The Internet has been all abuzz with Toronto’s vintage scene as of late. Fashion folks from abroad have been stopping by and gushing over our boutiques, allowing the world at large to finally sit up and take note (though fashion insiders were already in the know). With new vintage shops popping up regularly, we decided to round up the city’s most notable vintage emporiums.
In just four years, The National Theatre of the World has proven itself to be one of Toronto’s top groups of funny makers. Combining theatre with comedy and music, the multi-talented company produces four popular improvised shows (Impromptu Splendor, The Carnegie Hall Show, The Soaps, and The Script Tease Project) in hopes of bridging the gap between theatre and improv.
It was just a year ago that The Gabardine opened in the financial district, helmed by Katherine Rodrigues and Alison Mackenna, with chef Graham Pratt in the kitchen and Rodney Bowers consulting. Back then, the menu at The Gabardine was concentrated on sandwiches and comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. More recently, the menu has grown and it’s more exciting than ever.
Geoff Hopgood (of Hoof Café fame) had been hinting for some time that he’d like to open his own restaurant, and he finally did it this week, the Globe reports. Getting in on Roncy’s fast-rising restaurant boom is Hopgood’s Foodliner, a 50-seat Maritime-inspired venue named after the chain of grocery stores once ran by Hopgood’s father’s family.
Chris Hardwick reviews gadgets, writes for Wired, runs a successful blog, acts and does stand-up. Oh, and he’s also a huge nerd. He’s like this generation’s Bill Nye the Science Guy, but cooler. We caught up with Hardwick, who’s performing stand-up for two nights over at Comedy Bar next week, to chat about comedy, Skyrim and the revenge of the nerds.
If your weekend plans are looking a bit drab, don’t fret. There’s still time to grab a ticket for tomorrow night’s Afrotropolis Wanderland at 99 Sudbury Gallery, an event that aims to stimulate your cultural senses through fashion, film and art, all in celebration of Black History Month.
For the uninitiated, P.F. Chang’s is a Chinese “bistro” that has over 200 locations worldwide. Often recognizable from the giant horse statues outside of its entrances, its popularity is such that it has made appearances on South Park. It’s big, and it’s coming to Toronto.
For those of us who will only be tuning in to the Super Bowl for Madonna’s half-time performance, how about jams with a bit more verve? U of T’s New Music Festival (which also premiered Rob Ford: The Opera) comes to an end this Sunday with a performance by the TorQ Percussion Quartet at Walter Hall. Preview the set here, including three tracks inspired by the saga of a washing machine. Did we mention it’s free?
When hearts begin to appear all around in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, you can find them in almost any form: usually paper, chocolate, hard candy or plastic. But it’s not often that you come across individual hearts made from leather. It was love at first sight when our eyes met these leather heart-shaped keychain pouches from Roots.
It was just a year ago that The Gabardine opened in the financial district, helmed by Katherine Rodrigues and Alison Mackenna, with chef Graham Pratt in the kitchen and Rodney Bowers consulting. Back then, the menu at The Gabardine was concentrated on sandwiches and comfort foods like macaroni and cheese. More recently, the menu has grown and it’s more exciting than ever.
Geoff Hopgood (of Hoof Café fame) had been hinting for some time that he’d like to open his own restaurant, and he finally did it this week, the Globe reports. Getting in on Roncy’s fast-rising restaurant boom is Hopgood’s Foodliner, a 50-seat Maritime-inspired venue named after the chain of grocery stores once ran by Hopgood’s father’s family.
For the uninitiated, P.F. Chang’s is a Chinese “bistro” that has over 200 locations worldwide. Often recognizable from the giant horse statues outside of its entrances, its popularity is such that it has made appearances on South Park. It’s big, and it’s coming to Toronto.
This week, we asked Anthony Rose, executive chef at The Drake, for his “breakthrough” recipe. Before his current gig, Rose spent several years in the US, during which time he worked with renowned chef Jonathan Waxman. The experience was pivotal for him.
Romolo Salvati and Massimo Di Lascio, two chefs whose flour-dusted fingers lovingly sculpted some of Toronto's favourite pizza at Queen Margherita Pizza, have brought a little bit of Naples to Kensington Market with Pizzeria Via Mercanti, which has taken over the space formerly occupied by the Back Alley Woodfire BBQ and Grill.
In 2002, before high-quality espresso had made serious inroads into Toronto, Balzac’s Coffee Roasters opened in the Distillery District as one of the first artisanal coffee shops in the city. Four years later, a new location opened in Liberty Village, and now founder Diana Olsen is set to open two new ventures in Toronto.
Last summer, we reported that Queen West’s La Palette had pulled horse from its menu after a Toronto Star article shed some light on the shadier aspects of the horse slaughter industry. Well, after months of deliberation, La Palette is bringing the controversial delicacy back.
When it comes to fighting off biting cold temperatures this time of the year, a visit to Toronto’s Koreatown at Christie and Bloor is always the perfect solution. When the mercury drops to -15 degrees, just hop into one of a handful of restaurants like Owl of Minerva, Tofu Village or Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu and you’ll find hordes of hungry students, local residents and even tattooed hipsters all huddled over hot bowls of Korean dishes like pork bone soup, kimchi stew or bibimbap.
For the few who don’t tune in to W Network (i.e. straight dudes), Heather White and Lori Joyce are Gemini-award-winning, Dragon’s-Den-triumphing, Canadian reality TV royalty right now. Their “docu-soap,” The Cupcake Girls, is the story of how the best friends build their B.C. cupcake franchise, Cupcakes by Heather and Lori. Put simply, the show rocks. But how good are the cupcakes? Torontonians will soon find out, because the girls are taking over a streetcar this Saturday.
The Internet has been all abuzz with Toronto’s vintage scene as of late. Fashion folks from abroad have been stopping by and gushing over our boutiques, allowing the world at large to finally sit up and take note (though fashion insiders were already in the know). With new vintage shops popping up regularly, we decided to round up the city’s most notable vintage emporiums.
If your weekend plans are looking a bit drab, don’t fret. There’s still time to grab a ticket for tomorrow night’s Afrotropolis Wanderland at 99 Sudbury Gallery, an event that aims to stimulate your cultural senses through fashion, film and art, all in celebration of Black History Month.
When hearts begin to appear all around in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, you can find them in almost any form: usually paper, chocolate, hard candy or plastic. But it’s not often that you come across individual hearts made from leather. It was love at first sight when our eyes met these leather heart-shaped keychain pouches from Roots.
Last week, a smattering of Hogtown’s most fashionable trotted out to overhear the Fashion Design Council of Canada’s latest announcement: fashion week has a brand spankin’ new moniker. While the city’s biggest fashion event is unsurprisingly known as Toronto Fashion Week, it has now been re-branded to World Mastercard Fashion Week, or, ahem, FSHN WK, to use the logo’s spelling.
We had a chance to check out the Interior Design Show and were overwhelmed by the creativity and innovation we encountered. Housed in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the mammoth space was host to seemingly endless presentations, ranging from Contact Voyaging Co. canoe paddles to Tahir Mahmood’s candle holder/dinner bell to complete installations from Miehe.
The donut: once a beloved friend during childhood, it is now considered to be the arch nemesis of an adult diet. That’s not to say that we don’t look back on those days together fondly. We decided to rekindle the relationship when we came across this delectable tote bag by local designer Avril Loreti.
“We’re aiming for the world’s biggest Hall & Oates collection,” Kyle Turner says as he points to a shelf with vinyl reserved solely for the duo. “Though we do have a ways to go.” Turner — along with girlfriend Storm Luu, old pal Rob Moseley and Tamara Salpeter rounding out the bunch — owns Of A Kind, a shiny new store on College Street hawking both vintage fashion and vinyl.
Sustainability and sale: two words we love to hear when it comes to fashion. Preloved, Queen West’s staple of redesigned vintage, has filled its shop floor with one of a kind samples and warehouse stock to be sold from today until Saturday.
This week’s Interior Design Show is bound to rouse every design lover out of their January slumps. The largest contemporary design fair in Canada, this year’s show is drawing the likes of design greats Piero Lissoni and the inimitable Karim Rashid (who also happens to be DJing at the opening night party). We chatted with four innovative young exhibitors who have produced some exciting work of late.
In just four years, The National Theatre of the World has proven itself to be one of Toronto’s top groups of funny makers. Combining theatre with comedy and music, the multi-talented company produces four popular improvised shows (Impromptu Splendor, The Carnegie Hall Show, The Soaps, and The Script Tease Project) in hopes of bridging the gap between theatre and improv.
Chris Hardwick reviews gadgets, writes for Wired, runs a successful blog, acts and does stand-up. Oh, and he’s also a huge nerd. He’s like this generation’s Bill Nye the Science Guy, but cooler. We caught up with Hardwick, who’s performing stand-up for two nights over at Comedy Bar next week, to chat about comedy, Skyrim and the revenge of the nerds.
For those of us who will only be tuning in to the Super Bowl for Madonna’s half-time performance, how about jams with a bit more verve? U of T’s New Music Festival (which also premiered Rob Ford: The Opera) comes to an end this Sunday with a performance by the TorQ Percussion Quartet at Walter Hall. Preview the set here, including three tracks inspired by the saga of a washing machine. Did we mention it’s free?
How much do you know about Black history in Canada and in Toronto? How much is there to know? “The average sixteen-year-old in Canada can tell you something about slavery and abolition in the United States,” Toronto author Lawrence Hill once remarked, “but do we know that the story of African-Canadians spans 400 years, and includes slavery, abolition, pioneering, urban growth, segregation, the civil rights movement and a long engagement in civic life?”
Ontario Place is getting a revamp. According to the Globe, most of the park will be closed until 2017 as a panel led by John Tory (yes, that John Tory) tries to figure out how to make it a profitable, must-visit destination. While turning this quintessentially boring “amusement park” into something mind-blowing is no small order, we think it can be done with a bit of imagination. Below, our suggestions for making Ontario Place amazing.
In TheatreRUN’s world premiere, two actors and a bassist collide in a schizophrenic world that combines physical theatre with live, jazzy bass. The multi-disciplinary production is dubbed a dark satire, but keep in mind it is adapted from the novella by Fyodor Dostoevski, so, you know, don’t expect jazz hands or anything.
Factory Theatre, Studio, 125 Bathurst Street, 416-504-9971. Feb. 3 – Feb. 19.
For those of you who have seen any of the wildly daring, stunningly delicate, profoundly memorable shows written, performed, “acted” and presented by Western Canadian-born-and-raised Ronnie Burkett, who creates, designs and brings to life the most astonishing puppets you have ever seen, he is back with a new show, Penny Plain. I treasure his regular appearances in Toronto, his chosen city for over a decade now.
Are you a recent college grad? Unemployed? Single? Or perhaps you’re still looking for your purpose in life? Then you belong on Avenue Q. There you’ll find confused-yet-hopeful fleshy and furry characters spontaneously bursting into song about their dreams, concerns and, uh, porn. But unfortunately, Avenue Q isn’t a real place. It’s actually a Tony Award-winning musical that opened at the Lower Ossington Theatre last week.
Joanna Chapman-Smith is a charming and breezy folk singer who mixes sounds from around the world in a hodgepodge of delectable musical delights. She's performed in more than 100 cities in four countries and those travels shine through her music. Recently, she settled in Toronto after a decade-long stint in Vancouver. If you don't know her yet, you're in luck: she's playing at Hugh's Room tonight.
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La Palette gets back on the horse
Neapolitan-style pizza hits Kensington Market
La Palette gets back on the horse
La Palette gets back on the horse
La Palette gets back on the horse