Toronto’s master of the brasserie is heading north of Bloor. Chef Nick Liu, the force behind Cafe Renee, its upstairs cocktail bar Charlemagne and Little Italy’s DaiLo, is preparing a brand-new concept called Woodlyns, and it is landing on Eglinton West. The pitch is a pas de deux of Jewish and Asian cuisines, a pairing […]
In a city where a new restaurant goes viral every other week, it takes something special to get people genuinely excited. Shay Ristorante managed it long before the doors opened. The project has been in the works for more than a year and finally opened on Thursday, October 1. At the stoves is chef Justin […]
Chicken is the most ordinary protein on earth, which is exactly why one new Yorkville restaurant has decided to treat it like fine art. Yakitori Momiji opened at 156 Cumberland St. with a 12-seat counter and a single, very focused idea. The restaurant comes from chef Masaki Saito and William Cheng, the pair behind Sushi […]
Some closures are quiet. This one landed like a dropped needle on a record. El Convento Rico, the Latin dance club at 750 College St., announced on the evening of October 1 that it was shutting its doors immediately, ending a run of more than three decades. The club first opened in 1992 in Little […]
Anyone who has squeezed into Bar Raval knows the drill: elbows out, drink in hand, no chairs in sight. The team behind it has decided Toronto deserves a Spanish room where you can actually sit down, and it has just arrived on Palmerston Avenue. Casa Rubia, at 293 Palmerston Ave. in Little Italy, takes over […]
Tucked inside The Watering Can, a European-inspired flower market in Vineland, Ontario, sits The Bistro — a genuinely under-the-radar cafe that most visitors stumble onto rather than seek out directly. The Watering Can first opened in St. Catharines back in 1996, bringing a taste of European flower markets to the Niagara region, before its success […]
Pizzeria Badiali has built one of the most talked-about slice shops in the city, but a growing lineup of collaborations and side projects is raising a genuinely interesting question: are the spinoffs starting to outshine the core business? Between a limited-edition Miss Vickie’s chip flavour built around its cult-favourite vodka sauce and a headline-making collaboration […]
Since 1993, Bairradino Churrasqueira has been a Junction Triangle mainstay, earning a reputation for some of the best Portuguese-style charcoal-grilled chicken in the city from its cozy Lansdowne quarters. After 33 years as a single-location operation, the beloved churrasqueira has finally opened a second spot. The new location has slotted into the former home of […]
A Montreal institution has officially crossed provincial lines. Pizza Spano — despite the name, an equal mix of Greek dishes, diner staples, and pizza — has been a fixture in Dollard-Des Ormeaux for more than four decades, and as of Monday, March 16, the family-run restaurant has landed its first Toronto location in the Castlefield […]
Why a Michelin Star Isn’t the Safety Net It Used to Be Michelin recognition is often treated as the ultimate stamp of approval for a restaurant — proof that a kitchen has hit a level most operators never reach. But according to Daniel Hadida, co-executive chef and owner of Restaurant Pearl Morissette, the accolade […]