elf assured and confident, Cory Vitiello struts into his restaurant, The Harbord Room, at Harbord and Spadina with a casual air, and it makes sense that this place is his. Unpretentious and honest, the tall chef is cool and in his element. And he should be. Opened January of this year, Harbord Room was very quickly accepted by Toronto's food scene.

Like the leather banquettes and long bar which fill just about every inch of this space with a relaxed attitude, that approach is personified in the khaki short wearing Vitiello. Along with many of these young and inspired chefs, he shares the mandatory boyish good looks, apart from the fact that he is incredibly tall. There was clearly a collaborative effort when they brought in Brad Denton from Czehoski to design the space. Partnering with Dave Mitton, also an owner at Czehoski, and Chris Shiki, who worked at Czehoski (do you see a trend here?), the three came together to purchase what was once Eduardo's in September 2007.

Born in Brantford, Vitiello has worked his way up, having started in the local restaurants of his hometown. After enrolling at the Stratford Chef School, he spent his apprenticeship, and then some at Scaramouche. Working in one of the most professional of kitchens, under Keith Frogget, Vitiello spent 4 years honing his French culinary techniques at this WASP-y standby. He credits the technique driven kitchen with forming the "back bone of his education." But he was limited there. Until he worked his way up, there was little room for creativity, and as the Chef de Partie, he was faced with no room to maneuver his standing any higher. So he fled for Australia, working at a high end Italian restaurant in Melbourne for a year.