Update Mar. 22: We now know the name and concept for Grant van Gameren’s upcoming Kensington Market restaurant. According to a job ad the chef posted on Facebook, his team is converting the Kensington Cornerstone space into El Rey Mezcal bar. As well as serving tequila’s smoky cousin, the ad says they will have “a small focused menu of Latin inspired dishes headed up by two very talented chefs.” It looks like April is the tentative opening time.
Van Gameren’s partner in the venture, Owen Walker, also posted an ad seeking front-of-house staff to Facebook.
Update Jan. 16: Grant van Gameren contacted us after this post was published to clarify that Owen Walker, currently the head barman at Bar Isabel, is his partner for the Kensington Market project. Walker is also on the trip to Oaxaca.
We read in the Globe’s end-of-year food roundup that Grant van Gameren will be opening a new restaurant in Kensington Market this year. But the exact location wasn’t specified.
It looks from tweets today like it will be the old Kensington Cornerstone space at 2A Kensington Ave., just north of Dundas.
Heard rumour Grant van Gameren is taking over old Kensington Cornerstone location. True/False: @cnutsmith @coreymintz @blogTO @nowtoronto?
— Scott Young (@scottalyoung) January 15, 2016
@cnutsmith @scottalyoung Can only confirm that I've seen him loading lumber into the location. He could be building an awesome fort.
— Corey Mintz (@coreymintz) January 15, 2016
That restaurant posted a going-out-of-business notice on September 7, 2015. The first tweet from someone who had spotted van Gameren in front of the space came on September 22, 2015.
Just spotted Grant Van Gameren outside the old Kensington Cornerstone Restaurant… Number 3 in the works?
— Gregory Macdonald (@gmacd) September 22, 2015
We reached out to van Gameren for comment, but he hasn’t responded. Judging by his Instagram feed, he and his partners from Bar Raval are on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.
Travelling to Spain helped them develop the menus for Bars Isabel and Raval, so that might be a hint at what to expect for the Kensington project. But they were also in Argentina, last fall, so something south of California is probably as exact as we can get at this point.
When we talked to Partisans, the design firm who worked on Bar Raval, they confirmed that they have an ongoing relationship with van Gameren, but wouldn’t specify which projects they have been commissioned to work on.
We’ll update this story with more information as it becomes available.
