Chef Brad Long learned how to cook for crowds at 360 and the ACC, experience that will undoubtedly count when his populist five-month-old Bloor West Village venture—a four-storey, 18,000-square-foot pub complex—gets busy. The grey expanse precludes an intimate ambience, and the eclectic collection of old photographs, Doric columns and mismatched window frames look more like salvage-shop goods than decor. But the list of beers and mostly Canadian wines reads well, as does the long menu of homey Canadiana. Cabbage rolls are fabulous, generously stuffed with roast pork and rice and flattered by zippy tomato sauce, chive oil and sour cream. Tender duck breast comes pan-seared pink with red carrots, finger­ling potatoes, baby turnips and a flavourful barley and wild rice risotto; the quality of the local ingredients lifts the dish high above the pub norm. Other ideas aren’t as successful: lovely, firm fillets of local perch are served in a po’ boy sandwich, but pungent pickled onion overrules their delicate flavour. Mains $18–$36.