Open/Closed: Toronto Restaurant News March 5-11, 2020

🕒 6 min read

Whoa. This week’s 17 arrivals breaks the all-time record for this time of year.

You’d better settle in. With snacks, of course.

Here’s the very latest:

OPEN

Doors opened Friday for Hungarian restaurant Black Tulip Restaurant and Bar in Hillcrest Village (807 St Clair Ave. W.).

Blackbird Baking Co.’s Kensington location (172 Baldwin St.) has reopened the retail portion post-renos. Next up: a pastry lab.

From chocolate roll cakes to croissant sandos, Trinity Bellwoods newcomer Fantastic, Baby! (1193 Dundas St. W.) offers an array of food (and drinks) to enjoy while shopping K-beauty products, stationary, and the like.

Fresh Queensway kicks off their takeout and delivery only concept today through Kitchen Hub, “Canada's first virtual food hall.” A brick-and-mortar outpost of the vegan chain is set to follow at Sherway Gardens (25 The West Mall) in June. 

From the folks of Bathurst Local (322 Bathurst St.) comes hidden haunt Grape Juice Wine Bar (320 Bathurst St.).

The Heartbreak Chef (1316 Queen St. W.) launches tomorrow in Parkdale. On Saturday from noon til 10pm, the first 75 folks get a free hat with food purchase. 

La Canasta Tortas (1006B Dundas St. W.) in Trinity Bellwoods offers both plant-based and meat tortas – Mexican sandwiches- starting at $7.89, side salads ($2.89-$3.89), and Conchitas ($2.89 ea.) for dessert.

Mississauga’s Little Rose Cookie Co. is pulling out all the stops for the grand opening (13 Main St.) on Saturday.

London Fried Chicken out of the U.K. made its Canadian debut  September 2018 in Etobicoke. Grand opening celebrations for the Scarborough satellite (1071 Danforth Rd.) take place Saturday.

Speaking of chicken, vegan fried “chicken” is the name of the game at Parkdale’s Lovebird (1277 Queen St. W.). They make their own plant-based, gluten-free version (“chickun”) with “organic non-GMO soy, pea protein and spices.”

New fusion concept Naan & Chai (712 Queen St. W.) in Trinity Bellwoods offering “strikingly creative fusion dishes” (Margarita Naan $12, Smoked Brisket Naan $14) alongside “traditional Pakistani cuisine favourites” (Tandoori Chicken $15, Black Pepper Chicken Karahi $16). 

Ozzy’s Burgers “High Level” burgers and lifestyle expanded to ‘Sauga (325 Central Parkway W., Unit 10) on Monday.

Pilot Coffee Roasters  (439 Richmond St. W.) launched at Richmond and Spadina yesterday.

Tired of having your lobster and crab brought to you by just humans? Robot Boil House (895 Yonge St.) north of Bloor solves the issue by having your food brought out by robots with serving tray torsos that glide across the room like Roombas. Since they don’t have arms – yet - a server places your food on the table before sending the robots away.

The whole Eglinton Crosstown LRT nightmare has got ppl shook, but Salus Fresh Foods (8 Eglinton Ave. E.) is relatively easy to get to, right at the NE corner Yonge and Eg. 

Since bubble tea shop Song Tea is all about “a young lifestyle,” it makes sense they’d land downtown (422 Spadina Ave.). 

Terroni and Sud Forno’s central production kitchen, caffè and storefront Terroni Sud Forno Produzione e Spaccio (22 Sackville Ave.) debuted Monday.

CLOSED

Bellwoods Coffee and Gelato (1006 Dundas St. W.) shut down their Trinity Bellwoods shop, but is rebuilding a new business. Stay tuned.

Rollian Sushi vacated their Bayview & Eglinton spot in the soon-to-be demolished Sunnybrook Plaza (660 Eglinton Ave. E.) – and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT nightmare - but are set to reopen this month.

You’ll have to travel to Double D’s Pizza new Etobicoke location to dig into their Chicago-style deep dish, now that their Leslieville outpost (1020 Gerrard St. E.) is kaput.

On Tuesday Hawthorne Food and Drink (60 Richmond St. E.) announced they’re closing March 31st after eight years. 

The Entertainment District outpost (106 John St.) of Su& Bu has closed due to non-payment of rent. 

EVENTS

On Sunday, head to Bluebird Bar (2072 Dundas St. W.) for a fabulous event raising money for Australian wildfire relief.

NEWS

 First sanitizers and masks, then Costco apocalypse shopping, and now thanks to The New Yorker of all people, quarantine cooking.

Wendy's introduced their plant-based burger, "The Plantiful" nationwide last week. The burger, boasting a patty containing pea-based protein, is being promoted as “It’s beyond impossible.”

This year’s digital component to Tim’s ‘Roll Up The Rim’ campaign is so convoluted, Chatelaine Magazine published an entire article about it.

Subway, pay up.

Head’s up: Pusateri’s recalled their spring rolls.

ICYMI

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Hear of a place that’s about to open or just closed? Have an upcoming food or restaurant event? Want to get the word out about your business or service to an exclusively food-hungry audience? Shoot me an email -> writerscramp@stephaniedickison.com.

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