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(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Name: Switch
Neighbourhood: Downtown Core
Contact Info: 55 Colborne St., 416-901-9990, switchtoronto.com
Owners: Hanif Harji (Patria, Weslodge)
The Food: A pan-global menu of sharing plates. Dishes range from finger snacks (cheesy truffle popcorn and spiced, smoked marcona almonds) to more substantial nosh (scotch eggs and haute dogs). The kitchen is open from 5-10 p.m. and reopens at midnight with a curated selection of snacks.
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Name: Marky and Sparky’s Smokehouse
Neighbourhood: The Junction
Contact Info: 520 Annette St., 647-748-4227, Facebook
Owners: Frank “Sparky” DiGenova (Butcher by Nature) and Marcus “Marky” De Simone
The Food: Slow-cooked southern barbecue made from meat from Butcher by Nature. The menu includes all the BBQ classics: wet or dry baby back ribs, chicken wings, brisket and pulled pork. All meats can be ordered on a sandwich, and there’s also a butcher platter, which includes every protein on the menu.
Name: Enzo Pizza Bar
Neighbourhood: Queen West
Contact Info: 646 Queen St W., 416-366-0009, getenzo.com, @enzopizzabar
Owner: Ryan Menchella
The Food: Customizable personal pizzas. Diners choose a sauce (white or red) and toppings (cheese, meat and veggies). There’s also a list of nine ready-to-order ‘zas, including the classic margherita and the more exotic filomena topped with würstel.
Name: Seven Lives
Neighbourhood: Kensington Market
Contact Info: 69 Kensington Ave., sevenlives.ca, @SevenLivesTO
Owner and chef: Sean Riehl, a former San Diegan who worked in high-end California restaurants before manning a table under the Seven Lives name at the Toronto Underground Market last year.
The food: Tijuana–style tacos, with an emphasis on seafood, like blackened mahi mahi ($5) and octopus with pumpkin seed mole ($5).
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Name: The Rude Boy
Neighbourhood: Roncesvalles
Contact info: 397 Roncesvalles Ave., 416-533-3269, @therudeboyronce
Owners: Faiez Bapoo, Liam Kelly, Paul Simmons and Alex Sengupta (The Lakeview, Samuel J. Moore), four friends who met working at The Keg over a decade ago.
The chef: Liam Kelly, an 18-year industry vet
The food: Burgers and other sandwiches, made in-house from local ingredients.
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Name: Northwood Read the rest of this entry »
Neighbourhood: Christie Pits
Contact info: 815 Bloor St. W., Facebook page, @NorthwoodBloor
Owners: Richard Pope (co-owner of Mr. Pong’s) and Andrea Reynolds
The north building at St. Lawrence Market was filled to near-bursting on Thursday as food-loving philanthropists gathered to support FoodShare, a non-profit organization that endeavours bring healthy eating to all Torontonians. Recipe for Change, now in its fourth year, has become one of the city’s pre-eminent foodie fundraisers, with 400 patrons paying $125 to nibble on plates that tended to follow FoodShare’s devoutly seasonal philosophy (root vegetables were everywhere). Among the big name chefs supplying those plates were Aaron Joseph Bear Robe of Keriwa Cafe, Brad Long of Café BeLong, Pizzeria Libretto’s Rocco Agostino and Momofuku Toronto’s Sam Gelman and Hans Vogels. Between the ticket sales and the silent auction, FoodShare raised $42,000 to support its food literacy initiatives—educating Toronto students about not just nutrition but the entire food system, from seedlings to table to compost and back again.
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(Images: Caroline Aksich)
Guy Fieri, the frosted-tipped host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, hasn’t had a great month thanks to Pete Wells’ hilarious (if perhaps over-the-top) New York Times review of his newest restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar. We caught up with Fieri just after he wrapped up filming an upcoming Toronto episode of DDD and right before he hosted the Chef’s Challenge, a fundraiser that supports breast and ovarian cancer research at Mount Sinai Hospital. Here’s what he had to say about his personal connection to the cause, his impressions of Toronto and the already-infamous review:
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(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Saturday’s Chef’s Challenge was a chance for Iron Chef wannabes—or “masochists,” as event host Guy Fieri called them—to flex their cooking talents on stage in front of 400 of their fellow food-loving philanthropists. The third annual fundraiser was in support of breast and ovarian cancer research at Mount Sinai hospital, and took place this year at the Royal York. This was no ordinary ticketed event—all attendees were required to raise a minimum of $2,500, with the top 50 broken up into groups of 10 led by a celebrity chef (Chuck Hughes, David Rocco, Mark McEwan, Lynn Crawford or Michael Smith) who coached them through three rounds of Iron Chef–inspired challenges (those not in the top 50 ate their Fieri-conceived five-course dinner in peace).
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(Image: Caroline Aksich)
A funny thing happened when Angelos Economopoulos opened Fancy Franks Gourmet Hot Dogs on College Street, with no prior advertising. “As soon as I opened the door,” he told us, “the place was full.” Granted, locals have been eyeing the spot ever since a campy, nostalgic mural (painted by Andrew Kidder) showed up, livening the bleak corner of College and Major. A couple years ago, Economopoulos first heard of the haute hot dog craze that was spreading from Los Angeles across the States. After a few cross-boarder reconnaissance field trips, Economopoulos was sure the concept could take off in Toronto too.
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(Image: Yves Freypons)
Outside the Indie Ale House, a new 4,000-square-foot brewpub in the Junction, there’s a banner from the local BIA that crows about the area’s past as a booze-free zone. It’s sort of fitting—it took Jason Fisher two years of mucking his way through red tape before he was ready to open the doors of this west-end temple of beer geekdom, which includes a craft brewery, a 110-seat pub and, soon, a retail shop. Fisher began brewing at 16, under the guise of a science experiment (“Hey, I got an A,” he laughs), and it’s clear that the beer bug runs deep.
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Serbian-Canadian Dušan Varga’s Rakia Bar cannot be easily pigeonholed as an ethnic bar. Sure, you may hear Goran Bregović playing in the background, but then again, you may also hear Ella Fitzgerald or even a little CanCon. “We’re not looking to be defined as Serbian,” says Varga, who explains the concept behind the semi-subterranean retreat as “Balkan tradition packed in a contemporary urban space.” Varga’s concept of tradition is fairly loose: it revolves around artisanal fruit brandies (rakias), good food and taking one’s time, which means proper pacing. “I want people to sit back and sip the rakias, to really enjoy them and take their time,” says Varga—which is why he opted to set up his bar on the more laid-back Queen East strip rather than on fast-paced Queen West.
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Matt Basile launched his Fidel Gastro’s business last year as a roving pop-up operation. Yesterday, for a crowd of 300 or so, he graduated to a food truck at the RBC Food Truck Plaza on Front Street. Basile first dreamed up Fidel Gastro’s after quitting his copywriting job. Surrounded by food his entire life (he worked in butcher shops as a kid), he knew that he wanted to engage with the food industry, but was reticent to open a restaurant because of the huge potential losses. With a little support from Toronto Underground Market founder Hassel Aviles, Basile decided to spin himself as a “rebel without a kitchen” rather than as a cook in need of one.
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
When Kensington Market’s European Quality Meats and Sausages decided to leave the space it had occupied for five decades, many were worried that the beloved boho quarter was going the way of Yorkville. Independent Market entrepreneurs aimed to keep the building in the family, so to speak; European Meats owner Larry Leider sold the space to the owners of Essence of Life, who looked around for a viable tenant. They approached Peter Sanagan, who had been making do with his tiny space on the corner of Augusta and Baldwin for years. Sanagan embraced the opportunity to upgrade from 400 to 5,000 square feet, and made the big move 11 storefronts down the road.
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Bridge and Bardot at 1138 Dundas St. W. (Image: Caroline Aksich)
Although the name of Dundas West’s newest vintage boîte alludes to the 1960s French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot, Bridge and Bardot isn’t as focused on worshiping the past as it is on building a bridge that connects past fashions with current trends. Owners Rose Broadbent, Gagan Bassi and Gurjeet Kaur Bassi don’t only meticulously pick clothes that they themselves would wear, but they also embellish them with studs and patches in an effort to anchor them in the present. Shorts that may have caused eyes to roll in the past are given new life with some simple alterations and a subtle dye job. Gagan, Gurjeet’s younger sister, laughs about how hard it is to part with some of the pieces: “we spend so much time on each one that you end up getting attached,” she says. But despite being a shop of antiquities, Bridge and Bardot isn’t reminiscent of grandma’s closet—there are no misses. The small, but carefully curated selection of garments ranges in style from spiked glam rock to Bollywood glamour to subdued classic styles.
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