About El Tenedor & Chef Cesar

Creativity, Curiosity & a Passion for Food

El Tenedor Restaurant Bar is a small, chef-driven, vegetable-forward restaurant on Yonge Street in Toronto, steps from Rosedale subway station and minutes from Yorkville. At its heart is Chef Cesar and his passion for food, ingredients and creative cooking.

Cesar approaches cooking with curiosity. Rather than being limited by a particular cuisine or tradition, he draws inspiration from Spanish and French cooking, Mediterranean flavours, seasonal ingredients and the chefs and food experiences that have influenced him over the years.

His philosophy starts with a simple question: how can we make an ingredient more interesting?

That curiosity has naturally made vegetables an important part of El Tenedor. They offer an extraordinary range of flavours, textures and possibilities, which is why much of our menu begins with them.

But El Tenedor is not a vegetarian restaurant. Our vegetable-forward menu also includes carefully prepared fish, seafood and meat. The idea is not to follow a label, but to create balanced, flavourful dishes where every ingredient has a purpose.

Mindful Food. Honest Pleasure.

We cook in small batches and make much of our food from scratch, using seasonal ingredients and techniques that allow their natural flavours to shine.

Cesar’s cooking is constantly evolving. A familiar ingredient might appear in an unexpected combination, a traditional idea may be interpreted differently, and dishes change as new ingredients and inspiration arrive.

Our intimate dining room makes that experience personal. The people preparing your food are often the same people bringing it to your table, creating a direct connection between the kitchen and our guests.

El Tenedor is ultimately an expression of Cesar’s love of cooking: creative, vegetable-forward, Spanish and French inspired, and always driven by flavour.

Come curious. Leave well fed.