La Carnita drove Toronto totally nuts as a pop-up taco shop, and it finally opened a permanent location on College Street earlier this month. Of course, the new restaurant offers more than just tacos (we hear it does a mean mango salad), but with five of them anchoring the menu, plus a rotating special, tacos are certainly the stars of the show. We stopped by to see what they’re like.
Check out the gallery below:
The space at 1 Balmoral Avenue has housed a number of different restaurants over the past few years: most notably Terroni, then the short-lived Divino, which closed its doors earlier this month. Now the team behind Rodney’s By Bay is setting up shop there with an upcoming seafood spot to be known as John & Sons Oyster House.
The concept of the new restaurant, of course, will be oysters and seafood. Co-owner John Belknap says that the venue will be similar to Rodney’s By Bay (Pencil Design, for example, will once again take care of décor) with minor changes expected in order to adapt to the neighbourhood.
Belknap was careful to maintain that neither Rodney’s By Bay nor John & Sons are affiliated with the famous Rodney’s Oyster House (Belknap uses the Rodney’s name through a licensing agreement, but the connection ends there).
The new restaurant is expected to open by September.
John & Sons Oyster House, 1 Balmoral Ave.
To stay or to go? It’s a theme that has resurfaced a number of times during interior designer and TV personality Hilary Farr’s career.
Back in 1994, when the now star of the W network’s hit TV show Love It or List It was living in Los Angeles working as a stager, Farr decided “to go” and moved to Toronto.
“We had riots, earthquakes and it was getting smoggier,” says Farr. “I had decided I had enough.”
Then in 2007, when auditions were being held for Love It or List It, Farr, after a push from a friend, decided “to go” and audition.
She promptly landed the designer gig on the show.
Still going strong after five seasons, her co-hosting duties have made her a household name for fans of the household renovation series, on which, coincidentally, Farr is now advocating homeowners to stay in their homes and “love it.” Her co-host, David Visentin, a realtor, encourages clients to go and “list it.”
“I think it resonates because it’s everyone’s dilemma — ‘What do we do?’ ” says Farr, referring to the huge success of the design show. “[People think], ‘I know that this house should or could work, but on the other hand, is it worth it to put money into it?’ I think that [reasoning] comes along with the insane property values.
“There’s always this fear because people are looking for the potential value of their home and terrified of making the wrong move.”
That fear probably explains why most of the homeowners featured on the series don’t hesitate to vehemently air their frustrations to Farr upon inspecting her renovations.
“It never ceases to amaze me that homeowners can get that pissed off,” she says, though she understands their misgivings. “We’re in and out in three weeks. It’s not a long-term relationship … I do empathize. It’s very different than a real renovation, and usually you would hold their hand every step of the way. It’s a shock for them the next time they see their home. It’s ripped apart, and I’m usually giving them bad news. They don’t have a lot of time to prepare and they’re on-camera. Mostly, I don’t take it personally.”
Her English roots (she grew up in London, England) might explain her keep-calm-and-carry-on demeanour, but Farr also has plenty of what she calls “practical training” to draw upon to help make those insightful decisions for her clients.
Initially interested in pursuing theatre, her first dabbling with interior design came from helping her mother hunt down unexpected pieces of art and other accessories to decorate her childhood home.
“My mother was mad for interior design,” says Farr. “I’d come home and find that she had rearranged the living room again.”
Finding that interior design was actually a good segue from theatre, Farr pursued the craft.
“It started in L.A. I [decorated] a house for myself. I was also working with people who were staging for movies and TV, and that got me interested in doing that, and I worked with them on quite a few projects.”
One house led to another house and more and more clients, and suddenly Farr had herself a successful career as an interior designer.
When she moved to Toronto in 1994, she became the first local designer to stage homes.
“Staging is to create a sense of a home,” explains Farr. “It gives the buyers a sense of what could be, giving them an emotional reaction like, ‘This could be my home.’ ”
Staging in Toronto just made sense to Farr.
“The first thing I noticed here was that the houses on the market, compared to the ones in L.A., were extraordinarily interesting with lots of value. So I started buying houses, fixing them, renovating them, and that led to a huge business in staging.”
Her business was so lucrative that, when her friend suggested she audition for Love It or List It, she demurred.
“Well, first I thought [auditioning] was the dumbest idea ever, but I also had a lot of projects on the go. [My friend] pushed for it, and I ended up getting [the job].”
Farr, together with Visentin, turned out to be a casting coup for the show. Their chemistry undoubtedly is what helps make the Gemini-nominated Love It or List It one of the highest-rated reality shows for HGTV.
“There’s a genuine deep affection between us and a really good, genuine, healthy competition,” Farr says of her relationship with Visentin. “What you see is what you get. We do bicker. We are exact opposites. We adore each other. We make each other laugh a lot.”
When asked how many “love its” there are to “list its,” Farr isn’t sure of an exact score, but does assert, “I’m definitely in the lead.”
However, she does admit to being consistently surprised when it comes to the homeowners’ final decision whether to love it or list it.
“You really don’t know. We don’t know. We know when you see it. Sometimes I’m surprised when they love it, and conversely, when I think I did a spectacular job, and they still decide to list it.”
Perhaps what’s not surprising is Farr’s favourite part of the show: the much-anticipated reveal of her strenuous renovation.
“Nothing beats that. Whether with the show or my clients, it’s just wonderful to see that.”
And so where does Farr shop when it comes to creating those spectacular transformations?
Elte (80 Ronald Ave.) is “always a go-to place,” says Farr, who also enjoys working with local artists and “rooting around” the stores on Yonge Street, like L’Atelier (1224 Yonge St.).
Another favourite store of the Yonge and St. Clair resident is Boo Boo and Lefty (1198 Yonge St.), which, Farr says, carries “simply lovely and livable pieces that work perfectly with my design aesthetic.”
When it comes to decorating your home, Farr’s advice: “Try not to think about the potential value of your home and think about what you love and how you need your home to function and that’s how you need to decorate it.”
And if that style solution from Farr doesn’t cut it for you, don’t fret: she has a product line launching in October and a book is in the works.
At this year’s New Zealand Wine Fair, I tasted a Gewürztraminer that was absolutely delicious. When I went back to my notes, I found I had tasted it at the same event last year. But the extra time in the bottle had really developed its bouquet. This Marlborough Gewürz exudes aromas of lychee, honeysuckle and rosewater. On the palate, it offers peach and pink grapefruit flavours.
Food match: Thai or Chinese
$17.25, Vintages #3287
Tony Aspler is Post City’s wine columnist. He has written 14 books on wine and food and also created the Ontario Wine Awards. He can be heard on 680News.
Nothing pleases a polite Canadian more than a touch of subdued, international recognition, kind of like when British brewer Innis & Gunn releases its annual Canada Day beer. This brew is probably more specifically patriotic about our national holiday than any beer from a Canadian brewer. The quid pro quo reason for the special release is that Innis & Gunn is the best-selling bottled British beer in Canada.
The general story behind Innis & Gunn’s barrel-aged ale innovation is pretty well-known. It was originally developed to make a whisky with a “beer finish” (Scotch whisky is aged in oak barrels that have had a variety of previous tenants — such as bourbon, rum and sherry — and a distiller wanted to add ale to that list). Eventually, Dougal Sharp, one of the folks behind Innis & Gunn, noticed that the beer used to flavour the barrels was more than drinkable, and he quit his job to market it.
For this fourth annual release, Innis & Gunn opted to not use the Canadian whisky barrels it has employed in the past, so this will be a new experience for connoisseurs of the beer. Still, the tradition of featuring a Canadian artist will continue: the box that houses this year’s beer will be decorated with Gary Whitley’s painting of sugar maple saplings, Emblems.
The beer pours a dark, red-tinged (appropriately, right?) amber with a light, white cap. The faintly sweet, raisiny aroma leads into a flavour that is a touch less sweet, but backed with complex undertones of dark, dried fruit, accented by vanilla. The warmth from all that alcohol (7.7 per cent) means that I wouldn’t pop this open without at least both feet in a cool lake and the sun well on its way behind the horizon.
There are many great Canadian beers that I’m sure will find a place in all of our Coleman coolers this weekend. To celebrate the birthday of our Dominion, whose story has been so much about cultural inclusiveness, it seems appropriate to save at least one spot for a beer from overseas.
Innis & Gunn Canada Day 2012, $4.95. Available at the LCBO (#247288)
When David isn't busy drinking beer for his articles here, he writes about food and drink for Toronto's online publications including his own site, Food With Legs. For more of his thoughts on beer and life in general follow him on Twitter.
If you’re not wearing Canadian on Canada Day this long weekend then, well, you get zero points for patriotism. But if your closet is lacking in the department of maple-certified goods, don’t fret, we’ve found the best possible tank top. It’s red, it’s white and it’s got a dizzy-eyed bear (designed by renowned Canadian artist Geoff McFetridge) smack on the front. How fitting for a party weekend up north, eh?
$30. Available at the North Star + Geoff McFetridge pop-up shop at Magic Pony
Grace Carroll is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in ELLE UK, ELLEcanada.com, Plaid magazine and FILLER magazine. Keep up with her daily blog at www.graciecarroll.com.
Toronto Police Service is getting a wake-up call, and a new report by former judge John Morden on police actions during the G20 is just the jumping-off point needed to kick-start change that must come from within.
A month ago, Gerry McNeilly, the man responsible in Ontario for investigating complaints against the police, issued his report on police actions during the G20 meetings in Toronto two years ago. The second report, commissioned by the Toronto Police Services Board, at a cost of $1 million, is expected in early July.
McNeilly’s report is highly critical of what police did. He found that many officers refused to display their mandatory identification, and many claim they never saw any wrongdoing by fellow officers. Many officers made arrests that were not authorized by law, and thousands of civilians were searched illegally. Some officers used violence against civilians. McNeilly found that senior police managers were at fault in the misdirection they provided, and he said central control was “dysfunctional.”
He concluded that police arrested 1,400 people, which is more than the police thought, and they often didn’t write down why individuals had been arrested — one reason so many cases never proceeded to trial.
Morden’s report could be even more critical, with more detail of a police force that was not doing the job we expected it to do.
So what happens next? Will it be business as usual, or will the police service be reformed?
Two big changes seem necessary. First, it is important to get rid of, or at least minimize, the destructive police culture expressed as police solidarity, violence, little respect for civilians and little regard for the niceties of the law.
Many at the bottom end of society say they experience this from police on a daily basis: with the G20, many others met it for the first time.
This manner of behaving gets reinforced in every new recruit hired at the bottom who realizes the only way to get ahead is to please managers already deep into the culture. An unhappy young officer finds it’s easier to leave than to try to make change.
The alternative to hiring new employees only at the bottom is for the police service to act like most other organizations by hiring individuals to perform specific roles and jobs (working with youth, analyzing crime data, investigations, domestics, etc.). Those individuals will bring to the police service their own set of beliefs picked up in other organizations, and that will change the culture.
We should try the same approach with police managers. Currently, those who become managers are already drenched in the dominant police culture. They move up the ranks because they fit in so well.
The police service should look to banks, manufacturers, retailers and social services to find good managers, then train them for the specific needs in policing.
In the Toronto Police Service, the chief financial officer is the only senior employee without police experience — he was hired because he knows how to manage the people keeping the finances. This needs to be done much more often.
Police should advertise inside and outside the force for mid-level and senior managers and include outsiders with management experience on interview panels. Only when good managers are in place can the talent and innovative capacity of rank-and-file officers be harnessed to ensure a better police service.
We also need a stronger Toronto Police Services Board to govern the police. The board should be at least twice as large as the current seven members to ensure a large diversity of interests and opinions, and they should be well trained to perform their role as governors.
These reports provide a terrific opportunity for needed change in our police service.
Will our political leaders seize the opportunity?
Post City Magazines’ columnist John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto and the author of a number of urban planning books, including The Shape of Suburbs.
The City of Toronto has started looking for parties interested in buying, leasing or taking over the operation of one or all of its three civic theatres, including Toronto Centre for the Arts (TCA).
In late May, Toronto City Council authorized the issuing of a request for expression of interest (REOI) to find takers who would provide the most benefit to the city “financially, culturally or otherwise.”
Yet although several potential takers — including New York’s Madison Square Garden, Canadian Stage and Live Nation Canada — have bought the call documents that provide information about the theatres, few respondents said they have an interest in taking over TCA.
Of the nine initial respondents, at least two said specifically they have no desire to operate TCA. Three others said they were only interested in exploring the REOI process itself and have no plans for any theatres.
One such respondent said he had seen several similar attempts to sell TCA since the early 2000s.
“It’s pretty clear nobody wants it, so giving another REOI I don’t expect will give a different result,” said Doug Simpson, managing director of NetGain Partners, a firm Toronto used intermittently to develop plans for each of its civic theatres.
Simpson also said it is “odd” to see the theatres all under one REOI, given that each one has its own unique characteristics and issues — on its lease, TCA can only be used for cultural purposes, for example.
“It’s a generic REOI for three places that are so different that it’s hard to imagine getting any sort of coherent response,” he said
However, Ward 23 councillor John Filion said the strongest applicants will be those applying later in the year.
“You’ll see a lot of stuff coming in August,” he said. “People are right now gathering information, doing due diligence and that sort of thing. Anybody who is serious will be doing a lot of work before they make a proposal.”
City staff will notify qualified respondents by Aug. 31, 2012.
A local artist claims she has now collected more than 1,500 internal government documents through Access to Information Act (ATI) requests, which she alleges show that members of the Canadian government “blacklisted” her following her criticism of the Harper administration.
Franke James’ written and illustrated work focuses on Canadian sustainability and green issues. One of her visual essays, called “What’s Harper Afraid Of?,” criticizes the prime minister for his stance on the Alberta oil sands. Released e-mail conversations suggest James was on track to receive $5,000 from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) toward an international art tour but was seemingly rejected after staff saw examples of her work online. James alleges that DFAIT also pressured tour organizers not to show her work.
“It’s censorship. It was a horrible thing to have the art show cancelled,” she said. “It was probably the biggest opportunity of my life.”
In an e-mail, DFAIT spokesperson Jean-Bruno Villeneuve wrote of the released documents: “Funding was never withdrawn, nor was it guaranteed.
Ultimately, Canadian missions did not fund this artist’s European tour.”
Although Melissa Grelo admits she didn’t feel the connection to her now husband Ryan Gaggi when they first met, more than a year later, a first date led to a blossoming romance. Nowadays, the weekday co-host of CP24 Breakfast and her husband, owner of construction business Alpha Con Inc., enjoy domestic bliss in their Toronto home with their doberman, Sultan. Here, Melissa shares their story:
The first impression
We met for the first time twice. Once, a mutual friend introduced us. While we had a nice conversation and I gave Ryan my phone number, we didn’t talk again until a year and a half later when we bumped into each other at a nightclub. We picked up right where we left off. We were inseparable from that day forward.
The first date
We had our first date three or four days after we met “again” at a restaurant in my hometown of Bolton. Ryan told the maître d’ and waiter that we were celebrating our one-year anniversary and that we wanted the best table in the house. We played along with that story the whole night. I didn’t even know his last name!
The proposal
I had just finished working a long reporter shift. I had a headache, so Ryan offered to make dinner at home. After changing into my ugliest, most comfortable pajamas, we had a great dinner together. Then Ryan said he had to go to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he reappeared, putting his hand on my shoulder as I was eating dessert. I knew exactly what was happening. Before I turned up to look at him, I was already crying. He was reciting something beautiful, but I don’t remember one word! All I recall is Ryan getting down on one knee and proposing. I jumped up and said, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
The big day
We were married in Sept. 2008 in Ryan’s hometown, Woodbridge. We travelled to Turkey, Egypt and Greece for our honeymoon. It was magical.
Secret to their success
We laugh a lot together, and we don’t sweat the small stuff. You have to love someone for who they are, not who they could be or should be. Love doesn’t ask someone to change. Love says, “I want to be with you as you are.”
Two years after an accommodation review committee recommended that Davisville Junior P.S. be expanded to meet a projected growth in enrolment, the local school community design team has reached a consensus on a preferred redevelopment option.
The preliminary plan provides for a three-storey school on the southeast quadrant, a residential component of up to 20 storeys on the southwest quadrant and green space on the northern half.
The cash-strapped Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is seeking to partner with a developer in order to fund the revitalization project.
The design team, including parents and local residents, will now seek the support of the broader community in hopes of taking the preferred option to the board for approval this fall.
But according to Coun. Josh Matlow, heights of more than four to six storeys are not permitted there under the official plan.
“Before you go through a whole process of getting people to dream about unicorns and chocolate-paved roads … if you want to go higher or bigger, then you need to come to the city and say, ‘We’d like to discuss a redesignation of the site,’ and then see if it’s appropriate,” Matlow said.
Local trustee Shelley Laskin, however, said it would be premature to approach the city before the board decides to pursue any plan.
“The process only began with the understanding of the amount of residential development that would be required to build a school,” Laskin explained.
Diane Schunk, a Spectrum Alternative School parent, confirmed that the design team was made aware that the need for an official plan amendment could be a potential roadblock to the preferred concept.
“I think it’s a difficult position for the whole community to be in, and it’s unfortunate that we magically just don’t have the money, but given where we’re at… I do think that this is a way for us to be able to have better facilities that will enrich our kids’ education,” she said.
