A new storefront from the Ascari Group at 1091 Queen St. E. will be open this spring. Ascari Mercatino e Vini will sell specialty pantry items, have an extensive and exclusive wine list, and serve food to go or to eat (pandemic-permitting) inside while sipping an espresso counter-side. Co-owner Erik Joyal describes the new spaces
Friday Restaurant Recap rounds up the week’s Toronto restaurant news. In this edition: a Brazilian steakhouse for Richmond Hill, an Iberian-Asian restaurant opens on Avenue Road and a classic U.S. diner prepares to open its first downtown Toronto location.
Wasn’t everything better in the ‘50s? Actually, having seen Midnight in Paris, we know that we’re just inherently dissatisfied with the present. Still, we’re intrigued by the latest project from Table 17’s Erik Joyal and John Sinopoli: an upcoming restaurant and wine bar in Leslieville that’ll offer up lots of house-made pasta while paying homage to a bygone Italian era.
Jody Shapiro, co-owner of lumberjack-chic hipster hotspot Antler, has partnered with the Stephen Bulger Gallery to create Lockdown 2.0, a photo essay series aimed at raising funds for the hard-hit restaurant industry. Featuring 14 Toronto restaurants, including Ascari, Blackbird Bakery, Canoe, the Federal, Skippa, the Skyline and Uncle Mikey’s, Shapiro’s photos depict some of these
It’s no secret that restaurant and bar owners are struggling due to the indoor and outdoor dining restrictions, but many believe a wholesale discount at the LCBO might help. Hospitality owners holding a liquor licence can currently pay more than retail buyers at the LCBO. In-restaurant dining markups on alcohol are one way that restaurant
With the announcement that Toronto will move into phase two of reopening on Wednesday, June 24, restaurants across the city are getting ready to reopen their patios to dine-in guests. Five Toronto restaurant operators share how they’re preparing for the new normal of patio dining. Gusto 101 and Chubby’s Jamaican Kitchen Juanita Dickson, President
Each year, we bring together 60 of the top chefs in the city to come up with the definitive list of Toronto’s 50 best restaurants. That won’t happen this year thanks to the pandemic. But, we’ve tweaked our current list, dropped those who are not operating currently and added some from our list of the
As the era of social distancing drags on, more Toronto restaurants are transforming into grocery stores, supplying home cooks with pantry items, produce, and proteins. Whether you’re looking to avoid a trip to the supermarket or to mix up your home cooking routine with ingredients you might not find in a traditional grocery store, these
Dining room closures have left the restaurant industry in crisis. More than a million hospitality workers have been laid off from their jobs and, as of April 1, many restaurants are now burdened with overdue rent payments. In an industry where profit margins are known to be thin, operators across the country won’t have the
The new coalition of independent restaurants representing some of Toronto’s top establishments are banding together to lobby all levels of government for immediate help to stave off what has already been an economic disaster of the highest proportion. An email newsletter sent from Erik Joyal of the Ascari Hospitality Group outlines a way forward for
Many restaurateurs across Toronto are making the difficult choice to temporarily shut down amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. On Sunday afternoon, Toronto restaurateur and celebrated author Jen Agg took to social media to express her reasons for shutting down all her locations (Grey Gardens, Bar Vendetta, Le Swan, Rhum Corner). View this post on
THE JUDGES: Pictured above: Suresh Doss, Joanne Kates, Pay Chen, Jacob Richler, Vijaya Selvaraju, Renee Suen, Amy Rosen, Karolyne Ellacott, Jacky Yoh, Solmaz K. Not pictured: Corey Mintz, Sara Waxman, Caroline Aksich, Michelle Jobin A donation has been made to the North York Harvest Food Bank to acknowledge the contributions of our judges to this
A chic bar and restaurant is taking over a former abandoned piano factory. The Parlour (642 King St. W.) was started by two Vancouverites who got their start at B.C.’s Cactus Club and have brought their experience and style to this new spot. It’s been 18 months since the terrible fire that ravaged Oakwood Hardware (337
Chef David Lee’s new Planta Queen (180 Queen St. W.) opened up in his former Nota Bene spot in late March, promising plant-based interpretations of chef’s favourite childhood dishes. After a closure due to storm damage last summer, Drake’s sushi bar Pick 6ix reopened late March as Pick 6ix Sports (33 Yonge St.). Thornhill just
These are the restaurants you need to check out right now.
These are the restaurants you need to check out right now.
Eastside restaurant veterans John Sinopoli and Erik Joyal (Ascari Enoteca, Gare de L’Est Brasserie) have been quite busy over the past little while. They built four kitchens in the span of a year, half of them are in the Broadview Hotel, where the duo manages the entire food program from the café to the rooftop patio to the hotel restaurant, The Civic.
Erik Joyal and John Sinopoli, who’ve opened several restos together, are in charge of the food at the Broadview, a project of Streetcar Crowsnest, which put $26 million into a three-year reno of the old pile built in 1891 — now a boutique hotel with three restaurant/bar spaces. Bye bye Jilly’s strip club, hello hipsters. They’re calling it the Drake of the east end.
Helping to ring in the change are Erik Joyal and John Sinopoli. The longtime restaurateurs behind area staples such as Ascari Enoteca are heading up the hotel’s food and bev program. With a café-slash-bar, a casual fine dining restaurant and a rooftop bar, the food scene at the hotel is set to be the star of the show.
An insider’s guide to going out for drinks with friends in Toronto featuring the coolest mixologists, honky-tonks and wine bars.
Clayton Ruby to argue conflict of interest case that could turf mayor
It isn’t uncommon for a restaurant to boast a signature dish, but how is an unsuspecting public to know who really has the sweetest pasta sauce or the tenderest filet mignon? With a head-to-head battle royale, of course. Food blogger Jacob Younan is orchestrating just that by putting Toronto restaurants to the test with Dish Duel.
Not much has changed in decor or format since this address’s last venture as Piatti, an all-you-can-eat Italian spot.
