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All stories relating to closings

Steve Gonzalez to fill in at Niagara Street Café as owner Anton Potvin readies it for sale

Steve Gonzalez and Nick Liu at the What’s on the Table fundraiser for the Stop (Image: Jenna Marie Wakani)

Last week we reported that Nick Liu is leaving Niagara Street Café to open his own place, an Asian brasserie. As it turns out, he’s not gone quite yet—he’ll be manning the stoves until January 29, at which point he makes way for Top Chef Canada contestant Steve Gonzalez, who’s filled in for Liu at the café on several occasions in the past. But the bigger news is that after owning the quiet restaurant off the main King Street strip for almost eight years, Anton Potvin is casting about for buyers.

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The Dish

Deathwatch

November 18, 2010 | 3:33 pm

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La Palette shuttering its Kensington location this weekend

When Shamez Amlani muses about this coming Sunday, it’s not without a little sentimentality. Three days from now, the restaurant he co-owns in Kensington Market, La Palette, will shut its doors for good so that he and his team can concentrate on the Queen West location. Ten years ago, Amlani and his associates applied a meagre $18,000 to a grungy Chinese joint and turned it into an edgy French bistro. They never imagined that it would have taken off the way it did. “It’s a miracle,” Amlani tell us. “We shot at the moon, and we actually hit it.”

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The Goods

Shop Talk

August 18, 2010 | 11:51 am

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Death watch: American Apparel close to bankruptcy

It's not just the pleats that make her sad

Like so many pairs of discarded jeggings, the bad news keeps piling up for American Apparel. This time, the company has issued a warning that there is “substantial doubt that the company will be able to continue as a going concern,” meaning that AA is close to liquidation and bankruptcy. Shares of the stock fell 15 per cent yesterday, after already losing 55 per cent of their value since January. In its most recent report, the company also noted losses of up to $7 million, a likely breach of its loan with creditor Lion Capital, and warns that losses are likely to continue through the third quarter. Guess the rebranded ads haven’t helped much. We hate to see any business go under, but perhaps the closure of AA will mean we’ll finally stop seeing dudes wearing shirts like this at Hanlan’s Point.

• American Apparel warns about mounting debts and losses [BBC]

The Goods

Shop Talk

June 28, 2010 | 12:43 pm

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This Ain’t the Rosedale Library closes after speculation

(Image: Google Maps)

It looks like the curtain has closed on This Ain’t the Rosedale Library—for now, at least. In a blog post explaining that a last-ditch proposal to their landlord was rejected late last week, owners Charlie and Jessie Huisken announced, “The store has no future at this [Kensington Market] location.” While there was initial talk of a fundraiser in the days after the bookstore was locked up and branded with a bailiff’s notice, the Huiskens are now saying, “At this point, a fundraiser could only be a Pyrrhic victory.” They assure supporters that they’ve exhausted all their current options but haven’t lost hope that “the store may re-emerge in the long-term.”

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The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 7, 2010 | 3:19 pm

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Let them eat lake: as Toronto shuts down for the G20, feds spend millions on a fake Muskoka landscape

Please try again later (Image: Cameron MacMaster)

The rules in Toronto for the G20 summit are becoming clear as we get closer to showtime: first, no showtimes. Mirvish theatres have cancelled their shows for the week of June 21 due to “security concerns.” It’s the first time Ed’s stages have been closed since the blackout of ought-three. Second, no trains: Via Rail will be bypassing its main hub, Union Station, for the duration of the conference. Apparently, the plan is to gather media and notables from around the planet in a world-renowned city, only to drain it of everything that makes it world renowned.

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The Dish

Deathwatch

April 6, 2010 | 10:20 am

12 Comments

Bouches will no longer be amused after Amuse-Bouche closes on May 31

The people behind Amuse-Bouche confirmed today what was already suggested by the giant For Lease signs on their walls. After five successful years, the west-end French bistro will be shutting its doors on May 31. “Knowing that our lease was up for renewal, we contemplated our options and finally decided it was time to move on and explore new ventures and opportunities,” reads the message sent out to VIP customers and signed by operators Jason Inniss, Sarah Lyons and Bertrand Alépée.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

January 29, 2010 | 12:17 pm

14 Comments

Greg Couillard’s Spice Room may be closed for good among accusations of bounced cheques, serving without a liquor licence and thousands in unpaid wages

The entrance to the Spice Room (Photo by Karon Liu)

Closed for now or forever? The entrance to the Spice Room is presently blocked (Photo by Karon Liu)

It seems as though every restaurant nightmare is presently playing out in the basement of Hazelton Lanes, where Greg Couillard’s Spice Room and Chutney Bar sits abandoned behind a barrier of bar stools and a sign that reads “Restaurant Closed.” At Manyata, the restaurant’s courtyard café, dusty Christmas decorations have been pushed to the corner, and exposed wires hang from the ceiling like an abandoned renovation project. “Since David Nganga took over, it’s been a shit show,” says one Spice Room–Manyata server. “I’m madder than hell.”

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The Dish

Deathwatch

January 28, 2010 | 5:21 pm

32 Comments

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.”

The Dish

Deathwatch

January 18, 2010 | 3:17 pm

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Peter Street Deli closes after 15 years in the entertainment district

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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The Dish

Deathwatch

October 8, 2009 | 3:52 pm

1 Comment

Ho-Lee-Chow, ubiquitous purveyor of pseudo-Chinese food, closes its many doors

Ho-Lee-Crap: the Chinese food chain closed suddenly

Ho-Lee-Chow—that omnipresent bastion of quick, North Americanized Chinese food—is going out of business after 20 years. Around since 1989, Ho-Lee-Chow has been a fast-food mainstay in Toronto, seemingly always in eyeshot with its bright white decor and signature anti-MSG neon sign. The company’s Web site is currently down, and a phone message at the chain’s call centre says:

Due to circumstances beyond our control, one of which is the poor economic climate, another of which is a refusal to compromise on the quality and service you have come to appreciate, Ho-Lee-Chow has closed down operations.

While it’s unclear whether all of the chain’s locations will be closing, we’ve heard that at least one location, at St. Clair Avenue and Winona Drive, was still operating as of Wednesday night. Multiple calls to that location on Thursday, however, went unanswered. It is rumoured that some of the locations will continue to operate under different (and surely less hilarious) names.

The Dish

Rumours & Rumblings

September 21, 2009 | 3:18 pm

2 Comments

Closing in on the sale of the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar

Bar none: Jamie Kennedy's sale of his Wine Bar appears to be near completion (Photo by Kate Allen)

The much-anticipated sale of the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar, which has been in the works for several weeks, is slated to close mid-October. Two foodie power couples are poised to take over the hot spot, which is not expected to retain Jamie Kennedy’s name. Former Joy Bistro owners Ted Koutsogiannopoulos and his wife, Mary, have teamed up with newlyweds Scott Vivian and Rachelle Caldwell (former executive chef and pastry chef of Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner, respectively) to breathe new life into the downtown classic.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

August 12, 2009 | 11:46 am

1 Comment

Fire at new Glow restaurant causes two-week closure

Rose Reisman woke early last Thursday to talk about blueberry recipes on Canada AM. But when the restaurateur behind Glow Fresh Grill and Wine Bar checked her e-mail at around 4:30, there was a message from her restaurant manager; “Glow on fire” was the subject line.

“It was total disbelief,” said Reisman. “I literally felt sick to my stomach.” The three-week-old restaurant at the Shops at Don Mills became a charred mess after someone leaned a designer chair against a patio heater the night before. The large patio doors kept the fire from spreading into the dining room, but it was filled with enough smoke to warrant a heavy-duty cleaning.

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The Dish

Read All About It

July 22, 2009 | 8:04 am

5 Comments

Robert Pattinson cheaps out, forks outsell knives, measuring restaurant pretension

Tipple over tipping: Robert Pattison leaves a meagre 14 per cent (Photo by twilight foxdie)

Tipple over tipping: Robert Pattinson leaves a meagre 14 per cent (Photo by twilight foxdie)

• Twilight star Robert Pattinson has outraged New York waiters by leaving a 14 per cent tip. The English actor munched on caprese salad while downing chianti and beer until well past midnight this week, and when he offered just $50 on his $350 bill, the aghast wait staff at Il Cantinori felt compelled to leak his penny-pinching to the media. Fans defended Pattinson’s faux pas as a simple cultural misunderstanding (tipping isn’t customary in Britain), but no one seems to have asked if the service was bad. [New York Daily News]

• The British are buying half as many knives as forks, according to a study by Debenham’s department store. Marketers have come to the conclusion that more meals than ever–like burgers, fries and salad–don’t require cutting. In bustling London, full of time-strapped urbanites wolfing down their dinner, the fork-to-knife gap is even wider (three forks sold per knife). [Independent]

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

June 23, 2009 | 11:40 am

2 Comments

Jamie Kennedy sets the record straight on the Gardiner, the debts, and the Wine Bar sale

Present indicative: Jamie Kennedy is evolving his restaurant empire to suit the times (Photo by Davida Aronovitch)

Trim the fat: Jamie Kennedy is scaling back his restaurant empire to suit the times (Photo by Davida Aronovitch)

Last month, Jamie Kennedy called a press conference to talk about the transformation of his Gardiner restaurant from a fine dining destination to a café lunch spot—but that was only the beginning of the story. Kennedy is also facing crippling debt, bailout bids and the sale of his signature Wine Bar.

Kennedy says he will sell the Wine Bar, but only under the right circumstances. “I’m in no hurry,” he says, “This is not a fire sale.” In a Splendido-style hand off, Kennedy has offered the place to the next generation: senior staff Jamie Drummond, Laura Cleland, Aron Mohr and Scott Vivian. If the new JK cohort can scrape the funds together, the founder favours a clean break, though he’s conscious that his managers may want to keep up the association. “The Wine Bar was a beautiful thing and it should continue,” he says, “It occupies an important niche in the landscape of Toronto as a meeting point for local food.”

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The Dish

Opening

June 15, 2009 | 4:10 pm

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Thuet opens one, closes another

Marc Thuet and Biana Zorich are adding a new outpost to their empire, just as they close the dining room at Atelier Thuet. The second location of Petite Thuet will open at 1 King Street West in two weeks. The new bakery-café in the financial district will offer pastries, bread and coffee in a 900-square-foot space that’s directly across the street from a Starbucks. There has been little buzz about the opening thus far, but Zorich assures us that it is no secret—rather, she says, “It’s so small, should we even bother to do a press release?”

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