in London knows the enchanting ritual of its preparation tableside on their legendary trolley.
“We want to bring back cart service here [in Toronto] and put our own spin on it,” Minicucci says. In the original plan, that was going to include some tableside food preparation, but the space between tables proved inadequate to the mission. All the same, the drinks trolley program has proved so successful that it will soon be getting company. Yes, a cheese cart is coming soon.
—Photography: Rick O’Brien