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Introducing: Via Mercanti, Kensington’s new Neapolitan-style pizza parlour from a pair of Queen Margherita exiles

Massimo Di Lascio making a pizza (Image: Caroline Aksich)

For those tired of Terroni’s traditionalism, Libretto’s lineups and the long ride on the 501 out to Queen Margherita, there’s a new, laid-back Neapolitan-style pizza operation in town: Via Mercanti. The latest addition to Kensington Market is helmed by two Sicilian expats, Romolo Salvati and Massimo Di Lascio, who both have some serious pizza pedigree—they left the Queen Margherita only two months ago to set up shop in the recently shuttered Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill, where Salvati was once the chef. Their new venture reflects both of their passions: pizza and coffee.

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The Dish

Opening

February 8, 2012 | 3:30 pm

1 Comment

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

1 Comment

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

Opening

February 1, 2012 | 12:00 pm

5 Comments

Introducing: DonDon Izakaya, downtown’s new spot for authentic Japanese bar food

A healthy strike of the taiko drum greets each customer (Image: Gizelle Lau)

When we first told you about DonDon Izakaya last summer, it was slated for an October opening, but as such things go, it wasn’t until early January that the Japanese restaurant opened quietly after nearly 10 months of renovation. Located on the second storey of an unassuming building at Bay and Dundas, DonDon took over the space once occupied by One Up Restaurant & Lounge. Despite the slightly inauspicious upstairs location, it’s already drawing customers (the big wooden entranceway probably helps), but not quite the mad lineups of its izakaya forbear, Guu—a least not yet.

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The Dish

Opening

January 31, 2012 | 11:54 am

11 Comments

Introducing: Bloke and 4th, King West’s newest big, shiny resto-lounge

What was once M:Brgr is now the 7,000-square-foot, 400-seat Bloke and 4th (Image: Signe Langford)

At the end of May 2011, the Toronto outpost of Montreal’s M:Brgr shut its doors after a very brief run (perhaps they didn’t sell enough $100 burgers). Now that space at King and Spadina has been taken over by five first-time restaurateurs, all in their 20s, each from a different field and all exuding a preternatural confidence about their new venture. In short order, they took an upmarket burger joint and turned it into a stylish 400-seat resto-lounge: Bloke and 4th.

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The Dish

Opening

January 20, 2012 | 3:55 pm

16 Comments

Introducing: The Burger’s Priest on Yonge, the much-anticipated second location of Shant Mardirosian’s all-American roadhouse

Looking out onto Yonge Street

On the opening night at The Burger’s Priest’s eagerly anticipated second location at Yonge and Lawrence, owner Shant Mardirosian had butterflies in his stomach. “I was sweating buckets,” says the man behind what many consider to be Toronto’s best burger. But when the doors finally swung open, the eager crowd outside burst into a spontaneous cheer, leaving Mardirosian at a loss for words. “It was insanity. It brought a tear to my eye, to be honest. I’m blown away by what’s going on.”

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The Dish

Opening

January 20, 2012 | 1:54 pm

4 Comments

Introducing: Pachuco, the new Danforth Mexican restaurant from the sisters behind Embrujo Flamenco

Pachuco is tucked away underneath Embrujo Flamenco on the Danforth

As defined by Urban Dictionary, a pachuco is “a Chicano or Mexican guy back in the 1930s to 1950s that dressed in zoot suits.” As defined by the Fernandez sisters, Jais, Eren and Mali, it’s a subterranean cantina serving authentic Mexican food with a modern twist. The sisters arrived in Toronto at various times over the last few decades, but ultimately, their shared love of food and entrepreneurial nature led them in 2002 to open Embrujo Flamenco, the Danforth tapas bar with live dancing, and Café Madrid in the cellar, which they’ve now transformed into Pachuco.

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The Dish

Opening

January 19, 2012 | 1:15 pm

6 Comments

Introducing: The Hot ’n Dog, Parkdale’s coolest new lunch spot for the under-18 set

The Hot ’n Dog’s effervescent owner, George Karpouzis (Image: Karolyne Ellacott)

As hungry customers file into The Hot ’n Dog around noon, owner George Karpouzis greets regulars by name, inquiring after their day and reminding them, gently, to keep up with their homework. With four schools within walking distance, this tiny new Parkdale eatery is the new go-to place for kids to looking grab a quick lunch. We decided to see what the fuss was about.

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The Dish

Opening

January 18, 2012 | 12:10 pm

4 Comments

Introducing: Maialino Enoteca Italiana, a bit of Sicily at the edge of Parkdale

Inside the small, Patti Rosati–designed room on Queen Street West (Image: Karolyne Ellacott)

Maialino Enoteca Italiana, the latest in a seemingly unending stream of new Italian restaurants, sits on the last strip of Queen east of Roncesvalles. The restaurant, which opened quietly just before Christmas, aims to set itself apart with its modern take on traditional Sicilian cuisine (indeed, there’s a little icon on the menus indicating Sicilian dishes). Promising no buffalo mozzarella, owner Mike Rutigliano notes that increasingly, the food from Italy’s south is making its mark on the food world—which, in the Toronto context, means giving the pizza-loving northerners a run for their money.

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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 Dish

Opening

January 12, 2012 | 2:00 pm

11 Comments

Introducing: Yours Truly, a new Ossington restaurant and bar with a chef whose resumé includes Per Se, Alinea and Noma (no, really)

A cook does some prep work at the bar before opening (Image: Renée Suen)

Yours Truly, a new restaurant and bar on the still-hot Ossington strip, opened with no great fanfare in mid-December, but now it’s causing quite a stir. Behind the place are ex-Vancouverites Matt Cherkas, Dan Hawkins and Aleem Jamal-Kabani, who found that Toronto put up a less fierce barrier to entry than their hometown did. Initially, they’d planned on opening a little watering hole to call their own with a few bar snacks, but everything changed after they found their new chef, Jeff Claudio. At only 28, Claudio has an impressive pedigree: he’s worked at Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York, Rockpool in Sydney and the Toronto branch of Scarpetta, where he was chef de cuisine. He also staged at Noma (a.k.a. the best restaurant in the world) and two of Chicago’s best restaurants, Alinea and Charlie Trotter’s. Hence the buzz.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

January 10, 2012 | 11:02 am

4 Comments

Where magazine names Acadia Toronto’s best new restaurant

This morning, Where announced its annual picks for the best new restaurant in each of the regions the travel magazine covers in Canada. The winner for Toronto, unsurprisingly, was Acadia, Matt Blondin and Scott Selland’s buzzy new Clinton Street temple to the cuisine of the Lowcountry, which the Where editors praised for its “precisely pruned menu of seasonal sea- and soul-food dishes in a space that’s evocative of an old, oceanside cottage.” Other picks across the country include Calgary’s Latin-tinged Ox and Angela, Parry Sound’s Kudos Kuisine and the vintage-glam Hawksworth Restaurant in Vancouver’s Rosewood Hotel Georgia. Toronto Life will announce its picks for the city’s top 10 new restaurants of 2011 in our April issue. Read the entire story [Where] »

The Dish

Opening

January 4, 2012 | 10:42 am

7 Comments

Introducing: The Westerly, a new Roncesvalles restaurant and bar from a pair of West Coasters

Co-owner Beth Davyduke outside her new Roncesvalles restaurant

The churn of restaurants on Roncesvalles continues apace with the addition of The Westerly to the once Polish-dominated strip (indeed, we recently reported on the closing of Roncy mainstay Granowska’s). Like The Ace up the street, The Westerly focuses on classic dishes done right, which means making things from scratch. Focaccia and crusty baguettes baked on the premises? Check. Fresh homemade pasta? Check. Desserts made in-house? Check. And to top it off, The Westerly even features its own intrepid young mixologist and signature cocktail, the Sweet Roncy, a blend of gin, fresh apricots and Italian cherry liquor.

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The Dish

Opening

December 21, 2011 | 4:29 pm

3 Comments

Introducing: BruDa, a new pan-European restaurant from two Little Italy vets

Inside BruDa, once home to Negroni (and, briefly, Carpano)

Little Italy has seen a brisk changing of the guard in the past couple years, with the rise of new buzzy spots like Woodlot, Acadia and Frank’s Kitchen. A couple weeks ago, Neil Da Costa and Victor Brum, two veterans of the neighbourhood who first met at Trattoria Giancarlo, opened BruDa in the space that long held Negroni (and briefly held Carpano). Rather than pigeonholing themselves into specifically Italian, French or Spanish cuisine, they describe their restaurant’s menu as “European.”

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The Dish

Opening

December 20, 2011 | 3:32 pm

1 Comment

Introducing: Fidel Gastro’s, the sandwich-toting pop-up revolutionary

The rebel without a kitchen in a kitchen (not his) (Image: Renée Suen)

2011 has been a big year for ephemeral eating in Toronto. There was the (sort of) rise of food trucks, the smash-hit Toronto Underground Market and, of course, pop-up restaurants. The latest of these is Fidel Gastro’s, a one-man sandwich operation that’s the brainchild of Italian-born 27-year old Matthew Basile, the self-appointed leader of Toronto’s “sandwich revolution” and, not surprisingly, an ex-marketer.

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