Restaurant 3030 Dundas West is a hotbed of culture in the ever-more-happening Junction. The cavernous space is a bit of everything: a bar, restaurant, art gallery and concert hall rolled into one. Paintings from local artists — like cool cat Nick Sweetman — oversee patrons downing local brews and tucking into eats before heading to
Every day is Rib Fest at this central Texas‒style barbecue joint. AAA Bar is serving up some of the city’s best barbecue and isn’t ashamed to say it. The award-winning dry-rub ribs, brisket and other favourites are smoked daily and made to feed the masses. At AAA, they also are proud to tell their guests
For chef Anna Chen’s first stand-alone restaurant, she opted to open a 32-seater in the west end. Blonde wood accents the minimalist room, and soulful tunes play overhead, foreshadowing Chen’s highly elegant take on comfort food. Buoyed by her knowledge from stints at Figo and Scaramouche — plus an upbringing in India — Chen has
At Art of BBQ, smoked meat is, well, an art form. The joint began as a way to honour pit master Trevor David’s late uncle who loved smokehouse barbecuing in North Carolina. Now, Art of BBQ is one of Scarborough’s most authentic smokehouses, putting a northern Canadian taste on Southern-inspired smoked meats. The experimental flavours
Burger joints may not be hard to come by in Toronto, but there’s nothing quite like Aunty Lucy’s Burgers. Now located at the Annex Hotel, Aunty Lucy’s began as a pop-up shop to honour the culture and cuisine from the streets of Ghana. The joint is known for their Kumasi Burger, a 4oz patty with
Bang Sue is a cozy 50-seat bar on the second floor above Khao San Road restaurant. The bar’s moniker is a nod to Bangkok’s main train station. If you had ever driven past the restaurant’s former location on Adelaide, you will have seen the line-ups out the door. That's why Bang Sue is a great waiting area where people can nibble on Thai-inspired bar snacks and sip on cocktails before they make their way down to the main event.
Bar Batavia is a midtown cocktail bar located upstairs from Indonesian eatery Little Sister. It claims to have no-nonsense cocktails made with precision, quality ingredients and a smile. The food menu consists of a couple of snacks, including shrimp chips and Balinese spiced chicken, but if you’re looking for dinner, the place to be is
Like many residents living near Bayview and Sheppard, I’ve been keeping a close eye on Beauty Barbecue and Smokehouse. Over the last month or so, when walking across the parking lot at Bayview Village Shopping Centre, I’d occasionally catch a whiff of something smokey and delicious and I’d hope that the opening date would be
Sister restaurant to the popular beer hall Bar Volo, this Little Italy hideout is the perfect place to have a beer and a bite. Birreria Volo is a rustic, Italian-style bar focusing on its constantly rotating list of wild ales, natural wine, ciders and snacks. The hideaway feeling is brought on by the historical alley
In continuing their steady takeover of Toronto’s dining scene — following the openings of the hugely successful Weslodge Saloon and Patria — restaurateurs-du-jour Hanif Harji and Charles Khabouth had originally planned to open a seafood restaurant as their latest venture. Then, Harji took a business trip to the Middle East, where he experienced food that he knew he had to bring to Toronto.
Byblos Uptown Toronto represents a marriage of Eastern Mediterranean cuisine with strong influences from both traditional and local ingredients.
The authentic Chinese restaurant with a French name, C’est Bon, has been not just a staple, but a favourite of midtown for over a decade. The founding Chen family comes from a French Taiwanese background, hence the name and cuisine of the restaurant. Most of the menu is made up of classic Szechuan dishes, like
Cabano’s Comfort Food is an old-school sandwich and burger shop decorated with exposed brick and a sleek, modern design. Cabano’s is proud to serve beef that is never frozen, and is raised here in Ontario. The restaurant is known for its Cabano Burger, a double burger with cheese on the bottom, served on a bun
Cactus Club Café is all set to open its second location in the GTA at Etobicoke’s Sherway Gardens shopping centre this week. The new outpost will be unveiled on Oct. 24, after an intimate first-look tasting event held for local food media. On hand to mingle with the crowd at the event was Richard Jaffray,
Cactus Club Cafe Toronto opened its doors just over a week ago at First Canadian Place on Adelaide. Helmed by Vancouver Chef Rob Feenie of Iron Chef fame, this is the 28th location for the upscale chain, but the first east of Saskatoon.
For the people at Chadwick’s, a “craft” kitchen means that everything is made in-house. This includes the sausages and the burger buns, the dressings and condiments, and the succulent smoked brisket. The concept for their menu is based on a variety of street food and diner fare from around the world. Executive chef Pablo V
Welcome to the smoking renaissance. No seriously, at Chainsmoker Urban Smoked Meats, they’re making smoking cool again. Cooking up an assortment of meats, Chainsmoker’s dishes are slow cooked on site in a South Carolina BBQ style. At Chainsmoker, they decided that while vegetarian and vegan restaurants continue to pop-up all over the city, someone’s got
On a trip to Nashville, husband and wife Matt and Carolyn fell in love with the city’s crispy, moist chicken and decided to bring it back to Canada. Named after their late yellow lab, Chica’s offers the couple’s own version of Nashville hot chicken, made with grain-fed, 100 per cent Halal chicken from local farmers.
Find this fried chicken in a cone tucked into Ryerson’s Wold Food Market. The Yonge and Dundas pop-up market is the best place to taste interesting otherworldly dishes, like Chickee Kone’s fried chicken in a cone. The waffle cone holds an assortment of different options, like fried chicken, in your choice of sauce, and fish
In honour of the Fairmont Royal York’s 90th anniversary, the Toronto landmark rolled out two new venues to mark the occasion. With Reign, the hotel brings a new French brasserie concept lead by executive chef jW Foster to life, and with Clockwork, a new champagne and cocktail bar in the lobby. Rockwell Group’s design is