If you thought snagging a Friday night reservation at Prime Seafood Palace was already a tough one, we have some bad news: it’s about to become impossible.
Toronto’s Top Chef Canada Season 12 winner, Coulson Armstrong, just shared a “full circle” moment on Instagram — one that puts the popular steak and seafood restaurant in serious global company. Fresh off his win in December, Armstrong hosted a trio of international food superstars at his Queen West restaurant, and it says a lot about where Toronto is right now.
Yesterday, Armstrong shared a snapshot on Instagram from Prime Seafood Palace. Alongside him and his white-clad team were none other than Padma Lakshmi, the undisputed icon of the food TV world and Michael Cimarusti, the legendary chef-owner of three-Michelin-starred Providence in LA. Rounding out the lineup was Wylie Dufresne, the New York molecular gastronomy pioneer Armstrong says he “grew up respecting.”
Armstrong wasn’t just cooking; he and Dufresne also hit the neighbourhood for the ultimate chef’s night out. One Instagram slide showed the pair at Marvin Palomo’s Liliana, the hot new Queen West spot where the former Vela team is currently remixing Italian classics with Asian flavours.
The trio of Lakshmi, Cimarusti and Dufresne are currently the faces of CBS’s America’s Culinary Cup, which premiered earlier this month with a record-breaking $1 million grand prize. Armstrong’s caption —”cooking for @padmalakshmi @cimarustila was chill too!” —hints that while the judges were in town for the new series, a stop at Prime Seafood Palace was a non-negotiable part of the itinerary.
It’s been a whirlwind few months for Armstrong. Since clinching the Top Chef Canada title in December, he’s gone from Matheson’s technical right-hand man to a titan in his own right. Start refreshing that OpenTable page now if you want to snag your spot!
