$50 Prix Fixe Suggestions?

[bluedog]

My wife is planning a Christmas Dinner for her office and wants to spend about $100/head, all in, in a nice memorable venue. There will be six of us, and she wants to find a place with a prix fixe of about $50 to account for drinks etc.

The problem she's having is that she can find places with a prix fixe of $25-$30, or $90-$120 (more like tasting menus), but almost nothing in between. The lower price places aren't nice enough (she says) and the higher price places are out of her price range.

I've already tried Crush, which will do a prix fixe of $50 for a large group, but not for smaller groups (who are classified as casual diners).

So any suggestions?

There seems to be a weird gap in available prix fixe that is filled only by the CN Tower, which is where she'll be headed if she can't find what she needs. At least its a memorable venue.

If not $50 prix fixe suggestions, any comments on where the CN Tower is at these days with regard to food? I have had both good and not so good experiences there.

[cynalan]

I've booked a group at Nota Bene. Really looking forward to it given the very positive reviews on this board. They have prix fixe party menus at a number of different costs points from $48 pp up.

[bluedog]

Juts called and Nota Bene requires that their party room be booked for the party menus, with a $2000 minimum. My wife's budget is $600 assuming six people.

I'm beginning to suspect there is no choice but the CN Tower, given the budget and the criteria. Ah well.

[pinstripeprincess]

i hate these types of situations so hopefully this'll help.

i remembered this thread and someone mentioning chiado will do a several course tasting menu for $50. i don't know what the exact details are and of course you'll want to call to get specifics but it sounds like it could be right up your alley, no # of ppl requirements hopefully. the service is lovely and while the space doesn't have a view it certainly is upscale. you might get a bit nicked on the wines but they're tasty!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5654...

otherwise, if you don't have a limitation on day (ie tuesday or wednesday), have you considered approaching a chef you trust and frequent? when i was given a bison heart and tongue i started emailing a chef whom i knew would know how to handle it for recipes and in the end just asked him to cook up a meal for us. i knew that he wasn't always rammed with business all the time but we went on a slow day anyway and let him take the reigns. we ended up with a 5 course meal for 6 ppl where my ingredients were just minor players to the big show but we were stuffed, offered seconds and paid about half your budget. in that context, it was among one of the best meals i've had all year (comparable to a kaiseki in kyoto within the context). i unfortunately can't direct you to this chef yet as i'm not sure what his current kitchen circumstances are but it doesn't hurt to ask if you layout your needs in advance. i really thought that evening i'd have a course of heart and then a course of tongue and then be left to my devices, i was happily wrong.

[bluedog]

Chiado is a tapas menu in the bar, I already found it :).

But the in-your-home chef idea is a good one. If you have any suggestions, e-mail me (haven;t we exchanged e-mails before?), otherwise I'll just start googling. Let me know if you need my address.

[pinstripeprincess]

tapas or bar menu not so good? their "bar" area is actually still part of the full fledged restaurant just a bit more casual. it still is formal though more contemporary in decor is all.

i don't believe we've exchanged emails, mine is in my profile. i actually had my meal in the restaurant and so we got full service that way without having to be concerned with catering staff. with in house you might save a pretty penny one wines though!

[bluedog]

I'll e-mail you...must have been someone else....and I'm not the one determining criteria, my wife is, and she has a very particular (and possibly non-existent) idea of that this is supposed to look like! But as they say, the heart wants what it wants :)

[JamieK]

I think Reds is a pretty good bet as per Rabbit's suggestion, although you may need to add another couple to your group, I'm sure there's plenty of volunteers. ;->

By the way, Batifole offers a $35 prix fixe. Athought it may not meet everyone's expectation of a holiday dinner, it would be memorable. -
http://www.batifole.ca/portail/pages....

-----
Batifole
744 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON M4M1Y3, CA

Reds
77 Adelaide W, Toronto, ON M5H1P9, CA

[bluedog]

Thanks JamieK. As its a company Xmas party, she is turning down volunteers!

She's not a fan of Batifole (I am), but we'll give Reds a call. I suspect the 20+ number is going to be pretty common if prix fixe are offered for groups only: restaurants are businesses after all and they need the numbers to make it worth their while.

I guess what I'm really interested in is decent place that offers a nicer prix fixe than the usual steak frites/salmon combos: between a prix fixe and a tasting menu.

[bluedog]

Reds website is clear: minimum of 8 people in their smallest private room. Like I said below, CN Tower here we come (I'm one of the six).

[Rabbit]

Reds has a dinner prix fixe menus for groups starting at $50 -
http://www.redsbistro.com/functions/i...
(note the menus at the bottom of functions page

)

I don't know what counts as a "group" but this might be a suitable option. The food and service are very good and it is an elegant room.

[Guzzler]

Try
http://www.marcels.com/Marcels/planni...

I think you need to call for the price.

[bluedog]

Thanks, I called....the menus are only for groups of 20 or more, similar to Crush, so thanks but no cigar.