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Mar 4, 2025 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Kristen Wells
Although the lonely, gritty stretch of Dundas West curving up from Roncy towards the Junction is known as the West Bend, traditionally it has seemed like more of a dead end. However, revitalization is underway with the opening of Aisle 3, a Vietnamese-inspired snack and cocktail bar that has brought much needed vibrancy, not to mention vibes, to this otherwise forsaken strip.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
tastetoronto.com | Christine Peddie |Kristen Wells
That General Public is so at odds with its plain-Jane environs is an intentional detail that just adds to the restaurant’s substantial appeal. Sure, the street has its charms but turn General Public’s oversized brass doorknob and you’ll feel like Lucy stepping into Narnia — both bewildered by the scene before you and thrilled at the find.
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Oct 7, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Christine Peddie |Kristen Wells
At Raff’s Pizza, there’s a secret ingredient to the team’s success. That ingredient, the team would have you believe, can be found in the signature tomato sauce that they casually dollop onto a good portion of the menu’s standout pies. But look closer, and you’ll see that the real secret ingredient is founder and chef Simon Vickerson’s unbridled enthusiasm.
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Kristen Wells
In these increasingly partisan times, not even burgers are neutral territory. And so while some of us get riled up about smash burgers, others would walk over hot coals to avail themselves of a flame-broiled patty. Then there’s Shant Mardirosian, who proudly swings both ways – and always has. Growing up in the hamburger heaven that was LA of the 1980s, Mardiron recalls hopping into cars with his buddies and driving out to McD’s for griddle-seared burgers.
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Aug 19, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Christine Peddie |Kristen Wells
Mott 32 Toronto is glitzy and glam, suave and sexy with food that lands squarely in the space between familiar and new. Inspired by the vibrancy of Chinese banquet halls, it aims to offer a seductive alternative to that genre’s aggressive lighting, sparse décor and chaotic din. An award-winning restaurant brand, Mott 32 combines ceremony with modernity, and efficiency with attention to detail in ways that make every guest feel like the star of the show.
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Jul 15, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Christine Peddie |Kristen Wells
EDNA + VITA is a saucy new Financial District spot brimming with a surplus of modern Italian eats. Spread across two floors — each with their own personality — the restaurant is cheeky and slick, fast-paced or leisurely, depending entirely on diners' moods. With a name that translates roughly to rejuvenation and life, EDNA + VITA is an appropriate moniker for the restaurant replacing Reds Wine Tavern, in First Canadian Place.
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Jul 9, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Kristen Wells
When it comes to Gateau Ghost, a new patisserie/bruncherie on College near Dovercourt, it wasn’t until I sat down with chef and co-founder Jayden Park, an artfully arranged plate of the most gorgeously tricked-out madeleines I’d ever laid eyes on before us, that the establishment’s curious name began to make sense. Remember madeleines? Those plump, buttery, slightly lemony, shell-shaped French sponge cakes so beloved by Proust (and perhaps your great-aunt who visited Paris in the 1950s)?
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Jun 30, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Kristen Wells
At first glance, the menu at Ricky + Olivia, a new restaurant/bottle shop on Queen East, reads like a quintessential Ontarian farm-to-fork story. The fenugreek gouda is from 5 Brothers and the beef pepperettes from St. Brigid’s. The chickens are raised at Fenwood Farms and the juicy cherries and berries, not to mention the sea buckthorns (and they’re very much worth mentioning), are Ontario grown and/or foraged.
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Jun 10, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Christine Peddie |Kristen Wells
La Plume is as light and soft, glamorous and naturally beautiful as its namesake. A brasserie serving up the flavours of southern France, it caters to diners with gorgeous rooms, textbook plates of food, and a delectable secret every visitor should make it their mission to uncover. Walk into La Plume, Oliver & Bonacini’s latest addition to The Well, and it’s immediately obvious that high design was as important to the team as quality on the plate.
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May 22, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Christine Peddie |Kristen Wells
Bar Aperitivo is an animated, gorgeous slice of Italy in the heart of Yorkville. A spot inspired by Venice’s cicchetti bars, it serves wine, cocktails, stellar snacks, and a serious dose of dolce far niente, in equal measure. There is absolutely nothing wrong with popping into Bar Aperitivo for a half glass of wine (“to just wet the beak,” as owner David Rocco says) a small snack and a chat.
