Open/Closed for the week of Feb 29 – March 6
It’s starting to ramp up again as new restaurants open their doors.
Here’s the very latest:
OPEN
Basil Box
351 Yonge St.
Inspired by the street markets of Thailand and Vietnam, this sleek new casual spot features mix and match ingredients to create your own dishes.
BATCH
75 Victoria St.
BATCH offers ten craft beers on tap, six of which are brewed on-site including a Pale Ale, Cream Ale, Witbier, Porter and IPA.
The menu by Chef Ben Heaton, formerly of The Grove, features modern comfort foods such as Pulled Brisket Flatbread with smoky onion relish and crispy shallots, and a Lamb Burger with feta, charred red onion and curried lime pickle mayo. The new gastrobrewery from Creemore Springs officially opens on Monday. TR Pro Tip: Check out the TR Instagram tonight for a sneak peek.
Joe's Smokehouse BBQ
1225 Queen St. E.
Leslieville gets barbecue by way of Joe’s, located right in The Duke.
Love Me Sweet
7181 Yonge St.
In case you haven’t had your fill of Japanese cheesecake in the downtown core, LMS brings its confections north of Steeles.
Page One
106 Mutual St.
Page One has got you covered by day (coffee) and night (craft beer/wine/cocktails).
Peppery Cat
1953 Queen St. E.
From the owners of The Salty Dog just down the block (1980 Queen St. E.) comes counterpart restaurant, lounge and sports bar, complete with 80" big screens to watch the game. As far of the grub goes, it’s an explosion of global flavours: Montreal Burger ($16) topped with Montreal smoked meat, creamy coleslaw, and shoestring onion rings; Flatbread Butter Chicken Pizza ($12) with roasted red peppers, mandarin orange, spinach, and sweet julienne potato fries drizzled with chipotle mayo; and Lobster Martini ($15) a skewer of lobster wrapped in angel hair pasta, deep fried and served with a fresh coconut chili sauce.
Simit & Chai Company
787 King St. W.
Get ready to meet your next obsession, Simits: Turkish bagels dipped in molasses and sesame seeds, available plain or as a sandwich. Other menu items include breakfast sandwiches and muffins, with dips in the works. All items are made in-house.
Vaticano
1030 Niagara St. Welland, ON
Vaticano’s second outpost is outside my usual radius, however should you find yourself in Welland, Ontario, you’ve got a local Italian spot on hand.
CLOSED
Pangaea almost made it to 20 years before shutting their doors. Owners Martin Kouprie and Peter Geary made the announcement on their website thanking guests and staff, ending with "We will be taking some time to regroup and consider our next chapters."
Quince is closing Saturday, reopening as Noorden Food Bar, a pop-up restaurant in May, that will be "popping up" over the next two years.
NEWS
Caplanskys is expanding, with a new location coming to Yorkville in the spring, and more across the GTA to follow.
The chef that won the Das Gasthaus in lottery has decided to decline the offer.
EVENTS
The first edition of Mac & Cheese Week arrives in Toronto March 7-13. Visit the following seven participating restaurants for their cheese-filled creations: CheeseWerks, Cut The Cheese, Grasshopper, Let’s Be Frank, Old School, The Senator and SOCO Kitchen + Bar.
Luma is celebrating International Woman’s Day on Tuesday with “Rare Birds.” The multi-course dinner will feature dishes from five O&B chefs. Highlights include Chicken & Dumplings (Amanda Ray, Biff’s Bistro), Mushroom & Truffle Custard (Alessa Valdez, Auberge du Pommier) and Mincemeat Pudding (Christine Mast, Canoe). Tickets are $65 plus tax and gratuity (pairings will be available onsite for an additional $30).
LASTLY
March is National Noodle Month. Check out this week’s Best Of for where to celebrate.
Kathmandu, North America’s first Nepalese restaurant, moves to Cumberland.
Get out your calendar and book in some of the city’s best food and drink events with George Brown College CHCA.
This new pop-up dinner series focuses on local chefs, local ingredients, all for a local cause.
What’s hot for 2016? Find out in this chef survey.
Life moves fast. Catch up on previous editions of the OPEN/CLOSED.
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