Advertisement

Toronto Life - The Wire

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

All stories relating to Centro

The Dish

Opening

1 Comment

With a $500,000 renovation and new chef, Centro wants to be “taken seriously”

Centro's main dining room (Image: Karon Liu)

“Centro has always been good, but people have never come here for a gastronomical experience,” says owner Armando Mano as he sits in the newly renovated uptown restaurant. “They haven’t been taking us seriously for the past eight years since Marc Thuet left. We want to change that.” The revamp started in December, but the real work began two weeks ago, when demolition crews stepped in and left nothing untouched. There’s still sawdust on the sheet-covered floors, and the wall fixtures aren’t in yet, but Mano says things are on track regardless of what happens.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Opening

1 Comment

Buy a piece of Marben: the Wellington hot spot is closing for renos and auctioning off its furniture

Everything must go, even the famous bar (Image: Say Yeah!)

Looks like the city’s restaurants are doing some major spring cleaning, with Brassaii, Centro and now Marben undergoing renovations. The dimly lit Wellington resto-lounge is closing for a month starting this Sunday, but it’s not going out without a bang. Tomorrow night, Marben will be hosting a farewell party with a $45 “greatest hits menu” from which diners can order the famous duck tacos one last time (chef Craig Alley will be retooling the menu for the reopening).

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Opening

1 Comment

Brassaii’s relaunch comes with new design, new menus and new chef

The new dining room at Brassaii

This week marked the long-awaited reopening of King West institution Brassaii, and judging from the extensive menu redesign, the place is looking like more of an upscale dining spot than a Friday-night hangout for the mini-dress set.

The new one-page menus were designed by chef Bruce Woods, who left his five-year stint at Centro last year to join Brassaii, and seem to ensure that diners never need to leave the property: breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert and late-night snacks are all covered. Expect breakfast and brunch staples, as well as sandwiches and burgers for lunch. As for dinner, it’s continental fare with hints of Asian influence: miso cod ($29), spaghettini with kobe beef meatballs ($20), chicken with a panko crust ($25).

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

De-licious

28 Comments

Summerlicious reservations down at top restaurants

We’re halfway through the annual gastronomic bonanza known as Summerlicious, when droves of thrifty gourmands and aspirational epicures descend upon the city’s finest dining rooms. Or not.

Alex Evans, manager of Célestin, estimates that 30 per cent fewer customers have dined at her restaurant during this year’s fest. “Everyone I know who’s participating is telling me their business is way, way, down,” she says. There’s consensus across the board: Didier, North 44°, Auberge du Pommier and Centro, arguably some of the city’s most sought-after tables, are all reporting quieter phone lines and lighter reservation books.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Bottoms Up

26 Comments

BYOB: Toronto restaurants drop corkage fees

Corkage fees are falling all over Toronto (Photo by Quinn Dombrowski)

Bottle shock: corkage fees are falling all over Toronto (Photo by Quinn Dombrowski)

Along with prix-fixe menus and pink slip parties (we’re looking at you, Globe), reduced corkage fees have become a popular recession-era tactic for restaurants trying to attract diners. Ontario jumped on the BYOB bandwagon in January 2005, it has never had the same success as similar programs in Quebec. That is, until now.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

The Downturn

Comments

Loss of appetite: It’s a double whammy for restaurants as their Bay Street backers go broke

The centre of the universe: Bay Street goes gastronomical (Photo by Jim U)

The centre of the universe: Bay Street goes gastronomical (Photo by Jim U)

There’s no question that investing in a restaurant is a high-risk venture. That said, many of the city’s swankiest downtown dining rooms are partially owned by investment-savvy Bay Streeters—those who should be the first to spot a bum deal. Czehoski, Centro, Six Steps and the aptly named Bottom Line are just a few of the dining establishments fed by Bay Street assets. It is no coincidence, then, that Toronto’s golden age of culinary evolution matched up with a golden age of culinary investment. In the boom times, an underperforming investment (even if it was a restaurant) was compensated by market gains. But when the TSX started to slide last year, restaurants got a double whammy: not only were expense accounts drying up, but so was investment capital. Suits who diversified into the restaurant industry suffered, too, prompting us to ask, why keep investing in restaurants?

Read the rest of this entry »

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement