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Venues

NEW RESTAURANTS

Spice Route

Dublin Lounge

Lolo Restaurant

Bliss Restaurant & Bar    

Le Pain Quotidien

Chakra Indian Restaurant

Four
 

NEWS & REVIEWS

Nota Bene

Gilead Cafe

Factory Theatre

The Bloor Street Diner

Lucien
 

STYLISH SPACES

Factory Theatre

Tryst Nightclub

National Ballet School    

Spoke Club

Tattoo Rock Parlour
 
 

THE WALKTHROUGH

   05.13.08 1:51 PM

Where to Hold a Wine Tasting
The tasting room at Crush Wine Bar
The tasting room at Crush Wine Bar
Photo: BizBash
After a month of renovations headed up by Ralph Giannone and Associates, the upgraded Crush Wine Bar now includes a new stone-plated bar and a semiprivate tasting room that holds 14. The room—which has exposed-brick walls, banquette seating, and a mounted flat-screen TV—can be used for corporate meetings or activities.

Groups can choose from four wine flights and graze on items from the revised, British-injected bar menu (which includes steak and chips and Eccles cake with Lincolnshire Poacher cheese). For a more educational tasting event, the restaurant can bring in a sommelier for wine samplings.    —Erin Letson


RELATED TOPICS Ralph Giannone and Associates

VENUE NEWS

   05.08.08 1:48 PM

Grace Opens With Seasonally Inspired Menu, Historic Photographs
The dining room at Grace
The dining room at Grace
Photo: Courtesy of Grace
After almost three years in Los Angeles running the restaurants Bella, Parc, and Shag, Lesle Gibson returned to Toronto and launched Grace on Tuesday. Located in the space that housed her former restaurant Xacutti (and beside another restaurant she used to co-own, Teatro), the 60-seat room is decorated in shades of cream and blue with antique accents. "I wanted to make it feel almost like you're in somebody's house for dinner," Gibson says. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Lesle Gibson, Susur Lee

THE WALKTHROUGH

   05.07.08 4:46 PM

Spice Route Features Asian Antiques, Outdoor Koi Pond
The dining room at Spice Route
The dining room at Spice Route
Photo: BizBash
Nick Di Donato of the Liberty Entertainment Group and Charles Khabouth of Ink have collaborated on a second venue following the opening of Tattoo Rock Parlour, their first joint venture, which launched late last year. The pair opened the doors to Spice Route, a bistro-bar on King Street West, on May 1. The pan-Asian restaurant features 8,000 square feet of space inside—including two private rooms—and a 3,000-square-foot patio that looks onto the street and wraps around the east side of the building.

Designed by Nadia Di Donato, Liberty Entertainment Group's creative director, Spice Route incorporates a mix of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Indian aspects. The entranceway features antique teak Asian doors, flanked by two water urns and flaming torches. "We're not going to do any signage. I think it's going to speak for itself," Di Donato said during a tour. "People are going to know where it is." Inside, many of the artifacts that dress the space are imports. But several pieces, including the hand-carved Burmese goddess that graces the reception area, are from Di Donato's personal collection of Asian antiques. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS The Liberty Group, Ink

THE WALKTHROUGH

   05.02.08 10:47 AM

Where to Gather for a Pint
The bar at the Dublin Lounge
The bar at the Dublin Lounge
Photo: BizBash
When the building adjacent to the Irish Embassy became available, owner Gavin Quinn snapped up the space (formerly an art gallery) to create an addition to his upscale pub. The Dublin Lounge, designed by the firm Gemmell Griffin Dunbar, opened its doors in the financial district on April 22.

The Victorian-style Dublin pub features ornate moldings, hardwood floors, and mahogany-paneled walls, furnished with wood imported from Ireland. The bar, stocked with the best whiskeys from around the world, features a hand-carved clock atop an 18-foot-tall back wall. Old photos, maps of Ireland, and antique gold-leaf mirrors adorn the walls throughout the space. Etched-glass windows provide a focal point at the rear of the lounge. READ MORE

THE WALKTHROUGH

   04.25.08 5:25 PM

Lolo Owners Put Their Mark on New, Larger Space
The bar at Lolo
The bar at Lolo
Photo: BizBash
After almost six years at its Mount Pleasant location, Lolo restaurant has moved to a street corner space just north of Yonge and Eglinton in the spot where Shatzy's Trattoria used to be. The new space mixes modern and rustic decor with black-and-white-patterned wallpaper, antique benches, dark engineered wood floors, and a soft grey painted ceiling.

Owner Louis Ourique and his partner Ricardo Sousa worked together at former restaurant Cibo in the 1980s, while Sousa most recently worked at Bistro 990. The two reunited in the new Lolo location and did most of the refurbishing work themselves, which included building a French oak and pine bar and adding trim detailing to the room. Designed by Ourique's wife, the space took three weeks to prepare for opening. READ MORE

VENUE NEWS

   04.24.08 1:11 PM

Splendido Owners Set to Open New Restaurant on Queen
David Lee and Yannick Bigourdan
David Lee and Yannick Bigourdan
Photo: Courtesy of Steve Stober
Yannick Bigourdan and David Lee, owners of the acclaimed Toronto restaurant Splendido, have announced plans to open a new eatery called Nota Bene this summer with restaurateur Franco Prevedello. Designed by KPMB Architects—the company behind the Gardiner Museum and the Young Centre for the Performing Arts—the 7,000-square-foot restaurant is scheduled to open on Queen Street near University Avenue (at 180 Queen Street West) in early July. Bigourdan describes the decor as "classic contemporary," with hardwood floors and natural stone. READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Franco Prevedello, David Lee, KPMB Architects, Yannick Bigourdan

VENUE NEWS

   04.22.08 1:52 PM

Factory Theatre Unveils Renovated Mainspace Lounge
The Factory Theatre's Mainspace lounge
The Factory Theatre's Mainspace lounge
Photo: Courtesy of Marian Wihak
The Mainspace lounge in the Factory Theatre has a new look thanks to a $15,000 donation from the TD Bank Financial Group, reports marketing and development manager Bonnie Mouck. The community theatre, housed in a Victorian building on Bathurst Street, updated the lounge by adding new hardwood flooring, black leather furniture, and a new bar, the base of which is wrapped in tin.

"We would have loved to have done the ceiling in tin, but we couldn't, so we did the tin around the bar," Mouck said. The venue, which includes a studio theatre, a rehearsal space, and the Mainspace, is available for private bookings dependent on the performance schedule. The studio theatre seats 100, the rehearsal hall holds 75 for receptions, the Mainspace theatre holds 200 seated, and the Mainspace lounge holds 75 for receptions. An outdoor courtyard has room for 70 for seated events and 100 for receptions. Performances can also be bought out for corporate and nonprofit events.    —Susan O'Neill

VENUE NEWS

   04.17.08 1:33 PM

Jamie Kennedy Set to Open New Event Space in the Company Kitchen
Chef Jamie Kennedy
Chef Jamie Kennedy
Photo: Courtesy of Mary Armstrong
Following the success of his two Toronto restaurants and catering company, chef and local food champion Jamie Kennedy is launching a café, food shop, and event space at his company's production kitchen (and sales offices) in Cabbagetown. Set to open on April 28, the Gilead Cafe will serve a variety of breakfast and lunch items such as croissants, salads, and charcuterie, as well as takeaway items like duck confit and lettuces from Soiled Reputation (a farm in southwestern Ontario).

In the evenings, the 736-square-foot café will be used as an event venue, holding as many as 40 for dinner. What makes it different is that it's situated in the middle of the large commercial kitchen. "The space makes for a more interactive event experience," says Dan Donovan, managing director of Jamie Kennedy Kitchens. "We recently held a test dinner here, and clients were cocktailing in the kitchen while the cooks were cooking." READ MORE

RELATED TOPICS Jamie Kennedy

VENUE NEWS

   04.14.08 1:35 PM

Bloor Street Diner Celebrates 27 Years, Plans Renovations
The Bloor Street Diner
The Bloor Street Diner
Photo: BizBash
The Bloor Street Diner—which will undergo a major renovation to its main dining area early next year—celebrated its 27th anniversary on Wednesday with a pink party designed as a throwback to 1981, the year owners Stephen and Maryvone Centner opened the restaurant's original location on Bloor Street. "There was the old place, and then we've been here 14 years," Centner said upon his arrival at the event. "We've done updates, but we've never really done a major change. So this will be a major change in the dining room."

The restaurant, which relocated to face Bay Street in 1994, was divided at that time into La Rotisserie (the dining room), Le Café (a casual French cafe), and L'Express (which offers counter service and takeout). "I guess it's a bit of an institution by now," Centner said, noting that the café (which seats 70) will remain unchanged. "It's sort of timeless. It's a real French café. But we're going to redo the dining room [which currently features a pastel palette and seats 100 people]. It's going to be done in greys. It will be very 2009, very hip, modern, while this is still very traditional."    —Susan O'Neill

VENUE NEWS

   04.10.08 11:36 AM

Sheraton Launching Large Expansion Project
On Monday, Sheraton announced its plans to open 54 hotels—that's 20,000 guest rooms—worldwide by 2009. This equates to a $2 billion investment in new North American properties, including hotels in Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

The push is an attempt on Starwood's part to revitalize the Sheraton brand. The announcement marks the first phase of a multi-year plan to spend an additional $1.3 billion renovating 100 U.S. hotels (roughly half of Sheraton's North American locations), including some 50,000 guest rooms and 100 lobbies.

Also on tap: New York City properties set to open in Brooklyn and TriBeCa in 2009.    —Courtney Thompson


RELATED TOPICS Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
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