T.O’s largest St. Patrick’s Day party is back with a Lucky Charms cereal bar

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2:37 pm

St. Patrick's Day Guinness — courtesy SPD Guinness

“735 Days of Anticipation” is the slogan for Toronto’s largest St. Patrick’s Day party, and there’s no better way to describe the wait. As restrictions ease, Rebel Nightclub will once again be the place to be on Saturday, March 19 as SPD Guinness hosts 5,000 partiers for a day of Irish festivities, live music, and lots and lots of Guinness.

Since 2014, Guinness SPD has been Toronto’s favourite place to spend St. Patrick’s Day, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, the city has been deprived of the event since March 2019. As one of the first large-scale events to have been cancelled, it seems fitting for the party to be one of the first to return.

“It’s just so exciting to see,” says an SPD Spokesperson. “It feels great to be part of a safe and fun event that’s coming back as we go into the busy event season in the city.”

The all-day event kicks off with a complimentary pancake breakfast featuring an all-you-can-eat Lucky Charms cereal bar—which is exactly what it sounds like. Then, the endless lineup of entertainment begins as the 45,000 square-foot waterfront venue turns into an Irish celebration with fiddlers and dancers, a photo booth and interactive games like life-sized beer pong.

The open-concept layout means there’s something for everyone. Weather pending, three patios that overlook the city will be open for outdoor games to help guests meet and mingle with other green-clad partiers. Inside, live bands take the main stage, while the city’s favourite DJs spin the hottest hip-hop and dance tracks in two side rooms.

“The venue itself is really second to none in terms of audio-visual,” says the spokesperson.

Headlining the live music will be Dave Murphy Band, and In Living Cover, who had performed at the party for the last few years before its hiatus. “They always do a really exciting time slot when the party’s really going,” says the spokesperson. “They play a bunch of great hits.”

The St. Patrick’s Day party represents a fun start to spring as Ontario begins to ease out of restrictions. “The city’s excited and the early response has been great,” says the spokesperson. “Everyone that’s involved with the event is really, really excited to get back.”

Though guests can stay all day, timed-entry tickets are required and available for purchase between $17 and $24. Private booths with bottle service are also available.

Jeanne Beker on the best trench coats with a twist in Toronto

By

Julia Mastroianni

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10:16 am

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One of Canada’s most trusted authorities on style and fashion, Jeanne Beker has covered the industry for more than 30 years. Now watch her in her current style editor role on TSC’s Style Matters with Jeanne Beker or tune into her new podcast Beyond Style Matters, available wherever you get your podcasts.

With Wiarton Willie calling for an early spring, Jeanne Beker thought she’d get a jump on the season with a quality transitional jacket. Depart from the basics this month with six fashion-forward trench coats to put an extra spring in your step.

A) Sleeveless in style

“This is a beautiful, silky fabric, and this colour is fantastic. It’s very novel to have a sleeveless coat of this nature. And the price is unbelievable!” $171, Hilarymacmillan.com

B) Leather weather

“Some people just can’t get enough leather! A leather trench coat is pretty classic. It has all the classic trench detailing. I love the epaulets and the straps around the wrists.” $1,590, Mackage.com

C) Fantasy coat

“This Chloé coat is really quite to die for. It’s absolutely feminine, so chic. It better last you forever at that price, but it’s nice to dream a little bit. It’s a fantasy trench coat in my mind.” $10,325, Farfetch.com/ca

D) London luxe

“The black-and-white theme is huge in fashion this upcoming season. This is so fun for spring.” $398, Matchesfashion.com

E) Two-in-one

“I love the idea that this is convertible, and the two-tone colour just screams spring.” $1,190, Store.caalo.studio

F) Pretty in blue

“This is an artful piece with a great colour combo, puffy sleeve and a beautiful Peter Pan collar.” $310, Shaghayeghtafreshidesign.com

Check out Jeanne’s top picks last month for matching couple pyjama sets here.

Some restaurants charge $75 per person to cancel resos, and no one is complaining

By

Erica Commisso

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2:50 pm

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With the hospitality industry trying to revive itself after nearly two years of pandemic-related closures, restaurants across Toronto have come up with a new way to ensure that people are not skipping out on their reservations. Cancellation fees have started to pop up across the city, with some restaurants, like Little Italy’s Giulietta and it’s sister restaurant Osteria Giulia charging as much as $75 to cancel a reservation. Alo, too, charges $50 cancellation fees. But, none of the restaurant’s patrons seem to have any issue with it.

cancellation fees nick liu dailo — DaiLo’s Nick Liu (centre) and his team.

Other restaurants are charging cancellation fees with a smaller price tag. “We are charging $20 per head with a 24 hour grace period. It’s essential for restaurants right now not to lose tables,” says DaiLo‘s Nick Liu. “Lots of people make multiple reservations at different restaurants and we just need people to be responsible for no-shows. If a table doesn’t show up, that’s a possible $200 loss in income.”

Liu says he settled on $20 as it was enough to make people not want to lose the cash, but not enough to seem greedy or offensive. “It’s really just an incentive for people to show up,” he says, noting that the 24 hour grace period gives people the opportunity to cancel for pandemic-related reasons. “Most people that cancelled because of Covid-19 have been within the 24 hours,” he says.

By and large, no one has given Liu and DaiLo any trouble for the $20 cancellation fees. “For the most part, our guests are understanding. We are pretty understanding that things change, people get sick, and life happens. All we ask for is 24 hours so we can rebook the table,” he says. “In my opinion, the only reason there would be any pushback is if they’re making a reservation with the intention of maybe not showing up.”

Conversely, other restaurants have decided to skip on the cancellation fees entirely. Petros82, for example, has opted against the reservation cancellation fee. “Everyone has been hit so hard by Covid-19, and it goes without saying that the hospitality industry was one of the hardest hit, however, we are so grateful for our clients support, so to charge people during these still uncertain times if they are unable to make a reservation or to secure a reservation seems simply like another restriction or obstacle we don’t need,” says owner Peter Eliopoulos.

Calamari Petros82 — Calamari at Petros82

“I want people to enjoy the simple pleasures again and feel freedom to dine as they once did with friends and family when they want,” he continued. “The apps we use like OpenTable have great reminders and cancellation notifications set up that allow proper notice, so we are easily able to rebook the table. I am confident our clients will rebook again and will appreciate our flexibility.”

Get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit with this Irish spin on nachos

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Megan Gallant

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2:03 pm

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Fox and Fiddle Irish nachos — Fox and Fiddle nachos

These are some of the best things to do in Toronto this weekend

By

Julia Mastroianni

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11:45 am

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weekend-events-candlelight-orchestra — @hctrvqz /Instagram

Looking for something to do this weekend? We have rounded up a ton of activities, comedy shows, concerts, symphonies and more to get you out of the house and entertained from Friday to Sunday.

Tyler The Creator – Call Me If You Get Lost Tour

Friday, March 11 | 7:00p.m.

Grab some last-minute tickets for the Grammy award winning rappers latest tour at Scotiabank Arena.

St. Patrick’s Day Drag Brunch at Brazen Head

Saturday, March 12 | 11:30a.m.

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a little early in Liberty Village with a drag brunch complete with comedy, lip syncing and a St. Paddy’s Day-themed menu. Pot of Gold Pancakes, anyone?

The Sunday Antique Market

Sunday, March 13

Get outside and go antiquing in historic St. Lawrence Market! After a few months of restrictions, the beloved antique market is back. Roam through the halls and find your next vintage jacket or heirloom décor piece containing centuries of history and charm.

Candlelight Symphony at the Castle

Friday-Sunday March 11, 12, 13 | 7:30p.m.

Experience live music in a new light with a series of intimate candlelit concerts in one of Toronto’s most magical locations, Casa Loma. Candlelight Symphony at the Castle features the Casa Loma Symphony Orchestra, under the artistic direction and baton of Maestro Paolo Busato. Guests will travel the 800-foot tunnel below Austin Terrace to the Carriage Room for a one-of-a-kind performance bathed in candlelight.

WITH UKRAINE – Fundraising Concert at the Opera House Toronto

Friday, March 11 | 6:30p.m.

In light of devastating news and escalating war happening in Ukraine, local Toronto bands and artists are organizing a fundraising concert. Event will be hosted by a Ukrainian-Russian duo: Oksana Hrycyna and Misha Artebyakin. The lineup features Ukrainian and Eastern European groups such as Polky, BLISK, Nastasia Y and Korinya and those with strong ties to Ukraine (Moskitto Bar, Dumai Dunai, Lemon Bucket Orkestra Brass), including Toronto-based artists Measha Brueggergosman, Catchfiyah, Ventanas, Rudy Ray and Jim Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies, coming together to support the cause.

Chelsea Handler: Vaccinated and Horney Tour

Saturday, March 12 | 7:00p.m. & 10:00p.m.

Head to Meridian Hall to see comedian and television host, Chelsea Handler, hit the stage and perform her latest stand-up comedy show.

A midtown Toronto staple is closing its restaurant doors

By

Erica Commisso

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10:30 am

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“Life is delicious,” is the slogan at Jack & Lil’s Commissary Kitchen and, for nearly 7 years, they’ve helped Torontonians realize that phrase, serving up mouthwatering fare like focaccia roast beef sandwiches, peanut butter blondies and French onion grilled cheese.

But, sadly, owners and mother-and-son team Lauren and Dan are moving on from their St. Clair laneway, with this weekend being the last that they are open to the public, on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm. They announced Jack & Lil’s closure on Instagram, thanking their visitors and clients for the time they spent together. “Thank you to every single person that came to a Sunday Brunch, visited us in the lane, ordered our food on set or invited us to cook in their home,” the post reads. “A special thanks to our clients who have been with us since the beginning (you know who you are) and who not only supported us with their bookings but spread the word and helped us grow. We’ll never forget.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CakElucs7_O/

The name of the commissary serves as an homage to Lauren’s parents, Dan’s grandparents, and the eatery combines Dan’s formal culinary training with Lauren’s experience in fashion design and love of South African culture, paying respect to their heritage.

Jack & Lil’s brought vibrancy and life to a laneway in the St. Clair and Bathurst area, and garnered tons of loyal fans and foodies as a result. The rotating menu of flavourful dishes attracted locals for years, and the laid-back, commissary style energy kept them coming for nearly seven.

It’s unclear what Lauren and Dan will do next, or whether they’ll even stay in Toronto’s food game. For now, snap up their goodies while you still can–they’ll serve their final meals this weekend, and honour orders and private bookings until the end of the month.

A Chinese pizzeria with 1,000 locations opened its first in Toronto

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Erica Commisso

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2:14 pm

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three kingdoms pizza — @andreasfoodventures on Instagram

Walking into Bold Food Hub is a treat for the senses: it smells like comfort foods, with an array of flavourful scents greeting visitors. The one-of-a-kind, custom murals explode with colour and are rich in Chinese history, and modern rap music that makes you add a spring to your step plays as you walk in.

The first stall doesn’t look like what we’ve come to know as a pizza place, with flavours hanging from wooden panels and a big, circular oven that almost looks like an oversized propane tank. But nothing about Three Kingdoms Pizza is like anything North America has seen before.

With over 1,000 locations in China, Three Kingdoms Pizza selected Toronto as the setting for the eatery’s western expansion, manager Tyler says, because of the city’s diversity and welcoming nature. Toronto is, he says, more open to cultures and cuisines than New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, or any other North American city.

In terms of calling it a pizza, Tyler says, it’s not the most accurate term, but the closest the English language can get to describing it. The real word is guokui, which literally means pot helmet, but it’s a stuffed flatbread of sorts. “It’s kind of like a pizza and kind of like a dumpling, but we had to think about it in North American context,” Tyler says. “Because of the crunchiness and the way it’s spiced, we called it a pizza.”

It’s almost like a Jamaican patty and a pizza came together to create a flavourful dish, and Three Kingdoms’ massive guokui is about the size of an adult human’s head. It’s crafted in a giant, circular oven with stones, one that is traditionally used to make Chinese pancakes. The spicy beef is the company’s most popular combination, followed by the Signature guokui, but Tyler says they have all been welcomed by the Baldwin Village community, who has also shown interest in Chinese history.

Decorating the space, there’s murals with odes to pandas (that come from the Sichuan region in China, where Bold Food Hub drew all of their street food inspiration), and Chinese opera masks that pay homage to the opera of the Three Kingdoms period in China (which is also where the guokui eatery got its name).

While all of the flavours are currently meat-based, Tyler notes that a red sugar, vegetarian guokui will be added to the menu next month. And, expansion is on Three Kingdoms’ menu, too, with more outposts across Canada in the works.

What you need to know about Toronto’s new immersive virtual reality exhibit

By

Ron Johnson

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1:02 pm

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Library at Night in Paris — The Sainte-Genevieve Library Paris

Lighthouse Immersive’s new production The Library at Night by acclaimed theatre visionary Robert Lepage opened in Toronto last night with the creator along with Mayor John Tory kickstarting the festivities from the exhibition hub at One Yonge St.

The venue is a hub of artistic creation in the city. Although Lighthouse began as a home for large-scale immersive art exhibitions such as Immersive Van Gogh, the company has expanded its offerings to include a wider variety of productions. The Library at Night is a unique virtual reality production, for example.

Mayor John Tory, Toronto Public Library’s Pam Ryan, Lighthouse Immersive producer Svetlana Dvoretsky, and Robert Lepage open the exhibit

Inspired by Argentinian Canadian writer Alberto Manguel’s 2006 book The Library at Night – which explores the theoretical, architectural, and social dimensions that underlie any library’s existence – the exhibit was designed by Lepage and his production company Ex Machina to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Montreal’s Grande Bibliothèque in 2015.

The exhibit is housed in an upstairs gallery. Guests are first asked to wait in, fittingly, a small library, modelled after Mangue’s own library, to set the mood. It is here where the virtual reality headsets are explained and there is a brief overview to strike a thoughtful tone.

In the ante-chamber setting the mood with old books and mood lighting

Following this, one bookshelf is revealed to be a doorway into the main room, which is designed to include two rooms of sturdy wooden tables with vintage-style desk lamps befitting a library interspersed with trees under a canopy of green signifying an exploration is about to commence.

Once seated at the tables, guests don their VR paraphernalia and begin to explore the 10 libraries in The Library At Night, both fictional and real, in an exciting 360-degree virtual world.

Some of the more unique libraries include the Hasedera Temple in Japan, Captain Nemo’s library aboard the Nautilus from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Sainte-Genevieve Library Paris, and the haunted library of Social Sciences of Copenhagen University.

Canadian content includes a trip to the Library of Parliament in Ottawa.

The trip includes stories and commentary regarding each library. It’s an interesting production, it only takes about 30 minutes to complete, and really gets you thinking about books and libraries and their importance both on a personal level and on a much larger scale.

The Library At Night runs until April 18. For more information go to Lighthouse Immersive.

Get good pizza, wine and disco vibes at this new Toronto restaurant

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Erica Commisso

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12:07 pm

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pizza wine disco — Mushroom truffle pizza.

On King Street West every weekend, you’ll find lineups outside doors with loud music and modern interiors, advertising clubs and cocktails.

But, the area’s newest hotspot takes on a non-traditional vibe, with funky disco music emanating from the basement space Wednesdays through Sundays. Descending the steps of Pizza Wine Disco is to enter a space that’s half traditional Neapolitan pizza parlour, half club.

Pizza Wine Disco was built by co-partners Adam Szabo, Luca Di Donato and Gurpreet Khailley. Szabo and Di Donato in particular are two under-thirty Etobicoke guys with a passion for the industry. Di Donato comes from experience, as his family are behind Liberty Grand, Cibo and other restaurants in the city. The two have been friends for a long time, and their youthful energy is very present in their restaurant.

Modern clean lines and benches in warm colours are spread out around a massive bar and open kitchen, where pizzas like the mushroom truffle, the hot and honey and the pistachio mortadella come from a paddle in a window. The piece de resistance, though, is the PWD saganaki, crafted with saganaki and bocconcini cheeses that are literally set on fire when served.

The thin crust pizza is light and crispy, cooked fresh and served in individual portions, with modern Italian shareables like a charcuterie board, polenta bites, and lobster ravioli also on the menu. The wine menu is big enough to provide options, but small enough not to be overwhelming, and the cocktail menu offers drinks with gin, tequila and elderflower liquer bases.

At night, all of the tables are moved and the bar becomes the focal point, turning into more of a club with the same funky disco music playing and bottle service available.

If you’re going to call a place Pizza Wine Disco, you better deliver on all three, and make them good enough to be worth the title. At 788 King Street, Pizza Wine Disco kept their promise.

A speakeasy-style, sushi-grade market has come to Toronto’s West End

By

Erica Commisso

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9:48 am

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A hidden alleyway entrance off of College Street leads you to a new sushi-grade fish market, where you can order premium sushi and curated Japanese accoutrements for a meal that will taste like its fresh from Tokyo.

Oroshi Fish Co. is a fish market with a speakeasy spin, headed by Chef Edward Bang, Chef Jeff Kang and Chef Jason Ching. Collectively, they have years of restaurant industry experience. Bang and Ching both worked at Omai, an intimate spot known for its sake, sushi hand rolls and Asian-inspired small plates while Kang was the owner and chef at Apres Wine Bar and its sister spot, Canis.

The trio opened their new spot in February of this year, after significant delays due to COVID-19.

“Supply chain issues caused delays in building the restaurant and it also made the build more expensive,” says Jason. “Inspections and approvals from the city also caused significant delays.”

Despite these challenges, Oroshi Fish Co. has made waves in just a few short weeks, keeping the team super busy with orders.

So far, the most popular dish is the Omakase, a chef’s choice of 11 pieces of nigiri with tamago and a hand roll. You can also opt to order 2-piece rolls, like the Chutoro Bluefin Nigiri, a medium fatty bluefin tuna roll or the Sake Nigiri, which is a pair of steelhead salmon rolls.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca5_USJlKyT/

The casual takeout spot features an open kitchen and a clean, sleek modern interior. During the day patrons can come in and peruse the market area and grab Japanese pantry and grocery items like tuna, salmon saku, house-blend blend sushi vinegars, seasoned soy and much, much more. Grab a can of the Yuzu Kosho, a pasty Japanese condiment made with fermented citrus and pepper that chefs love for its distinctive, acidic flavour and ability to liven up a range of dishes from sashimi to short ribs.

Swing by the 962 College Street spot Wednesday to Sunday from 12:00p.m.to 8:00p.m. to grab everything you’ll need to make sushi at home. Want to skip the dishes instead? You can order takeout from 4:00p.m. – 8:00p.m.

Cartoonist Jason Loo from Marvel and Star Wars to Toronto Comicon

By

lindsaylow

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3:09 pm

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Toronto-based artist Jason Loo’s life is not unlike that of Lucas Barrett’s, the protagonist from his highly successful comic book series The Pitiful Human-Lizard. Barrett is a thirty-something Toronto office clerk by day and a crime-fighting superhero (albeit a struggling one) by night.

Loo’s 9-to-5 gig is as a library children’s programmer, and he spends his evenings as a super-cartoonist, drawing comics for the likes of Marvel and Star Wars. OK, so maybe not totally similar to Barrett.…

Although Loo used Kickstarter to self-publish the series back in 2014, it wasn’t long before Canadian comic publisher Chapterhouse came calling. The series went on to receive immense international attention and has even been included in the graphic novel program syllabus at both York and the University of Toronto.

“It’s a very grounded story and not like any other superhero story,” says Loo. “There are a lot of things people can relate to in this character, especially for those who fantasize about being a superhero in the real world. They can look at The Pitiful Human-Lizard and see that it’s a lot of work, and there’s not a lot of success, and there can be a lot of awkward moments.”

Since the final issue was published in 2019, Loo has gone on to do other impressive things.

In 2020, he won an Eisner Award for best digital comic for Afterlift, a five-part miniseries he co-created with Chip Zdarsky, about a ride-share driver who ends up taking a road trip to the afterlife.

Over the last year, Loo has had the opportunity to be involved in some pretty amazing projects.

“I’ve been working on a lot of Marvel stuff, and I’ve also done several Star Wars comics for IDW (Publishing) and Lucas Films, which is a dream come true because I am a huge Star Wars nerd,” he said.

His work will soon be seen as part of the Stillwater anthology series, published by the same company behind the long-running comic The Walking Dead, and he will appear as a featured guest at Toronto Comicon, taking place March 18 to 20.

‘It’s a great way to meet face to face with fans that read my comics, especially the ones that may not recognize my face,” Loo says. “They walk by my table, and they’re like, ‘I’ve seen that work!’ and I get to hear all the kind words on why they enjoy my comics.”

If you’re interested in what Loo might be up to next, check out his latest Instagram post and you’ll meet Syahdan Raden, a.k.a. Phantom Blade, an Indonesian supernatural vigilante who lives in Gotham Chinatown.

“My fantasy is to one day create a new character that represents myself,” Loo says. “My background is Indonesian, and though I was born in Canada, it would be really cool to see an Indonesian superhero in the DC universe.

The new Ace Hotel’s restaurant taps Alo’s Chef Patrick Kriss

By

Erica Commisso

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2:38 pm

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With Toronto’s own Ace Hotel opening this spring, the worldwide hotel group tapped one of the city’s most iconic chefs to handle the culinary experience.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZMgZ6_O4L2/

The hotel restaurant, which will be called Alder, will be helmed by Patrick Kriss, the Michelin-pedigreed chef behind the prestigious modern French restaurant Alo, one of the country’s–and the world’s–best restaurants.

Kriss shot Alo to international fame with its blind, multi-course tasting menu and the Barroom’s a la carte food menu and extensive cocktail program. Reservations are so hard to get that they are booked over a month in advance and in specific, week-long time frames. They often book up almost immediately.

The Ace Hotel has not revealed much about the restaurant yet, but it is the first outpost of the popular hotel in Canada (it has editions in New York City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New Orleans and more), and is located at 51 Camden Street.

As for Patrick Kriss, he has been busy of late, expanding Aloette to midtown and preparing for more of the family-style restaurant’s openings across the city. The new Ace Hotel restuarant, Alder, adds to an already impressive resume of culinary prowess in the city.