Natalia Manzocco writes for NOW Toronto about how Bloor Street West is going to soon host a First Nations restaurant.

When Tacos el Asador vacated their perpetually-packed corner unit on Bloor for roomier digs across the street earlier this year, it turns out they were making space for a cuisine that's hugely underrepresented in Toronto: First ( Read more... )

Thursday, when I was walking west along College, I passed by TOT Cat Café (298 College Street, Toronto's only cat café. I had long been curious about the place, following the different fundraising efforts aiming to set up a cat café in Toronto starting a couple of years ago and then hearing last spring about the scandal when the Toronto Humane ( Read more... )

Schwartz's, the Montréal restaurant famous for its smoked meat sandwiches, was a destination I was planning for. I was surprised to see how cramped its long narrow space actually was, but I was not let down by the food. Next time, I'll have to remember to also order their black cherry cola.


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• blogTO notes the rapid expansion of A&Ws across Toronto's neighbourhoods.
• Centauri Dreams reports that none of the exoplanets of nearby Wolf 1061 are likely to support Earth-like environments, owing to their eccentric and occasionally overclose orbits.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper looking at high-temperature condensate clouds in hot Jupiter ( Read more... )

NOW Toronto's Natalia Manzocco describes another good reason to go to Glad Day Bookshop: Roncesvalles diner Cardinal Rule is setting up shop in the location's kitchen. I really like this addition to Glad Day's business model, not least because the idea of indie businesses collaborating for greater profit for everyone has a lot of appeal for me.

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NOW Toronto's Kevin Ritchie was the first to report yesterday about the closing of financially insolvent but culturally critical west-end music venue Hugh's Room. Here's to hoping Hugh's Room can find its way out.

The mid-sized concert venue and restaurant's owner is facing insolvency and has shuttered the club in order to mull over financial ( Read more... )

The Globe and Mail's Michele Sponagle writes about reasons why Toronto restaurateurs are abandoning this city for Hamilton, with its lower costs and better traffic. I'm wondering if these reasons willb e echoed more broadly by Torontonians.

Michael Cipollo declared once and for all that he was done with Toronto - its $25-a-day parking, brutal ( Read more... )

Torontoist's Madeline Smith reports on how a plan to redevelop Jarvis and Gerrard will leave a storied fast food restaurant on that corner intact.

A new proposal for a mixed-use development on Gerrard Street will take out several of the buildings between Jarvis and Mutual Streets, if approved. As noted by Urban Toronto, that puts the so-called “ ( Read more... )

Via Towleroad, I came across Alina Simone's delightful feature describing how Céline Dion helped save Montréal's famed deli Schwartz's.

[H]ow did the French-Canadian pop diva become the custodian of Montreal’s premier Jewish culinary institution? That’s the question I’ve come to ask Frank Silva, Schwartz’s general manager, who was brought into the ( Read more... )