1) For many Toronto food lovers, Hoof Raw Bar, the latest eatery in Jen Agg’s burgeoning Dundas West mini-empire, came out of left field when it opened a couple weeks back. But Agg tells us that she’d long wanted to open a space to serve oysters, and had been throwing around the idea for a seafood-focused restaurant since last September. She and her husband began the DIY construction work on the former Ferreira photography studio in November, but didn’t get down to the heavy lifting until January of this year—all while Agg was running the neighbouring Black Hoof and Cocktail Bar2) The Commissary, a new Leslieville lunch spot, bucks the healthy hippie fare and burgers that dominate the area and opts instead for dishes like lobster bisque or shrimp flatbread pizza. When Sophie shut its doors, the Commissary’s four partners moved in and started the redesign, taking the 32-seat space from stark white and acid green to earthy warmth in russet, with exposed brick and reclaimed barn boards. Commissary chefs Andrew Bridgman and Rod Dannewald designed their menu around an unmet niche. “We asked the neighbourhood what it wanted,” says Bridgman, “and they said there’s nowhere to have lunch.”
3) The landlord of 1212 Queen Street East wasn’t the only one to lose out when the owners of Tomi-Kro packed up and left; the neighbourhood also felt the void. But with the arrival of The East Ender in the space, the healing has begun—after all, what can’t a pork belly slider make right? (That’s the hope, at least.) Chef and co-owner, Greg Argent (Rain, Cru, Forte Bistro), with co-owner Hieu Nguyen (Forte Bistro, Cru) have moved into the 55-seat space, and, says Argent, the team has “done a lot of cleaning, but didn’t change too much.”
4) This summer, a number of new ramen restaurants—from Japan and Vancouver—are scheduled to invade the city’s arguably lacklustre alkaline noodle scene. The first to make it to opening day: Kinton Ramen, a long and narrow noodle shop by the same group that introduced Guu to Toronto (along with its boisterous greetings, also present here). It opened last Friday in Baldwin Village, and has already seen lineups out the door. Managing the 46-seater is chef Nobuaki “Aki” Urata, who started as a ramen chef in Japan at the age of 19, before spending the next 15 years in Canada, seven of them managing Kintaro, a well-known Vancouver ramen restaurant (the upcoming Raijin Ramen on Gerrard Street is from the owners of Kintaro).
