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Sam James to open up shop in the Path

Coming soon to the Path: latte art (Image: Zack Simone from the Torontolife.com Flickr pool)

In this season of giving, it’s only fitting that Toronto’s favourite coffee son, Sam James, would announce he’s taking pity on the poor downtown cubicle jockeys who’ve had to shuttle between Starbucks, Timmie’s, Second Cup and Timothy’s to get their fix. Starting February or March of next year, he’ll be opening up a second Sam James Coffee Bar in the Path beneath the Sun Life Financial Building at 150 King Street West. He first expanded from his original Harbord Street location with last year’s tiny Coffee Pocket on Bloor. Yesterday he told Post City that the new downtown location would preserve his signature bare-bones, no-seats vibe, and would be equipped with a pair of customized La Marzocco Lineas to handle the volume of traffic he’s expecting. He also took the opportunity to vent a little about the sterility of the financial district’s retail landscape: “The financial district in New York City is crammed with businesses; in Chicago, Intelligentsia has locked down the financial core. And Toronto’s financial district has nothing, but there are a ton of people who are looking for something good.” Read the entire story [Post City] »

The Dish

Caffeine High

October 6, 2011 | 12:12 pm

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With news of price hikes at Starbucks, we called around to see what indie shops are charging for their coffee

The coffee display at Manic Coffee (Image: Renée Suen from the Torontolife.com Flickr pool)

On Tuesday, the Toronto Star reported that Starbucks had raised its prices for coffee and other beverages across the country by anywhere from 10 to 15 cents for a grande bold (16 ounces). This comes after Tim Hortons raised its prices back in April, which interim CEO Paul House attributed to the increasing cost of coffee thanks to a fungus that destroys coffee plants in Colombia. We decided to survey several local coffee retailers to see how a shift in the market is affecting their business. Check out whose prices went up, whose stayed the same and what innovative measures are being taken to offset costs, after the jump.

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The Dish

Caffeine High

January 11, 2011 | 10:20 am

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Foam craft: seven baristas show us their best latte art

Mercury’s co-owner Matthew Taylor pours a fire-breathing dragon in a cup (Image: Jon Sufrin)

Ten years ago, latte art was virtually unheard of in Toronto. Today, finding a rosetta, heart or tulip swirled into a latte is as common as, well, an indie coffee shop on Queen West or College. While latte art is essentially just a garnish, it’s also telling of a barista’s competence. As Bulldog’s Stuart Ross—who helped bring the craft to the city—notes, it just won’t work unless the espresso and the milk are done right. And as the city’s coffee scene broadens, so does the complexity of coffee presentation. We hit the streets to find some of the more unusual, intricate and interesting examples of this culinary art. Click here to start the show »

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The Dish

Aprons & Icons

August 30, 2010 | 5:20 pm

4 Comments

Nine amazing kitchen gadgets from Toronto’s restaurant kitchens

We’re all for home-cooked meals and comfort food, but let’s face it: people go to restaurants to order stuff they can’t duplicate at home without the right skill set, equipment or the $625 to buy Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine cookbook. We talked to nine Toronto chefs about their weird, famous or indispensable food-making gizmo.

Here’s a slide show of the results »

The Goods

Shop Talk

April 22, 2010 | 10:41 am

5 Comments

Details magazine takes on Toronto, barely leaves 501 streetcar

The Queen streetcar: delivering shoppers to shops, one stop at a time (Image: Anthony Easton)

Details magazine has named Toronto a mecca of “modern-art galleries, high-concept restaurants and fashion-forward boutiques,” but judging from the choices, it appears the writer barely got off the Queen streetcar. Don’t get us wrong—most of the choices are pretty good. The magazine lists Sydney’s (Queen and Manning), Klaxon Howl (Queen and Euclid) and The Gladstone Hotel (Queen and Gladstone) as three of its seven picks. Two others are Nomad (a block from Queen on Richmond) and Jonathan and Olivia (on Ossington, just steps north of Queen). The remaining two options are the furthest flung: Sam James Coffee Bar, all the way north on Harbord, and the Black Hoof, the wildly popular charcuterie hot spot on Dundas.

Look, it’s all right if Details doesn’t want to send its readers to other great areas—like Leslieville, Liberty Village, the Distillery District and Roncesvalles—but if it’s going to do a shopping guide, at least throw Yorkville a bone.

• Where to shop in Toronto [Details]

The Dish

Restauran-TO

January 7, 2010 | 2:49 pm

10 Comments

The Harbord Guide: 25 spots that are giving the strip a good name

Coffee kid Sam James pulled shots in the city’s finest brew houses.

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)

The Dish

Opening

November 12, 2009 | 12:43 pm

5 Comments

Twelve new indie cafés: Toronto’s thirst for coffee poured by hipsters proves unquenchable (for now)

(Photo by Alan Turkus)

As Starbucks attempts to boost profits with its instant coffee and Tim Hortons’ profits tumble, Toronto’s indie café craze just won’t abate. We seem to write this article every few months—and with good reason. In the past 15 weeks alone, at least nine decent new cafés have popped up, with several more scheduled to open before Christmas. We visited the new spots and learned that the only thing they have in common is that they appeal to divergent tastes. From Leslieville to the Junction, here are the 12 latest spots to keep the city buzzing.

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The Dish

Read All About It

October 1, 2009 | 8:42 am

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Airport food guide, Tim Hortons’ big move, Tyra Banks eats from trucks

On the fly: a typical airport dinner at Pearson (Photo by Ed Kohler)

• Harried travellers are often at the mercy of the overpriced, under-flavoured food on offer in most airports. Well, Michael Blackie has their backs—sort of. The globe-trotting Ottawa chef reveals some of the better eating options at terminals throughout the world. Montreal’s Trudeau Airport gets points for sandwiches; Vancouver scores high for Globe@YVR’s locavore-friendly menu (a 100-mile restaurant at the airport? That’s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife). JetBlue’s new terminal at JFK and Heathrow’s Terminal 5 are notable for their luxury cuisine offerings. Sorry, Toronto—all you get is Wolfgang Puck, mentioned in the same breath as Tim Hortons. [Globe and Mail]

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The Dish

Opening

September 4, 2009 | 11:16 am

12 Comments

Just Opened: Sam James Coffee Bar

Double your fun: Sam James brews a two-pot siphon coffee

The caffeine crowd has kept the on-line forums busy over the past few weeks in anticipation of award-winning barista Sam James’s new place on Harbord Street. And now, after three months and a few bypassed opening dates, the Sam James Coffee Bar is finally open. “I didn’t want to open until everything was perfect,” says James. “It’s a shame when you go to an espresso bar and you’re let down by the coffee.”

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

July 29, 2009 | 8:00 am

11 Comments

Jolt of caffeine: 13 new independent cafés open in Toronto

Brew colours: Espresso's popularity endures (Photo by Iain Farrell)

Brew colours: coffee houses are sprouting up everywhere this recession (Photo by Iain Farrell)

While McDonald’s, Tim Hortons and Starbucks duke it out across North America in their giveaway coffee war, a new batch of independent brewers has emerged in Toronto. Since our last roundup six months ago, at least 13 new cafés have opened up. Here, organized by neighbourhood, is our survey of the city’s hot new fuel-up joints.

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