College Street | torontolife.com

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

All stories relating to College Street

The List: Rocco Rossi

Ten things the Liberal strategist and mayoral candidate can’t live without By Amy Verner

1. My favourite book
I first read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl at McGill, and I’ve reread it at least once a year ever since. I find
it incredibly affirming of the human spirit. It’s out of print now, so I look for copies at used bookstores to give to friends.

2. Dancing With the Stars
I was rooting for Nicole and Derek all the way. My wife, Rhonnie, and I tape it and make it our date night. We wouldn’t last on the show—our dancing is limited to weddings and parties.

3. Motown
Growing up, I hung out with my older cousins a lot, and they were into Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Sam and Dave.

4. My power breakfast
The servers at United Bakers (506 Lawrence Ave. W., 416-789-0519) are mostly older women who tell everyone to sit up straight. I go every two weeks and order the scrambled egg whites and lox, with a really nice caraway rye. It may be the best breakfast in the city.

5. A stroll on Palmerston
I grew up in East York and Scarborough, but we would always go to College Street for the Italian shops and festivals and take a walk up Palmerston. The houses seemed like castles to me then.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 28, 2010 | 2:42 pm

Comments

Toronto G20 photo gallery: the eerie aftermath

A collage of the many businesses that had to cover smashed windows over the G20 weekend. Most have already been replaced (Image: Karon Liu)

Before hundreds of bystanders were corralled into a human blockade at Queen and Spadina under torrential rain, the downtown core had a sense of peacefulness, albeit one that was basically forced down with an iron fist. Yonge and Queen streets, where much of Saturday’s riots happened, were practically deserted at noon. Stores were boarded up or closed, the roads were empty, save the streetcars that were running unusually frequently, and the only people on the sidewalks were police officers guarding every city block, tourists and amateur photographers who were weirdly hoping for a repeat of the previous day.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 26, 2010 | 7:42 pm

4 Comments

Slide show: Toronto’s anti-G20 riot

What started as a peaceful protest at Queen’s Park, with about 10,000 participants, became a riot as a small group of violent troublemakers smashed windows, set cop cars ablaze and confronted the police. The anti-G20 activists stormed through Queen West and the financial district this afternoon, before heading north toward Yonge and College. We were there, capturing every step of the evolution from protest to violence.

The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 26, 2010 | 4:46 pm

3 Comments

“Furious” Miller to Torontonians: “Take a deep breath”

“Take a deep breath,” an angry Mayor David Miller told Torontonians on Newstalk 1010 a few minutes ago when asked about the violence spreading through downtown Toronto. The mayor has been in constant contact with police chief Bill Blair. “I am furious,” said Miller. “Be calm, despite the actions of a relatively small group of people. Allow the police to do their work to make sure we’re safe.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 25, 2010 | 1:56 pm

1 Comment

Wave of boredom hits downtown Toronto as it waits for G20 chaos

José Lima and Abudu Adam get an early start on their protesting (Image: Jon Sufrin)

Compared to the ruckus caused by World Cup revellers on College Street this morning, the area around the G20 security zone was eerily silent. We could almost hear crickets on University Avenue, and the Tim Hortons at Bay and Richmond—usually thronged by caffeine addicts—sat completely empty. In fact, the only people noticeably populating the area were police officers, though none of them tried to evoke their new superpowers on us (we brought extra ID, just in case).

Read the rest of this entry »

The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 24, 2010 | 3:11 pm

1 Comment

G20 Toronto photo gallery: protestors get an early start

As Toronto braces for the G20 kickoff on Friday, local and imported protestors took to the streets in the west end to give the city a taste of what’s to come. Toronto Life was there

The Informer

From the Print Edition

June 16, 2010 | 5:00 am

22 Comments

50 Reasons to Love Toronto

Clockwise: no. 13 Jeanne Beker, no. 27 Drake, no. 4 Regent park, no. 2 cheese, no. 1 Smitherman, no.8 Royal Conservatory, no. 14 Yannick-Muriel Noah, no. 48 new TTC cars, no. 7 Jewish Lesbian Wiccan Wedding

HOW DID WE DO IT? While the Great Recession battered other cities, Toronto has emerged triumphant—Bay Street is bullish, our real estate market is hot, and the streets are sparkling for this month’s G20. Yes, our success has a lot to do with our stingy financial system, but it’s also because smart, interesting people move here every day, attracted to a city that’s challenging and gritty and exciting and indulgent (we have a restaurant dedicated entirely to grilled cheese sandwiches, Reason No. 2). If Torontonians have one shared flaw, it’s that we’re pathologically reluctant to acknowledge our greatness. Now, more than ever, we have reasons to brag

See the reasons »

The Dish

From the Print Edition

June 9, 2010 | 1:58 pm

7 Comments

Fever pitch: four ideal places to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup—soccer’s ultimate series—offers a riotous excuse to cut loose and bend your elbow before 11 a.m. Here, five places to cheer on your mother country (or adopted team) By Denise Balkissoon

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Restauran-TO

May 14, 2010 | 4:24 pm

1 Comment

Cinq 01 adds its own boozy weekend menu to College Street’s already crowded brunchscape

Cinq 01 awaits its brunchers (Image: Karon Liu)

Fresh from bringing the party back to College Street, Cinq 01 is now stepping up to continue the area’s brunch tradition. The resto-lounge’s first venture into brunch territory seeks to capture New York’s post–Saturday night vibe of which owner Toufik Sarwa is so fond. “I want it to be a nice, civilized brunch, something that would remind me of my New York Sundays,” he says. “I love New York on Sundays, and I find Toronto is sometimes too sleepy on Sunday.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

From the Print Edition

May 3, 2010 | 2:23 pm

10 Comments

The Rebirth of Booze

At the hottest restaurants, cocktails are as sophisticated as the food. Bartenders are playing with liquid nitrogen, concocting infusions, and changing the way we drink. It’s the most exciting gastronomic development in years By James Chatto

Smoke and firewater: Barchef, on Queen West, serves a $45 haute manhattan, a mix of whisky, vanilla cognac and bitters that arrives in a bell jar filled with hickory smoke (Image: Finn O'Hara)

There are only two kinds of cocktails—those that are dead and those that are alive—and the only way to tell them apart is to taste them. A dead drink is at best two-dimensional, merely a mixture of liquids; a living cocktail is full of motion as its flavours unfold on the palate. It’s like the difference between a paint-by-numbers canvas and a true work of art. And in this city, the dead outnumber the living by about a thousand to one.

But not for long, thanks to a handful of determined pioneers. Frankie Solarik at Barchef, Moses McIntee at Ame, Jen Agg at the Black Hoof and Bill Sweete at Sidecar make up the new avant-garde, along with Christine Sismondo, the author of the influential book Mondo Cocktail, who is opening her own place on College Street in July, wryly called the Toronto Temperance Society. Each one has a different view of what constitutes a great cocktail, but they all share a single belief: it’s high time the age of the crantini was over.

The most extreme place to observe this revolution is Barchef, the dimly lit temple of mixology on Queen West where Frankie Solarik is the celebrant. Tall, slim and bearded, wearing a black porkpie hat, he works behind a bar crowded with more than 30 spiced infusions and subtle elixirs in various flasks and jars. I’ve never seen such a set-up—like an alchemist’s laboratory, complete with the molecular foams, flavoured airs and gelatinous transubstantiations that are Solarik’s specialty. His masterpiece is a smoked vanilla manhattan, a $45 cocktail set in a bell jar filled with hickory smoke until it smells like a campfire and tastes like heaven.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Weekly Lunch Pick

April 26, 2010 | 8:33 am

1 Comment

Where to eat lunch this week: Negroni

This Little Italy sandwich shop sets a new standard for Toronto panino makers

Read the rest of this entry »

The Goods

From the Print Edition

April 20, 2010 | 10:21 am

1 Comment

Great Spaces: The 1960s Ardwold Gate home of the city’s top event planner

By Victoria Webster

(All images: Michael Graydon)

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Opening

April 15, 2010 | 3:29 pm

1 Comment

Just Opened: LAB, another jolt of life for College Street

Rumours of College Street’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Just when it seemed like the west-end strip was hopelessly cluttered with mediocre Italian trattorias, generic pan-Asian takeouts and busloads of barely legals from the burbs, along came a few culinary jewels: Sidecar, Negroni, Grace, Cinq 01 and now LAB.

“I liked the vibrancy of the neighbourhood, and being about 90 per cent Italian, I thought it could use something different,” says co-chef and owner Howard Dubrovsky. Once located (there’s no signage yet), the two-week old boîte proves to be a welcoming setting with a soundtrack of indie and down-tempo electro more common to Queen West than College. Formerly Bite Noodles and Rice, the 32-seat room feels like a collision of urban street and Victorian apothecary, with graffiti tags by artist Darcy Obokata, exposed brick, rustic wood and sleek black granite.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Restauran-TO

February 23, 2010 | 9:59 am

2 Comments

Toronto is now out-partying Montreal

After years of being known for its rather conservative party scene, is Toronto finally getting its act together? Resto-lounge mogul Toufik Sarwa says yes; in fact, Toronto now outshines Montreal as the best party city in the country, he tells BlogTO.

Ten years ago, I wanted to get the hell out of here. Now you couldn’t push me out. Even New York has reached its nighttime apex, and there’s a feeling in Toronto that it’s continually evolving and still has room to grow…that’s a good feeling.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Dish

Bottoms Up

February 18, 2010 | 11:40 am

4 Comments

Two vices are better than one: Toronto’s cafés break out the booze

A match made in Paris (and, increasingly, in Toronto) (Photo by Rob and Dani)

If we’re to believe Leah McLaren, the MacBook army has totally colonized Toronto’s coffee shops. Now, thanks to a new trend, they don’t have to leave when the sun goes down. More and more indie cafés are combining their coffee house concepts with bar concepts. By alternating between espresso and alcohol, spots like Blondie’s, Charlie’s Gallery and SpiceSafar are able to offer an all-day experience, while their teetotalling counterparts face a sobriety-induced early closure. “People enjoy a good coffee and a nice pastry in the morning, but they’re less likely to want the same thing in the evening,” says Scott Vivian, who recently took over Hank’s and added a nocturnal component, complete with Ontario wines and beer. “Rather than closing at 5, it just makes sense to do something else with the space at night.”

Read the rest of this entry »

All stories relating to College Street

Contests

Links and Offers

Most shared stories today

The latest from across the St. Joseph Media network