Roosevelt Room Launches With Old Hollywood Glamour and Roaring Twenties-Style Cocktails

Well, they promised a 1920s Hollywood ambience at the media preview of the Roosevelt Room (2 Drummond Place, near Adelaide & Peter, 416-599-9000), and they delivered. They had faux paparazzi, a red carpet and projections of the 1927 film Sunrise, which won a couple of Oscars at the very first Academy Awards (about which, more later). And as you see, they also had nightclub performers.

It was much more a fashion crowd than a food crowd, dressed to the nines amidst the Art Deco fittings. Natalie Lecomte of Holt Renfrew was there, and so were fashion bloggers Danielle Meder and Anita Clarke. Designer Evan Biddell was on hand, looking stylish in a great big plaid shirt. I also ran into Paul Aguirre and Dani Ng-See-Quan of Rive Gauche Media, stylist Carolee Custus of FAZE magazine, Chocolate Festival producer Joey Cee and delightful fashion promoters Gail McInnes and Michelle Reagan (she of the infectious smile).

I had a quick chat with executive chef Trevor Wilkinson (Trevor Kitchen & Bar), who was apparently inspired by the menu from the first-ever Academy Awards dinner, held at Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel in 1929. He says the menu will be "classically French: duck confit, steak frites... in my own interpretation." Dinner mains are in the $30 to $40 range, and the house will feature a signature "Roosevelt Royale", a sirloin cheeseburger with braised beef cheeks and bleu cheese for $28.95.

Tonight they were serving samples from their lounge menu, including cognac infused prime steak tartare; spicy jumbo shrimp with horseradish marmalade; torchon of foie gras and USDA prime mini burgers. I had the steak tartare (pictured) with its pleasant hint of horseradish, and the torchon of fois gras with birch syrup. I thought they were lovely, but what I liked best was a firm, fresh bite of tuna niçoise on a yielding, hot and crumbly potato morsel.

These are warm quince turnovers, which will also be on the regular menu as a dessert item. I found them tasty, but, truth to tell, most people will probably think they're made of apple. There were also delectable, almost too-rich chocolate tortes with espresso ganache and raspberry crisp. However, the standouts for me were actually the house chocolate chip cookies and excellent, crunchy biscotti, which will make up part of the regular menu too.

I must admit I was quite taken with the "1920s Prohibition-era Cocktails". They're rather spendy, at $20 to $35 a glass, but they're made very lovingly, and with extremely attractive ingredients, like in-house syrups infused with apricot, star anise or vanilla. I sampled the Beefeater Gin Fizz, which begins with the whites of fresh eggs.

Into a shaker, the bartender tosses vanilla syrup, ice, gin, soda, cream and Triple Sec. This concoction goes into sugared glasses, as per the picture, and he sears the tops to create a delightfully candylike, lime-flavoured edge to the glass that tastes something like a heavenly grownup version of melted Lifesavers.

Bravely, I also tried a Roosevelt Sidecar, of which the active ingredients are apricot brandy and Perrier Jouet champagne, which create a heady cinnamon punch borne upon delicate champagne bubbles.

The Roosevelt Room opens to the public on Friday, promising more of this mix of last-century romance with contemporary luxuries like valet parking and concierge service: people on duty at all times whose job is to make sure taxis are called, sports tickets are ordered and every little need is accommodated. And did I mention they have Wifi? Although I shudder to think of what one of those gin fizzes would do to my laptop keyboard.