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Toronto Life - The Dish

The latest restaurant buzz, including what’s opening, what’s closing, and where to eat, drink and be seen

Deathwatch

Filion on the Toronto a la Cart fiasco: “The one thing the city messed up on was the carts”

A cart of problems: workers move one of the Toronto a la Cart stations from Nathan Phillips Square (Image: Anthony Easton)

Meet Nancy Senawong as she schleps her $30,000 cart through Mel Lastman Square, where she will serve city-approved, city-branded, multiculti street fare to passersby for the second summer in a row. It’s now been two years since the Toronto a la Cart scheme was launched, and Senawong is the ailing food program’s new poster girl. Though she remains in debt for the pricey cart, she is the “one success story” from 2009, according to John Filion, the health board chair who first championed the street food scheme. She and at least five of eight other indebted vendors attached to the program will spend the spring scraping together what they’ll need (anywhere from $7,500 to $14,500) to keep their stalls in line with stiff municipal regulations.

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March 17, 2010 | 4:21 pm | Robert Furtado

Deathwatch

City gives thumbs-down to community pizza nights and fun

Christie Pits's pizza shack (Photo by Jamie)

First there was the liquor license debacle at Ici Bistro to prevent Harbord Street from turning into Skid Row, then the moratorium on Ossington restaurants and bars. The city’s latest target in its War on Fun? The much-loved community pizza oven at Christie Pits Park.

Two years ago, a group of parents gave new life to an abandoned park shack that housed a 10-year-old oven. Since then, Christie Pits fills with people on Friday nights enjoying a slice made by a volunteer group called the Friends of Christie Pits, along with a city staff worker who mans the oven. But, as the Star reports, the city is cracking down on irregular rec programming. If the Friends want to keep pizza in the park going, they’ll have to pay for a $100 permit each week and cover the cost of the city staffer.

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February 25, 2010 | 1:00 pm | Karon Liu

Deathwatch

Captain John’s floating restaurant still up for sale

Stormy seas for Captain John's (Photo by Paul Dex)

Novelty boat-restaurant Captain John’s has managed to stay afloat for decades despite a history of legal issues, debt and poor reviews—not to mention that one of its dining boats sank after being hit by a city ferry in 1981—but its future looks grim now that owner John Letnik is jumping ship.

When the restaurant went up for sale a few months ago, the asking price was $1.5 million. Mr. Letnik had hoped that a younger, foresighted entrepreneur would take over the garish tourist draw and convert it into a floating casino or hotel. It’s been tough going: the asking price has been dropped to $1.1 million.

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February 24, 2010 | 3:06 pm | Jon Sufrin

Deathwatch

Liberty Village bread factory is relocating to Hamilton

Hamilton will smell like freshly baked bread (Photo by jytyl)

It’s been just over a month since we first reported on Canada Bread’s announcement that it will be closing three aging Toronto plants in 2013—including the massive Liberty Village bakery—and building a substantial factory somewhere in southwestern Ontario. Yesterday, the company announced that Hamilton will be the site of the new $100-million facility.

The 375,000-square-foot behemoth will occupy a piece of land on which Maple Leaf Foods, which owns 90 per cent of Canada Bread, wanted to build a pork-producing facility in 2005, which would have created 900 jobs. Neighbourhood opposition nixed Project Pork, but the city seems to be eager for the bread plant (which will employ up to 300), judging by how quickly the deal went through.

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February 19, 2010 | 3:33 pm | Jon Sufrin

Deathwatch

Hooters is up for sale with a $250-million price tag

The Toronto Hooters (Photo by Gary J. Wood)

Between this and Giambrone’s couch, we’re keeping it classy today. Hooters, the Atlanta-based breastaurant chain with more than 450 outlets in more than two dozen countries, is looking for a buyer to lift and separate the eatery from its financial difficulties. The New York Post reports that despite more than $1 billion in sales in 2008, profits are down. Among the wing hut’s troubles are its food (Men’s Health ranked it one of the unhealthiest restaurants in the States) and mismanagement. In an upcoming episode of reality show Undercover Boss, one Hooters manager made the servers compete in an eating contest—apparently so that the employees could leave work early.

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February 11, 2010 | 8:34 am | Karon Liu

Deathwatch

The third Le Gourmand closes its doors

The third incarnation of popular café-cum-restaurant chain Le Gourmand (affectionately known as LG3) has unexpectedly closed due to evasion of rent, according to a notice in its window. “The Yonge and Eglinton location didn’t work out for various reasons,” owner Milton Nunes tells us. “The area wasn’t ready for it. Everyone in the building just bought half-a-million-dollar condos, so they can’t afford to come buy their $3 coffees in the morning.” Fans of the bistro’s baked goods and pastries (a number of Chowhounders agree that Le Gourmand provides standout cookies) can rest assured that the two other locations are doing fine—“stronger than ever,” according to Nunes—and that “within the next year, you’ll see more Le Gourmands opening up.”

January 28, 2010 | 5:21 pm | Jon Sufrin

Deathwatch

Toronto restaurateur charged with serving up McDonald’s-related scam

Would you like lies with that: ?? allegedly promised to open McDonald's locations along the 407

Would you like lies with that? Tsatsaris allegedly promised to open McDonald's locations along the 407

Fourteen years after calling him a “real-life Santa Claus” for his work feeding the homeless, the Toronto Sun is reporting that restaurateur Peter Tsatsaris has been charged with three counts of fraud over $5,000 and 11 counts of uttering a forged document. Tsatsaris is alleged to have bilked investors out of money by convincing them they were buying McDonald’s restaurants along Highway 407 in Thornhill. One of the scam’s alleged victims, known only as “Robert,” claims to have lost $500,000 from January to May 2009. He called police after speaking directly with McDonald’s, who advised him he was one of “X number of persons” to call about Tsatsaris and he should go to the authorities. Between 1994 and 2004, Tsatsaris was linked to local restaurants The Strand, Wildfire Steakhouse and Mars Uptown.

• Restaurateur charged with cooking up scam [Toronto Sun]

January 21, 2010 | 1:41 pm | Fraser Abe

Deathwatch

Peter Street Deli closes after 15 years in the entertainment district

peterstreet

A goodbye notice from the deli (Photo by Jon Sufrin)

Entertainment district institution Peter Street Deli has closed its doors after 15 years of operation, depriving clubland locals of its famous hybrid of Canadian and Chinese greasy spoon fare.

A sign on the door confirms that the owners have decided to retire. “Thank you for your support and patronage over the past 15 years,” it reads, adding that customers can expect a new restaurant to spring up in the near future.

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January 18, 2010 | 3:17 pm | Jon Sufrin

Deathwatch

Liberty Village to stop smelling like fresh-baked bread by 2013

Trucks load up at Canada Bread's Fraser-Street plant in Liberty Village (Photo by Google)

Trucks load up at Canada Bread's Fraser Street plant in Liberty Village (Photo by Google)

Canada Bread, the company that pumps out Dempster’s baked products, will be closing three of its plants in the GTA over the next three years, including the massive bakery located incongruously among Liberty Village’s art and design firms. Production at the Toronto locations is shifting to a new $100-million state-of-the-art factory—expected to be the largest bakery in the country—located in an as-yet undecided southwestern Ontario location. The decision will affect 435 employees, who will be given the opportunity to move to the new location or work at 13 plants remaining in the city. As for filling the void left by the soon-to-be-emptied Liberty Village plant, we have a radical suggestion: condos.

• Canada Bread to close 3 GTA bakeries [Toronto Star]

January 14, 2010 | 11:09 am | Jon Sufrin

Deathwatch

RIP, Silver Spoon: the Roncey restaurant shutters after a decade of service

Rocco Agostino closes Silver Spoon, opens (Photo courtesy of Stratford Chefs School)

Rocco Agostino closes Silver Spoon, opens Enoteca Sociale (Photo courtesy of Stratford Chefs School)

The Roncesvalles institution Silver Spoon is closing in the next two weeks, but chef and owner Rocco Agostino says the never-ending construction on the neighbourhood’s main drag isn’t the reason why he’s packing up. “It’s bittersweet. I’m not going to lie that I didn’t get emotional,” says Agostino, who also heads the kitchen at Pizzeria Libretto. “But it’s not necessarily horrible. Ten years is a good run. I want to go back to my roots, which are in Italian food.”

Even though he says the construction has led to a decline in business, he says he’s been thinking about other ventures for a while now. Aside from Libretto, he’s focusing on his next restaurant, Enoteca Sociale, which will feature house-made pastas and cheese. He says it’ll be on Dundas, about four blocks west of Ossington, and hopes to be open by spring.

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January 12, 2010 | 1:34 pm | Karon Liu

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