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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 »
(Image: Fairmont Royal York Hotel)
Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas St. W. (at McCaul St.), 416-979-6634
For a truly magnificent celebration, Frank Gehry’s transformed AGO offers an awe-inspiring event space. On the third floor of the south tower, the 7,200-square-foot Baillie Court affords panoramic city views on one end and overlooks the gallery’s iconic spiral staircase on the other. Designed in modern glass and Douglas fir, the room can be divided as needed and seats up to 300. Executive chef Anne Yarymowich works with couples on customized menus, and a small army of professional event staff ensures the experience is as effortless as it is unique. Baillie Court rental includes a one-year membership to the AGO for the newlyweds. The Walker Court is available to rent outside of gallery hours in conjunction with a reception in Baillie Court.
The Drake Hotel has been dropping mysterious hints about its new standalone restaurant since early March. Now, the official word is out: Drake One Fifty is going to be a giant 175-seat space in a former bank building at the corner of York and Adelaide. Newly appointed executive chef Ted Corrado is designing the menu, carrying over the Drake’s standard elevated comfort food, and like the Queen West original, the downtown location is a hodgepodge of spaces, including a dining room, bar, 70-seat patio, a micro-Drake General Store and curated art and performance rooms, all in the Drake’s vintage decor.
Shortly after announcing that Ted Corrado had taken over as corporate executive chef, The Drake has revealed that it will be launching Drake 150, a stand-alone restaurant downtown. Details are scarce, but the restaurant’s placeholder website drops a few hints. The new spot will apparently be located in a “postmodern office building” that used to house to a commercial bank (the site has an archival photo of the building that’s now The Bay at Queen and Yonge), and the complex will also contain a bar and a Drake General Store outpost.
(Image: Courtesy of the Drake)
Queen West trendsetter the Drake Hotel is bringing in chef Ted Corrado to take over its kitchen. Corrado did stints at Rain, Luce and George before opening C5 Restaurant at the ROM, where he cultivated an ambitious, fussy, high-end style of cooking. At the more comfort-oriented Drake, he’ll be working alongside current head chef Darren Glew, whose work received tepid reviews after Anthony Rose left to open his buzzy new diner Rose and Sons, and overseeing the food program at The Drake Devonshire Inn, which is slated to open in Prince Edward County this summer.
If you know where to look, Toronto is a very naughty town. Here, the city’s best places for a sexy night out
POLE-DANCING LESSONS
Flirty Girl Fitness
462 Wellington St. W., 416-920-1400
At Flirty Girl, a team of preternaturally limber instructors—including former gymnasts and circus acrobats—train neophytes on how to work the pole. A one-hour introductory class ($25) teaches a come-hither choreography routine to a Top 40 hit (expect Beyoncé or Rihanna), featuring at least one pole trick, like a traditional firefighter spin around the pole. Two-hour workshops ($45) are more advanced, offering tutorials in other floor tricks and at least two aerial stunts, such as the sun wheel (launching off the ground and spinning down the pole) or a two-handed spread eagle. Sexiness aside, it’s a terrific workout for the abs and core—so you’ll come away with more than just dollar bills in your G-string.
The Drake Sky Yard (Image: Connie Tsang/The Drake Hotel)
Toronto’s love of patios is a curious, twisted thing. Even when the day’s high is minus-something-awful and snow blankets the streets, Toronotonians will do seemingly anything for a snatch of sky with their meal. It’s a point of great northern pride, a desperate attempt to pretend winter isn’t, well, winter and, really, just plain weird. To the city’s most stubborn patio-philes, we both salute you and question your grip on reality. We also offer 11 restaurants and bars with a fully fuctional winter patio—so you can tackle the year’s toughest months with drink in hand and toque on head.
Ivars Taurins leading the Sing-Along Messiah at Massey Hall (Image: Gary Beechey)
1. SING-ALONG MESSIAH Read the rest of this entry »
That only-used-in-the-shower voice deserves to be heard, so why not join your fellow shower-belters in some Baroque music conducted by a man in a fantastically frilly costume? Ivars Taurins, dressed from wigged head to pointy toe as composer G.F. Handel, directs the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir along with an audience of thousands, who can either choose to sit with their voice type or in a mixed area to blend into the din. A little warmup en route to the performance might not hurt, but don’t take it personally if your fellow TTC passengers are less than amused. December 23. $45. Massey Hall, 178 Victoria St., 416-872-4255, masseyhall.com
Anthony Bourdain taking bone luge shots at The Black Hoof with Ezra Title; Bourdain with Scott Vivian at Porchetta and Co. (Images: Courtesy of Travel Channel)
For last night’s episode of The Layover, Anthony Bourdain and his merry crew squeezed as many of Toronto’s culinary delights as possible into their 30-odd hours in the city (we covered his trip back in July). And while he seemed genuinely impressed with some of what he saw, we’re not gonna lie: it was pretty much Bourdain by the numbers. Quirky store owner? Check! (Olivia Go of Tosho Knife Arts). Local punk band? Check! (Fucked Up). Over-the-top feats of on-air gluttony? Check! (Bone luge at The Black Hoof, expertly administered by Jen Agg). Still, there’s nothing a Torontonian likes better than to be acknowledged by an outsider—from New York, no less. In this respect, the show was a complete success, with Bourdain delivering his trademark razor-sharp backhanded compliments with relative abandon. Below, a roundup of where the Kitchen Confidential author stopped and, more importantly, what he said about it.
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(Image: Emma McIntyre)
Dinner at the minuscule new diner from Anthony Rose, the ex-chef of the Drake Hotel, is good, chaotic fun. LCD Soundsystem thrums from the speakers while Rose squeezes between the tightly packed communal booths, dropping F-bombs (“It’s impossible to fuck up a patty melt—you’re gonna love it”) and pouring wine for parka-cocooned couples waiting by the door. You can see Rose’s down-to-earth enthusiasm all over the menu of upgraded greasy spoon specials, which are deftly prepped by chef Chris Sanderson.
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(Image: Susan Keefe)
The hotly anticipated Rose and Sons opened earlier this month where the beloved neighbourhood institution People’s Foods once stood. Co-owned by Robert Wilder and The Drake Hotel’s former executive chef Anthony Rose, the 176 Dupont Street location is the first instalment in a promised trio of restaurants. Out of respect for the diner that Wilder visited for 30-plus years, he and Rose opted to leave the iconic “Hamburgers” sign untouched. Inside, Rose and Sons echoes the retro appeal of the fallen greasy spoon, with the individual tables swapped out for long wooden booths. The eatery has an undeniably buzzy energy, with a bustling bar operating beside a semi-enclosed kitchen, which turns out the kind of elevated comfort food that Rose has become known for.
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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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Ellie Goulding performs at The Sound Academy on Sunday (Image: Michael Buckner/Getty Images Entertainment)
1. THE JUNCTION FLEA (FREE!)
Presented by Smash and Russet and Empire, this eclectic outdoor market features vintage and kitschy items from furniture to vinyl records, all hawked by super-hip vendors in a lot in the Junction. Even though this market only kicked off this summer, the response has been overwhelming, and the onset of winter is sending the organizers looking for indoor spaces to continue the run. Make sure to catch this last outdoor event of the season. October 14. 2799 Dundas St. W., hello@junctionflea.com, junctionflea.blogspot.ca
2. ELLIE GOULDING Read the rest of this entry »
Since her first album, Bright Lights, came out in 2010, Goulding has received a whirlwind of accolades, including winning Critic’s Choice from the Brit Awards (she also sang at Will and Kate’s reception). That album’s single “Lights” spent months on the charts, finally breaking through to become an essential 2012 summer power jam. Her second album, Halcyon, dropped earlier this month. October 14. $25. Sound Academy, 11 Polson St. 1-855-985-5000, ticketmaster.ca
Shelley Miller’s Throw-Up will be outside Metro Hall (Image: Shelley Miller)
Nuit Blanche opens on Saturday night at 7:03 p.m. (see our full guide), and with an entire night of roaming Toronto’s transformed streets, galleries and everything in between, odds are you’ll get hungry. To help, the folks behind the festival have dispatched a fleet of food trucks, which will be out in full force at three designated downtown “rest stops.” Several restaurants are also keeping their doors open late with special offerings. Below, our roundup of where to eat in each zone, near city hall and outside of the box (i.e. near the independent projects in Parkdale).
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Back in July, Anthony Rose (who led the food program at The Drake Hotel for years until he left in April) told The Dish he was planning to open a trio of restaurants over the next couple of years, each with a different concept and all under the banner Rose and Sons. Now, news has emerged of the first, in the form of a new liquor licence application at 176 Dupont Street, just west of Davenport (Rose posted a photo of it to his blog). It seems the good people of the Annex will be the first to sample Rose’s post-Drake fare. [h/t The Grid]
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