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(Image: George Pimentel Photography)
Just getting inside this new private members’ club is sure to impress the person on the other end of your handshake. A corner table is the ideal spot for clandestine negotiations over a couple of Soho Mules ($12), made with vodka, lime juice, ginger syrup and soda. 192 Adelaide St. W., 416-599-7646. Read the rest of this entry »
Avro owners Bruce Dawson and Rachel Conduit (Image: Courtesy The Avro)
Riverside’s The Avro is shutting down after three years on the strip, following a request from its landlord for double the rent. In a farewell note on the bar’s website (complete with a ticking countdown clock), the owners reminisce about the comedy shows, indie film shoots and video game tournaments they hosted, and, naturally, draw comparisons to the demise of the place’s famous namesake. The Avro’s last service will be on April 26, and as promised, there are no plans to reopen at a new location. [The Avro]
Name: Northwood Read the rest of this entry »
Neighbourhood: Christie Pits
Contact info: 815 Bloor St. W., Facebook page, @NorthwoodBloor
Owners: Richard Pope (co-owner of Mr. Pong’s) and Andrea Reynolds
Name: Hitch (yes, after writer and noted drinker Christopher Hitchens)
Neighborhood: Leslieville
Contact info: 1216 Queen St. E., 647-351-7781, facebook.com/HitchLimited, @hitchlimited
Owner: Douglas Tiller, co-owner of Mercury Espresso
The drinks: A small selection of classic cocktails, like old fashioneds ($11.50) and manhattans, ($11.50), as well as craft beer (Duggan’s, Beau’s, Mill St.), wine and a wide range of bourbon.
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These Toronto cocktails, loaded with spices, fruits and syrups, are perfectly calibrated to take the edge off a cold, dreary February.
I grew up in sleepy, suburban Calgary. My parents are conservative, first-generation immigrants from India—hovering, hyper-vigilant, you-can’t-go-to-the-mall-without-me parents. I spent my teen years obeying the rules; recklessness was something I always admired in my classmates but never dared myself. I didn’t have a sip of alcohol until my last semester of high school, and my parents never even bothered to give me a curfew. I was always home.
At 17, I was accepted into the journalism program at Ryerson University, a school with enough legitimacy that my parents were okay with letting me move to a faraway city unsupervised. For me, it meant an opportunity to finally rebel. And yet, when I arrived at Ryerson, I mostly kept to myself. I got into a relationship with the first boy who looked at me twice and rarely left his side. I called my parents once, sometimes twice a day.
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In the past year, Toronto Life rated the city’s best new restaurants, talked to Rob Ford’s inner circle and examined crumbling condo towers. We got the lowdown on bidding wars, ranked the city’s VIPs and, of course, came up with a raft of reasons to love Toronto. Below, the full list of the year’s cover stories, and where to find them online.
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When historians of Toronto’s food scene (should they ever exist) look back on 2012, they’ll wonder how so many new restaurants, bars and food shops could possibly open in 12 short months. The incomers colonized new retails strips, filled in the gaps in existing ones, and, in the case of Roncesvalles, revivified a neighbourhood that had lived through a particularly painful two years of construction. For dedicated diners (and humble food editors), it was equal parts thrilling and stressful to keep up with it all. Below, the 161 new places we Introduced in 2012:
(Image: Renée Suen)
Sabai Sabai is a new Thai spot just south of Ryerson from first-time restaurateurs Jason Jiang and Seng Luong, who’ve partnered with Jeff and Nuit Regular of Khao San Road and Sukhothai fame. The restaurant’s name translates roughly to “Everything’s chill,” which more or less sums up the relaxed vibe the owners are trying to cultivate. The room evokes Thai bars of the 1930s, with vintage prints and collages plastered all over the smoky blue walls and Southeast Asian cocktails dispensed from the long blond wood bar. Nuit Regular presides in the kitchen, where she cooks some of her favourite casual Northern Thai comfort foods not offered at her other restaurants.
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(Image: Karolyne Ellacott)
Unlike the tony wine bars of yore, which targeted the suits-and-heels crowd, Archive, which opened last month, is situated on the more dressed-down strip of Dundas West that’s home to The Black Hoof and Saving Grace (the bar’s next-door neighbour). The owners, brothers Joel and Josh Corea (Pizzeria Libretto, Ortolan), took over the exposed brick–clad space formerly home to vintage shop Apt. 909, and outfitted it with custom banquettes and high school science lab stools as well as a series of wine maps and charts, to create what they hope will become a cozy after-work destination.
On Mondays, Rakia serves $8 absinthe (Image: Caroline Aksich)
Happy hours have a weird history in straight-laced Ontario. The province first allowed the practice in 1981, only to ban it three years later fearing it promoted drinking and driving. Then, in 2007, the Liquor Licence Act changed yet again, allowing booze prices to fluctuate with the time of day or the day of the week. But don’t call these specials happy hours: that term, along with the phrase “cheap drinks,” is strictly prohibited. Toronto’s bar and restaurant owners are a savvy bunch, however, offering everything from cinq-à-septs (a Montreal import) to Crappy Hour. Below, 26 of the best Toronto happy hour specials (just don’t call it that).
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The Goose (née Goose and Firkin), before and after it’s “Cool Britannia” makeover
Over the weekend, the Frog and Firkin at Yonge and Sheppard relaunched as The Frog, the latest in a series of rebrandings by the Firkin Group with a “Cool Britannia” theme. The new and improved Firkins—including the Bull at Yonge and Davisville, the Quail in Rosedale, the Goose on Leslie and the Owl in Markham—all feature a swinging-’60s mod decor (courtesy of Mackay Wong) with anglophile touches like maps of the London Underground and, yes, Union Jack sofas.
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(Image: Tilted Kilt)
Las Vegas-based “breastaurant” The Tilted Kilt opened its first Toronto outpost, fittingly, on The Esplanade yesterday, joining other big box restaurants like Bier Markt and the decidedly more family-friendly Old Spaghetti Factory. Essentially the Hooters of Irish/Scottish/English pubs—only even boobier—The Tilted Kilt’s menu consists of traditional pub fare (fish and chips, meatloaf, etc.) and more than 50 different beers. Although we suspect patrons don’t come for the food. The wait staff consists of “Tilted Kilt Girls” wearing tiny tartan kilts and little else (according to a press release from the company, the uniform is officially described as “a mini-kilt in the restaurant’s signature tartain plaid, a starched camp shirt, sporran, stockings and flashings”). Depending on your politics, and likely your gender—but probably not your taste buds—this is either a very good thing or a very bad thing.
The Tilted Kilt, 38 The Esplanade, 416-364-3764, tiltedkilt.com, @TiltedKiltPub
Uniun’s opening-night party on Saturday (Image: George Pimentel)
Charles Khabouth may have opened his fair share of restaurants in recent years, but if his new 16,000-square-foot club Uniun (pronounced like “union,” not “onion”) at 473 Adelaide St. W. is any indication, he has not abandoned his clubland roots. While some will likely write this off as just another joint for the 25+ bottle-service crowd (The Devil’s Martini, which it replaced, certainly was), there is one additional draw to the latest nightspot in the Ink Entertainment stable: the lights.
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(Image: Marc Falardeau)
Last week, city councillor Gord Perks quietly pushed through a moratorium (like the one on Ossington in 2009) on new restaurants and bars opening on the Parkdale strip (Queen Street West between Dufferin and Roncesvalles, to be exact)—but fear not Grand Electric fans, the second-floor expansion we told you about recently will survive the ban. When we spoke to him, Perks expressed his concerns about the growing imbalance of businesses in “Partydale,” with too many new restaurants and bars (like Wrongbar, Keriwa, Chantecler, The Yukon and more) and not nearly enough amenities like hardware and corner stores. Existing operations, like Grand Electric, can still apply to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario for additional or expanded liquor licenses as per usual, but no new “restaurant, take-out restaurant, patio, bake-shop, place of amusement, place of assembly or club” will be permitted. The moratorium is in effect for a year, while city staff work on a study of how best to manage the changes happening in Parkdale. In any case, Toronto’s taco-hungry hordes should have somewhere to tromp upstairs and warm up this winter.
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