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All stories relating to cocktails

Best Bars: Toronto’s top 16 cocktail lounges, dives and speakeasies

By Denise Balkissoon, Ariel Brewster, Andrew D’Cruz, Matthew Hague, Malcolm Johnston, Emily Landau, Jason McBride, Alexandra Molotkow, Mark Pupo, Peter Saltsman, Courtney Shea and Eric Vellend. Photographs by Jess Baumung, Emma McIntyre, Liam Mogan, Sean J. Sprague, Christopher Stevenson, Ryan Szulc and Jamie Hogge

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

February 13, 2012 | 5:30 am

1 Comment

Best Bars: Two meticulously calibrated elixirs at Brassaii and Barchef (some assembly required)

Brassaii’s Campfire Coffee

Brassaii’s Campfire Coffee
461 King St. W., 416-598-4730

Booze slinger Jordan Stacey turns the common specialty coffee into a ready-made winter survival kit, complete with a mini bonfire. A cup of Maker’s Mark–spiked espresso, topped with vanilla-bourbon whipped cream, arrives at the table with all the fixings to make old-fashioned s’mores: chocolate-topped graham crackers, a skewered Jet-Puffed marshmallow and a small pile of rum-soaked cinnamon sticks and star anise that the server lights on fire so you can roast your marshmallow. The sweet sandwich pairs perfectly with the bitter, bourbon-soaked coffee. $18.

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The Dish

Opening

February 10, 2012 | 4:22 pm

19 Comments

Introducing: Lucid, Moses McIntee’s molecularly inclined cocktail bar and restaurant on Queen West

Moses McIntee, left, mixing a cocktail with liquid nitrogen (Image: Meaghan Binstock)

Sure, it might seem a tad inauspicious being the following act to the absurdly short-lived Bohemiam Gastropub and its similarly ill-fated predecessor Oh Boy Burger. But managing partner and mixologist Moses McIntee has high hopes for Lucid Cocktail and Kitchen, the latest business to grace 571 Queen Street West. The liquid nitrogen–loving bartender has served his elaborate concoctions all over the city, most notably at Paese, Ame and Toca, but this is his first stab at having full creative control. Lucid’s financial backers remain the same as those of Bohemian (and Böhmer, for that matter), but McIntee has handpicked a new front-of-house team that had better not be afraid to perform a few science experiments for their guests—because that’s exactly what his drinks require.

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The Dish

Bottoms Up

February 10, 2012 | 9:38 am

13 Comments

POLL: How much should you tip for fancy, pricy cocktails?

He shakes hard for your money (Image: CharlieTPhotographic)

Over at the advice section of the New York Times Dining Journal, Florence Fabricant writes:

The dollar per drink you might tip for some “well” alcohol on the rocks is not adequate these days for that Cucumber Basil Crush. Mixologists are becoming chefs and take special care in how their drinks are assembled and served. And for that reason, I’d tip $2.50 to $3 on a $14 cocktail — even if the bartender isn’t a great conversationalist.

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The Dish

Opening

February 8, 2012 | 3:30 pm

4 Comments

Introducing: Gusto 101, a new King West Italian joint that’s got wine on tap (from the basement winery)

The bar at Gusto 101 (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Gusto 101, the latest shiny new thing to appear in the perpetually-in-construction King West neighbourhood, opened its doors last Friday. Built out of a dilapidated old auto garage, Gusto 101 is still decidedly King West—and that’s exactly what owner Janet Zuccarini (Trattoria Nervosa), director of operations Jill McAbe and designer Alessandro Munge were going for. Inside, the bare cinderblock walls are outfitted with industrial-style light fixtures, and old licence plates hang on a wooden beam. The open kitchen shows off the restaurant’s centerpiece: a Tuscan-style wood-fire grill.

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The Dish

Opening

February 6, 2012 | 5:00 pm

3 Comments

Introducing: Ursa, a new Queen West restaurant serving modern Canadian cuisine (that’s secretly good for you too)

Inside the sleek space that used to house Bar One (Image: Meaghan Binstock)

Back in July, the owners of Trinity-Bellwoods staple Bar One announced they were shutting its doors after an 11-year run. Six months and one gut job later, the dramatically transformed space, complete with sleek burned wood panelling and constellations of bare hanging bulbs, has reopened as Ursa, with brothers and first-time owners Jacob and Lucas Sharkey-Pearce at the helm. Jacob, the executive chef, is no stranger to the industry, with a pedigree that includes Thuet Bistro, Centro and the Windsor Arms Hotel. And while Cosimo Mammoliti of Terroni fame is the restaurant’s third (and mostly silent) partner, the menu is almost the exact opposite of that chain’s carb-heavy Southern Italian comfort food (the brothers started off as teenage employees at the Queen Street location).

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The Dish

Bottoms Up

February 3, 2012 | 3:36 pm

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Demand for fancy cocktail ice spurs Chilean man to steal five tonnes’ worth—from a glacier

Nothing like an old-fashioned on the glacial rocks

Seizing on a new and unique way to sucker people into paying exorbitant prices for water-based products, a man in Chile chipped five tonnes of ice from a glacier in Patagonia, which he allegedly planned to sell as “designer ice cubes.” The Guardian reports that cops busted the man as he was driving a refrigerated truck with about $6,200 worth of illicit ice that would have wound up in fancy cocktails in Santiago, Chile. The ice, by the way, was taken from Jorge Montt, which ranks among the world’s most rapidly shrinking glaciers—it’s retreating at a rate of half a mile per year, according to the Guardian. In addition to making us not want to live on this planet anymore, this story leaves many lingering questions. Is glacier theft the next big bartending trend? What other landmarks might we desecrate in the name of a perfectly chilled old-fashioned? Could the Leafs raise some extra cash by selling cubes of centre ice? Read the entire story [The Guardian] »

(Images: cocktail, thebittenword.com; glacier, Luis Argerich)

The Informer

Urban Diplomat

January 19, 2012 | 12:30 pm

2 Comments

Dear Urban Diplomat: is arriving late to parties just part of Toronto culture?

(Image: Khairil Zhafri)

Dear Urban Diplomat,
I moved to Toronto from Tokyo about a year ago. Maybe it’s just a difference in cultures, but no one shows up for my parties on time. Where I’m from, if an invitation says 8 p.m., you show up at 8 p.m. Here, some guests arrive an hour late and don’t even apologize. Often, I am too annoyed to enjoy myself. Any tips for handling this situation next time?
—Times Have Changed, CABBAGETOWN

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The Dish

Opening

January 13, 2012 | 1:41 pm

12 Comments

Introducing: Bar Neon, a new Bloordale watering hole with some ambitious grub

Jeff Garcia’s striking mural adorns one wall at Bar Neon (Image: Gizelle Lau)

When Bar Neon opened last month, it became Bloordale’s answer to the trend embodied by places like Grand Electric and 416 Snack Bar: hip, local watering holes not afraid to serve food with a little ambition. Behind Bar Neon is Niki Tsourounakis, who grew up around the restaurant business, near Montreal. She also owns Café Neon in just outside the Junction Triangle and Amphora Products, a company that imports organic Vlatos olive oil and fleur de sel from Crete—both of which, naturally, make a few appearances on the plates at Bar Neon.

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The Goods

From the Print Edition

January 12, 2012 | 1:05 pm

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Where to Get Good Stuff Cheap 2012: everything you need for a cost-effective happy hour

Where to Get Good Stuff Cheap | Happy hour

Mixing glass
BYOB
972 Queen St. W., 877-989-8980
The classic Japanese Yarai mixing glass is large enough for making two cocktails at once, and its heavy glass frame looks good—but it’s infinitely more durable than similarly stunning crystal pieces (and infinitely less expensive, too).

Check out these four essential items for 60 minutes of low-cost boozy revelry »

The Dish

Rumours & Rumblings

January 6, 2012 | 11:30 am

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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.

The Dish

From the Print Edition

October 21, 2011 | 12:57 pm

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New Reviews: Pizzeria Defina, Diana’s Oyster Bar and the Hoof Cocktail Bar

Thin-crust lust in Roncey, impeccable seafood in Scarborough and double-digit cocktails on Dundas West

PIZZERIA DEFINA
321 Roncesvalles Ave., 416-534-4414

The newest pizza parlour on the Roncesvalles strip isn’t world changing, but it’s a welcome addition to a neighbourhood brimming with families looking for quick, crowd-pleasing food. There are plenty of oddities on the menu: pizza salads and even a lasagna pizza (a margherita with ground beef and fior di latte). The baked pies, flash-cooked in a wood-fired brick oven, are tasty, though not Libretto, Queen Margherita or Terroni calibre. The crusts one night were a touch underdone, where they should have been blistered black. The tomato sauce is fine but doesn’t have the zip of a great San Marzano. The caesar salad is phoned in: the lettuce is still damp from washing, the dressing lacks punch, and the croutons are AWOL. Green bean “fritti” are tasty from lots of salt and pepper but floppy from deep-frying. Friendly service and a perfunctory wine list.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

September 22, 2011 | 12:54 pm

16 Comments

True Grits: Chris Nuttall-Smith on Acadia’s sublime Lowcountry cooking

(Image: Emma McIntyre)

There are things you don’t expect in a cheap, casual Little Italy restaurant with a mediocre wine list. You don’t expect to find grits like these, for instance: melting, creamy, aggressively, exquisitely corny grits that the chef has mail-ordered in from South Carolina, because that’s where the best grits on the planet come from. They’re stirred through with pimento cheese that unfurls like a warm southern front on the tender stretch at the back of your throat.

There’s a broth around the grits, clear as glass but evil-deep and smoky from ham hocks, and there are shrimp, which are sweet, of course, but more than that. These are Gulf shrimp, mild and clean-tasting, whereas shrimp at other restaurants almost always taste like mud. The whole dish is sharp, focused, super-seasoned but not salty, a burst to the mainline. I have to shush my giddy tablemate. He’s dropping F-mother bombs because the food is so good.

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The Hype

TIFF Talk

September 20, 2011 | 12:00 pm

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TIFF 2011 Roundup: How to be Don Draper (er, Jon Hamm)

Jon Hamm at the George Stroumboulopoulos Hazel Hotel Takevoer party (Image: JJ Thompson)

One of the many A-list celebrities to grace Toronto’s streets last week for TIFF 2011 was none other than Jon Hamm himself—or as he’s perhaps better known, Don Draper, the enigmatic ad executive he plays on the television show Mad Men. Hamm was a class act throughout TIFF: he took in Toronto sights, went to all the right parties and, of course, looked devastatingly handsome while doing it. Based on Hamm’s short but sweet stay in the Big Smoke, we’ve distilled four rules on how to be a gentlemen—Mad Men style—whilst in Toronto, after the jump.

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The Dish

Opening

September 16, 2011 | 11:49 am

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Introducing: the second stop on the Drake Dining Roadshow, 1940s L.A. Chinatown

The redesigned dining room features all kinds of gleeful appropriations and kitschy Chinatown elements, like this wall of cats. (Image: Gizelle Lau)

Back in June, we told you about the Drake Hotel’s Dining Roadshow, a series of thematically changing restaurant concepts constructed in the back section of the hotel’s dining room, starting with the Drake Summer School Dining Hall. This stop: 1940s L.A. Chinatown, which opened just in time for TIFF and continues until November 19.

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