Gustav Chophouse and Bar

The fifty-six-ounce tomahawk arrives bone-in and built for the middle of the table, a single cut meant to be carved and shared rather than plated for one. It is the order Gustav Chophouse and Bar is best known for, and the rest of the menu follows its lead: hand-cut beef, classic French preparations, and a seafood list that takes itself seriously. Gustav sits on Vacation Inn Drive in Collingwood, tied to the Georgian Bay Hotel along the Mountain Road corridor, which keeps a steady current of visitors moving through. But the cooking belongs to a chophouse, not a hotel kitchen, and the menu reaches further than either label would suggest.

The chophouse core runs deep. Beyond the tomahawk there is slow-roasted prime rib, sirloin Oscar, surf and turf, and a rack of lamb, each built on the beef-and-seafood logic the kitchen trusts most. The French onion soup is the classic version — caramelised onions under a cap of melted cheese — and it turns up again and again as the thing regulars order without looking at the menu. Seafood gets equal billing: a platter for two stacked with lobster tails, shrimp, scallops, and calamari, an Atlantic lobster tail on its own, oysters, and a set of steakhouse sauces meant to be matched to the cut. Lighter starters round it out, like phyllo-wrapped baked brie, and a kids' menu covers the tables that need one. Roasted Brussels sprouts and the heavier sides fill out plates that are not built for restraint, and dessert holds the line with chocolate cake and New York cheesecake.