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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 Patrick McMurray

The Dish

Bottoms Up

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BYOB: Toronto restaurants drop corkage fees

Corkage fees are falling all over Toronto (Photo by Quinn Dombrowski)

Bottle shock: corkage fees are falling all over Toronto (Photo by Quinn Dombrowski)

Along with prix-fixe menus and pink slip parties (we’re looking at you, Globe), reduced corkage fees have become a popular recession-era tactic for restaurants trying to attract diners. Ontario jumped on the BYOB bandwagon in January 2005, it has never had the same success as similar programs in Quebec. That is, until now.

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

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Cheese Boutique partners with top chefs for indie food fest

Patrick McMurray (Photo by Davida

Patrick McMurray at the Festival of Chefs (Photo by Davida Aronovitch)

The Cheese Boutique was abuzz with food enthusiasts last weekend for the launch of its annual Festival of Chefs. Now in its sixth year, the shop’s gastronomic fair showcases the creations of top chefs from across the city—paired with local wines—on Saturdays and Sundays throughout May. We stopped by to check out a round of offerings from Starfish duo Patrick McMurray and Kyle Deming—and to pick up a little oka on the way.

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The Dish

Bottoms Up

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Starfish’s Shucker Paddy brings some more Irish to the east end

Patrik McMurray stands before yet-to-be-completed Ceili Cottage in Leslieville (Photo by Signe Langford).

Patrick McMurray stands before yet-to-be-completed Ceili Cottage in Leslieville (Photo by Signe Langford)

Leslieville must have the luck of the Irish. The east-end neighbourhood will be home to two new Irish pubs this spring: The Roy, at 894 Queen Street East, and the Ceili Cottage, at 1301 Queen Street East. The latter doesn’t look like much right now, but the bones are there. And according to proprietor Patrick McMurray, champion oyster shucker and owner of Starfish, they are good bones. The space was last an unremarkable auto body shop, but the building itself dates back to the 1850s. McMurray is now peeling back the layers of paint, paper, motor grease, plywood and cement in order to create the Irish cottage of his dreams. “My wife and I often came down to Sweet Bliss Baking Company, across the road, and when she ran in for cupcakes, I’d sit in the car and stare at the place. I could see the outline of my Irish cottage under those bricks. One day, I was sitting and staring and there it was, the ‘For Rent’ sign.”

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The Dish

Read All About It

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Raw milk on trial, Loblaws infestation, a match made at Starfish

The front door of Dupont Loblaws is "closed"

The front door of Dupont Loblaws is "closed" (Image: blogTO)

• The green “Pass” notices from Toronto Public Health are so ubiquitous, they barely even register anymore. But they certainly make the blood red “Closed” version all the more terrifying-especially when it’s on the door at the local Loblaws. The Dupont location is apparently infested with mice. [blogTO]

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