Open/Closed for the week of August 17-23

While restaurant openings are a tad quieter this week, the weekend is brimming with delicious food events and activities. That, and The Ex opens tomorrow. Wheeeee!

Open:

Dooney’s Café
866 Bloor St. W.

Dooney’s Café is back, this time on Bloor near Ossington! They’re open for brunch, lunch and dinner. Stay tuned.

Istanbul's Tulip
1560 Yonge St.

This new Turkish grill and salad restaurant at Yonge and St. Clair offers kofte meals and sandwiches and salads, including a "Women's Salad." The salad, according to their site, "gets that name from the way Gaziantep women like to describe themselves: ‘A little spicy, a little juicy, a little hot, a little sour, and, of course, a little sweet.'"

P’Karos
645 Yonge St.

Right near the Panasonic Centre between Bloor and Wellesley, P’Karos makes homemade Venezuelan fare such as arepas, cachitos, mini pan de jamón and gelatos in a variety of flavours including Nutella and popcorn.

Sid’s Deli
160 McCaul St.

Twelve sandwiches, six salads, knishes and chopped liver are now available at Sid’s on McCaul near Elm. 

Closed:

The Atlantic Restaurant on Dundas West has shuttered.

House-Maison is fin. Their final message? "Our pop-up has closed. Thank you, merci. Au revoir."

Opening Soon:

Hemant Bhagwani, owner of the recently closed Amaya Indian Room, has announced that he is planning to open his new restaurant concept in the same spot, the first week of September. Indian Street Food Co. "promises to transport diners to the streets of India. The idea is to recreate the lights, the sights, the smells of the street."

Moving away from traditional menus, the dishes include the best of street food and "the food that used to be served in the oldest eateries of our grandparents’ youth. The treatment is my own," says Bhagwani. The menu is ready with dishes being tried and tested in the kitchen during the renovation. I’ll have more for you soon.

Events:

The 6th Annual Wild Blueberry Festival has a host of events happening at Evergreen Brick Works. Tonight is Jazz Night, complete with a blueberry-inspired menu. And on Sunday, there’s a whole day of programming including how to make wild blueberry kombucha and preserves.

It's almost here! The CNE opens tomorrow and goes until Sept 7th. Here’s what you need to know about this year's Ex. And stay tuned later today for a full preview of the foods premiering this year. We’ll have them all on our FB page.

Head to Taste of Iran Friday to Sunday.

On Sunday, it’s all about Spanish bar snacks at this year’s Pintxos Toronto.

If you love Mexican food, than MexFest on Sunday is definitely a must.

Canada’s 2nd Annual Coconut Festival & Marketplace  s happening this Sunday at David Pecaut Square (behind the CBC building, next to Roy Thompson Hall). Learn about the many health benefits of coconuts as well as its diverse culinary uses at this free event.

Love Brunch? Reserve your spot (deadline is Fri) for Pass The Table’s Wild Burger Brunch @ Wild Burger.

Are you more of a dinner fan? Then PTT’s Sunday Roast Beast @ Bespoke Butchers is a must. Deadline to reserve is Saturday.

News:

Watch Chef Cory Vitiello (of The Harbord Room, THR & Co., and the brand new Flock) compete on the Food Network’s new show Chef In Your Ear. 

Chef Vitiello, alongside Jordan Andino (Harlow Sag Harbor), Devin Connell (Delica Kitchen), Craig Harding (Campagnolo), and Rob Rossi (Bestellen), offer advice to their rookie partners to create the winning dish. The help, however,  happens only through an earpiece, as they’re not allowed to step foot in the kitchen. The series premieres August 31st.

And lastly:

In honour of The Ex opening this week, we do a round up of the top 5 restaurants for fun midway-style fare.

Balsamico is not just one of Toronto’s best Italian restaurants. They’re famiglia.

Front Street Foods is one of the best things to happen to Toronto. Find out the scoop in this week’s insider’s guide.

It doesn't get much better than Ontario summer produce! So pick up some local fruit and veg and create memorable meals with these quick and easy recipes.

Keep it light - yet still deeply satisfying - with these summer sandwich recipes.

Want to know what’s happening for the rest of the month? Check out our August Calendar of Toronto Food & Drink Events.