James Chatto, Toronto Life’s gourmand-about-town for the past decade, has seen – and tasted – it all. His book is at once memoir and narrative history of the rise and rise of Toronto’s restaurant scene. Chatto has wined and dined with everyone who has made a mark in the culinary demimonde including: Robert Morley, godfather to Chatto and restaurant reviewer for Playboy; steakhouse czar Harry Barberian; showman Honest Ed Mirvish; restaurateurs Michael Carlevale and Franco Prevedello; chefs Didier Leroy, Jamie Kennedy, Susur Lee, and Michael Stadtlander; and Toronto Life’s late great food editor, Joseph Hoare, to name a few.

Chatto charts the evolution of dining out from Hogtown’s steak-and-potato start to its Cal-Ital conversion and, in the 1990s, its fascination with fusion (a blending of different cultures’ cooking techniques and ingredients that Chatto points out has been going on in North America since the first Thanksgiving feast). Restaurants, and the food they served, were signposts of Toronto’s transition from WASPy conservatism to cosmopolitan multiculturalism. Given the embarrassment of riches on the city’s dining scene today, it’s hard to believe that not so long ago few folks dined out, and when they did, their choices were limited to Ponderosa or Captain John’s seafood. As Toronto has matured, so too has its palate, largely owing to an influx of immigrants with fresh ideas and ingredients.

Chatto’s interviews with scene-setters are interwoven with short diversions that explore his experiences as a reviewer (those curious about how a reviewer maintains his anonymity will wonder no more). Chatto, who polished off his first Toronto meal in 1977 at no less a venue than Ed’s Seafood, has written an account that is free of posturing and pretense: he is equally at ease writing about the menu at Winston’s or McDonald’s. He captures the character of an establishment, the confluence of owner, chef, staff, and diners that makes a venue sparkle or crumble. In this ephemeral world, where kitchen empires rise and fall, the stars of the culinary firmament keep coming back for second – and third – helpings.