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1 month ago | 
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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2 months ago | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Carbelle Djossa
It’s hard to imagine anywhere you might feel less lost in Toronto than the downtown stretch of Yonge Street between Queen and King. Yet The Lost Land, a new farm-to-table restaurant in the exceedingly well-mapped heart of the Financial District, takes you off the beaten path, plunging you into an alternate culinary universe where the familiar feels – and tastes – a little otherworldly.
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Oct 15, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Carbelle Djossa
Some people might think Concord, ON is a long way to go for a Turkish meal. But in the case of Ala Antioch, it’s certainly a lot closer than going to Antioch itself. Located in Turkey’s southernmost province of Hatay – and known today as Antakya – in ancient times, Antioch was quite a hot spot.
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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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Sep 10, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Carbelle Djossa
The Well seems determined never to run dry. One of the latest thirst (and hunger)-quenching establishments to set down roots in Toronto’s new category-defying, norm-exploding urban project at the corner of Wellington and Spadina is an Albertan transplant by the name of Bridgette Bar. Like its sister establishment, Lulu Bar, which took up residence at The Well earlier this year, Bridgette is also owned by the Calgary-based Concorde Entertainment Group.
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Aug 2, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Carbelle Djossa
“I want to be honest with you. I’m very nervous.” confesses Costas Spiliadis, a week before the official opening of the Toronto location of his acclaimed Greek restaurant, Milos. Nervousness is a reaction you’d expect from your average restaurateur in the frenzied, 1,000-final-decisions-to-be-made-a-minute lead-up to an opening (if in doubt, watch Season 3, Episode 1 of The Bear).
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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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May 17, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Michael Sommers |Carbelle Djossa
It says a lot that in their first-ever Instagram post for Sad Songs Cantina, friends and co-owners Christine Pountney and Miguel Arguello welcomed customers to their new restaurant by declaring it to be “Mexican as f*ck”. As soon as you walk into Sad Songs, you realize that “Mexican as f*ck” sums up Sad Songs Cantina to a T (as in tequila). Gazing onto Bloor West, the windows are framed with velvet curtains evoking a toreador’s red cape.
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Apr 13, 2024 | 
tastetoronto.com | Carbelle Djossa |Michael Sommers
Strolling along Dundas East to Mutual Street you can’t help but spot Afro’s Pizza even though there’s a lot happening on this very urban, slightly gritty, dense downtown block.
