🕒 7 min read

While you were at home in your sweats binge-watching Bridgerton over the holidays, there have been a whirlwind of seriously ooey, gooey, I-don’t-give-a-@#$-how-many calories-are-in-it arrivals.

Bonus: they all pair perfectly with the loungewear of your choosing. Because home is where we live live now.

Here’s the very latest:

OPEN

Leave it to Jesse Fader – aka industry game-changer who brought us Extra Burger, Favorites, Nice Nice, Paris Paris, Robinson Bread, Superpoint, Woodhouse Brew Pub – to get the year off to a stellar start. A1 Submarines (1265 Dundas St. W.) debuted January 1.  

Psst. Gelato virtuosos Bar Ape (283 Rushton Rd.) have ventured momentarily into ice cream.

Need to dial it back after indulging over the holidays? (Or perhaps it’s all those subs and ice cream above?) Boost Bar’s power-packed smoothies and bowls will get you back on track. The organic cafe quietly opened in Riverside (672 Queen St. E.) a few months ago.  

Big straws, big dreams. CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice softly opens in Thornhill (7398 Yonge St., Unit 17D) tomorrow. Enjoy 15 per cent off all drinks at this location January 8-31.

Detroit Pizzeria (1093 Bathurst St.) has taken over Apollo Eleven Restaurant’s old digs in Seaton Village.

Mad Dog Café (817 Gerrard St. E.) is now East End Vine, currently operating as bottle shop and market. One day, it will transform into the wine tapas bar it was meant to be. 

Sara Steep and Il Covo’s Ryan Cambpell launched a dessert outpost that might put the kibosh on all those new year resolutions. Gertie’s is home of, get ready for it, Peanut. Butter. Freakin’. Pies. Things are def looking up. 

Speaking of dessert, Knead it Baked by Kennedy Sherwood just dropped and the first round sold out like that. If you want in on cheesecake stuffed cookies, Blueberry n Cream Blondies, and Olive Oil Brownie Cookies, get your pre-order sorted before serious FOMO sets in. 

Consider Matt’s Smokehouse in The Junction Triangle officially on your radar now. You’re welcome.

One of the brightest spots of 2021 so far: the arrival of Mattachioni (1501 Gerrard St. E.) at Coxwell and Gerrard. 

East Danforth’s Poured Coffee (2165 Danforth Ave.) is all about coffee without wasteful packaging.

If fried chicken sandos are your raison d’être rn, add Markham’s Super Chicken (30 Gibson Dr., Unit 120) to your list.

Rice roll and congee specialist Yin Ji Chang Fen launched a fifth outpost in North York (4679 Yonge St.).

CLOSED  

The Burger Cellar (3391 Yonge St.) made it a decade at Yonge & Lawrence.

The pandemic continues to affect restaurants of all sizes. Case in point: SIR Corp, which owns Duke’s Refresher Bar, Jack Astor’s, Loose Moose, Reds, Scaddabush with locations in Toronto and the GTA - announced yesterday two Canyon Creek locations (Scarborough and Square One in Mississauga) will close permanently tomorrow “as a result of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The world was vastly different when Prairie Girl Bakery launched in 2011: Adele was on repeat, Friday Night Lights ended (still not over it), and cupcakes were e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e (Food Network’s Cupcake Wars was already on season three). Thus, the closure of one of the city’s preeminent destinations earlier this week truly marks the end of an era.

EVENTS

Do good, feel good. Buy a Holiday Raffle Ticket ($5.50) from East Toronto Coffee Co. and help raise money for Daily Bread Food Bank. 

NEWS  

The City is finally naming names. Kind of.

Six employees tested positive for COVID-19 at St. Lawrence Market at the end of December. Four more were declared on Tuesday.

Ninetails Coffee Bar was robbed on Christmas Day. 

Scaramouche chef and owner Keith Froggett’s Greystones Restaurant & Lounge, set to debut in Orangeville next month, has been making local headlines lately. But Heart's Tavern and Bar coming to Kimberley, Grey County, is just as noteworthy. 

‘Tis the szn to stock up on candles. The best ones? Real Talk Candles. For two reasons: 1. Scarborough Candle smells like Warden Station Jamaican Patties, 2. Malton Candle smells like Westwood Mall Food Court.

In the ‘great people doing great things’ department: Acupuncture Centre Toronto is offering Pandemic Acupuncture Relief for restaurant owners who’ve lost their business due to Covid-19.

Re: temporary restrictions on restaurant dining in Austin over New Year’s weekend - the Attorney General of Texas isn’t having it.

ICYMI 

Emma Bristo-O'Connor of new Barbershop Patisserie shares her philosophy on ingredients, top Toronto bars and restaurants, fridge essentials, and much more in this week’s compelling At The Pass.

It’s never too late for presents (especially if it’s for you). Shop outstanding gifts by 50 Toronto chefs, restaurants, bars, cafés, bakeries + breweries now.

New year, new you. 

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