It's not a gold Oscar statuette, though what Torino earns today from Free Press restaurant writer Sylvia Rector is almost as prestigious in its way -- and affects earnings, just as the Academy Awards do for film.
Chef and co-owner Garrett Lipar previously worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in New York, Chicago and Stockholm, Sweden.
She chooses the 48-seat Ferndale business on East Nine Mile as Restaurant of the Year because its young chef creates "a dining experience unlike any in metro Detroit."
Each week, 26-year-old chef Garrett Lipar develops an entirely new tasting menu of seven exquisite dishes, each one a small work of art and a seduction in flavor. . . .
Every plate, every night, is a study in texture, color, balance, flavor, detail and innovation. ... Even if you don’t consider yourself a so-called foodie, something about the small, jewel-like dishes heightens your senses.
Rector, who gave the site a four-star review last September, now gushes that "Torino . . . could hold its own anywhere in America."
Among readers who agree in posted comments is Rick Khouri of St. Clair Shores, who says: "I have been there twice. It is an amazing dining experience."
-- Alan Stamm
This example from the seven-dish tasting menu ($59) is a post-dinner course featuring buttermilk and sorrel ice cream, apple puree, maple-candied bacon, maple granola, bacon lardons and apples. (Facebook photo)
