4 d. ago Toronto cafe to open second location combined with new snack bar

A cafe in one of Toronto’s trendiest neighbourhoods is soon opening a second location, but it has something brand-new tacked on, too.Fall calls for a steamy latte (both of the pumpkin spice variety and not) inside of a cute cafe, the same way that summertime calls for margaritas on a patio, and, we hate to break it to you, but leaves are already changing colours.Fall’s approach isn’t an entirely bad thing, though, because it means that it’s time to dust off that list and add some new spots to check out this season.Lucky for us, William and Carlos Oliveira, the son-and-father duo behind Little Italy’s Café Belém and Mercado in the Castlefield Design District, have something extra special up their sleeves.Despite only opening their Portuguese cafe (Belém) around a year ago, it’s already an inarguable hit in the neighbourhood. Now, they’re gearing up to open a second location of the cafe in Cor...

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8 d. ago Wildly popular Toronto BBQ restaurant opens new sandwich and salad concept

One of the city's most celebrated barbecue restaurants has branched out with a new concept, but don't worry: there’s still plenty of brisket.Toronto restaurateur extraordinaire Yannick Bigourdan, the man behind The Carbon Bar, Lucie and Amano, among many more, has once again put his Midas touch on the city's culinary scene. But his latest project is unlike anything he's done before.Meet The Carbon Snack Bar. Think of it like The Carbon Bar's yuppie, spin class-attending little sister. We mean that in the most complimentary way possible.Having officially opened its doors on Aug. 21, The Carbon Snack Bar takes over the historic building at the northwest corner of King West and Spadina, formerly home to Quantum Coffee.Here, Bigourdan and his team serve up a diverse selection of sandwiches, salads, pastries, beverages and coffee, designed to appeal to the hustling-bustling King West crowd, a divergence from the sumptuous sit-down experi...

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9 d. ago Staple bar on Toronto's Ossington strip has closed and here's what's taking its place

One of Toronto's favourite dive bars is getting a new lease on life this month as it transforms into a swanky new concept.While Ossington is known as one of the city's ultimate nightlife hubs (it's been said that the strip is the new King West, but the jury's still out on that one), with a trendy Saturday night spot found every 20 feet along the strip between Dundas West and Queen West, Baby Huey was there before it was cool.Originally occupying the space that's now tea-themed snack bar Té for years before it moved a few doors down to 110 Ossington in 2016, Baby Huey was just the sort of bar and music venue that initially drew the who's-who to the neighbourhood.After a months-long closure that left the bar's devoted fanbase in the dark about its future, word has finally dropped that Baby Huey is officially gone for good, the latest local stalwart to leave the neighbourhood.It's not all bad news, though, b...

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2 w. ago Hidden Toronto cafe serves smash burgers and fried chicken but only 2 days a week

A Toronto cafe is now home to one of the city's hidden gems for smash burgers and fried chicken, but you can only get it two days a week.It all started with a New Year's Eve dinner to ring in 2024. Nafe Mustafa and Omar Ibrahim of Those Guys Burgers and Chicken, The Annex's latest addition to the fried chicken and smash burger scene, tell us.Technically, though, their story starts before then. Both born and raised in Bangladesh, the two met after studying as international students in the city. Their friendship, they explain, was instantaneous.A year after meeting in 2022 came that fateful New Year's Eve dinner. Though they didn't serve what they now do, the dinner featured a menu of hearty winter staples, like brisket and mashed potatoes, which got the wheels spinning as they imagined what was possible when they joined forces."We realized we work well in the kitchen together, and everybody also ended up loving what we made," the pair says...

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3 w. ago Legendary Toronto bistro and brunch spot is shutting down after 40 years in business

Another day, another beloved business closing in Toronto.This time, the wave of closures has hit a long-standing Annex institution, By The Way (BTW), a colourful restaurant that has been serving up Mediterranean plates, breakfast and more near Bloor and Bathurst for decades.BTW's team took to their social media pages to share the news over the weekend, much to the sorrow of faithful customers.    View this post on Instagram           A post shared by By The Way T.O. (@bythewayto)"After over 40 years in business, and serving and meeting so many wonderful people, we and our family felt that it was time to start a new chapter," explains the post.Written by owners Amir and Ruth Benedikt, the post goes on to thank the Annex community, staff members, and the many loyal customers for supporting the business throughout the years and making it a community stalwart."It's the people...

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4 w. ago Here are some Toronto laundromats that also serve coffee and snacks

Doing your chores can really work up an appetite, which is why these Toronto laundromats double as restaurants, cafes and ice cream parlours.Perpetually spilling ice cream and coffee on your shirt? Us too, but it doesn't have to be a trip-back-home-to-change level emergency.From swanky, upscale dry cleaners with full-service cafes inside to hole-in-the-wall snack bars hidden behind the facade of a retro coin-operated laundromat, these cafes are bringing you the best of both worlds, all with that novelty spin that the city can't seem to get enough of.Here are four cafes in Toronto that just so happen to double as laundromats::Creeds Coffee BarArguably the innovators of the laundry-cafe concept in Toronto, this dry cleaner and coffee shop comes with a history of more than a century in the making. Jesse MilnsWe'll spare you all the details, but nowadays, all you need to know is that you can drop off a load of dry cleaning at before knocking back an Americano all w...

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