(Image: Christopher Drost)
I don’t use crack cocaine nor am I an addict.
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QUOTED: Rob Ford finally speaks up about whether he smokes crack cocaine
Friday Night Bites: tables for two at One, Auberge du Pommier and Pizzeria Libretto
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It’s 4 p.m. on Friday, and you don’t have a dinner reservation. Still, there’s no need to fret (or waste your night waiting for a table). We just called some of the city’s hottest restaurants and found three that can squeeze in two for dinner tonight. Now it’s up to you to get dialing and snag a table before they’re all gone. Today: One, Auberge du Pommier, and Pizzeria Libretto.
Real estate website Zoocasa is offering rebates on broker commissions in Toronto
Rogers Communications rolled out a revamped version of Zoocasa, its online resource for home buyers, this week, and along with a new, cleaner look that’s heavy on infographics, the site’s promising to repay consumers a portion of their broker commission. Users who connect to agents through Zoocasa’s free referral service and then close the sale or purchase of a home will get about 15 per cent of the commission back in cash and gift cards for retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, Sears or Canadian Tire. (On a $500,000 home, the consumer would get $1,683 in cash and $240 in gift cards.) Zoocasa has also obtained a brokerage licence as a back-door way to access up-to-date listings data from the Toronto Real Estate Board, meaning it, like Realtor.ca, now displays every property available through MLS. (Previously, Zoocasa only published listings from specific agents with whom it had deals.) Still, unlike similar house hunting sites in the U.S., Zoocasa still can’t display past sales information—unless Canada’s Competition Bureau can win an upcoming appeal and force TREB to loosen its vice grip on the information.
The List: 10 things Stratford’s new artistic director Antoni Cimolino can’t live without
1. My heroes
In 1992 I played Romeo opposite Megan Follows. I love this photo from opening night. I really admire the other three men in the picture— Bruno Gerusi, Richard Monette and Colm Feore—who all played Romeo at Stratford before me.
Rob Ford fires Mark Towhey—his chief of staff and most trusted advisor
(Image: Mark Towhey)
Rob Ford’s crazy week just got crazier. Mark Towhey, the mayor’s chief of staff and according to many the brains behind team Ford, was fired and escorted out of city hall by security this afternoon. The news is shocking given Towhey was known for bullying, intimidating and upbraiding councillors who didn’t fall in line with the mayor’s agenda and was one of Ford Nation’s political masterminds long before he became Ford’s third chief of staff in less than two-and-a-half years. Towhey has confirmed to reporters that he did not resign. On the crack-smoking allegations currently dogging Ford, he said: “I have given the mayor my advice. He can choose to take it or not take it.” The evil genius parted with a quip to the Toronto Sun reporter snapping photos of him driving out of the city hall parkade, tweeting, “Very happy now that I remembered to wash my car yesterday.”
Philip Preville: Does Toronto really need a $1-billion police force?
(Image: Blair by Pete Morawski; Police by CP Images)
Zulfiqar Khimani holds the distinction of being Toronto’s most prolific parking enforcement officer. In the last five years he has issued roughly $4 million in fines to drivers parked illegally in Forest Hill and north Toronto. Khimani is also one of the city’s highest-paid parking enforcement officers, having earned $107,585 last year. And he’s not even a real cop; the parking enforcement jobs are staffed by civilians.
Store Guide: LeatherFoot, a high-end men’s custom shoe store in Yorkville
Name: LeatherFoot
Sells: Men’s shoes, shoe care products, bags and accessories
Contact info: 24 Bellair St. Unit 7, 416-967-3668, leatherfoot.com
Hours: M–W, Sa 11–6, Th–F 11–8, Su 12–3
See it on a map »
LeatherFoot specializes in handcrafted leather shoes for men, the kind of investment pieces that a gent will still be wearing forty years from now. The Yorkville shop’s off-the-rack pairs range from $310 for driving shoes by La Cordonnerie Anglaise to $1850 for hand-stained monkstraps by Saint Crispin’s (whose Romanian workshop reportedly produces fewer than 1,300 pairs each year). However, discerning shoppers willing to wait a few months and chip in an extra $200 or more can specify the leather, colour and soles of any shoe in the store, including pairs by England’s Alfred Sargent and Spanish brand Carmina. Finally, the truly shoe-obsessed can order bespoke pairs (starting around $5,000), in which the entire last is made according to the client’s measurements.
Q&A: Porter CEO Robert Deluce on his plans to vanquish the anti–Island airport faction
There’s been relative peace on the island due in part to the ban on jets. Recently you announced you’d made a conditional purchase of 30 jets for Billy Bishop airport. Why jets and why now?
Our customers keep telling us that they want destinations a little farther afield: Vancouver, L.A., Florida, Las Vegas, the Caribbean. We looked into ways we could do that without having to stop to refuel, and were delighted to discover the Bombardier CS100 whisper jet.
Videos: watch Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno weigh in on the Rob Ford crack allegations
Rob Ford has studiously avoided addressing his alleged proclivity for smoking crack for four days, though pundits, councillors and premier Kathleen Wynne (plus ex-jailbird Conrad Black) are all still asking for a more thorough response than the one he gave Friday. However, Ford’s refusal to speak didn’t seem to bother late-night hosts Jon Stewart, Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel, all of whom riffed on the story—Kimmel even found a creative way to get an interview with the mayor. See the rest of the videos below.
MLSE fires Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo—but asks him to stay as president
(Image: chensiyuan)
This could get awkward: Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment brass axed Bryan Colangelo as general manager of the Toronto Raptors today, but he’s keeping his second, more corporate role as the team’s president. MLSE’s new CEO Tim Leiweke told reporters that a five-season playoff drought finally caught up with Colangelo, and that while the former GM is “ticked off,” he’s accepting the reshuffle. (Of course, Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke was also fired-but-not-fired earlier this year, and he only stuck around for another six weeks.) Leiweke plans to find a new GM within a month, and Denver Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri, Raptors vice-president of basketball operations Ed Stefanski and Oklahoma City Thunder assistant GM Troy Weaver are all reportedly on the short list. [TSN]
How close is Gawker to publishing the Rob Ford crack video?
(Image: screenshot from indiegogo.com)
Since Rob Ford joined Whitney Houston, Charlie Sheen and Tyrone Biggums in the pantheon of famous (alleged) crack users, the world has been clamouring to see the 90-second video that reportedly showcases the deed itself. However, no news agency has expressed interest in ponying up the $200,000 needed to buy the clip off the local drug-dealer-turned-videographer, which means an online crowd-sourced campaign remains the scandal sniffers’ best hope. So far, it’s looking good.
Introducing: Switch, the new downtown bar and rec room from Harif Hanji
(Image: Caroline Aksich)
Name: Switch
Neighbourhood: Downtown Core
Contact Info: 55 Colborne St., 416-901-9990, switchtoronto.com
Owners: Hanif Harji (Patria, Weslodge)
The Food: A pan-global menu of sharing plates. Dishes range from finger snacks (cheesy truffle popcorn and spiced, smoked marcona almonds) to more substantial nosh (scotch eggs and haute dogs). The kitchen is open from 5-10 p.m. and reopens at midnight with a curated selection of snacks.
Five things you didn’t know about Nina Dobrev, the star of the teen fangst phenomenon The Vampire Diaries
(Image: Getty Images)
1. She’s a little rusty on her hometown hot spots
“I realized how much I missed Toronto when I came to TIFF for The Perks of Being a Wallflower last September. The whole cast kept saying, ‘You’re the Toronto girl—show us around!’ I didn’t know if everything I loved was still here. I mean, the Drake Hotel used to be cool—is it still? So it was exciting to rediscover the city. Soho House is incredible. And I had a great time going to Spin with a bunch of friends and playing ping-pong all night.”
Condo of the Week: $850,000 for a two-level unit in the Boiler Factory Lofts on Queen Street East
Address: 189 Queen Street East, Unit 2
Neighbourhood: Moss Park
Agent: Erica Reddy, Royal LePage Signature Realty, Brokerage
Price: $849,000
The Place: A one-bedroom unit on two levels with original oak floors, brick walls and exposed wooden beams. It’s one of 11 condos in the Boiler Factory Lofts on Queen Street East.
Chocolate Brunette Pastry Company brings more gourmet cupcakes to Yorkville
Cocoa raspberry shortbread (Image: Distill Design)
Chocolate Brunette Pastry Company recently opened at Ave and Dav, selling truffles, Italians sweets and their own whipped-cream-and-mousse cupcake bombs. The boutique food shop’s hedonistic creations, like the sweet revenge cupcake filled with toasted walnuts and milk chocolate ganache and the vanilla coconut cupcake topped with mascarpone coconut mousse, look like they could rival the nearby, newly opened, Prairie Girl Bakery’s cupcakes in their epicurean insanity.
Chocolate Brunette Pastry Company. 182 Avenue Rd., 416-834-9711, chocolatebrunette.com
