News   Dec 09, 2025
Innovative Estonian Cultural Centre Advances in The Annex
 662     0 
News   Dec 09, 2025
Resubmission Seeks 49 Storeys for Upcoming Concord Park Place Phase
 1.1K     5 
News   Dec 09, 2025
News Roundup for December 9, 2025
 511     0 

Restaurant Comings & Goings


"The Rabbit Comes to Town at 1 Kitchen is promising a five-course prix-fixe full of “heart, hustle and harvest” (though no actual heart, which we wouldn’t put past this fan of sustainable whole-animal butchery). Dishes will include lamb tartare with plum mostarda and pickles, Ontario rabbit croquette with baby gem salad, and a chestnut honey financier with mascarpone mousse and espresso pearls for dessert."
 

Melani Toronto – Greek Restaurant

melanitoronto.com melanitoronto.com

A brand new and exciting Greek restaurant is about to land in Uptown, and it’s opening very soon. Just weeks after Toronto’s beloved Byblos Uptown shut its doors, the space is already being reborn as Melani — a modern Greek concept from INK Entertainment that promises coastal energy, sleek design, and a fresh take on classic dishes.⁠
 

But now they’re introducing Cuban breakfast at their Ossington location, which until now wasn’t open in the mornings. The menu will include some old hits as well as some new dishes, including huevos sofrito ($15); pulled pork benito, their take on eggs Benny ($19); and—an early favourite—pork belly and waffles with pineapple salsa ($21), because fried chicken shouldn’t get to have all the fun.
 

But, instead of stewing in the frustration of setbacks (which are still ongoing), they improvised. Potter and Degiorgio bought a rainbow-bright 1970s trailer for $1,000, parked it in front of their building and christened it Bodega Geary, a takeout window selling coffee, homemade patties, pop tarts, hot dogs and ice cream floats. “With the trailer, we’ve been able to recoup about a quarter of the rent that the extra time has taken,” says Potter. “But there have been a lot of other bonuses from operating Bodega Geary. We’re able to be on site every day, getting to know the tradespeople and the wider neighbourhood around us.”
 

"A private chef is cooking up gourmet dishes for clients at the Fort York Food Bank using ingredients that would normally go to waste. "

@Northern Light definately should hit up the food kitchen for your fine dining expertise!
 
artyboy123 said:

"A private chef is cooking up gourmet dishes for clients at the Fort York Food Bank using ingredients that would normally go to waste. "

@Northern Light definately should hit up the food kitchen for your fine dining expertise!
Click to expand...

I do not require such services Art; but if I did, I don't think it would be at all appropriate for me to use them from a Food Bank, which is intended to help those who can't afford to buy their own groceries.

I assume you mean i should offer my services..........
 
Last edited:
Northern Light said:
I do not require such services Art; but if I did, I don't think it would be at all appropriate for me to use them from a Food Bank, which is intended to help those who can't afford to buy their own groceries.

I assume you mean i should offer my services..........
Click to expand...

@Northern Light

ops sorry, haha, I typed it too quickly before I post it!

The food bank is for those in need & but it also helps with the food bank's morale when talented cooks help out and serve their local community.

My apologies!

I meant you should offer your cooking services to the food bank since you are an extraordinary cook!

If I were still living in Toronto, I would also set up some time in the weekend to help out in the kitchen!
 

Shakir Al-Qanbar, the owner of East Tea Can, is opening Soul Smash Burgers at Dundas and Winston Churchill, in the space next to his Middle Eastern restaurant.

The concept was born from Al-Qanbar’s desire to return to a classic burger—to the “soul” of what makes a burger good at a time when trends come and go. While Toronto has no shortage of smash burgers, Mississauga has relatively fewer options. “It’s a simple product,” says Al-Qanbar. “We just wanted to bring a quality version of it to the community we already know.”
 

Toronto’s restaurant industry lost a singular force earlier this month. Rodney Clark, the PEI-born oyster expert, passed away on November 6 from heart failure. He was 75 years old. Known across the city as the “urban oysterman,” he was a fixture of Toronto’s food scene: part raconteur, part ringmaster, part seafood evangelist. Long before oysters were on menus city-wide, he showed Toronto diners that seafood could be fun, local and a little unruly. His namesake restaurant ran on joy and chaos in equal measure—oysters flying, champagne flowing and Rodney in the middle of it all, turning strangers into regulars with a story and a wink.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: PL1

In 2019, when he was just 24 years old, Yevhen Salitrynskyi left Ukraine for Toronto to earn a degree in computer engineering. Today, he’s the force behind Borscht Kitchen, a Ukrainian micro-restaurant cleverly concealed inside a Harbord Village sushi spot (in the space that was once Aunties and Uncles). “When Covid hit, it was very brutal,” Salitrynskyi says. “I felt very alone. I was so far from family and friends, and being isolated was no way to make new ones. I was really craving connection.”
 

But, when one menu closes, another one opens: Covarrubias will be joining the team at 20 Victoria, replacing chef Julie Hyde. “I feel so excited and nervous all at once,” Covarrubias says. “I start the second week of January, and I’ll be tag-teaming it with 20 Victoria owner Chris White.” And he’s not coming alone—he’s also bringing a couple of Hexagon team members with him. “I feel very lucky to have my chef de cuisine Jordan Wilkinson and sous-chef Victoria Rinsma with me.” Consider this culinary deck stacked.
 

Name: Spaghetti Western
Contact: 998 Kingston Rd., spaghettiwestern.ca, @spaghettiwestern.to
Owners: Dimitri and Laura Petropoulos
Chef: Travis Simmons
Accessibility: Fully accessible

Posters of Clint Eastwood cowboy flicks may line the walls of Spaghetti Western, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be fed cans of beans or salt pork here. Husband-and-wife team Dimitri and Laura Petropoulos, along with their business partner Constantine Patiniotis, are showcasing 11 years of wholesale pasta experience with Italian classics given a North American twist.
 

Name: Powder Room
Contact: 129 Yorkville Ave., powderroomyorkville.com, @powderroomyorkville
Neighbourhood: Yorkville
Owner: Liberty Entertainment Group
Corporate executive chef: Michael Ewing
Accessibility: Not fully accessible

Many years ago—before King West claimed the city’s club kids—Yorkville was home to one of the vibiest spots in town: a swanky whitewashed lounge and rooftop known as Amber, which attracted young people to the posh neighbourhood and set the cobbled streets aglow. Since Amber closed in 2011, Yorkville has yet to muster a night haunt that captures the same balance of maturity and marauding—something both luxe and lit.

Until now. Meet Powder Room, a 4,000-square-foot, 200-plus-person lounge with a strict dress code perched above Cibo and powered by the Liberty Entertainment Group crew, who have spent over three decades dealing in downtown swank (and, more recently, in Michelin-level dining).
 

The dulce de leche has barely cooled and a restaurant for New York–style Italian food is already taking over the former La Cubana space on Roncesvalles. (If you haven’t heard, you can still get your Cuban brunch fix at their Ossington location.)

Proper, which opens January 7, aims to fill a buzzy nightlife void for the largely family-oriented neighbourhood. Owner Michael Edwards, who lives in the area, is new to the restaurant world, but he’s betting big on an unmet desire for late-night options.

Led by chef Julien Cawagas, who helped bring Eataly and Giulietta to cult-fave status, Proper’s menu will revolve around familiar, family-style American Italian flavours, executed with polish. “Traditional Italian food tends to be quite strict—it’s very rule-based. No cappuccino after noon, right? New York Italian is a diaspora that lets you break the rules a bit,” says Edwards.
 

Now ready to kick off the 2025/26 series, Conci has set a date, with the first party happening on December 6. Each guest will get a plate loaded with fingerling potatoes, grainy mustard, caramelized onions, pickles, and a choice of apple cider pork stew, mushroom melt or classic beef bourguignon. On top of it all: a thick blanket of melted raclette, scraped straight from the wheel. Guests will also enjoy a salad (though whatever fibre it contains will be no match for the cheese) and, for dessert, seasonal chestnut panna cotta.

www.instagram.com

Conci. (@conci.to) • Instagram photos and videos

10K Followers, 1,820 Following, 428 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Conci. (@conci.to)
www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: PL1
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top