After two years of restaurant death watches, it seems like 2010 is going to be a time of cautious expansion in Toronto’s restaurant industry. We’ve noticed that several local establishments are planning second locations, and they all look promising. A short list, after the jump.
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Posts Tagged ‘Owners’
Restauran-TO
Three restaurant expansions offer some optimism for Toronto’s restaurant industry
Restauran-TO
Despite everything, Scaramouche is staying where it is
After years of rumours that the 30-year-old restaurant would be moving, Scaramouche has let it be known that it’s staying put. After a long and contentious battle, restaurant owners and landlords agreed to extend the lease at 1 Benvenuto Place for six more years. “Friends and clients have been asking us where Scaramouche will move, so I’m pleased to finally report that we’re staying where we are,” says executive chef Keith Froggett.
Opening
A peek inside Parts and Labour, a new Parkdale restaurant that unites owners of The Social, Oddfellows and Castor Design
Parts and Labour: under construction (Image: Karon Liu)
First Cowbell, then Local Kitchen, and now this.
With the arrival of Parts and Labour, a hardware store transformed into a restaurant, the tail end of Queen West takes another step from weekend antiquing destination to social hub. Parkdale locals are excited about the new spot, and with good reason: it represents a new partnership between the owners of The Social, Castor Design and Oddfellows.
During a tour with Richard Lambert, one of the owners, we’re told that Parts and Labour is designed for “Social graduates who want to be more mature and don’t go out to clubs as much anymore.” He adds with a laugh, “We also have a no-electronic-music policy.”
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Rumours & Rumblings
Laura Secord returns to Canadian ownership
After more than 20 years, Laura Secord is back in Canadian hands after Quebec-based chocolatier Nutriart bought the company for $20 million from private U.S. investors.
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Bottoms Up
Toronto gets in on the secret bar trend with a mysterious new spot from Sidecar’s owners
Toronto has been slow to get in on the underground nightclub trend underway in San Francisco and New York, but that’s all about to change: a modern-day speakeasy is set to open on College Street this June. Bill Sweete and Casey Bee, the masterminds behind Sidecar and Negroni, have teamed up with writer Christine Sismondo to launch the Toronto Temperance Society, a venue of “fine drinks, good music and good company.” Membership can be obtained only through an application process and an annual fee of $285. The TTS harkens back to the days of Prohibition with its own list of prohibitions: nobody under 25, no cellphone gabbing and certainly no cosmopolitans (anyone who orders one will be asked to leave). The inner goings-on of the place are to be kept secret from the media.
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Caffeine High
Is free Wi-Fi killing Toronto’s indie cafés?
Laptop, tea and cake at a café (not pictured: jerk) (Photo by Nicki Dugan)
When not referring to Black Hoof co-owner Grant van Gameren as “Greg,” the Globe and Mail has been sticking it to “freelance hipsters.” On Friday, columnist Leah McLaren lamented the loss of café culture due to “MacBook-toting jerks” who take up tables and siphon away the free Internet at coffee shops. The phenomenon has been unfolding for years, but Wi-Fi has only recently been considered a make-or-break element of a coffee shop, much to the dismay of café owners who see their hangout turn into a study hall. “As more people plugged in, the energy of the café began to sink,” says Melanie Janisse of Zoots. “People would turn up, buy a $2 tea, hunker down and sit there for five or six hours not buying anything or talking to anyone. It really started to bug me.” That said, what are the odds this is being read on a laptop in Dark Horse on Spadina right now?
Opening
Just Opened: Ciao Wine Bar mixes South Beach and Italy, and moves it all to Yorkville
Upstairs, downstairs: a modern staircase leads to Ciao's rustic underground (Courtesy of Ciao Wine Bar)
For Ciao Wine Bar, its newest high-octane hub, the Liberty Entertainment Group has shaken up the formula that has served them well at Rosewater, Spice Route and Tattoo Rock Parlour: one part dinner, two parts party is being replaced with two parts dinner, one part party. “We’re diversifying our portfolio,” says CEO Nick Di Donato, who tapped his Neapolitan roots to give Ciao an authentic Italian feel (he added a pinch of South Beach for good measure).
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Restauran-TO
Jamieson Kerr talks about selling Crush and opening a second Queen and Beaver-esque pub
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After eight years as owner and operator of Crush Wine Bar, Jamieson Kerr has decided to sell the once-French, now-British King West bistro in order to focus on his growing family and the Queen and Beaver—his Elm Street gastropub that opened last spring. “I’ve been spending six nights a week at Crush, and I felt it was time to give a bit of time back to my family,” Kerr tells us. “A great offer came my way, to be honest. We all know that the economy was tough on large fine-dining restaurants, and I managed to hold my own, but when this offer came along, it was worth looking at.”
Restauran-TO
The Harbord Guide: 25 spots that are giving the strip a good name
Once-sleepy Harbord Street leaped into the spotlight last year when it became the setting of Toronto’s latest NIMBY vs. business debate. Citing residents’ rights, crime and the strip’s uncertain future, deputy mayor Joe Pantalone tried to keep a new restaurant—Ici Bistro, helmed by famed chef J.P. Challet—from getting a liquor licence. His intervention may have had the opposite effect he was looking for: Torontonians turned their focus to the south Annex and realized that Harbord isn’t as stuffy (or dodgy) as the councillor would have them believe. With its gradually expanding array of shops, galleries and cafés, Harbord is fast becoming a destination for diners seeking an alternative to Ossington and Queen West. We take a look at 25 seminal spots, old and new, along a street in transition.
(Sam James photo, Jessica Darmanin; Harbord Bakery thumbnail, Danielle Scott)
Opening
Just Opened: Cloud Espresso Bar brings Bonjour Brioche’s former chef to Queen West
Head in the Cloud: West Queen West's newest café is a paean to clean lines and creative energy (Photo by Catherine Hayday)
For all the fawning over Richard Florida, Toronto’s “creative class” still finds itself stuck in the abstract. Even those managing to live cubicle-free don’t feel especially futuristic and glamorous when they’re competing for the last seat at Starbucks. The concept of a creative class comes up in the first minute of our chat with Peter Coish, owner of the spanking new Cloud Free Agent Espresso Bar, where he is putting bricks and mortar—and Wi-Fi and coffee and snacks—around Florida’s vision of a mobile workforce of international collaborators.
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