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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 Don Mills

The Informer

From the Print Edition

25 Comments

How Toronto’s lavishly rich Latner family is tearing itself apart

Albert Latner made his fortune in real estate, health care and casinos, and lavished his four children with riches. After his wife died, he gave them their inheritance early. Now they’re feuding over the estate, launching lawsuit after lawsuit and tearing the family apart. A cautionary tale about the burdens of love and money

Latner vs. Latner

Joshua Latner

In February 2010, Joshua Latner was alerted by several friends about a photo posted on the Internet. He sat down at his computer, Googled himself and was disturbed to find his picture with the word “loser” scrawled across his face.

Joshua is not, and has never been, a man with a nine-to-five job. An enthusiastic collector of fine wines and rare antiques, he is 49 years old and lives in Zurich with his wife, Kendal, and their two young children. He also maintains residences in Toronto, Key Biscayne and Tokyo and on the Greek island of Mykonos, where he raises chickens and honeybees as a hobby. He inherited $150 million when his father, Albert Latner, a Toronto property developer and entrepreneur, decided to give each of his four children what’s known in high-net-worth circles as the velvet handshake—shorthand for early inheritance.

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The Dish

De-licious

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Summerlicious 2011: Toronto Life’s lunch and dinner picks north of St. Clair

SUMMERLICIOUS 2011 | UPTOWN

Summerlicious is well represented north of St. Clair. Here are the 16 Toronto Life picks for Leaside, Davisville, Don Mills and Yonge and Eglinton.

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

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Best New Restaurants 2011

Oysters from Frank's Kitchen

This year’s crop of restaurants, from a million-dollar dining room to a brazen burger joint, pushed Toronto’s culinary culture in creative, comforting and blessedly cheap directions. Here, the 10 new spots that are redefining the way we eat, drink and play in the city

See the list »

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The Dish

From the Print Edition

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Frisky Business: Chris Nuttall-Smith takes on Mark McEwan’s Fabbrica

Bling king Mark McEwan has abandoned his usual opulence with Fabbrica. It’s loud, lusty and the one thing elite chefs tend to forget: fun

(Image: Vanessa Heins)

After four hit restaurants, two television shows, one catering company, one high-end grocery emporium and 26 years as a hospitality magnate (plus another 10 as a mere chef before that), Mark McEwan has his formula down. The chef mixes knowing, professional service with French-Italian food that’s expertly prepared, exorbitantly priced and touched with just enough exoticisms (chipotle-yuzu aïoli, “laughing bird” shrimp, “illokai,” which lesser places just call passion fruit) to keep it all safely au courant. McEwan’s not a businessman; he’s a business, man—a consistent, constantly expanding luxury brand in a time when luxury was supposed to have been given up for dead. The feel of his places is exclusive and timeless, but in that late-’90s way, where the design is spare, the market is always rising, and Thievery Corporation—those turn-of-the-century masters of inoffensive and vaguely international electro-pop—plays in the background to keep things light.

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The Informer

Gimme Shelter

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House of the Week: $3.8 million for this ’50s-meets-the-future eco-house near the Bridle Path

ADDRESS: 35 Misty Crescent

NEIGHBOURHOOD: Banbury–Don Mills

AGENT: Marie Natscheff, Bosley Real Estate

PRICE: $3,800,000

THE PLACE: This steel and concrete abode manages to be warm (even the floors are heated) and sleek all at once. Though built in 2007, the house has a 1950s mod aesthetic, thanks to patient owners who took almost a year to find the perfect space to transform. They opted for an enormous lot (88.58 by 187.84 feet) near the Bridle Path and constructed a home with massive open spaces and huge floor-to-ceiling windows. The dining room comes summer-ready, with doors that open to the backyard and a gleaming outdoor kitchen, complete with a barbecue, sink, mini-fridge and eight-person table.

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The Dish

Opening

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Introducing: Fabbrica. Take a tour of Mark McEwan’s new Italian restaurant

The chef poses in front of his new pizza oven (Images: Karon Liu)

“Would you like to try a pizza?” asks chef Mark McEwan as he stands in front of the wood-burning oven at his newest restaurant, Fabbrica, located in the suburban Shops at Don Mills. “It’ll only take 90 seconds, and we can eat it at the bar.” Never mind that he’s expecting dozens of guests for a preview dinner or that he also has to head downtown in an hour or two to do his second book signing this week; McEwan sits down and shares a salsiccia pizza (lamb sausage, caramelized fennel, mozzarella) with us like it was a lazy Sunday afternoon.

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The Hype

To-Do List

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The Weekender: TIFF, Roald Dahl Festival, the Cake Boss and six other events on our to-do list

Toronto goes celeb crazy for TIFF (Image: Karon Liu)

1. TIFF
It’s that time again—the time of celeb stalking, party crashing, 4 a.m. tipples and maybe catching the occasional movie, also known as the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s shaping up to be a good one: the Scotiabank Theatre doesn’t have bedbugs; Jon (Hamm), Javier (Bardem), James (Franco) and the Ryans (Phillippe and Reynolds) will be in town; and non-boldface names can party at the new Bell Lightbox’s Sunday afternoon block party. Don’t forget to check out our insider coverage of TIFF on The Hype. Sept. 9 to 18. Various locations, 416-968-3456, tiff.net.

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The Informer

From the Print Edition

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All Mixed Up: Toronto is the mixed-marriage capital of Canada

How our city is proof that if a post-racial society is possible, it will begin in the bedroom

(Image: Asaf Hanuka)

This fall, my husband and I will mark the 34th anniversary of our Chinese-Jewish marriage. Back in 1976, some folks (OK, my parents) fretted it would never last. “Think of the kids! Neither side will accept them,” my mother warned. It took 14 years—and the birth of our first child—before she quit running in hysterics from her house whenever my husband dropped by. (I’m not kidding.)

Yet in 2010, not only am I still married, with two fairly acceptable sons, I find myself living in the mixed-marriage capital of Canada. Toronto famously blazed the way for same-sex marriage. Today, it turns out to be a Petri dish for innovative people combos. According to the latest Statistics Canada data, nearly twice as many Toronto couples are in mixed marriages, legal and common law, as the rest of Canadians, 7.1 per cent versus 3.9 per cent. That number covers all existing unions, including dusty old ones like mine.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

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We ask the top chefs at Toronto Taste what’s in store at George, Splendido, Scaramouche and the rest of the city’s hot restaurants

This past Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of Toronto Taste, the annual event that unites Toronto’s food lovers and food makers for a day of innovative cooking, tasking and fundraising for Second Harvest. 60 of Toronto’s top chefs—including Jason Bangerter, Donna Dooher, Chris McDonald, Mark McEwan, Anthony Walsh and Anne Yarymowich—doled out top-notch cuisine to an estimated 1,600 guests at the ROM. We caught up with the chefs and asked them what’s in store for them and their restaurants this summer.

Urban Decoder

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I’ve seen a few rats in the subway lately. Is the rodent population on the rise? What does the TTC do for pest control?

(Image: istockphoto)

It’s difficult to precisely measure the growth of rat populations—the loathed rodents are more likely to be caught and killed than tagged and tracked—but many Toronto pest control specialists say their business has shot up since the 2009 garbage strike sparked a veritable vermin baby boom last July, so it’s quite possi­ble the summer of rodent love is responsible for an increased presence in the subways. Geography is also a factor; your chances of spotting a rat are greater in the downtown core because the busy inner stations see the most foot traffic and, in turn, collect the most litter. Being crafty scavengers, the hungry varmints flock to the bounty. Regular platform cleanups prevent the stations from becoming smorgasbords for pests. However, rats are most often spotted on the tracks, where garbage collection is less frequent because it can only be done in the wee hours when the system is shut down. It’s at track level where the TTC’s anti-rat measures go from benignly preventive to justifiably homicidal. Every four months, maintenance crews distribute rodenticides at the ends of each platform. Depending on your animal ethics, this practice may either reassure you or cause you to recoil with indignation.

• Question from Hanna Leonides, Don Mills

Wondering about the waterfront? Curious about construction? Perplexed by politics? Ask the Urban Decoder a question here.

The Informer

Summit Survivor

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Hipsters cheer, cruisers jeer: G20 protest area moved from Trinity Bellwoods to Queen’s Park

Imagine this coming down the Bridle Path (Image: Subterranean Tourist Board)

Ironic picnics and post-brunch strolls will continue without disruption as cops issue a press release today about moving the designated G20 protest spot away from Trinity Bellwoods Park. According to Torontoist’s Twitter feed, the new location is Queen’s Park, and a robot from Olivia Chow’s office is calling to tell constituents just that. The Globe hilariously suggests moving the demonstrations to the Gardiner ceramics museum or the Summerhill LCBO. Until the location is confirmed, we’d like to continue guessing where protestors will burn their Harper effigies.

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The Informer

Cityscape

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What is Toronto’s most popular new building? The Pug Awards wants to know

The Bay Adelaide Centre is in the running (Image: Neal Jennings)

Polls are now open for the 2010 Pug Awards, in which the Toronto public will recognize—through a vote of “love it,” “like it” or “hate it”—the buildings completed in 2009 that display the most architectural finesse. (Find the full list of nominations after the jump.)

What began as a satirical venture in 2004 as the Fugly Awards (given to buildings that were really freaking ugly) has evolved into a coveted Toronto distinction, with around 50,000 people expected to vote this year on 34 residential nominees and seven commercial ones—including the RBC Centre, the Telus Tower and the Madison Avenue Lofts.

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The Goods

Beauty School

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Donato Salon and Spa is the newest resident at the Shops at Don Mills

Despite the huffing and puffing indie book shop McNally Robinson made when it closed its Shops at Don Mills location (it blamed the mall for its poor performance), there are still businesses willing to move into the complex. The latest is the 6,000-square-foot Donato Salon and Spa, which celebrates its grand opening tomorrow—Leigh and Harlow and Roots are also slated to open. This is the fourth location of Toronto stylist John Donato’s salon; Donato was named best editorial stylist at the 2008 North American Hairstyling Awards.

The Goods

Shop Talk

11 Comments

McNally Robinson back from bankruptcy protection, still hates Shops at Don Mills

Winnipeg-based independent bookseller McNally Robinson emerged from bankruptcy protection on Monday with plans to restructure the company.

This comes a month after the company was forced to shut down one of its Winnipeg locations and the Toronto Shops at Don Mills store. Founder Paul McNally has been vocal about the Toronto shop being one of the company’s biggest mistakes and blamed the shopping centre for an array of problems.

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The Goods

Shop Talk

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Thirty-four Toronto stores that didn’t make it through 2009

pagesclosed

A huge rent increase forced Pages to close last summer (Photo by Neal Jennings)

Last year was for Toronto store owners what recent seasons have been like for the Blue Jays: difficult to endure and full of loss. Thanks to the most severe economic downturn in decades, the city said goodbye to many long-standing businesses, notably Dack’s, Syd Silver and Rotman’s Hat Shop and Haberdashery. There was a high turnover of businesses on Queen Street West and at Yonge and Eglinton, and the independent bookstore sector was hit hard. Here, a look back at 34 shops we lost in 2009.

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