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Critic: How tequila-fuelled taquerias like Playa Cabana became the city’s buzziest places to eat—and party

By Mark Pupo | Photography by Dave Gillespie

Playa Cabana Cantina in the Junction is the latest in a string of buzzy new taquerias. Right: Tequila is a serious concern at Cantina—this oak-aged Burdeos sells for $90 an ounce

Grand Electric One Star ½
1330 Queen St. W., 416-627-3459

La Carnita One Star
501 College St., 416-964-1555

Playa Cabana Two Stars
111 Dupont St., 416-929-3911

Playa Cabana Cantina Two Stars
2883 Dundas St. W., 647-352-7767

Playa Cabana is on the ground floor of a slim Dupont semi just off Davenport, a convenient pit stop after a wardrobe binge in Yorkville. Regulars call the restaurant “Playa,” like it’s their clubhouse. On weekends, a bouncer poses at the door. There always seems to be a posse of chatty smokers blocking the sidewalk out front, the volume of their squeals in direct proportion to tequila consumed. Last summer, the restaurant’s back patio grew so loud that a group of neighbours from the million-dollar lofts next door called their lawyers and the cops.

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The Dish

Openings

March 8, 2013 | 11:44 am

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Introducing: Electric Mud BBQ, the raucous new barbecue joint from the owners of Grand Electric

Name: Electric Mud BBQ
Neighbourhood: Parkdale
Contact info: 5 Brock Ave., 416-516-8286, @ElectricMudBBQ
Owners: Colin Tooke and Ian McGrenaghan of Grand Electric
Chefs: Tooke and Benjamin Denham (Veritas, Grand Electric)

The food: Down-home but not particularly traditional Southern barbecue, including peanut-crusted ribs ($13.50), pork belly ($12.50) and “duck ham” (duck that’s prepared like black forest ham, $13.50).

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Restaurants

March 7, 2013 | 3:00 pm

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The Dish Power Rankings: muddied waters edition

Toronto Life’s roundup of the restaurants with the biggest buzz, the longest lineups and the toughest tables to snag.

After four weeks in the top spot, Edulis gets bumped for a red-hot new barbecue restaurant. Meanwhile, OddSeoul continues its steady rise.

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Restaurants

March 4, 2013 | 12:30 pm

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The Grand Electric team opens Electric Mud BBQ around the corner from their taco joint

(Image: Twitter)

The pair behind Grand Electric pulled a fast one last weekend, quietly opening Electric Mud BBQ on Saturday with barely a lick of advance press (owners Ian McGrenaghan and Colin Tooke had coyly refused to respond to rumours that they’d taken over the old Stampede Bison Grill space). While their first restaurant specializes in not-quite-authentic tacos, bourbon and blaring hip hop, the new one serves not-quite-authentic Southern barbecue and bourbon with a soundtrack of blaring rock ’n’ roll. As ever, the restaurant’s dining room is tiny, the demand is fevered and there are no reservations. Fun! [The Grid]

Electric Mud BBQ, 5 Brock Ave, 416-516-8286

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Restaurants

January 31, 2013 | 3:00 pm

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The Dish Power Rankings: buzzing diners and taco insurgents

Toronto Life’s weekly assessment of the restaurants with the biggest buzz, the longest lineups and the toughest tables to snag.

The Hoof Raw Bar steals the top spot this week, now that Jen Agg has revived the mega-popular Hoof Café brunch (see last week’s rankings). Over in Parkdale, a new southern Italian restaurant is gaining ground and in The Junction, there’s a new contender for Toronto’s top taco.

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Restaurants

January 15, 2013 | 3:18 pm

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Grand Electric’s second floor falls victim to the Parkdale restaurant moratorium (UPDATED)

Grand Electric’s second-storey expansion, which would’ve added 40 seats to perennially packed taco bar, is on hold due to the Parkdale strip restaurant ban. Co-owner Ian McGrenaghan told Post City the suspension came as a surprise, since GE applied for the necessary permits prior to the ban and had nearly finished construction. Barring a successful legal challenge, the second floor is unlikely to open until the moratorium expires in November, contrary to what local councillor Gord Perks indicated at the time it went into effect. [Post City]

UPDATE: Councillor Perks confirmed to us that Grand Electric did indeed get their application in before the deadline. That application, however, did not conform to the building code and zoning bylaws, and was consequently rejected—after the moratorium was already in place.

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Restaurants

December 28, 2012 | 10:30 am

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Year in Review: 2012’s biggest food trends, from the shadow return of fusion to the reign of ramen

Taste moves in waves: one year tall food is on every menu in town, and the next year, it’s a half-forgotten embarrassment. Sometimes, though, those embarrassments come back in a new guise. This year saw the quiet return of certain tendencies that we thought were long-buried, like fusion cuisine and wine bars, as well as the full-blown emergence of others that were bubbling away just below the surface, like tacos and, of course, ramen. Below, a roundup of what was hot in 2012.

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Restaurants

December 10, 2012 | 3:53 pm

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Grand Electric now open for lunch on weekends

(Image: Twitter)

Shrewdly avoiding the use of the word “brunch,” Grand Electric, the wildly popular Parkdale taco emporium, announced earlier today that it would begin serving “weekend lunch” starting this week. Foodies with a particular masochistic fondness for never-ending lineups are advised to convene at 1330 Queen Street West around, say, 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. Hey: the forecast is only showing a 60 per cent chance of rain.

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Features

November 22, 2012 | 12:48 pm

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Momofuku Fever: we review David Chang’s new four-in-one mega-restaurant

David Chang’s new complex on University Avenue—three restaurants and a bar—puts a Toronto spin on a New York phenomenon
By Mark Pupo | Photography by Emma McIntyre

Noodle Bar star

½
Daishō

Shōtō

190 University Ave., momofuku.com

In the foodie era, standing in line for a table is a rite of passage. We wait for caviar-topped tacos one week, bacon doughnuts the next, and the longer the wait, goes our logic, the more rewarding the eats. At places like Grand Electric and Guu, the 20-somethings pose as if they’re about to enter a nightclub. This past September, a three-storey temple called Momofuku opened next door to the new Shangri-La Hotel, on University Avenue. The Momofuku lineup is something altogether different, in both its composition and its devotion: no other Toronto restaurant appeals to the same collision of suited bankers, hipsters in their beards and plaids, extended Asian families and, one night, a smirking Ken Finkleman. As the line inches closer, people take out their iPhones and snap pictures of the restaurant’s neon peach logo above the door.

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Restaurants

November 6, 2012 | 4:15 pm

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Parkdale strip hit with Ossington-style restaurant ban (but Grand Electric’s expansion is safe)

(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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Restaurants

October 30, 2012 | 3:33 pm

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Edulis tops En Route’s Toronto-laden list of Canada’s best new restaurants

In her introduction to En Route’s latest ranking of the country’s 10 best new restaurants, Sarah Musgrave declares 2012 “the year of Toronto”—and given the frenetic pace of openings in this city, we’re inclined to agree. Musgrave backs up her bold claim by naming six Toronto restaurants to the list, up from just two last year, reserving the top spot for Michael Caballo and Tobey Nemeth’s Edulis, which moved into the former Niagara Street Café space this year. Musgrave fell in love with the restaurant’s quaint, comfortable atmosphere and, like our reviewer, felt that Caballo’s rustic yet adventurous cuisine skirted some of the pieties of the farm-to-table trend.

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Food Events

October 20, 2012 | 10:30 am

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Weekly Eater: Toronto food events for October 22 to 28

Cask Days takes place at the Evergreen Brick Works this weekend, complete with a Halloween costume judging contest (Image: Connie Tsang)

Monday October 22

Monday Night Dinners at Local Kitchen and Wine Bar: Every Monday night, Local Kitchen serves a $40 prix fixe menu of Italian fare with half-price wine bottles and no corkage fee. 1710 Queen St. W., 416-534-6700. Find out more »
86’D with Ivy Knight: This week, celebrate with the chefs from Soupstock, and enjoy a tasty night of pairing Acadian Sturgeon caviar with Stillwater vodka. The Drake, 1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042. Find out more »
Piola’s Monday Night Mixer: Piola’s weekly aperitivo Italiano, with cocktail and beer specials and complimentary snacks. 1165 Queen St. W., 416-477-4652. Find out more »
Burger Mondays: Enjoy $5 burgers and $5 pints on Mondays, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Gladstone Melody Bar. Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W., 416-531-4635. Find out more »
Veggin’ Comfortably Workshop: Marni Wasserman demonstrates how easy it can be to switch over to a more veg-friendly lifestyle. Menu includes butternut squash, lentil and coconut soup, arame soba noodle salad, marinated kaleslaw salad and black bean burgers. Marni’s Kitchen, 26 Lauderdale Dr., 647-477-8131. Find out more »
Sustainable Living and Ethical Eating—Cooking With a Conscience: Learn simple tips for a greener, guilt-free kitchen. The menu includes leek and golden beet barley risotto with spicy kale chips and whole roasted organic chicken infused. Dish Cooking Studio, 390 Dupont St., 416-920-5559. Find out more »
Luscious Greens and Grains: Chef and cookbook author Nettie Cronish prepares tasty and nutritious leafy green and grain dishes. Menu includes pot barley split pea soup with Shiitake mushrooms, spinach and dill and hot and sour buckwheat noodle salad. Kingsway LCBO, 2946 Bloor St. W., 416-239-3065. Find out more »

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Food Events

October 11, 2012 | 2:36 pm

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Beer geeks steel yourselves: Cask Days 2012 will be bigger than ever

Bar Volo, the Yonge Street den for beer geeks, seems perpetually restless. It was just voted the city’s best spot to grab a craft pint; it operates a “nano-brewery” onsite (micro-brewing not being quite small enough); it hosts an IPA challenge; and every year, it runs Cask Days, the cask-conditioned ale festival that has emerged as one of Toronto’s premiere beer events. This year’s iteration is massive: Hosted for the first time at Evergreen Brick Works, it will feature more than 150 brews from over 75 breweries (up from 80 and 50, respectively).

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Restaurants

September 28, 2012 | 11:25 am

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Grand Electric to get even grander with a second floor

Earlier this summer, Grand Electric opened a back patio, effectively doubling the space at the tiny Parkdale taco and bourbon bar (and easing the perpetual lineups). Now, as the cold weather threatens to put the kibosh on the added space, they’re expanding again. The owners recently submitted a liquor licence application for the second floor, and while it’s still navigating the usual red tape, area councillor Gord Perks told us it should jump the first hurdle at next week’s council meeting, so it’s likely just a matter of time. Don’t expect too much, though; that queue isn’t dying any time soon—it’s just getting cut down. [h/t Jonathan Goldsbie]

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Restaurants

September 24, 2012 | 5:10 pm

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VIDEO: Vice’s Munchies series takes a look at The Black Hoof

Munchies is a Vice web TV show in which the producers basically hang out with a bunch of hipster restaurateurs and chefs as they carouse, drunkenly or otherwise, around their city (highlights include a day at the beach with the Momofuku Milk Bar staff and Eddie Huang’s foul-mouthed tutorial on the right way to eat soup dumplings). Vice recently dropped by The Black Hoof to chat with Jen Agg and pals for the show’s first foray into Canada (and more Canadian episodes are apparently on the way). Highlights include Grand Electric co-founder Ian McGrenaghan’s shirtless stomach, a discussion of whether the restaurant biz is a “chauvinistic douchebag industry” (hint: it is), several shots of Pappy van Winkle bourbon and a cocktail from Cold Tea that gave Agg a “headache” in unmentionable body parts.

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