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Toronto Life - The Wire

The comprehensive index of every blog post, magazine story and restaurant review that appears on Torontolife.com

All stories by Lisa Paul

The Dish

Opening
April 14, 2011 | 8:45 am

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Introducing: Aria, the new Italian restaurant by the people behind Noce

Aria’s onyx bar and Moooi light fixtures

For years, Noce has been quietly turning out exceptional Italian food to a loyal coterie of regulars at the corner of Queen Street and Walnut Avenue. Now Aria, the long-awaited sequel to Noce, has opened its doors at a very different location—the main floor of the 30-storey Telus Tower, right next to the ACC. The project is a result of years of planning, which started after the head honchos at Telus, Noce regulars, personally invited owners Elena Morelli and Guido Alberto Saldini to set up a second restaurant in their not-yet-built downtown headquarters.

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The Dish

Opening
December 1, 2010 | 12:31 pm

6 Comments

Introducing: The Abbott, yet another coffee shop in Parkdale

“Coffee shop opens in west end”—it’s a story we’ve been able to write not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, but five times in November. And now, number six: The Abbott.

The latest addition to Parkdale’s caffeine scene is truly a locals’ coffee shop (and shouldn’t be confused with this Abbott or this Abbott). The owners and the manager live within walking distance, and they opened the café to give their neighbours a place to hang out in the ’hood besides the seedy bars that line King Street west of Dufferin. The space, a former dry cleaner, is tucked around a corner on Spencer Avenue. “I saw the space, and I thought it would be silly not to open something,” says co-owner Fadi Hakim.

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The Dish

Opening
November 9, 2010 | 1:44 pm

7 Comments

Introducing: Capital Espresso, Blondie’s café spinoff that’s come into its own (literally)

Capital of Parkdale: the old Vice office is now a coffee shop (Image: Lisa Paul)

When Blondie’s opened at 1378 Queen Street West, it was the only high-end coffee shop on Parkdale’s main drag. There was a constant bicycle traffic jam out front as the space became an it spot for the area’s bearded and tattooed hipsterati. A year later, the strip proved it could accommodate more hangouts (Parts and Labour, The Mascot), and Blondie’s two identities—café by day, bar by night—looked like they could make it on their own. The boozier incarnation stayed put. The coffee house, renamed Capital Espresso, opened across the street in the old Vice magazine offices on November 4.

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The Dish

Opening
June 21, 2010 | 1:04 pm

9 Comments

Just Opened: Beast. Scott and Rachelle Vivian take over the Amuse-Bouche space

Beastly setting: the dining room at Beast (Image: Lisa Paul)

“I don’t dislike vegetarians, but my style of cooking is heavy on meat,” says chef Scott Vivian. It’s more of a warning than a defence: the Montreal-born chef has just opened a new restaurant with his wife, Rachelle, and it more than lives up to its name, Beast.

The carnivore theme is evident in the changing weekly dinner menus prepared by Scott and Luca Gatti, the sous-chef who came along when Scott and Rachelle left Wine Bar. Starters include such seasonal items as soft shell crab with foie gras, greens and jalapeño ($19), and mains include such meat-heavy dishes as pig’s head pasta with pea shoots, yolk and spaghetti ($16).

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The Dish

Opening
June 2, 2010 | 10:22 am

2 Comments

Torito’s former chef sets up roast chicken restaurant in Igor Kenk’s old bike shack

927 Queen West: foul past, fowl future (Image: Google)

One has to wonder how Igor Kenk would feel knowing his old Queen West cycle clinic is about to be replaced by something even greasier than a bike chain. By late August or early September, the once-unmissable storefront across from Trinity Bellwoods will be converted to a takeout chicken joint owned and operated by Carlos Hernandez, the chef who recently left Kensington tapas joint Torito.

The new restaurant, with 10 or 15 seats, is being modelled on a Portuguese churrasqueira. Hernandez says he will offer such “wholesome food” as salads, brown rice, soups and stews alongside oven-roasted, free-range chicken. “I’m catering to the neighbourhood, the young couples around there.”

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons
June 2, 2009 | 3:39 pm

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The Dish on Dish

After more than nine years of dishing it out to the city’s well-heeled foodies, Toronto’s queen of entertaining is throwing in the towel—or, rather, passing it on. Trish Magwood, founder and owner of midtown’s Dish Cooking Studio (the catering company/cooking school/café/kitchen store), has sold her business. A new owner took over June 1.

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