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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

Rumours & Rumblings

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January 31, 2012 | 3:48 pm

Nota Bene team to open new restaurant at Queen and Church

Waiting for Nota Bene

Waiting for Nota Bene (Image: PJMixer from the Torontolife.com Flickr pool)

Yesterday evening, Shinan Govani broke the news that the team behind Nota Bene—Yannick Bigourdan, Franco Prevedello and chef David Lee—was getting set to open up shop due east from their fine dining mainstay at Queen and University. Rumours of a Nota Bene “clone,” however, turn out to be a little exaggerated. Instead, Bigourdan told The Dish, the unnamed restaurant will have a somewhat different concept, something that’s now being ironed out between the partners. They’ll have some time: the new place, which will be located in a currently empty 7,000-square-foot space at 111 Queen Street East, right near George and B Espresso, isn’t scheduled to open until early next year. It’s also located right beneath the Toronto Life offices—which means we’ll be watching developments closely.

Rumours & Rumblings

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January 17, 2012 | 11:24 am

Start burnishing your cred: notoriously exclusive Soho House coming to Toronto in the next couple of years

Come 2014, these could be your new friends (Image: Grey Goose Soho House)

At last year’s film festival, the Grey Goose Soho House hosted the TIFF party to end all TIFF parties—you know, the one that was officially in honour of David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, but also managed to bring in everyone from Bono and members of the Arcade Fire to Anna Faris, Ewan McGregor and George Clooney (to choose rather arbitrarily from a long list of a-listers). Now it looks like the international chain of members-only luxury clubs will be opening up a permanent home in Toronto sometime in the next two years. According to a story from the New York Times’ Dealbook blog, the so-called “Billionaire Party Boy” (and private equity magnate) Ronald Burkle recently purchased a majority stake in the London-based Soho House Group for a reported £250 million. Some of that cash infusion will go toward further expansion, with Mumbai, Chicago and Istanbul listed alongside our fair burg. If this turns out to be true, 2014 should be a blowout year for TIFF parties. Read the entire story [Dealbook] »

Rumours & Rumblings

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January 6, 2012 | 11:30 am

Bar star Moses McIntee to open Lucid Cocktail and Kitchen this month

A McIntee creation: Ame’s Hot and Sour, a bourbon and plum-liqueur creation with nori, sriracha, wasabi, egg white, citrus, cilantro leaves, maple syrup and simple syrup, rimmed with powdered miso, lime-infused sugar and seaweed and topped with tobiko, nori and salmon roe (Image: Matthew Hague)

Toronto cocktail lovers take note—word on the street is one of the city’s most inventive mixologists, Moses McIntee, is back on the scene after a brief reprieve. McIntee has done stints at many of Toronto’s top restaurants, including Nota Bene, Ame, The Spoke Club and most recently Toca at the Ritz-Carlton, where he was lead bartender (James Chatto wrote about his creations at Ame back in 2010). His many fans will be happy to hear he’s finally opening his own place: Lucid Cocktail and Kitchen, which is set to open on Queen West on January 20. And it’s not just drinks on offer: the plan is to serve food alongside McIntee’s concoctions until 2 a.m. every night they’re open. Oh, and don’t worry—this Lucid bears no relation the now-defunct John Street vodka-and-Red-Bull mainstay of the same name.

Rumours & Rumblings

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January 5, 2012 | 5:30 pm
Attention Momofanboys: Momofuku interviewing for manager positions this weekend 

Since the appetite for Momofuku news is pretty much insatiable, we thought we’d dangle this little bit of information: David Chang, the globe-trotting chef at the helm of the burgeoning chain, just tweeted that the Momofuku crew would be in town this weekend to interview for front- and back-of-house managers. Drooling (or currently disgruntled) restaurant workers across the city can apply for the positions on the restaurant group’s website.

Rumours & Rumblings

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December 20, 2011 | 10:20 am

Mystery pop-up restaurant to take over former Ackee Tree spot in January

Do you wanna get it? (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Walking down Spadina past the old home of Ackee Tree the other day, mourning the jerk chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries of yore, we spotted this cryptic sign. The building, 170 Spadina Avenue, was recently bought out by a condo developer, but the shop will apparently be the site of a very temporary pop-up taking place in January 2012. Their Twitter account drops precious few hints, although apparently there’s already a new graffiti-inspired façade. We’ll be watching for more clues.

Rumours & Rumblings

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December 8, 2011 | 2:58 pm
Loblaws: worth switching Kensington Market around for? 

After years at 297 College St., the monks of the Zen Buddhist Temple are decamping to quieter (and presumably more meditation-friendly) digs at St. Clair and Bathurst. As The Grid reports, their old building has wound up in the hands of Tribute Communities, which has plans of its own for the site. Assuming the city gives the thumbs-up, Tribute is hoping to construct a 15-storey condo tower with about 20,000 square feet of retail space at the base. Rumour has it that Loblaws is negotiating for the spot. The company remains tight-lipped, but a new location did open in another Tribute property at Queen and Portland just last week (like the new Maple Leaf Gardens location, it has a cheese wall). Local businesses, which would find it difficult to compete with the grocery giant’s prices, selection and hours, are predictably anxious. “I don’t want to see a Loblaws there,” Yvonne Bambrick, coordinator of the Kensington Market BIA, told The Grid. “I think that is extremely bad news for the neighbourhood. I don’t even want to see it being discussed.” It could be argued that independent grocers don’t deserve special protection in a free market, but really—unless it’s going to have four cheese walls and a cheese ceiling, the city probably doesn’t need another Loblaws downtown. Read the entire story [The Grid] »

Rumours & Rumblings

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November 9, 2011 | 10:44 am

Mario Batali predicts a Toronto location of Eataly within the next 10 years


In a recent interview with The Daily Meal, Mario Batali reignited simmering hopes that Eataly, the chain of grocery mega-emporia whose New York launch last year was rapturously received, would eventually make its way to Toronto. When asked about expansion plans, he told Ali Rosen:

Well there’ll probably be five in the next 10 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Mexico City opened pretty much in any order of those four.

Let’s hope Toronto is at the top of that order.

Rumours & Rumblings

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October 18, 2011 | 3:13 pm

Is it goodnight for Goodnight? A looming condo development at 431 Richmond suggests yes

Jennifer Westfeldt and Jon Hamm at Goodnight Gansevoort, the TIFF collaboration between the bar and the boutique hotel group (Image: David Lee)

Our ears on the street tell us that come spring, it may be time to say goodbye to everyone’s favourite semi-exclusive, reservations-only, back-alley nouveau speakeasy (and TIFF hotspot), Goodnight. The lot at 431 Richmond Street West has apparently been purchased by Menkes, the property powerhouse behind the Four Seasons Private Residences, the Lumiere Condos at College and Bay and 365 Church at Church and Carlton, to name a few. The location will be home to Fabrik, whose rather postmodern ad copy includes the memorable line, “Fashion industrial design heart throbbing city pulse eat my veins of passion and lust.”

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Rumours & Rumblings

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October 7, 2011 | 5:21 pm

Thompson Hotel takes control of its lobby bar from Scarpetta, allegedly fires entire wait staff

(Image: picturenarrative from the Torontolife.com Flickr pool)

Wednesday we reported that The Counter at the Thompson Hotel has changed its name to the Thompson Diner, with no changes to the staff or atmosphere. Since then, we’ve heard reports that the Thompson Lobby Bar has actually fired its entire staff and, according to one of our commenters, embraced loud music and bright lights. One source tells us that the hotel fired all seven employees, one by one, on September 20, a week before assuming direct control of the bar (previously it was managed by Scarpetta, the celeb chef Scott Conant’s New York export). According to the source, the terminations came along with a confidentiality clause: the staff could either sign and receive two weeks’ severance, or take one week’s severance and work out the rest of the week. Their jobs were then apparently offered to employees from the Thompson Rooftop Lounge. The Thompson Hotel could not be reached for comment.

Rumours & Rumblings

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October 6, 2011 | 10:08 am

Susur Lee to open new spot on the Dundas West foodie mile with his sons

Lee at his last opening, Lee Lounge (Image: Renée Suen)

The comings and goings at 777 Dundas Street West sure have been attracting a lot of attention of late. The one-time home of Le Corner has now been scooped up by none other than Susur Lee. This time, however, there’s a catch: according to Now magazine it’s Lee’s sons, Levi and Kai Bent-Lee, who will be the faces of the joint, with their celebu-dad popping in and out of the kitchen.

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Rumours & Rumblings

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September 26, 2011 | 4:59 pm

Doug Neigel—of L’Unità and Maléna—appointed Mercatto’s new head chef, following Rob Rossi’s departure

After losing Top Chef Canada finalist Rob Rossi a few months ago, the Mercatto group of restaurants has announced its new executive chef: Doug Neigel. While not (yet) as famous as his predecessor, Neigel has worked his way through some top Toronto kitchens. He started his career with the Park Hyatt Hotels, including a stint as chef de cuisine at Annona and the Roof Lounge, before moving on to Maléna and L’Unità, where he was executive chef. Neigel’s creations will begin to appear on Mercatto dinner menus next month.

Rumours & Rumblings

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August 3, 2011 | 3:43 pm

La Palette pulls horsemeat from its menu following Star exposé

Inside the Queen West bistro (Image: Jon Sufrin)

Yesterday we dove into the Toronto Star’s hard-hitting investigation of the horsemeat industry in Canada. Among those implicated was Queen West bistro La Palette, where horsemeat has been a staple. Well, those days are over (for now), as this morning La Palette co-owner Shamez Amlani went on CBC’s Metro Morning to announce that as of today horsemeat has been removed from their menu.

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Rumours & Rumblings

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August 2, 2011 | 11:15 am
LINK: A lot of restaurants using electronic “zappers” to hide their sales from the CRA 

Some access-to-information judo by the Canadian Press has uncovered a Canada Revenue Agency investigation into some fishy accounting practices that are apparently pretty widespread in the restaurant industry. The agency looked into 424 restaurants across the country with electronic cash registers for record keeping and found that about a third of them used USB-key “zappers,” or secret features baked into their software to make some of their sales data—and their taxable revenue—disappear. Already, two cases have been prosecuted, resulting in fines and even jail time, and the story quotes a spokesperson as saying the CRA “has every intention of proceeding” on more cases. Yikes. We’re not sure how common this is in Toronto, but the CRA report notes that as the practice spreads, “more and more businesses may feel they need to compete by suppressing sales.” Read the whole story »

Rumours & Rumblings

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July 28, 2011 | 10:45 am

LINK: the disgruntled Whole Foods buyer speaks to Gawker (from South Korea)

Yesterday we told you about an unhappy former bulk foods buyer at the Yorkville Whole Foods whose verbose screed of a resignation letter made its way (inevitably) to Gawker, and thus to the rest of the world. Gawker managed to track him down in South Korea, and got his take on the aftermath. Apparently, the letter was not meant for public consumption, although he acknowledges that sending it out to the whole Midwest region was probably not the best way to keep his criticisms internal. He also said that despite having worked at a variety of other retail gigs (from Walmart to Rogers Video), “not a single one even came close to making me feel the way Whole Foods did.” Read the whole thing »

Rumours & Rumblings

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July 27, 2011 | 4:12 pm

A kiss-off letter from a disgruntled former Yorkville Whole Foods buyer makes it to Gawker; Internet explodes

Is the cat out of the bag for Whole Foods? (Image: Alisha Vargas)

A disgruntled former employee of the Whole Foods Market in Yorkville has become an Internet sensation after an incredibly long and pissy letter penned to his employers made its way to Gawker. The author, a former bulk foods buyer for the high-end grocery chain, sent his resignation out late on a Friday night (after more than a couple of brews, we presume), and the letter is peppered with funny one-liners, Star Trek references, self-aggrandizement and jabs at his co-workers and Nickleback. But beneath the petty barbs typical of any unhappy employee, there’s actually a fairly scathing indictment of Whole Foods and their sometimes-hypocritical (alleged!) practices. Some highlights, after the jump:

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