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The latest buzz on restaurants, chefs, bars, food shops and food events. Sign up for the Dish newsletter for weekly updates. Send tips to thedish@torontolife.com
(Image: Igor Yu)
Aft is Riverside’s most remorselessly trendy restaurant. Bricks are exposed, wood is rough-hewn, the bar is well-stocked with craft beers and bourbon, and the menu offers a rotating roster of American comfort food: smoked burgers on Monday, tacos on Tuesday and, most popularly, Texas barbecue on weekends. After 12 hours in the smoker, side ribs are bright pink and perfectly tender.
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Tinga tostada at Agave y Aguacate(Image: Renée Suen)
Mexican-born chef Francisco Alejandri opened a Kensington Market taco stand in 2011, ahead of the current craze. With only a couple of burners and a bar fridge, he made some of the freshest, tastiest and cheapest Mexican street food we ever had. When he closed shop last year, due to the chaos of cooking in the cramped food court, the city issued a collective groan of disappointment. Luckily, Alejandri is back. This summer, he’s opening up Agave y Aguacate 2.0, a permanent restaurant—this time with a fully equipped kitchen, a proper dining room and a patio—in the space formerly occupied by the short-lived bistro Elle M’a Dit. Alejandri trained at several big-name restaurants, including Sassafraz, Scaramouche and Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, and his signature ceviches, tostadas and other meticulously prepared Mexican dishes reflect his pedigree. The restaurant will be the latest of at least six new taquerias in the Baldwin-Kensington area but, if Anthony Bourdain’s rave review of Alejandri’s food is any indication, it’s sure to draw the longest lineups.
Jones Soda, the Vancouver company known for its wacky flavours, is bringing a poutine-flavoured drink to Canada. The beverage is supposed to taste strongly like cheese with a smooth potato finish (we have yet to try the stuff), but a pair of Halifax radio hosts who got hold of a couple bottles last week noted that the drink tastes a little too much like the classic Quebec comfort dish: very rich, very salty, very starchy. Still, 12-packs are already going for $40 on eBay.
(Image: Brilynn Ferguson)
The latest TUM startup to transform from a popular market one-off to a permanent bricks-and-mortar version, joining other underground market alum Rock Lobster Co., La Carnita, Lisa Marie and Seven Lives, is Chinese bao spot Hot Bunzz. The owner Mark Oliver opened a small shop inside the Urban Bistro at the corner of Yonge and St. Clair today, serving his unconventional takes on the traditional Chinese snack, like Thai basil beef, elk braised in red wine and bison short ribs in bulgogi sauce.
Chef Colin Moïses of Grace grills his flatiron perfectly: crispy and charred outside, magnificently rare at the centre. The strips of meat arrive with a sharp juniper vinaigrette, and shavings of Parmesan tie it all together. $29. 503 College St., 416-944-8884.
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.
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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: Yours Truly, Lee, and Bannock.
Toronto Life’s weekly roundup of the restaurants with the biggest buzz, the longest lineups and the toughest tables to snag.
Terrence Howard, who’s in town to shoot Best Man Holiday, turned up at a pair of hot Toronto restaurants, while one of the stars of HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones partied in Parkdale.
1. Bar Isabel (no change)
In one week, the Little Italy restaurant appeared on Munchies, Vice’s web series about eating snacks with the edgy lifestyle magazine’s favourite chefs; former Blue Jay Jose Canseco asked Grant van Gameren to craft a blue cocktail called the Mayor Canseco; and Buca chef Rob Gentile added some cred to the endless Twitter love-in.
Name: White Squirrel Snack Shop
Neighbourhood: Queen West
Contact Info: 507 Queen St. W., 647-609-4478, whitesquirrelcoffee.com
Owner: David Ginsberg
Chef: Chelsea White (County General)
The Food: Breakfast, lunch and assorted snacks. The morning menu includes a breakfast banh mi, an Iraqi breakfast sandwich and French toast. Later in the day, dishes are available in snack- and full-size, like a weekly po’ boy, nachos with smoked beef confit and kimchi fried brown rice. There are also six flavours from Greg’s Ice Cream available (vanilla, roasted marshmallow, coconut, chocolate, lemon meringue and mint).
Duck pizza and turkey wing at Lisa Marie (Image: Igor Yu)
Banh Mi Boys—The wildly popular Vietnamese banh mi, bao, and taco joint opened its second venue on Yonge Street with the same menu (and line ups) as the original Queen Street location. Read our Introducing post »
Vita Sociale—Midtown power institution Centro traded white linens and pricey plates for rustic Italian staples and a sandwich counter. Read our Introducing post »
(Image: George Pimentel Photography)
Just getting inside this new private members’ club is sure to impress the person on the other end of your handshake. A corner table is the ideal spot for clandestine negotiations over a couple of Soho Mules ($12), made with vodka, lime juice, ginger syrup and soda. 192 Adelaide St. W., 416-599-7646. Read the rest of this entry »
Sure signs that spring has come to Toronto: west-end hipsters and white squirrels recolonize Trinity Bellwoods; the Toronto Sun starts covering coyote sightings and food trucks dot downtown streets (and Twitter). The newest roving restaurant is Crossroads Diner, a truck serving kitschy diner food, like a cheeseburger homage to Pulp Fiction, chicken Caesear salads and an Elvis-inspired peanut butter and banana sandwich with bacon. Unlike a classic diner, however, the owner David Gleeson is using Ontario ingredients, including grass-fed beef from The Butcher’s Son and Mennonite chicken. Suited-up Bay Streeters beware: a sustainably caught catfish po’ boy is no less sloppy. [Post City]
Roberto and Sandra Mandarino, who own The Slow Room espresso shop in Little Italy, are opening a rustic Italian restaurant called Sagra, along with matching food truck Bestia, sort of the restaurant equivalent of a Mini Me. The roving food truck, which is the only one in Toronto with a wood-burning oven, hits streets next week, and the restaurant is scheduled to open next month in the Junction—possibly the city’s only neighbourhood left without a classic Italian pizza and pasta place.
Rock Lobster Food Co. graduated from a wildly popular pop-up shop into a wildly popular brick-and-mortar restaurant when it opened on Ossington Street in December. Less than six months later, it’s already launching a second location only a few blocks away in the space currently home to Shanghai Cowgirl (owner Darryl Fine is also one of three partners at Rock Lobster). Rock Lobster 2.0 is going to be bigger, open longer and have a larger menu—plus a new 80-seat patio and a retail counter for prepared sauces, soups, and sustainable seafood. Shanghai Cowgirl closes next week and the new Rock Lobster is scheduled to open June 1. [The Grid]
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