Ask your average Torontonian about David Lee, and the response might be, “Oh — that Susur guy, right?” (Answer: no.) Yet among the city’s hardcore foodies and chefs, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more respected culinary engineer in town.

For more than a decade, Lee’s talented team has toiled to ensure that Splendido remains on top of the heap, dutifully turning out spectacular three-hour, eight-course tasting menus.

While the Splendido experience happens to be worth skipping a mortgage payment for, the rarified heights of Lee’s cuisine have remained out of reach for many — until the opening of Nota Bene. With his long-time Splendido partner Yannick Bigourdan (whose family roots in the hospitality industry date back to the 1870s) and silent partner Franco “Midas” Prevedello, Lee intends Nota Bene to be a more casual, laid-back experience.

A soffritto of braised rabbit ($22) arrives, straddling the line between haute cuisine and cucina povera brilliantly. Chunks of tender bunny mingle amid folds of al dente pappardelle, a fitting tribute to the dish’s rural roots, its homespun presentation belying its complexity. Infusing the braise with a rustic green-olive saltiness gives the butter sauce a delicate richness. The only complaint is that a dish this great need not be added to — there’s no need for the tableside Padano shaving.

A standard charcuterie plate ($24) is something Marc Thuet would be proud of: two types of saucisson and some gamey duck prosciutto start off in a traditional light, with Creemore-cured and maple-smoked slices of bacon adding some CanCon. Two grease-oozing pig jowls, crackling skin intact, and a supremely decadent dollop of Berkshire pork fat round out the aorta-bursting board.

Moving east, the Indian-spiced Barramundi ($15) is a refreshing nod to the low-carb crowd. Two pieces of juicy Australian sea bass get a sweet jump-up from ripe slices of mango, while the delicate lettuce “taco” leaf surrounding them makes for easy and clean finger-food dining.
And not since the Kobe burger has there been a pinkish patty this worth worshipping. Oozing with the subtle ripeness of Stilton, this gourmet burger ($19) delivers wow at nearly half the expected price. Topped with caramelized onion, sitting between a toasted brioche, and served with a mountain of parmesan-laden frites, this is officially Toronto’s best burger.

Lake Huron pickerel ($22) is just another example of Lee’s finesse: a massive portion of moist freshwater fish, delicately rubbed with zingy smoked paprika, rides a velvety smooth purée of cauliflower, all topped with a mélange of lightly dressed greens and edible flowers. As for the lamb chump special ($26), let’s just say it’s a study in unadulterated gastronomic artfulness.

Ask any food critic, and they’ll tell you that bad restaurants are easier to write about than great ones — how many ways can one say “delicious”? — making this review of Nota Bene a hard one to craft. Can this kitchen do anything wrong? Desserts indicate the answer is no. Both a lemon panna cotta ($10) — a cool conal mould of jiggly cream mounded with a quarter-pint of wild blueberries — and a deconstructed bread-and-butter pudding ($10) defy description. But the cherry cobbler ($10) will leave you utterly speechless. Plump Niagara Bing cherries in a wicked wine syrup punch the tastebuds like never before, a house-made vanilla ice-cream providing the ideal complement to a crunchy upper crust.

Food this good is often served by stuffy waiters with arms-length professionalism. But at Nota Bene it shouldn’t have to be. If great, reasonably priced food is going to rope in more than just insurance execs and opera lovers on University to include a more bohemian Queen West clientele, Nota Bene should loosen up. Knowledgeable and attentive service need not be wrapped in starched collars. That’s it for criticism. Everything else is, uh, delicious.