There’s nothing like a non-threatening old man smoking a pipe during his lunch break to remind us that aging gracefully is possible, even if you are being worked to the bone at 80 years old when you should be lying on a beach in Fort Lauderdale.
The Burger’s Priest, with its holy nomenclature and elusive secret menu, seems more like something out of The Da Vinci Code than a booming fast food restaurant. Yet the the burger joint’s air of Christian mystery has inspired a cult following and garnered over 6,000 “likes” for the Priest’s Facebook page, which reveals an ever-growing roster of secret menu items. We stopped by the Yonge Street location to check out the newest secret burgers: Blue Steel and Magnum.
An in-your-face approach to comedy has made Toronto-based comedian Dave Merheje one of Canada’s most original stand up acts. He produced the We Ain’t Terrorists comedy tour alongside Ali Rizvi and is regular on the Just For Laughs circuit (he’ll be featured at the fest in Montreal this summer). Oh yeah — he was also just nominated for Best Male Stand-Up at the Canadian Comedy Awards.
Rue Pigalle, Isabelle Fish’s high-end jewellery and accessories boutique, recently relocated to the Trinity Bellwoods park area from its previous location at 104 Yorkville Avenue. The store’s hand-picked, lovingly-curated offerings — most of which made their way from across the Atlantic — are now housed in a space that is four times larger than before.
Sure, city heat waves suck — slimy toes in Birkenstocks, wet armpits — but the worst was when you had to rip off your front door with your bare hands in order to get some relief from the swelter.
Two of Toronto’s current culinary obsessions (pop-up restaurants and steamed pork buns) will appear in tandem next week courtesy of The County General. On June 28, folks from The General will be setting up shop in a King Street alleyway (between 461 and 469 King Street West, just west of Spadina) to serve pork buns and limeade from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Local residents may have been dismayed to hear that Regina’s Catering and Fine Foods, the 49-year-old North York mainstay, would be closing its doors for good in April, leaving a gaping, kishka-shaped void in the Jewish food community. So it will be great news for Toronto’s resident gefilte-fish-heads to learn that Regina’s is reopening, albeit under new ownership and with a brand new name: Regina’s Kitchen.
“I’m giving a new story to something that’s been worn before,” says Brittany Hopkins, the young entrepreneur behind Kensington Market’s newly-opened Anice. With the motto “Old treasures, new love,” Hopkins takes forgotten jewellery and reworks it into new pieces that have some history to them.
Deep ruby in colour, this medium-bodied wine has a cedary-smoky nose of raspberries and redcurrants with a core of sweet fruit, ending with mellow tannins and a note of spicy oak.
Before “found footage” and Paranormal Activity, there was this mysterious swinging door. Its random behaviour must have been due to some ghost that wanted to rattle everyone’s sense of security. Confound those ghosts and their mind games!
The Wall was played at the Berlin Wall at the time it fell, and it will be played from beginning to end in Toronto this Saturday when former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters plays the Rogers Centre. The iconic album may have larger political leanings, but to Waters, it represents growing up after losing a father, which he said helped him to empathize with others. And don’t forget: you can’t have your pudding without first eating your meat.
Last night, on hottest day of the year so far, 1,000 sweaty revelers gathered in Honest Ed’s alley for The Stop’s Night Market. With tickets costing $50, and proceeds benefitting The Stop’s anti-hunger initiative, the sold-out event drew a lighthearted crowd. Patrons wove their way through lines with little, if any, complaining to be heard (perhaps the heat had mellowed everyone out). We checked out the scene, which paired up 27 food vendors with just as many design teams.
