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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 Can-Pour shot glass fills to the smaller, Canadian ounce
A few years ago, Kyle Tweter and Dan Wilson, owners of The Moose bar in Vancouver, discovered that there was a consistent gap between their liquor inventory at the end of the night compared to their revenue from drinks poured. Most restaurateurs attribute the discrepancy to heavy-handed bartenders or employees sneaking drinks on the job. Tweter and Wilson were shocked when they discovered that it was the shot glass that was the problem—and they decided to do something about it.
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Sit and sip: Boutique Bar's happy-hour crowd takes over the patio (Image: Boutique Bar)
For a year and a half, French competitive mixologist Julien Salomone and his wife, Haligonian Devon Salomone, combed the city for a quaint space to open their own cocktail bar. The search ended when they found Veda‘s old space on Church Street: right in the heart of the gay village and minutes away from their house. Boutique Bar‘s first reveal took place last month during Pride, but is now officially open for business, bringing the strip a new patio space and a gamut of deluxe cocktails.
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Patio season is in full swing (Photo by IntangibleArts)
With the summertime gods finally smiling, we took another look around town for patios that have sprouted up this season. Here, five brand new places to satisfy the craving for fresh air and fresh fare.
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Gardiner gospel: Jamie Kennedy and his locavore philosophy roll with the punches
Having served the last à la carte meal at the Gardiner on June 7, local produce booster Jamie Kennedy invited professional foodies for a preview of the location’s new concept, which includes a weekly lunch series and Friday afternoon happy hour. In addition to the new Gardiner Café (which offers sandwiches and salads during the week), a $25 three-course lunch, available every Wednesday at noon (starting June 17), will soon be served in the formerly full-service Terrace Room. The prix-fixe meal will feature the wares of a different artisanal grower each week. Kennedy’s team will also cater events in the space, and the terrace bar will serve small plates for a scotch-soaked happy hour on Fridays, with three kinds of Balvenie single malt to keep workaholics giddy. Yet excitement about new plans (and giggles from swooning food writers) is accompanied by a sobering discussion and the news that he has decided to sell Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar.
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Toronto's too busy to do one thing at a time (Photo by jethros_tale)
Nothing is more Torontonian than the ability to multitask. The daily toggle between BlackBerry and iPhone is de rigueur, as is the commute-telecon- ference-breakfast. So entrenched is this poly-purpose tendency that it is emerging as a new trend in the city’s eating and drinking culture. Multi-concept spaces—bars that are also boutiques, cafés that double as galleries and triple as schools—are on the rise. Hogtown boasts an embarrassment of retail riches, which means that shoppers can afford to be choosy—even lazy. “You have to offer more these days,” explains local goldsmith Elena Ginsberg. “People want quality, and they also want to be entertained.” That’s why she’s applying the café-boutique concept to modish bar Unit, which will offer coffee and her Kvell designs, as well as full bar service at night. Starting in late April, Queen West crawlers who stumble in after dark will find that metalworks are on sale until close, and maybe discover that it is dangerous (and fun) to shop for jewellery after a couple of cocktails.
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Brad Moore at School (Photo by Renée Suen)
Class is in session at School Bakery and Café, which served up its inaugural Saturday brunch this past weekend. Since opening mid-January, chef Brad Moore’s Liberty Village project has been attracting attention for its gimmicky take on education, complete with ruled-paper menus, school bells and trivia-covered banquettes. But collegiate accessories are for style only. Moore, who assures us that the first full weekend brunch service went off without a hitch, is very clear on the fact that “there are no rules at School.”
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