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(Image: Karolyne Ellacott)
In a city that can’t gobble tacos down fast enough, Gabriela Ituarte and Ivan Wadgymar have chosen to do things a little differently. With Maizal Quesadilla Café, the focus is not on the ubiquitous taco, but on the comparatively overlooked quesadilla. The pair aims to showcase Mexico’s cheap ’n’ cheerful street food in a welcoming atmosphere at their Liberty Village café.
(Image: Renée Suen)
Last July we introduced you to La Carnita, the city’s first pop-up taco stand. It was also, of course, a cheeky experiment by co-owners Andrew Richmond and Amin Todai (of marketing shop OneMethod) to get around health code regulations by selling street art and siding it with complimentary loot bags filled with tacos. After gaining a cult-like following, the taco-slinging operation has now taken permanent residence at College and Bathurst, and it’s arguably one of the summer’s most highly anticipated openings—no mean feat for restaurant industry outsiders.
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(Image: Susan Keefe)
With the advent of brinner and the dizzying popularity of all things bacon, it’s not surprising that all-day breakfast joints like the Parkdale institution Easy Restaurant are doing well. The ultra-laid-back California-inspired spot cut its teeth at the foot of Roncesvalles Village, and last month it set its sights on Little Italy, opening a sister location on College. We dropped by to check it out.
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(Image: Renée Suen)
Although the city is currently in the grips of a full-blown taco mania, Tacos El Asador gives Torontonians reasons to celebrate Latin American cuisine that goes beyond its namesake dish. The popular Koreatown institution has been serving Salvadoran food for nearly two decades, and has a fiercely loyal following.
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Last week, the NPD Group released a report full of interesting revelations about this hungry city’s eating habits and the effects they have on restaurants. The bad news is restaurants suffered: 60 per cent of all Canadian restaurant closures in 2011 happened in Toronto, with independent “ethnic” restaurants bearing the brunt of it. Not suffering in 2011 were froyo shops and burrito joints, which opened more locations than any other category (whether this constitutes good or bad news is debatable). The actually good news is that a January report from the same group predicted that Canadian restaurants would experience a 10 per cent increase in traffic over the next decade (outpacing projected population growth), and given what we saw in March, April and May, we think the market is making a healthy turnaround.
(Images: frozen yogurt, janineomg; burrito, Aranami)
Kitch’s bar is made out of a repurposed bowling alley lane (Image: Gizelle Lau)
Kitch bills itself as a place for “eats and beats”—the eats coming courtesy of Bryan Jackson, noted waffle lover and owner of Starving Artist, and the beats from Jose Rodriguez, talent booker for Charles Khabouth’s Ink Entertainment. The casual restaurant/bar/lounge is meant to be the kind of place where comfort snack food is paired with great music ranging from Nas to electronic to indie (with precious little Bieber or Top 40 here, unless, say, it’s a really cool remix). And unusually for a place like this, it’s nestled in among the auto body and plumbing supply shops north of Dupont and Dufferin.
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A Japanese izakaya to rival Guu Maritime comfort food and more haute tacos
DON DON IZAKAYA 
130 Dundas St. W., 416-492-5292
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Taiko drums and a chorus of Japanese greetings welcome diners as they walk into Toronto’s latest izakaya. Don Don is great fun, if you can get in—on weekends, wait times soar to 45 minutes or longer. Chef and co-owner Daisuke Izutsu, whose restaurant Kaiseki Sakura closed last year, works the floor with charisma, chatting with diners at the long communal tables opposite the open kitchen. His menu is fantastically adventurous and confident. For example, Hopetta-Yaki—mashed potatoes topped with chicken confit, gremolata, pickled ginger, shaved bonito, salty-sweet bulldog sauce and a squiggle of mayonnaise—is as addictive as it is unusual. Mackerel sashimi, charred tableside by a blowtorch-wielding showman of a server, is smoky and delicate. Desserts include velvety caramel flan and intense green tea mousse. Over 70 sakes are available, as well as 13 shochu cocktails. Small plates $5–$8.
Monday, April 16
Toucan Taco Bar takes over the space once occupied by Le Rossignol
“People in this city love burritos,” says Richard Henry, owner of Riverside’s new Toucan Taco Bar. Henry, the owner of two other bird-themed east-end restaurants (Le Canard Mort and Le Rossignol, currently shacking up together), decided to jump on board the city’s current romance with Mexican food and add a third bird to his flock. But why a toucan? Apparently “Budgie Burrito” just didn’t have quite the same ring to it.
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Every chef and his sous found inspiration in Mexican street food this year. Here, five high-piled tostadas that had us ordering seconds. Read the rest of this entry »
Pachuco is tucked away underneath Embrujo Flamenco on the Danforth
As defined by Urban Dictionary, a pachuco is “a Chicano or Mexican guy back in the 1930s to 1950s that dressed in zoot suits.” As defined by the Fernandez sisters, Jais, Eren and Mali, it’s a subterranean cantina serving authentic Mexican food with a modern twist. The sisters arrived in Toronto at various times over the last few decades, but ultimately, their shared love of food and entrepreneurial nature led them in 2002 to open Embrujo Flamenco, the Danforth tapas bar with live dancing, and Café Madrid in the cellar, which they’ve now transformed into Pachuco.
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The chicken fajita at Carnicero’s (Image: Andrew Brudz)
Late last year, Witteveen Meats manager Brad Noonan took over the Manos Meats stand down the hall at St. Lawrence Market, and, after giving the place a revamp, renamed it Carnicero’s (Spanish for butcher). The new space features 60 feet of gleaming display space and a custom-made fajita bar, perfect for post-holiday culinary budgets and diets (and for grabbing something for dinner while you’re grabbing something for lunch).
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La Liza, Día de los Muertos candy skulls and Sahr Ngaujah as Fela Kuti
1. LIZA MINNELLI
La Liza, one of the world’s few EGOT winners (that’s Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), takes the stage this weekend for a one-night-only roundup of the biggest hits from her decades-long career—and, with any luck, a reprise of her cover of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” from Sex and the City 2. Oct. 28. $59.50–$199.50. Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St., 416-872-4255, roythomson.com.
2. DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS AT EVERGREEN BRICK WORKS (FREE!) Read the rest of this entry »
While this is the season for spooky, it’s not all haunted houses and black cats. Take, for example, the Day of the Dead. Closely tied to the Catholic holidays All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, this Mexican holiday is a time for honouring loved ones who have passed away. The Brick Works incorporates traditional elements of el Día de los Muertos, like decorated altars, candy skull making, Mexican folk music and a craft workshop. Oh, and for $5 you can judge a churro competition featuring Cava’s Chris McDonald, Frida’s José Haddad and five other chefs. Oct. 29. Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave., ebw.evergreen.ca.
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