Tag: Toronto

My guide on how to use Michelin Guides to causally dine

You may think of Michelin guides in terms of deciding the best places to dine in a particular city or place. That is one way to think of them. If you aim to eat in the finest of establishments, their guides to 2 and 3 star restaurants can help you there.

On the other hand, if you want have a relaxing meal that doesn’t cost too much, you can still use their guides. Here’s two ways to do that:

  1. Go to restaurants with Bib Gourmand awards. As Michelin says, these are places with good quality, good value cooking. That’s how I ended up eating recently at Bao in London. It was delicious and super inexpensive. Same goes for Brutto, which I stopped at on my previous visit. If you were visiting Toronto, you would do well to eat at such places as Sunny’s Chinese or Bar Raval, all places with Bib Gourmands. Same goes for Russ and Daughters and Katz’s in New York, to name just a few more places.
  2. Go with restaurants with a price point rating of $ or $$. You likely won’t get fancy tablecloths or candlelight, but you will get really good food. Two examples of that in Toronto are PAI and CÀ PHÊ RANG, while in New York you get great meals at place like Via Carota and Momofuku Noodle Bar. Are you in London? Check out Barrafina or the Pig and Butcher.

Now, you can still causally dine in places that don’t meet the criteria above. I had a fantastic meal at Parcelles in Paris, but it is €€€, even though it feels casual there. Likewise I love St. JOHN in London, and it too feels like a casual place, but again, it is £££. But over all my guide holds, especially if you have no idea how to proceed and you don’t want to spend too much while still eating well.

Michelin is not the be all and end of all of where to dine in a city. Anyone who knows a city well can tell you that they pass over places that should be included, and underrate places you should check out. But you would do well to lean into their guides if you are aiming to eat well and eat causally in a city.

Restaurants loved and living: Côte de Boeuf


I love casual French restaurants. And my favourite thing to order in causal French restaurants is steak frites. That’s why  Côte De Boeuf is one of my Loved and Living restaurants. Ever since I left the sidewalks of Ossington Street to step inside, I’ve been a huge fan. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been there since that first time many years ago.

It’s a perfect little restaurant/grocer. You can stop and just purchase some of the beautiful meats they have in the window. During the pandemic, I would at least do that. But my preference is to go and grab one of their tiny tables along the wall with barely enough room for a plate and a glass and a single votive.

And what good plates and glasses of wines they have! While they do many things well, from oyster to charc’ to dessert,  I cannot resist ordering their steak frites. The fries are wonderfully prepared, and their steak is top notch.  Even when their steak prices leapt up, I still kept going, it was that good and worth the trip. Their wines? French, of course, and a perfect accompaniment for any thing you order.

If I lived nearby I’d go once a week. Alas, in recent years I have not  gone at all, due to it being overwhelmed with guests. Even in summer when they have a patio, it can take a long time to get in, if you can get in at all. And no they don’t have reservations. There’s nothing causal about that, I am sad to say.

This week my sadness turned to delight when I heard that they are creating a sister restaurant in my favorite neighbourhood in Toronto, the Annex. Even better, they’ll be taking over the space left by the closing of the By the Way cafe. That means more seating and more chances for me to go. I don’t think it will be once a week, but it will be with some frequency, that’s for sure.

Here’s hoping the new sister restaurant will be open come December. I can’t wait to go, no matter how big or small their table tops are. All I need is enough room from a plate, a glass, and a single votive.

"Steak

Towering Toronto (my semi-annual update on Hogtown, September 2025 edition)

Since my last newsletter on Toronto, here’s what new and caught my attention in the city with the CN tower (and Skydome):

Politics/getting around: the battle of the Bike Lanes continues on. After an Ontario court struck down the premier’s plan to rip up the bike lanes, he’s stormed off and took it up with the Supreme Court. I am a supporter of the bike lanes, but even if I was not, I don’t think this is the best use of the government’s time or other resources. Let’s see in 6 months if this battle has subsided.

In transit news, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT which was supposed to be open in September? Yeah, that’s not happening. despite the TTC taking control of it the LRT from Metrolinx. At this point I’m just going to assume it’s never going to occur. And even when it does happen, my neighborhood is due for more turmoil. Sigh. More on that here.

a quick aside: for automobile drivers who wondered how they can they get a temporary parking pass, wonder no more! Instead click here for details from the City.

Speaking of the City, the mayor is talking about scaling back on some of the costs associated with hosting the World Cup. Despite all her efforts, the city is still in a bind financially, according to this. That said, she a resourceful politician. I’m confident she can manage.

Real estate: the last time I noted that one of my favorite places, Hot Docs, was up for sale. I was worried this could be the end of it. As it turns out, Hot Docs sells its cinema for $6.25M, but will continue leasing it. Whew. That’s good. Hey, go check out their web site and see a show or two when you can.

Apparently rents are dropping all over Ontario, including Toronto. Good news for tenants, not so good for landlords. Maybe some affordable places will be built out here in proposed extension at College Park, assuming it gets built. Am I a fan of that new design? Let’s just say I wish College Park was being built out the way it was initially envisioned, as I wrote and showed, here.

Food: if you are in Kensington Market, apparently there is a great new sandwich shop there called Made-Rite. Always good to see great sandwich places opening up to go along with strong line up we already have in place, like La Salumeria, Hot Pork, Ariete E Toro and Bahn Mi Boys, to name just a few.

Ariete E To is also one of the best new restaurants in Toronto, according to Toronto Life. Others on that list I can vouch for: Martine’s, Maven and General Public. I’m sure the others are worth a visit too.

Sadly one of the mainstay of Annex dining,  By The Way Cafe, is set to close after 40 years. I’ve started going there when it first opened and I lived in the area. That stretch of Bloor won’t be the same without it.  (More on its closing, here.)

Finally: with the passing away of Giorgio Armani, many a story was published on his life, including this one with a Toronto angle. When I lived in the Annex I would go to Hazelton Lanes often. I never did skate on their lovely rink (shown in the article), though I wish I did.

Do you remember that Toronto once had 326 different moose statues decorated in wildly different ways? Here’s a look back at the art project, 25 years later.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it! I leave you with a date night photo from the restaurant Sorrel, overlooking one of my favorite buildings in the city.

On Giorgio Armani, Kate Moss, and other great things from the 80s and 90s

I don’t write as much about the 80s these days, possibly because the media has shifted their nostalgic articles and stories from that decade to the one that follows. So I have decided to combine both decades in this one post. Hey it’s my annual indulgence, so bear with me. 🙂

The fashion giant Giorgio Armani passed away last week. While his greatness spanned decades, he really dominated the 80s with his flowing and beautifully cut clothing. There was a number of things written about him on the day of his death, but this piece in Wallpaper I found was the best. I’d also recommend this older piece that explains why 80s Armani still matters. And while I was a huge fan of his back in the 80s, as this piece in the New York Times showed, the man never stopped.

I was not the only fan of Armani obviously. Scott Schuman a/k/a The Sartorialist had a special Instagram account dedicated to him. Worth visiting.

If you are in the mood for more great photos of the 80s, I think this photo essay is excellent:  the 1980s turned out to be magic… david bailey on the era of excess in pictures.

Not as many photos in it, but this essay on  The Cameron Public House and 1980s Toronto is a fine remembrance of the beginning of an era at that famous Torontoian establishment. Another famous Toronto establishment, By the Way cafe, also began then. Sadly that restaurant will be closing after 40 years. It won’t be quite the same on the corner of Bloor and Brunswick with it gone.

If you want to know what we were eating in the 80s, read this. If you want to know what were listening too, go here.

One of the people I was listening to back in the day was Tracey Thorn. Nowadays she has a reoccurring column in The Independent where she writes about our current times, such as this: seeing endless faces in the city brings me comfort and relief. Always worth a read. Check out her books too.

Did Tracey Thorn go to clubs like the Limelight in London? Possibly. Did I go into one of the clubs that Sharon Smith captured with her polaroids of NYC nightlife in the 1980s? Definitely. Was I happy to see ‘The Breakfast Club’ stars reunite for the first time in 40 years? You know it. Am I glad that Giancarlo Esposito found happiness and success after a difficult struggle? Most certainly.

Moving from the 80s nightclub scene to the 90s, I give you this story on the famous cafe tabac in NYC. If you had gone during that time, you might have seen Kate Moss there. Zara had a special collection devoted to her not so long ago: Collection Kate Moss. This led to coverage in places like British Vogue and  The Guardian. It may be the reason why someone decided to write this: why fashion keeps selling us the 90s.

PeeWee Herman was another celebrity who rose to the top in that era. Even if you are not a fan of the 90s or Herman, I recommend a recent documentary on him…it’s brilliant.

Finally, here’s a piece on technology that was big at the end of the 20th century. Also big at the end of the 20th century: Friends. For fans of that 90s show, here a recent review of  friends at 30…inside story writers and producers tell all. More friends at 30 sitcom cultural phenomenon here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Open Benches project

Open Benches is a map of thousands of “memorial benches – added by people like you”.  Just type in a search request and see if anyone has dedicated a bench to someone or something, like people and their dogs. For example, this bench was dedicate to Veronica Calver.

You can find examples all over the world, including my town, Toronto. Thanks to the folks who put together this wonderful crowd sourced project.

P.S. If you want to first get a commemorative bench or tree in Toronto, you can get more information on that, here.

 

What’s both new and old in Toronto (random updates from the Big Smoke, March 2025)

Toronto: a city where what’s old and what’s new are often bundled up in the same topic. Take the topic of bike lanes. The mayor and the premier have been fighting over this for some time, yet it stays in the news. Having recently been reelected in a landslide win, Premier Ford is expected to soon rip some of them out. Meanwhile, Mayor Chow now is planning to expand them in other ways.

There are plenty advocating for more bike lanes. Meanwhile, there are a handful of toronto businessmen and more advocating the other way. Personally I think we need more bike infrastructure, if for the food delivery people on bikes alone. Is ripping up bike lanes a good look for the city? No it is not.

Another old thing in the news is the Santa Claus parade. It has fallen on such bad times that there was a a “go fund me” set up for it. At least for 2024 it was saved, thanks to funding from the Federal government. Here’s hoping it gets more funding for 2025 and beyond.

Another old thing getting new life is the TTC. In this case, the TTC is getting some newness in the form of a $2.3 billion fleet of modern subway trains. That’s a welcome injection of goodness into transit. As for other transit developments, it looks the Eglinton LRT may open in July. Amazing. Not so amazing is the ripped up streets at Yonge and Eglinton. Looking forward to the day that type of activity in my neighborhood is old news. It’s just one thing after another in midtown Toronto.

The restaurant scene in Toronto is a great mixture of old and new. I started thinking about that when I read this piece on the favorite old restos of Toronto chefs. From that I went down a rabbithole and checked out the 10 oldest restaurants in Toronto, then I read this piece on old school Toronto restaurants. Followed up with this, on the oldest restaurants in toronto you can still visit. And since I couldn’t get enough, I watched this entire blogTO slideshow on old school restaurants in Toronto.

Of cours there’s lots of great new places to dine. Check out thislist of  the best new Toronto restos for 2024. I’ve been to General Public, and it’s great, and I want to get to Linny’s soon. There’s also a number of places on this best of  Winterlicious 2025 that I need to see. You should go to see them too, if you can.

In other developments over the last 6 months:

Finally, happy 50th anniversary to courage my love in Kensington. It’s not just a store name: it’s also a good commandment. Have courage! Thanks for reading my random Toronto notes. I’ll pen another one in September.

 

Meat is good. Delivery is good. But meat delivery from Sanagan’s in Toronto is great. Here’s eight good reasons why you should order from them

If you love good meat, then I highly recommend you get it from Sanagan’s Meat Locker in Toronto. If you can get to one of their locations — my fav is in Kensington — you should. But if you can’t, I highly recommend their delivery.

First off, their delivery rate, which was good before, is going lower, starting at $5. That less than the cost of commuting there. Spend over $150, and delivery is free.

Second, the quality of their meats and other goods is great. When I get a steak from Sanagan’s, it tastes like something and that something is delicious. So often meats from other places taste like nothing.

Third, the prices are reasonable. For example, here is what I paid recently:

  • Sliced Roast Beef × 1 – $4.89
    Duck and Green Peppercorn Terrine × 1 – $6.99
  • Metzger: Westphalian Ham × 1 – $5.20
  • Jambon de Paris × 1 – $5.69
  • Lamb Merguez Sausage × 1 – $9.99
  • Lamb Leg Steaks × 1 – $15.79
  • Paleron × 1 – $7.99
  • Flank Steak × 1 – $11.49
  • Pork Rib Chops × 2 – $11.98
  • Flat-Iron Steak × 1 – $9.79
  • Refundable Credit Card Hold For Overweight Products – $30.00

Those are as good if not better than the prices for comparable products at places like Loblaws or Metro.

Fourth, the selection is great. I can get cuts I can’t always get at the big grocery stores. Flank, paleron, tritip, and more. I didn’t get it last time, but I love getting their hanger steak and making myself a classic steak frites with it.

Fifth, you get points for every order which you can cash in and use on your next order.

Sixth, if you are a fan of charcuterie, they have everything you need for a great platter.

Seventh, they have lots of other great products too, from superb butters to great sauces, to mustards.

Eighth, they carry Blackbird bread, arguably the finest bread in Toronto and very hard to get (it sells out fast). I love that.

Ok, you get the idea. Sanagan’s is great, and their delivery is great. Check them out. You’ll be glad you did.

 

Libraries are essential digital places too

Libraries provide so many public services, from great books to read to great places to read them. You’d likely be surprised just how much they provide. For example, here’s a list that my library, the Toronto Public Library (TPL), provides. All of that shows just how essential libraries are.

While libraries are great physical places, they are also great digital places. Check out this list to see what I mean. I’m a big user of TPL’s digital services, and I’m not alone is that regard. To see what I mean, check out the Toronto Public Library Dashboard and see in real time what ebooks people are checking out, how many loans happen each day, how many holds happen each day, and more! It’s quite something to see.

P.S. Did you know you that you can donate to the library? Well you can, though the TPL foundation. The link is here.

P.S.S. If you want that T shirt, you can go here. Be sure to pick the right size.

 

Restaurants loved and lost: the places that Greg Couillard cooked

Reading this piece by Greg Couillard in Toronto Life (from 2018) brought back tons of memories of dining in the 80s and 90s. Back then fine dining went from being French-centric to representing a diverse range of cultures and flavours. Greg Couillard was at the center of all of that in this city, and the restaurants he and others cooked in drove that change. Whenever he joined a new place, I would grab a table and eat his Jump Up Soup and anything else he was plating. He didn’t stay at places long, but while he was there, the food was great. (In fact the soup was so great the Loblaws bottled it up and sold it in stores.)

It was a treat to read his piece and to recall places like Avec and Emilio’s. A treat to read those old clippings from NOW (shown above). It got me thinking about his soup, too. I’ll have to try and make it some day and relive old times and tastes. It won’t be as good as eating it at his places, but it’s the best I can do these days.

 

Toronto: a city of surpluses and abundance (random updates from the Big Smoke, September 2024)

Toronto is a city of abundance. But don’t just take my word on it. In a recent
travel piece on this place, The New York Times described Toronto as…

…proudly multicultural with an outstanding art scene, fantastic food and a patchwork of diverse neighborhoods to explore… this sprawling city — Canada’s most populous — has more to offer than one could possibly digest in a single weekend.

So there!

On the topic of abundance, city hall also seems to have it. Indeed, it is doing much better than it was a six months ago when I last wrote about it. For one thing, local politicians have gotten its finances in order and it is now running a surplus! Much thanks to that should go to the mayor, though of course it is a team effort up to including all levels of government. Nonetheless the Mayor should feel good about that.

Toronto also has a surplus of problems. Case in point, real estate. Commercial real estate continues to suffer.  There is talk of converting or even demolishing them. Some Toronto CEOs tried to enlist Mayor Chow with regards to encouraging employees going back to downtown offices. She later said something more nuanced than what’s in here.

The residential market has also been struggling recently, with some Toronto developers saying no one is buying condos anymore. I am not sure about that. After all, housing prices are too high and some say unattainable in Toronto. So something is going to have to adjust.

The TTC has seen some highs and lows in the last while. There are still episodes of horrible incidents happening on it, such as a sword attack of all things. Then there was a major incident so bad the TTC CEO apologized and offered to have open review. Not good.

On a more positive note, it looks like the TTC will be adding service to 24 bus routes with focus on off-peak hours. So that’s good. Also good: the Ontario line is progressing. And multiple subway stations are getting colourful transformations.

Shawn Micallef recently asked if  Toronto’s streets are boring and brought in my area, Yonge and Eglinton, as an example. He’s not wrong. But a new park is coming to the area. It will likely get here before the LRT is done. A new grocery store is also coming to the area, which is good, because people here are fed up with the local supermarkets and their high prices.

As for other maligned grocers, here’s a story of the recent loblaw boycott and a statement by their CEO regarding it. The good news is inflation in Canada is really coming down. This may take the heat of them and other food companies in the future.

In other food/bev news, the strike concerning LCBO workers was recently resolved. Good thing for wine drinkers, because  the Wine Racks that had been making up for the closed LCBOs almost ran out of wine.

Like other cities, climate change is affecting Toronto. Case in point, the bad flooding we’ve been having the overwhelms place like Union Station  and even  Drake’s mansion. It didn’t help we had the wettest summer on record.

The film festival has come and gone as it does every September. One frequent visitor is Guillermo Del Toronto, who apparently loves Torontos bookstores. We do have good bookstores. Also good libraries! Not only are they great to visit, but a Toronto Public Library card will help you get access to places in the city! One more reason libraries are great.

As for other parts of Toronto, downtown the renaming of Dundas Square is not going well according to this. Meanwhile over in the Annex there is sad news regarding the hot docs cinema, with a temporary closing and a laying off staff. Here’s hoping for better things for them. Indeed, they may be reopening soon.

I hope so. I loved that theatre — once known as the Bloor — since I first moved to Toronto in the 80s. I hope it is open for business and doing well, just like I hope that for all of the city.

Thanks for reading this. I’ll have another update in another six months!

On the cost of steak frites in Toronto

I love steak frites.  While it’s always good wherever I get it, my favorite place to order it from is Cote de Boeuf in Toronto, where it was delicious and affordable.

I was somewhat shocked recently by the price of steak frites there. The Cote de Boeuf menu above was from Nov 27, 2021. A bit pricey but not bad. Two and a half years later, their steak frites will now set you back 47 bucks (up 34%), while the next highest price cut is a 12oz ribeye at 69 (32% increase). The cote de boeuf has gone up to 168 (only 12%). 

At first I wanted to blame influencers for the price increases, since a) I don’t like influencers and b) I have seen many of them posting about how good this place is.  (That it is the best place for steak frites in Toronto is not just my opinion.) My prejudice was confirmed recently when I walked by and there was a lineup even with their patio open. One thing I loved about the place in the past was the relative ease of getting a spot inside even without the patio. I figured this demand was driving up the price.

However I went through the list of places in that blogTO post and I noticed that some of them charge the same if not more than Cote de Boeuf. Now, much depends on the size and cut of meat. Le Select Bistro offers an 8 oz striploin version for $49 and a 12 oz version for $70! Compare that to the current 10 oz striploin at Cote de Boeuf  for $47 and you are getting a better deal. Then again, Jules Bistro offers a 6 oz striploin for only $26.95., and the Ace offers a 10 oz hanger steak for $40. Le Paradis offers a flatiron steak of unknown size for $30.

I know the price of beef is going up and that is no doubt driving some of the cost increases. But I also suspect steak frites has become a more popular dish, and the demand for it is allowing restaurants to make it a more central and more expensive option.

I found another menu of Cote de Boeuf from February 2019 and steak frites was $28 then. No size mentioned, and it was listed as butchers cut (no doubt so the butcher could decide what was best to serve based on availability, etc.). Also there were seven mains then and duck confit was $29 ($1 more then vs $5 less now). Once the pandemic hit, restaurants trimmed back their menu options and no doubt have gone with their most popular items.

The whole trend makes me somewhat sad. I was never a fan of steakhouses with their exorbitant prices. I preferred a simple dish of steak frites preferably made with an unusual cut of beef like hanger or bavette. Good quality and not too expensive. It was like a burger and fries but for older people like me. I suspect those days are over.

Ah well. 

As something of a consolation, I see more and more places slipping good quality pork chops and fries on their menus recently. Mostly priced well below the steak frites. Perhaps that will be my go to the next time I hit up a bistro style restaurant. 

P.S. Here I am enjoying the last steak frites I had at Cote de Boeuf. Pure perfection.

P.S.S. If you want to make your own steak frites at home, here’s a recipe to get you started. If you want a peppercorn sauce to go with it, click here.

The Joy of the Pasture in Downtown Toronto

One of my favorite works of art in Toronto is The Pasture: nine bronze cows lying restfully on a field of grass. If it was located in another section of Toronto,  might be less remarkable. But being in the heart of the financial district and all it represents, there is a superb tension between the cows in their field and the people in their offices. In the offices people are working hard, stressed, standing and walking. The cows are doing none of that. 

If you ever in downtown Toronto near the Toronto Dominion center, I recommend you check out this fine work of art. It is an oasis of calm.

P.S. I remember when this sculpture first went in, for I was working at IBM and this sculpture went in right around when the IBM Tower on Wellington was established.

Restaurants loved and living: Okonomi House

I’ve been going to Okonomi House since the 1980s. And what has changed over the years is…nothing. It was great then and it’s great now. They still serve pretty much the same food now that they served then, with the crown jewel being the okonomi style pancakes like the one below.

They serve other things too, but for me that’s what I go for when I go in. It’s sweet, it’s savory, it’s delicious. Just spread that mayo dollop all over the pancake and dig in!

There have been changes, but they are very minor. Young people seem to run the restaurant now, and they have tweaked the menu and added new things. Gone is the cup of soup that I loved even though it was literally Cup of Soup! In its place is a classier miso soup option. They have a nicer bathroom also: no longer are boxes piled up in it. Otherwise, the place is timeless. I hope it never leaves.

For more on it, BlogTo has a review, here. Read that, then go. I went a few Fridays ago and it was packed at around 7:30 pm. The good news is table turnover is fast (and service is great), so if you can’t get a seat right away, just wait for a few minutes and you’ll be soon eating okonomi in no time. 

 

 

Restaurants loved and living: Le Paradis

Starting during the pandemic, I wrote a series of posts on restaurants loved and lost, inspired by a piece in the New York Times on places that vanished due to the pandemic.

I’d like to go in a different direction and talk about restaurants loved and living. These are places I’ve loved long before the pandemic that are still going strong. First up is Le Paradis.

I’ve been going to Le Paradis since the 1980s. Back then it was known for reliable French bistro style food and great prices. Jump forward 40 years and…it’s still the same.  If anything, I’d say the cooking in the last year has improved greatly. Before you could excuse the so-so cooking because it was so inexpensive. Now you don’t need an excuse, because the cooking is really good. And still inexpensive.

I was worried about it during the pandemic, and even went and dined in the alley near the restaurant just to give them a chance to stay in business. Lucky for me they made it. Lucky for you, too.

So ignore reviews like this and go and have a $12 cocktail, a $45 bottle of wine, and a steak frites dinner almost half as expensive as other places in the city.  If you’re by yourself, take advantage of the zinc bar up front. Or sit at the banquettes near the kitchen (my favourite spot).  There’s plenty of places to sit — it’s a fairly big place — though a reservation is still a good idea. Especially if you want to sit outside when the weather is warm.

Did I forget to mention that the service is great? Well, it is. So tip well. You’ll have no excuse after all the money you save.

 

Toronto is ramping and opening up (random updates on Hogtown, March 2024)

Since I last wrote about Toronto in the fall the Mayor has been busy doing the hard stuff of getting the city’s finances in order. She worked out a deal with the province to upload the costs of the DVP and the Gardiner to the province. She managed to wrangle almost half a billion in cash for housing from the Federal government. (I say “wrangle” because some of the MPs did not seem too happy with her, according to this: How the mayor outsmarted Toronto MPs). And she just finished her 1st budget under with a record tax increase (so says Globalnews.ca). All in all, a pretty strong first year for her.

I can’t say it will be smooth sailing from this point. Before he left, Mayor Tory acquired the FIFA world cup for the city. Not surprisingly, costs are surging.  Mayor Chow acknowledges she and the rest of the city are saddled with it. No doubt it will be a great event: it will also be a drain on Toronto coffers, as this shows. Will she be able to keep voters happy with all these additional financial demands? It depends.

One group of people who might behard to win over will be residents in Etobicoke. They are mad because they now have to bag their own leaves in the fall! Imagine that. I also imagine many a perq unique to certain neighborhoods will die over time if they haven’t already done so.

One of the gems of Toronto, our libraries, were slammed with a cyberattack, and while it’s been slow to recover — it’s hard! — it finally has. Kudos to all the staff and support who managed to pull this off.

In other good news, after years of blockages, my intersection, Yonge and Eglinton, has finally  reopened! (You can see it above.) Yay!  As for other intersections, people have been trying to rename Yonge and Dundas. It has not been a good process, despite good intentions. This argues that people should just stop.

In food news, the couple who ran long time Toronto dining establishment the Rosedale Diner are putting down their pans and retiring after almost 50 years in the kitchen. Wow. I remember going there in the early days and how it was such a great spot to hang out. Especially in the teeny tiny booths in the window.


Relatedly, blogTO has a good story on how Toronto establishments are struggling to deal with diners  working in them. Also in blotTO is a fun piece on the best restaurants near each ttc subway station. For some stations, there’s a wealth of places to choose from. Others, like Castle Frank, not so much.

This might not seem to be a Toronto story, but this piece on how tough it is to get into schools like Waterloo certainly is, because it ties back into some of the high schools in the city. As this piece shows,not all 94 averages mean the same thing. Do some private schools have grade inflation? The universities in the province seem to think so.

In other city stories, the TTC is getting new 60 new streetcars. That’s good. Also Toronto Police arrest kids as young as 14 in a TTC stabbing. Not good. Terrible in fact. Also terrible: Loblaws was blamed for the botched flu rollout in the city recently. Ugh.

Speaking of the flu, if you know someone who has it or other some other ailment and needs cheering up, why not send them flowers? I highly recommend tonicblooms.com if you need someone to order from.

Thanks for reading this. See you again next season. I’ll close off with this poster from the late great Bamboo Club  (below) courtesy of Jamie Bradburn.

Toronto: city with a future (random updates on Hogtown, October 2023)

It’s been a season since I last wrote about Toronto. In that time our new mayor has been in office roughly 100 days. The Toronto Star has a rundown of what election pledges by Mayor Olivia Chow that she already has accomplished, as well as what she is working on. Not surprisingly some of them have been rather straightforward to achieve (e.g. keeping libraries open on Sunday), while some will be much harder to do (e.g., stopping the Gardner expressway rebuild). It’s a promising start, and she seems to have momentum. Of course much depends on the will of other councillors, not to mention people like Premier Ford. I’m hopeful for now.

One good thing she is working on is expanding the TTC by spending $10 million on staffing to curb transit crimes. Good. The best way to keep transit safer is having more people on it dedicated to the task. Let’s hope they do a good job. We need a safe and vibrant transit system.

In other transit news, one of the things that will be more difficult to fix is the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line. I’m not hopeful for that being done any time soon. It doesn’t help that the communications of the people building it has been poor. For example, one time their website quietly disappeared. Another time Metrolinx straight up refused to say when long-delayed LRT might finally open (see here). Terrible and unacceptable.

As for the mayor’s partner, Premier Ford, he has been up to his neck in hot water, mainly due to his involvement in Ontario’s Greenbelt. After Ford apologized for his ‘wrong’ Greenbelt decision, and  vowing to reverse it, he finally cancelled the Greenbelt land swap. While that was good, he is not out of hot water yet, as there is another scandal with his plans to have Ontario Place developed, a plan blogTO says no one wants (other than Ford and the developers). I am sure there will be more news developing on that scandal before the end of 2023.

From a real-estate viewpoint, Toronto’s downtown core has major troubles as office vacancy rates soar. I know some businesses are trying to get people to go back into the office, but many workers are resistant and I don’t think that is going to be enough to reverse those troubles. In other real-estate news, experts revise Toronto housing forecast due to a tanking market. Prices are still going up, but for how long?

Other workers have been striking in Toronto since the summer. The Metro grocery strike is finally over after a month-long walkout. More on that, here. Meanwhile the TVO strike continues to drag on with no end in sight. 2023 is a year of striking workers.

In other business news, the book chain Indigo is looking to offer alcohol to its customers. I dunno how successful that will be. The company has suffered big problems, including losing $50M last year. It doesn’t help their execs are heading for the exits. Let’s hope it can get corrected: I’d hate to lose that chain of stores.

Foodwise, the folks from Michelin have come to town and passed out more awards. Last year was the first time they did that and it got a lot of attention. This year…not so much. The Star had something on it, here. BlogTO put together a list of all the restaurants here for easy reference. If that’s your jam, this links to the Michelin site with more info.

Raccoons continue to own Toronto: we humans just live here. Recently they’ve taken over the roof of Union Station. They are a weird nuisance: not as scary as rats and not as hostile as Canada Geese. Just charming enough to offset anyone taking major steps to get rid of them.

I really enjoy Jamie Bradburn’s blog and the pieces he writes on old Toronto. Here’s something on subway interlining, or why does lower Bay Station exists. If you ever get a chance to go down to lower Bay, I highly recommend you do. Other than the benches, it does not seem too out of place from the rest of the subway. It’s fascinating to see.

As I was poking around Jamie’s site I came across this post on the Book City store on Bloor in the Annex closing. That was a sad event for me when that happened. I had gone there for years, ever since I moved into the area in the 80s. I loved that store. Loved checking out all the magazines, the books on the tables on the first floor, and taking the funky stairs up to the second floor to just hang around. It was a great place. There are still Book City stores in Toronto and they are fine, but I miss that one.

I also came across the image below on his site. It’s an IBM ad from back in the day when it’s headquarters were in the Don Mills and Eglinton area. Toronto was a city with a future back then…and it still is.

Instacart users: is Instacart changing the default tip percentage from 5% to 10%?

According to Instacart Help Center on Tipping

Instacart suggests a default tip based on a number of factors, such as order attributes and your tip history. The minimum default tip is 5% of your order total.

Which it has been for some time. But my last few orders the default tip was 10%. If you are like me and you just automatically power through all the things they put in front of you on your way to complete your order, you might not even notice it.

There does not seem to be a way to change the percentage back. You have to do it manually each time you get an order.

If 10% is what you normally tipped anyway, then you are all set.  If you want more flexibility over your tip, be advised.

Revisiting Toronto’s Festival of Festivals (what TIFF was before it became the thing it is now)

There was much discussion about the Talking Heads being at TIFF this year for the reissue of their great concert film, Stop Making Sense. What people might not know was that it was also at TIFF in 1984, back when the Toronto International Film Festival was known as the Festival of Festivals.

TIFF has changed a lot since then. Back then the Festival was smaller, centred in a different location (Yorkville) and played films in midtown theatres like the Varsity, Uptown, Backstage and the Cumberland. (Also the Bloor for the awesome Midnight Madness series.) It was casual and fun.

I think I went to my first Festival film — my Beautiful Launderette with a bright new actor named Daniel Day Lewis —  in 1985.  In a few years I was hooked, going from one film to many films like these from 1987 listed here. It was easy in the 80s: you got tickets (or a pass), lined up for your next film, and hopefully you got in! (Holding seats for a person, never mind many people, was frowned upon.) For a surprising number of films this was easy to do, and people would even show up and buy a ticket at the last minute. Some days you would be heading to a certain film and you would run into a friend going to a different film and you would go with them instead. Or you’d get up in the morning to watch a film in a small theatre at the Cumberland and four films later you end up going to bed after seeing a late night screening at one of the gigantic spaces in the Uptown.  A great time was had by all.

Perhaps too great. More and more people started going and it got harder to wander around and see great films. As it grew, the Festival of Festivals dropped that name, left Yorkville, and became the behemoth it is today.

I still think it’s a great thing, and I am glad it is big and bold. But back then it was small and intimate. I loved that, and I miss how it was.

P.S. More on Talking Heads with Spike Lee at TIFF in 2023 in Vulture and the New York Times. Spike Lee started at the Festival too. I remember him being in town to promote his first film, She’s Gotta Have It. Like Talking Heads, he was fresh and new and like them he changed our culture with his work and life.

Restaurants loved and lost: Country Style


Sadly, the last of the great Hungarian restaurants in the Annex closed at the end of July. Unlike so many restaurants that have closed recently, this wasn’t due to the pandemic. The owners had been running it for many many years and decided it was time to retire. Sad for us, but good for them.

I’ve written about Country Style and the other schitnzel slinging places that occupied Bloor West between Brunswick and Bathurst. You can see that here: Chicken Schnitzel and other great Hungarian food at Country Style Hungarian Restaurant in Toronto’s Annex and here: Memory, space and time and the redrawing of a line. Lots of good memories from eating in those places, for sure.

Speaking of memories, this review from the blog jamiebradburnwriting.wordpress.com really brings back many of them:

Image above from blogto. You can read their review and get a better sense for the place, here.

 

New old news from the Big Smoke/Hogtown/Toronto (July 2023 edition)

Well, it’s been a journey here in Toronto. Back in February I wrote about the mayor having to step down due to a scandal. Come May I added how the race was turning into a marathon like event with over a 100 candidates running. Now it’s July and we have a new mayor: Olivia Chow. In the end it was a nail biter of an election. With Chow’s leading in the polls for most of the race, many assumed she would easily win. But at the last minute, the old mayor (who said he wouldn’t interfere in the election) threw his support behind Ana Bailao. The result was much closer than many — certainly me — thought it would be.

Last Monday many of us in Toronto were continually refreshing the  Toronto Star’s election live updates or turning to excellent sources like the local to see what would happen. Dramatically Chow, who had been trailing Bailao in the early election results, eventually surpassed her in the end for the victory.

As for the other 90+ also rans,  no one was even close. Most of Toronto’s progressive voters went to Chow, while those who opposed her went to Bailao. Other prominent candidates like Matlow and Bradford barely registered, votewise.

What happens next? Well, Chow said she would not the strong mayor powers that the Ford government granted to Tory. Perhaps she will be successful without them. We shall see.

In the meantime, if you want to read more on the election, Blogto had a good summary. But check out the Star and the local, too.

Maybe one thing she can fix is the CafeTO program. It was a godsend during the pandemic. Now it seems like the city bureaucrats are strangling it to death. Here’s one of my favorite journalists, Ed Keenan, with some insight into that, here.

I doubt she can do much about the disaster that is the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line: it’s too far gone. At least she can keep a fire under them to delay no more.

It certainly will be a great looking transit line, based on this  private look inside the LRT. Maybe by 2030 we’ll all get to go on it. 🙂 Snark aside, I have seen they have updated the tiles in the Eglinton subway and they seem to be keeping it close to the original. That’s good, because as you can see from this piece on the original TTC subway tiles, much of that tile is gone. Many of the stations that had those classic Vitroline tiles, like Museum (below) and Rosedale, are now very different. Glad to see Eglinton will stick with the classic.

As for the TTC, it’s actually getting safer following the horrifying crime streak that occured recently. Good.

What’s getting less safe in Toronto is something you might not been aware of: backyard poultry. Yep, there is an UrbanHens project here in Toronto, or at least there was, until an outbreak of H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI or “bird flu”) occurred. Who knows how long it will last now. Also why people are keeping hens in this city I dunno but you learn something new everyday. (In other Toronto biological news, here is a good guide to trees and shrubs in Toronto. More on that, here.)

Food wise, Summerlicious 2023 is underway in July….a good chance to go and try out restaurants you’ve always wanted to visit. I recommend you check it out.

As for me, one place I need to check out this month is Country Style in the Annex. As BlogTO explains, after 60 years the owners have decided to hang up their aprons and stop slinging schnitzel. Understandable, but sad.

The Annex used to be a mainstay of Hungarian food places like Country Style in the 80s. Here’s a good piece on that. Relatedly, here’s a good piece on the lost restaurants of Toronto…I had eaten at many of them.

Speaking of lost Toronto, here’s a great article on the history of Now magazine. Highly recommended. I also recommend this piece on the famous team of Yabu Pushelberg. In the 80s and 90s they seem to be everywhere and designing everything noteworthy in Toronto.

My final recommendation is this piece on the challenges downtown Toronto businesses are dealing with as hybrid work which show no signs of stopping.

Get out and enjoy all Toronto has to offer this summer, be it schnitzel or Summerlicious. Hit the patios. Or maybe take some beer and a blanket and go drink and relax in one of Toronto’s newly sanctioned drinking parks.

On the Bloor Cinema and the other rep theatres listed in Festival magazine

Some one on Twitter posted some pages from Festival Magazine from the 80s, and looking at them, I was filled with so many memories. Among them I recall how I would go to the nearby Bloor Cinema and grab a copy from the newspaper box. I’d head over to Dooneys or some other coffee shop or maybe just head home to Brunswick Avenue and plan out my movie viewing for the next few weeks.

While I sometimes went to the other rep cinemas like the Revue or the Kingsway, I mainly went to the Bloor. This page below captures what the programming was like for it at the time.

There was often a special festival or a run of films like the new Chinese films shown above. Then there were films that had just finished running through the new theatres like Cineplex’s and were now getting a second chance to be seen. And then there were fan favorites, like Stop Making Sense. (If Stop Making Sense or a Blade Runner was in, I was there.) Most of all what I loved about the Bloor was this eclectic mix of programming.

The Revue’s programming was more straightforward. It pretty much showed films that had just finished their run in main theatres. Did I still like going there? For sure. (Except the time in winter when the theatre was showing a film without any heat!)

I loved looking at those pages. I loved seeing all the great films that came out in the 80s listed again. I really loved seeing the ad for The Other Cafe! (I went there often too.) It’s all so good.

Seeing movies was different back then. You might eventually see them on TV, but if you missed a good film when it was first out, you still had a chance of seeing it in the rep theatres. Not to mention classics and fan favorites. It was a good time at the cinema, for sure.

What’s old is news in Toronto (May 2023 edition)

In February I wrote of Mayor Tory’s resignation and a brouhaha around Premier Ford’s involvement with developers and the Greenbelt.  That’s the old news. The new news is we have a race on to see who will be next mayor, and it seems like 8000 people are running. (Not quite, but it’s a lot.) The Toronto Star has a rundown on them, here. Election date? June 26th. If you want to vote early or find out more information, go to toronto.ca.

As for the Premier, he continues to muck about in municipal issues. Nothing new there. First he offered up Ontario Place to private developers. Now he wants to move the Science Center there. I am sure other cities and towns in Ontario wonder if he wants to be their Premier or just the Premier of Toronto.

Premier of Toronto aside, the city has received some accolades as of late. That’s good news. Toronto General Hospital was just ranked 5th best in the entire world. And Billy Bishop Airport was named one of best in world too. Even the TTC managed to win an award, as one of the world’s most efficient transit systems in North America.

Lord knows the TTC could use some praise. It’s suffering lately. There was a fire erupting on TTC subway tracks at Bloor and Yonge station. There continues to be problems with violence. I suspect ridership is still down as Torontonians continue to work from home. And while it is good that it is being upgraded on places like Queen Street, that doesn’t make it easier for us to love it.

The TTC is still great, though. Not only it relatively efficient, it also has some great architecture, as this slideshow illustrates. (One of my favs is Rosedale, below.)

Other good news about Toronto: the Taste of the Danforth is set to return this summer for first time since 2019. There’s also this to look forward to: a major Keith Haring exhibition is coming to the AGO in Toronto. Awesome.

Not so awesome: Indigo was hit with a ransomware attack that not only affected their business, but employees’ personal information was leaked. Also not good: the recent Toronto Marathon sounds like it was a shambles. And of course no one seems to know when the  Eglinton Crosstown line will be done. This did not stop Marcus Gee from praising the Ford government for all his is  “doing right” in tearing up the area of midtown Toronto. Good grief.

If you can make it to midtown Toronto despite our woes, try and get some coffee from DeMello. It’s great! Turns out they are expanding downtown. That’s great too.

Foodwise, a new place in Bloordale has opened and looks really good: 1211. It joins a list of restaurants best categorized as eclectic. Here’s to more new eclectic places.

While new restaurants are good, so too are the olds. You can find many of those old school restaurants listed here. One that is both eclectic and old school is Gale’s Snack Bar. When it opened in Leslieville more than 50 years ago nothing cost more than $10 today that remains true. Amazing. Speaking of old restaurants, Country Style hungarian restaurant turns 60 this year and plans on serving schnitzel for years to come. That something I am happy to hear about, since so many of my favorite Hungarian places are gone. (You can read about them here  and here.)

Finally, here’s a blast from the Toronto past: the rise and fall of MuchMusic. And I discovered that the Health Center that I pass almost daily on Yonge used to be a police station (no 53). I always thought it was a hospital. Instead it was the home of the police, right next door to the fire department. (The fire fighters haven’t moved but the police have a newer and bigger place on Eglinton and Duplex.).

My first year of the pandemic as told in Instagram stories

Instagram stories are an odd thing, at least mine are. I post almost random images of things in my life, not thinking they add up to anything. But if you are living through a dramatic period of time like the first year of the pandemic, and if you collect those images together, as I did here in “Covid: Year 1”, they take on a narrative that was not there when you snapped them and saved them.

The narrative began even before the pandemic was declared. I have photos of me going to Chinatown and eating in many places, because word had gone out that a new illness had broken out in Wuhan, China and people were avoiding that part of the city because people were afraid of coming across someone who had it and then get sick. I was down there to do a small part in keeping some of those places in business by eating as much as I could. (Brave, I know 😊.)

Soon, general precautions started. Hand sanitizer was everywhere, like this one at my work:

Then the pandemic was officially declared in March 2020 and things started to break down. I have photos of the grocery stores being cleared out of flour and potatoes. Toilet paper was scarce. People were queueing up to get into grocers and the liquor store, which both had limited occupancy. Plastic barriers went up, and everything else was shutdown: work, restaurants, stores, gyms. It was a time of lockdown.

To occupy ourselves, we adopted hobbies. People made bread. I drew and made zines. I even wrote some half decent poems.  I continued to blog, and traffic shot up.

We worked at home. Every damn day. Our hair grew long. We finally got masks to go shop for food.

We ordered take out. Lots and lots of take out.  Restaurants pivoted to this to stay alive. Some, like my favorite restaurant Brothers, didn’t make it. Many did, due to hard work and help from the government. We drank pet nat and cremant to celebrate.

In summer we finally ate outside, albeit like this:

Eventually we got to eat indoors for a bit in the fall. Otherwise, if we wanted to celebrate birthdays or Easter, we did it with people in our circle. Collecting with others outside our circle was frowned upon.

We purged our homes to make space. I had a garage sale, and was surprised by the people who showed up and bought things. We were awkwardly happy to see each other, and dealt with money for the first time in ages.

We made the best of it. We watched the blossoms in High Park in Toronto via a TV channel. We watched our talented friends put on shows on Instagram and Youtube and Twitch. We walked on streets closed off to traffic. We banged pots and pans for health care workers. We did not go to the movies, even though the movies tried to open in the summer of that first year.

We downloaded apps to keep track of COVID and to know what to do. We downloaded apps to finally travel in the fall. We wore our masks everywhere. We wore sweat pants almost as much, if not more.

We dealt with bad people. The anti-maskers. The anti-science people. We celebrated when Trump lost.

If we were parents, we tried our best to help our kids. We took them out on Hallowe’en and let them get treats delivered by chutes. We made them get up for virtual classes via Zoom and other technologies. We ordered them Christmas presents online because the stores remained closed in many places like Toronto.

Most of all, we awaited the coming of vaccines and yearned for a normal time. For many, it was the worst of times, losing their livelihoods and their loved ones. Getting ill. For some, it could also be the best of times, as it often was with me.

It was quite the year. Historic. Memorable.

P.S. I wrote at the beginning of 2021 the following post: On recording (why you should think about it differently, why you should resolve to do it), and closed by saying:

Your life has value and meaning. Recordings help show that. So get making them.

I hope you do that, in some form or another. Even if it is a collection of stories on Instagram. It all counts, just as you do.

What’s new in Toronto?? Ha! (Feb 2023 edition)

What’s new in Toronto, you ask? Well, where to start?? Let’s start by the Mayor resigning hastily last Friday after getting caught up in a sex scandal! It’s almost enough to distract one from the current scandal brewing around the premier’s pay for play stag and doe party he had for his daughter and developers. Unlike the mayor, he has not resigned…yet. Stay tuned.

For year’s John Tory tried to successfully lead in Toronto politics. He finally got his chance the year he won the Mayor’s job. In his first term he was a welcome change from the craziness of Rob Ford. I thought he worked hard during the pandemic in his second term. But recently things were souring on him, from his strong support for the police, to his seeking strong mayor powers,  to his treatment of the homeless, to his second salary at Rogers. In the end you could say his fate was either tragic or pathetic, depending on how you felt about the man.

(For more on Tory, see this piece by Ed Keenan, one of my favorite Toronto journalists.)

Relatedly, the Globe had a recent piece on Tory’s strong mayor bid. Who knows what will happen with that now. What a mess.

Speaking of messes, Toronto has been having a mess of issues lately. There are issues with the city budget, with a large part of it going to the the police. To add to that, there were additional police expenditures on top of that after a recent wave of violence on the TTC. It was so bad on the TTC lately that someone posted fake ads on the subway shaming the TTC over lack of safety. It doesn’t help that you barely see anyone working at the TTC these days unless you enter the front of a bus or a streetcar. Lack of official presence leads to disturbances and worse, I believe.

As for housing and homes,  City of Toronto provided an update on COVID-19 Shelter Transition and Relocation. It has not gone down too well. The city is also trying to provide more affordable housing, but like many cities, is struggling. You know there is a problem when organized crime figures out an angle on housing sales. Arresting those guys IS a good use of the police. A bad use of the city’s resources is trying to get rid of this park art.

Finally, Hazel McCallion, Mississauga’s “Hurricane” has died. Lots of people had good things to say about her. Reading that piece, I’m not sure sure.

Eglinton/Metrolinx: the confusing debacle that is my neighborhood continues. Metrolinx first says it has no idea when they will be done. Then they hint that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT could finally open this summer. But then there is this. So who knows? It’s drives me crazy.

Metrolinx seem determined to get everyone in the city to hate them. Not wanting to limit their maddening decisions to my area in midtown, they infuriated many by ripping out a beautiful bunch of trees downtown. Amazing.

Food, etc.: not everything about Toronto is bad. At least the food scene is getting better. One of my favorite places in Toronto, The Senator, finally reopened. The daughter looks great. Piquette looks good too. Here’s a piece on a hip new vegan place. I am even seeing new Starbucks popping up everywhere after the pandemic mass closures.

So Toronto is not entirely hopeless. Out of towners, come and stay at one of these beautiful boutique hotels. Eat good food. None of it is near Eglinton so you’ll be fine. 🙂 Sigh.

Finally: in my last Toronto update in December, I wrote about how Toronto was transitioning and I was hoping it was in a positive way. Now I am not so sure. Let’s check in again in a few months.

On the art at Toronto’s Union Station and the people who don’t like it


According to BlogTO, there’s some chatter over on…

…a recent Reddit thread that has amassed hundreds of comments, one user wrote, “Union Station has the most depressing, unsettling art. No part of it sparks joy. Will they ever change this?”

I understand why would you would think the work is bad if you think it is trying to spark joy or some positive feeling. If you think that, I’d like to give you a different viewpoint.

My view of the work changed when I started thinking about it in comparison to what I typically see in the subway. What I typically see is…advertising. This work is everything ads are not. Ads promise a better life: this work shows life as it is. Ads are often unrealistic: this work is grounded. Ads are often polished and simple images: this work is rough and complex. To me it is refreshing to see this art in comparison to the overwhelming commercial imagery everywhere else in transit.

Art can spark joy, but it can do much more than that. This work, called Zones of Immersion by Stuart Reid,  may seem depressing to some people. For me it causes reflection and it gives me some perspective of my time underground. And because of that, I think it’s great. I look forward to see it when I’m at Union Station. I hope someday more people feel that way.

On Queen West in Toronto, then and now

I walked along Queen West and West Queen West recently. The bones of the neighborhood that I first walked around in the 80s remain. Places like The Queen Mother, Peter Pan, the Rex, and the Horseshoe are still going strong. The Rivoli is there too, if anything fancier than ever. Same for Cameron House. It was comforting to see them all, like old friends at a reunion.

Of course many other places have long gone. The Bamboo Club for instance. It’s location is occupied with some other business, though what occupies it is not as great as it was. Also long gone is Pages. It was a must visit on those trips to Queen West long ago. Now nothing exists in its former spot, just a vacant store.

I don’t want to weep and wail too much about changes to Queen West of my youth. People have been complaining about the its transformation “into the brand-saturated retail corridor it is today” since at least 2010, if not earlier.  I do want to note something ironic though. The same brands that transformed Queen West, brands like “The Gap, GUESS, Le Chateau, RYU, EB Games, NYX, several major fast food joints” have all left in the past five years because of rent. Perhaps in five more years it will just be banks and dentists offices there.

As for me, I prefer West Queen West to Queen West now. I’m happiest taking a streetcar past Bathurst and heading over to Type Books, the Spice Trader, Cocktail Emporium, the Swan and Trinity Bellwoods Park. When you combine that strip with Ossington and parts of Dundas West, you really have some of the best of Toronto, I think, and the places I most frequent lately.

Queen West will always be a destination for many and I will no doubt head there from time to time. But there are so many other great places to head to, even on Queen, and that’s great too.

P.S. The quotes above were from this piece on the closing of H&M on Queen West. The photo of the Queen Mother is from that piece, which is a good review of the place and its history. Also a good review is the Wikipedia entry for Queen West, which includes the entire street, but has a special section on Queen West.

Finally, here’s a great snapshot of Queen West in 1986, as captured in this video of the song “I’m an Adult Now” by The Pursuit of Happiness. Needless to say, it’s a very different street!

On Michael Snow, Toronto’s artist

Michael Snow died last week. It’s hard to think of an artist whose work is as well known and as well photographed as his. Even people who know nothing about art have likely seen his sculpture at the Skydome, not to mention his Canadian Geese sculpture at the Eaton Center. His work is spread throughout the city of Toronto, and the city would lose some of its luster without his creations.

Of course you can read about his life and career in wikipedia, but I also recommend taking some time and read this: Michael Snow, Prolific and Playful Artistic Polymath, Is Dead at 94 in The New York Times. The Times piece has more on his role as a filmmaker and how influential he was there.

R.I.P. Michael Snow.

(Top image is from Wikipedia: bottom image is from the New York Times. Attribution for the Wikipedia image here)

On restaurants (deeply) loved and lost: Grano’s

Grano’s was not just a restaurant to me. For much of my adult life it was my second home. When I walked in, I felt like I lived there. Like I belonged there.

Starting from the late 80s (when I was in my 20s) until just before the pandemic, it was the restaurant I frequented the most. I celebrated some of my most cherished moments there. I ate often by myself there too. When I did not know where to go, I went to Grano’s.

When I first came to Toronto in mid 80s, I started to learn how to eat proper Italian food in places like Masianello’s downtown in Little Italy. Toronto is a great Italian city, and to live in such a place, you should learn to eat proper Italian food. I did, and I loved it. This love led me uptown to Grano’s, which was then a simple one room place. Over the years it expanded in width and depth, filling up with its maximalist Italian style and food as well as patrons wanting to devour it all. I was always one of those people.

Grano’s was as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the belly. Bright Mediterranean colored walls, prints of classic artwork, vintage ads and plenty of pieces from the Spoleto festivals could be seen everywhere. It paid to walk around slowly (or to sit quietly) and take it all in. It never got tiring to behold.

If you wanted — though why would you? — you could rush in and buy some bread or some Italian delicacies and go home. You could stay briefly and have a glass of Italian white and some grilled calamari (one of my favorites). Best of all, you could invite dozens of friends and loved ones and have the servers bring you bottles of Italian wines and plates and plates of antipasti and pasta that was always on hand for you and your guests. Whatever you needed, Grano’s would provide. And when it was finally time to end the meal, you could savour a plate of biscotti and a perfect cappuccino before you went home happy.

As you can see, Grano’s the place was great. But what made it especially great to me was Roberto Martella, the host. No matter when I came, he always treated me like I was his favorite customer. No doubt he made everyone feel that way, but it was still appreciated by me. I even took Italian classes there once, and years afterwards he would speak to me a little in Italian and I would try my best to reply back with the little I knew.

After going there for decades, I had hoped Grano’s would last as long as I would. But sadly Roberto had a stroke, and the restaurant limped along without him for awhile before closing in 2018. You can still see the remnants of Grano’s today in 2022, though it’s been divided up into new places that lack what I loved about it.

It’s sad to lose your home, especially one you loved for so long. That’s how I felt, and continue to feel, about Grano’s. I live nearby to where it was, and I often have a pang to wander over for a plate with the ease I used to. I don’t know if I ever will get over that feeling. Sure, I can get great wine and bread in others places, but “non si vive di solo pane”. Mille grazie, Roberto. Mille grazie, Grano’s. Thank you for everything.

P.S. For lots of good photos of it when it was at its best, see here: Foto. The photos I have linked here are from there.

This is their old home page on weebly. It has a short history of Grano’s, here: 1986. 

There’s only a few images, but this is their IG account.

Finally two pieces on them: The culinary influence of midtown’s Roberto Martella – Streets Of Toronto, contains a good history. This is also good: The fall and rise of Roberto Martella, Toronto’s ‘vibrant’ don of dialogue in The Globe and Mail.

 

How sites like BlogTO contribute to the decline of Google searches

Google is declining in value as a search engine. You can search Google Going Downhill to see numerous pieces showing this. Even Google recognizes this: search for Google ChatGPT to see that they are concerned about how much better a user experience is with ChatGPT versus Google.

It’s not just that Google has declined by itself. What has also contributed to its declining value is the number of sites that have gotten good at SEO. I’ve pretty much given up on searching for some topics: all I get is bad Pinterest boards. Likewise hotels and restaurant searches are dominated by TripAdvisor and Yelp. You can add sites like Stack Overflow to that list. All in all, sites of low value (to me) make Google search results worse.

Locally, I think BlogTO is one of those low value sites. It really hit me this week when I was looking up a story on the demise of Betty’s on King. This recent piece in BlogTO was good. But it’s review of Betty’s? Just a placeholder, really: one sentence summarizing the place. And it’s not just Betty’s. I was doing some research on restaurants and became interested in Parquet on Harbord. Here’s BlogTO’s review of it: again, it’s one line and a poor photo. Meanwhile here’s Toronto Life’s review of it: lots of photos, in depth reporting on the place and the people who own it, context on the restaurant scene on Harbord…you name it.

Now here’s the thing: if you Google places in Toronto, BlogTO’s “writeups” will always appear on the first search page…often ahead of better reviews and even the place’s own website. If you’re mindful of this problem, you may ignore BlogTO and look around. But I am guessing that most people click on BlogTO, find their write up, and then see they have a link to the place’s website and click through. Or not.

That’s one reason why I suspect BlogTO does this: they will get clicks even for these next to useless web pages. I suspect the other reason is to do away with competition. I always wondered why Eater closed up in Toronto when it is still going strong in places like Montreal, not to mention the Carolina’s and other cities much stronger. The stated reason is here. But I suspect it is hard to compete with sites like BlogTO that will settle for a basic photo and a one line description that can be done in 15 minutes, all while coming ahead of you in Google searches.

Not all of BlogTO is bad. Some of their pieces are researched and well written, and I appreciate them. But they also flood the web with barely there pages to dominate searches for Toronto on sites like Google. And that makes it worse for everyone but them.

P.S. Here’s a tip to save you time clicking through on BlogTO pages. If you are on their page and it has a headline like “This restaurant is known for its croque monsieur”, hover your mouse over the URL. You will see the name of the place at the end of the URL. From there you can decide if you want to click through.

The limits of YIMBYism, even for proponents of it like me

I am in favor of making improvement to all neighborhoods, of Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY). That especially goes for my own. However, I know YIMBYism is a battle, that NIMBYism (not in my backyard) tends to be stronger. To support change, I believe change needs to be done in a controlled and limited way to dampen down NIMBYism and support YIMBYism.

That type of change is not what is happening for my area, at Yonge and Eglinton. First off, there are very large condos going up regularly. Second, we have the wholesale destruction of the area for the new Eglinton LRT line. Before that we had the destruction of the local Yonge and Eglinton center while it was upgraded. Now they plan to tear up the park to make improvements. It’s just constant upheaval and destruction, as much as it is construction.

I am a big proponent of growth and improvement. However even I am reaching my limit.  And if I am reaching my limit, I am sure many others are as well. It does not make for a good neighborhood or environment to have everything being torn up all the time. I would not recommend anyone live here if they can help it. Find a neighborhood you enjoy being in, not one that resembles a construction zone. I am sure it will be a great area in a decade or so. But I’ve lived her a long time and I regret it. It’s not a livable place. 

(Images: my own. Of Yonge and Eglinton, 2022)

Transition Toronto (what’s new in Hogtown, December 2022)

It’s a time of Transition in Toronto. Transitions due to municipal and provincial elections. Transitions due to Covid. And transitions in general.

The Premier — who could not somehow find time to attend the Emergency act hearing or even certain sessions of the legislature — has managed to insert himself into city politics once again. (More on that here). I honestly think the guy would prefer to be a strong mayor of Toronto vs premier of Ontario. Anyway, that’s all going to lead to some transition.

Even with new powers the Premier has provided him, it will be a challenge for the current mayor, revenue-wise. He has new home sales dropping to a historic low and home prices overall dropping dramatically. In terms of commercial real estate, we have Toronto  workers still avoiding downtown, which is going to have an impact there. Things are tough. Let’s face it: there’s only so much money that can be raised from utilities.

Perhaps the fact that people are spending more time at home is the reason why people living in Toronto are feeling more socially isolated than ever before. I was feeling that way too, but lately I’ve been going out more and I am starting to feel more connected to the city. Can I recommend you find a friend and check out one or more of the 50 restaurants in Toronto with breathtaking interior design? I’ve been to several: it’s uplifting to go to them. Or maybe do something simpler but still great, like hitting up one of the many great dumplings places we have in the city. If you do the latter, head over to your favorite book store and pick up this fun anthology on dumplings by some fine Canadian writers: “What we talk about when we talk about dumplings”.

Or maybe you just want to get out and move. If you can skate, head down to Union Station, which is getting a free outdoor skating rink and it’s big! Winter is coming: choose to enjoy it.

Getting around the city, you’ll notice more and more people on transit. I have. Sadly, we’ve lost one of my favorite tools for that:  the Rocketman app. We need more good transit tools. Among other reasons, we are going to be getting more transit, such as the new Ontario line. Good to see the TTC continue to improve. Even old stations like Yonge and Bloor are getting upgrades.

Indigo is also getting upgraded with new coffee shops going in where the old Starbucks used to be. I miss the original cafes that Indigo first had: they served wonderful soup, among other things. But I’m glad there will be places for refreshments in the bookstore chain.

Other things getting improved: the park in my area. On one hand, I think improvements are great. On the other, the constant change / upheaval in my area can get to one (i.e., me). But hey, that’s Toronto. Nothing stays the same, not even the old Canadian Tire on Yonge north of Bloor. I mean look at that development.

Improvements are important though. It’s better for someone like IKEA to build new stores in places like a former Sears location, then for things to just be boarded up. It’s not a bad thing Toronto has the means to change and improve.

Still, it’s good to be reminded of the way things were. This piece on what Mirvish Village looked like in Toronto before it was demolished does that. I miss that area. Likewise, this visual history of Kensington is great. Heck, even this look at the soon to be vanishing pay phones is good.

Lots of change is happening in Toronto, and much of it is good. Here’s to the vibrant city I call home. Cheers!

(Images: all links to blogTO. Top: proposed new development on Canadian Tire. Middle: dumpling resto. Bottom: Mirvish Village.)

 

 

 

The Santa Claus parade returns to TO this weekend!


What are you plans this weekend? As for me, I think anything I do outdoors will involve warm clothing because the weather is getting colder. And while I won’t be attending this year, I will be thinking of all the parents and their kids who will be bundling up to go downtown this Sunday and attend the Santa Claus parade! It has been on hold due to the pandemic, but now it’s back! Yay!

I love the Santa Claus parade. When I was a kid, I always wished I could attend. In my 20s I remember seeing it in person for the first time and being a little kid again as the floats and bands went by. And then I got to take my own kids. Some of my best parenting memories are with them at the event. It’s one of those  things that makes Toronto great.

(I also use the Santa Claus parade as a reminder than Christmas is coming soon and it’s time to get planning! Perhaps this will be a good reminder to you.)

If you are thinking of going, here’s the official site for the parade. (Map above is from the site.) Have fun!

P.S. Here’s some tips I found to having a success Santa Claus parade:

When I would take my kids, we would go stand to Bloor and Avenue Road. There is lots of space around that area, so there’s a chance you can see the parade. As well, it is near two subway stops (Museum and Bay), which makes it easy to get to and easy to leave if you take transit. Finally, the parade has to turn there which gives you lots of ways to enjoy the view.

Instead of hoping right on the subway, I would find a place to get a coffee / hot chocolate. (There used to be lots of Starbucks and other coffee shops all around Bloor and Cumberland.) My kids loved this ritual, as did I. Just as good too was the fact that it was easier to get on the subway after your drinks since the crowds had dissipated by then.

If it is going to be cold, bring hot pockets or things to warm you up. You might be ok when you first get there, but after standing around for hours, you will get very cold. Be prepared.

 

 

 

Have a great Autumn weekend!

One of the ideas that I really like, from one of my favorite blogs, are the posts they have every Friday. Posts like this: Have a Lovely Weekend. It’s a great idea. Who doesn’t like a nice positive and update piece to read on before you start your weekend?

On that note, here are some links that I think are positive and upbeat and perfect to read on a Friday:

If you are going to try and get a better sleep this weekend, here are some sleep tips from experts that might surprise you.

I might use my free time to take a walk in the Dundas West area of Toronto. It’s been highlighted as being one of the coolest neighborhood ever, and I can see why.

Or maybe I’ll go and get some steak frites (here are some of Toronto’s best, though they did not include my fav, Cote de Boeuf, shown below).

Did you know that asking yourself  one simple question can change entirely how you feel? It’s seems too much, but I agree with it.

Do you fear that people thing that you are a bit much? I think that’s a good thing. So does that piece. Also a good thing: A gratitude zine from Austin Kleon.

Does Arthur Brooks Have the Secret to Happiness? I don’t think so, but you might read that and think differently.

If it’s time, you may want to read this first:  How to Clean an Oven by Wirecutter.

But maybe you’d prefer to read something lovely instead of practical. If so: The Ponds poem – Mary Oliver poems.

Kudos to this artist who puts mosaics in potholes.

How crazy is this: a Fish tank for cats!

If you want to watch a classic this weekend, I recommend: All that Jazz.

Here’s the opening:

(Top image is a link to Toronto Life. Second image is a link to BlogTO).

On the joy of train travel compared to air travel

 

Train travel is good.  Train travel from Toronto to Montreal and back exceptionally so. Let me count the ways by comparing it to airline travel.

It starts off before you even get on the train. In Toronto you can catch a subway or an Uber to Union Station downtown. Once there, it’s a short walk to get to where you board the train. There’s no getting stuck in traffic on the 401 trying to get to the airport. No paying for expensive cabs or limo. Fast and cheap.

Then you get to the station. There’s no multiple checkpoints to get on the train. You find out where the train is boarding and you line up to get on. Quick and easy.

Once on the train, you have lots of room to move around. No having to sit in your seat all the time. No seatbelts. Wide chairs. Comfortable.

If you take the business class train, you get a constant supply of food and drinks. Wine, caesars, port and cognac is all available and included. Plus hot towels, snacks and full meals. Satisfying.

Then there’s the scenery. There’s lots of it and it’s easy to see out the big windows. Tired of the scenery? You have a good amount of time to watch a movie, read and even nap. Relaxing.

Finally, you start in one downtown and end up in another downtown. You don’t have to get in still another cab to get to your final destination. Sweet.

Sure you can take Porter at Billy Bishop, but you still need to cab into Montreal from Dorval. And while the flight itself is short, the time you take getting to the airport, getting through security, building in extra time so you don’t miss your flight….it all adds up. 

Air travel is essential for long distances. But for shorter distances, you owe it to yourself to take the train.

 

 

An election, a new hotel, and more. What’s new in Toronto, October 2022 edition

What’s new in Toronto? For one thing, there’s an election coming up soon. If you live in Toronto and want to see who is running in your  ward, then click on this…. it’s a great way to find out who all is running and give you the chance to make an informed decision. Get out there and vote!

Ideally, the next batch of politicians elected will effectively deal with the problems Toronto is having, like a lack of affordable housing. Will that happen? This piece makes the case that even if the next mayor has more power, they likely will not get more housing built. I hope that isn’t true.

Besides housing, another way to improve Toronto is better transportation Painfully, the completion of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT has been delayed AGAIN. Argh! (People are outraged, and rightly so!) At least the signal upgrades on line 1 are done. Finally! I might be able to go down town again on the weekend.

Do you drive? Maybe the thing to do is avoid some of the the worst roads in Toronto and get a good used bike from bikeSauce, the bicycle resource centre and  use that instead.

Problems aside, there’s lots of good things about the city to celebrate. Like TIFF! One thing new with the film festival: it now offering movies digitally, which sounds interesting. If you want to get outdoors, there’s lots of recreational facilities available, and the city is hiring for them. Some gorgeous new places have opened, like the Ace Hotel. Nice to see. Need more nice Toronto things to see?  See this,TORONTOVERSE – Your interactive city  and this list of the most beautiful places in Toronto. 

The food scene is always in flux in Toronto. David Chang’s Momofuku is closing. So is Bonjour Brioche after 25 years. But Toronto still has a countless number of places available, old and new, and some very inexpensive. 100 such places are listed here in this list of the Best Cheap Eats in Toronto. Cheap AND good. Those are my kinda of places.

Speaking of things closing, NOW magazine is closing down. RIP. You were an essential part of my youth. And not just me: everyone who has lived in Toronto in the last few decades.

Need more Toronto? This is a nice piece on the great restaurants of the past. Here is a fun tour of hidden Toronto: Lower Bay subway station. Check out this piece on the Toronto Fringe Festival in 1999. Finally, I liked this image of the Toronto Hydro Electric System head office building on Carlton Street.

(Image: Ace Hotel from the article linked to.)

From Michelin to Peter Oliver: thinking about how Toronto has changed in the last 40 years


Two noteworthy events in Toronto dining happened this month: one was the start of an era and one was an end. The start was Michelin came to town and tossed out stars and Bibs and otherwise paid attention to Hogtown dining. The end was the death of restaurateur Peter Oliver.

Decades ago if Michelin had come in and gave out stars, it would have been incredible. Not now. What I loved about the Michelin event this month was how many people could not give a hoot. Toronto’s food scene is excellent, and we don’t really need Michelin to come in and tell us. That can be seen in critiques like this the Star . Sure the places highlighted are great, but there is more to good food in Toronto than the places starred. Many great restaurants were passed over, as this piece showed, because we are a city wealthy in good places to go.

To be fair to Michelin, they did highlight quite a number of restaurants in Toronto, even ones that did not get an award. One of those was Canoe. Canoe is just one of the many restaurants that are part of the Oliver and Bonacini (O&B)  Hospitality group. The Oliver in the name belongs to Peter Oliver.

I have been eating in Peter Oliver’s restaurants since the 80s. Back then he had a cozy place on Yonge north of Eglinton that was a great place to meet up for brunch with friends. From that place he went on to open and close many places, some of which were truly great.

While he has a career of four decades, this piece from 2000 in the Globe really shows his career as he was becoming ascendent. He had a knack at making restaurants, even though some of them (Bofinger/Paramount on Yonge near St. Clair) were too ambitious. While the buildings themselves seem to spare no expense, the food was sometimes lacking, and leading critics at the time like Joanne Kates dismissed some of it as “tourist all the way.”

What really made a difference for Oliver was when he hooked up with Michael Bonacini in 1993 to open Jump, Then Canoe. And many more. The combined talents of the two of them lead to an entire string of successful restaurants in Toronto and elsewhere.

Over the next few years I expect Michelin will be handing out more stars in Toronto. I expect the some of them will go to O&B restaurants.

The food scene has evolved significantly since the 1980s. Peter Oliver and O&B has been a big part of that evolution. Over at their web site they have a warm  Tribute to Peter Oliver. It’s worthy of consideration, just like the man himself. RIP, and thanks.

P.S. Here’s all the Michelin star restaurants of Toronto. The Globe has more on the Michelin awards. So does BlogTO. Not surprising, here’s how hard it is to get a  table at these places. Here’s a story on the one place /chef that got  two stars: rich readers, take note. 🙂

Why won’t Toronto build great public buildings? Because Toronto

If you read these two pieces in the Globe and Mail: Why won’t Toronto strive for great public buildings? and In downtown Toronto, public architecture falls flat, you will get specific reasons why Toronto is not building great public architecture.  All those reasons are true. But I think there is a more fundamental reason, and I believe that reason is the culture of Toronto itself.

In the days when Montreal was Canada’s greatest city, Toronto was the things it was not. Montreal had Old Montreal, the Expo 67, and the Olympics, even the Habs. It was a town of greatness. In contrast, Toronto had none of those things. It was gray and conservative and it liked to make money and was ruled by the Tories for 40+ years.

Things have shifted and Montreal is a shadow of itself. But Montreal has that culture still, just like Toronto does. The economic fortunes have changed, but they are still the same in many ways.

That to me is why Toronto can’t — no, won’t — build great public buildings. When Toronto is great, it is great in spite of itself.

On the exciting White Album exhibit at the AGO

Almost a decade ago I read about this project Rutherford Chang: We Buy White Albums over at hyperallergic. I remember thinking at the time: I would LOVE to see that. 

Back in 2013, Chang had set up a store/exhibit in Soho, NYC, where

the only thing in stock here is the Beatles’s White Album, and the store doesn’t sell any of them, it only acquires more….(it included) 700 copies of the 1968 double-LP first edition of the White Album, all the personal collection of Chang. Each album is marked with a distinct serial number on the bottom corner of the starkly designed cover by Richard Hamilton, a totally white cover that’s readily attracted the wandering drawings of (possibly stoned) listeners, the visible stains of coffee cups, and some mold.

I never did get to see it, but the idea captivated me and I never forgot it.

Needless to say, I was excited and delighted to see that it was on the road and recently at the AGO! You can see part of the exhibit above. It wasn’t the same as being in the store, but it captured the essence of that 2013 event. Chang even made a new recording that consisted of 100 copies of the album all playing at the same time. The AGO had it on display and for sale, too:

 

As a big fan of conceptual art and the Beatles, I loved this project. I’m glad I could experience it through the AGO.

For more details, I recommend you go to that hyperallergic link and read more about it. You can also read more about the exhibit at the AGO, here.

(Images: top two mine, bottom image is a link to the hyperallergic article)

Some advice on visiting Toronto, from the New York Times and me

So the Times has done a recent piece on Toronto: What to See Eat and Do in Toronto. It’s nice to see. It has lots of good ideas on where to dine, where to stay, and what to do.

While it’s easy to go to the places everyone recommends, if you want to bypass that and go to some very old school restaurants, here are five classic places that have been around forever and are still great, including Swatow and Country Style. For bistro fans, here is a list of fine French restaurants that should appeal to fans of that cuisine, as I am. There’s lots of great places to dine in Toronto.

While the airport is a mess these days , there are other ways to get here. For instance, you can get catch a train from NYC to Toronto. Or you can drive. Or fly into Billy Bishop and skip Pearson.

If you get here, you can even go to some museums like the ROM for free.

All in all Toronto is having a good year for recognition: Toronto is on of the world’s most liveable cities for 2022, according to CNN Travel. Come visit if you can.