JaBistro’s sashimi, cut expertly by chef Koji Toshiro, is outlandishly fresh and flavourful. One night, the selection included ocean trout, sea bream, uni and, for adventurous diners, the chewy and ethereally sea-scented lobster sashimi. $100. 222 Richmond St. W., 647-748-0222.
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Must-Try: the beautiful, fresh and flavourful sashimi at JaBistro
Friday Night Bites: tables for two at Café Boulud, Nota Bene and Samuel J. Moore
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It’s 4 p.m. on Friday, and you don’t have a dinner reservation. Still, there’s no need to fret (or waste your night waiting for a table). We just called some of the city’s hottest restaurants and found three that can squeeze in two for dinner tonight. Now it’s up to you to get dialing and snag a table before they’re all gone. Today: Café Boulud, Samuel J. Moore, and Nota Bene.
Former Cowbell chef Peter Ramsay, who also did a stint as the chef de cuisine at Sidecar in Little Italy, is opening a new seafood restaurant in early July at 1564 Queen West, where Mark Cutrara’s bistro Cowbell resided for six years before closing in February. Geraldine is named after Ramsay’s grandmother and will serve seafood instead of meat. The restaurant will also do afternoon tea on the weekend—a dainty departure from Toronto’s current obsession with gut-busting brunches. [NOW]
Chocolate Brunette Pastry Company brings more gourmet cupcakes to Yorkville

Cocoa raspberry shortbread (Image: Distill Design)
Chocolate Brunette Pastry Company recently opened at Ave and Dav, selling truffles, Italians sweets and their own whipped-cream-and-mousse cupcake bombs. The boutique food shop’s hedonistic creations, like the sweet revenge cupcake filled with toasted walnuts and milk chocolate ganache and the vanilla coconut cupcake topped with mascarpone coconut mousse, look like they could rival the nearby, newly opened, Prairie Girl Bakery’s cupcakes in their epicurean insanity.
Chocolate Brunette Pastry Company. 182 Avenue Rd., 416-834-9711, chocolatebrunette.com
Another nostalgia-themed food truck takes to Toronto streets
First, Crossroads Diner, a food truck covered in painted images of 1950s American icons and serving kitschy diner food, popped up in Toronto two weeks ago. Now, a roving restaurant with a ’60s California surf culture theme has hit the city’s streets. The Beach Boys Food Truck is painted aqua blue and sunshine yellow and is serving classic American greasy spoon dishes, like mushroom garlic burgers and chicken fingers and fries.
Beach Boys Food Truck, beachboysfoodtruck.com, @beachboystruck
Introducing: Ardor Bistro, a new Peruvian restaurant on Ossington from the owners of Celestin

(Image: TJ Tindale)
Name: Ardor Bistro
Neighbourhood: Ossington
Contact Info: 59 Ossington Ave., 647-351-5100
Owners: Brothers Ivan Tarazona and James Bailey (Celestin)
Chef: Ivan Tarazona
The Food: A modern take on traditional Latin American food. Dishes include fish ceviche, grilled octopus salad and Peruvian riffs on classic bistro mains, like steak frites with chimichurri, duck confit with quinoa and sous-vide chicken with yellow pepper sauce. There’s also a six-course tasting menu for $45.
Beloved Riverdale hangout Rooster Coffee House has a second location
The east-end neighbourhood café cherished for its Loïc Gourmet sandwiches, goodies from Café Jules Patisserie and Pilot Coffee Roasters (formerly Te Aro) espresso opened a second shop on King Street East near Parliament Avenue yesterday. The new spot is using the same Pilot espresso beans as the original location, but serving sandwiches and salads from Cinq catering. George Brown students and Corktown condo-dwellers are clearly excited: by 10 a.m. there already appeared to be line-ups stretching around the block.
Rooster Coffee House, 333 King St. E., roostercoffeehouse.com, @Roostercoffee
New gourmet takeout shop selling cheesy comfort dishes is opening in the Junction
Cut The Cheese, the latest restaurant capitalizing on the childhood food nostalgia trend, is bringing upscale versions of grilled cheese and mac ‘n cheese to The Junction this summer. Like Kensington Market hipster mainstay The Grilled Cheese, Cut The Cheese’s menu is amusing in its specificity and alarming in its disregard for early onset heart disease—everything has cheese.
Introducing: Woods, a fancy new restaurant in St. Lawrence Market from the former Modus chef
Name: Woods
Neighbourhood: St. Lawrence Market
Contact info: 45 Colborne Street, 416-214-9918, woodsrestaurant.ca
Owners: Bruce Woods and Robin Singh
Chef: Executive Chef Bruce Woods (Modus, Brasaii, Centro) and Chef de Cuisine Anthony Davis (Sidecar, Cowbell, The Roosevelt Room)
The Food: An eclectic menu with a farm-to-table ethos, including appetizers like wild Digby scallops and seared Quebec foie gras and mains from spaghetti and meatballs to roasted Muscovy duck breast with dried cherries and duck egg béarnaise. There’s also a bar menu (dishes are in the $10-15 range) for the after-work cocktail crowd.


For the





