We mentioned it a while ago - and they’ve been promising it even longer - but the day has finally arrived: today, the doors are opening at the long-awaited historic courthouse location of Terroni (57 Adelaide Street East). As we noted previously, the new spot has ample dinner seating, with the 10,000 square foot space split into a 98-seat dining room, a 60-seat atrium, a 50-to-70-seat cantina, and a 70-seat patio. And at the entrance, you’ll find a 50-seat enoteca, a traditional Italian wine bar perfect for a light lunch or an after-work drink and snack of cheese, prosciutto and olives.

A couple of blocks east of Terroni’s original Queen Street location, Mexican cantina Johny Banana (181 Bathurst Street) has undergone a pretty drastic overhaul. According to owner John Martin, they weren’t happy with the business they were doing as a full-service restaurant-lounge, so they’ve tranformed into a more casual joint serving freshly made burritos and quesadillas at scaled back prices. On the drinks menu, all of the hard stuff is gone, but you can still choose from an assortment of beer, soft drinks and juices, as well as their renowned Aztec-style hot chocolate.

Head another block or so east, and you’ll find the newly opened Tattoo Rock Parlour (567 Queen Street West), the first offspring from a partnership between the ridiculously successful restaurant/nightclub companies Liberty Group (Rosewater Supper Club, C Lounge) and Ink (Ultra Supper Club, Guvernment). As the name suggests, the dual focus of the place will be tattoos, via a parlour run by the folks behind Black Line Studio, and rock, with a live music venue that can hold over 600 people. There will also be a menu of “High Class Junk Food” available, with a strict “no freezer to fryer” policy - so while the food may not be good for you, at least it’ll be fresh.

The same Liberty/Ink partnership is strongly rumoured to be behind a new venture in the former home of Touch Lounge (499 King Street East). Further rumours say that it’s going to be a high-end Indo-Chinese restaurant called The Spice Route. Of course, it’s been months since hoarding went up in front of the building, and there have been delays with their liquor license application due to objections from City Council, so it could be a while before we see anything come of this.

Up on Bayview, the recently vacated Smalltalk Bakery Cafe is being transformed into Joey Fiasco’s (1580 Bayview Avenue). The sign doesn’t reveal much more, but the name suggests casual Italian, and a Chowhounder reports that it may be an off-shoot of the nearby McSorley’s Saloon & Grill (1544 Bayview Avenue). And a couple of blocks west, Lolo Bistro has been replaced with Simple Bistro (619 Mount Pleasant Road), with new owner Graham Culp (ex-The Rushton) and chef Leonie Lilla (ex-Maro).

Opening this past weekend in Liberty Village was Brazen Head Irish Pub (165 East Liberty Street), the newest venture from pub specialists FAB Concepts (The Foggy Dew, Mill Street Brew Pub, etc.). There are plenty of beers on offer - including several from Mill Street - respectable lists of single malts and Irish whiskies, and a food menu that ranges from pub standards (fish & chips, ploughman’s lunch, Irish fry-up) to slightly more upscale fare (Kobe burgers, lobster pad thai).

Finally, Coca-Cola’s attempt to break into the eco-friendly fair trade coffee market has turned out to be a failure, as their flagship Far Coast Café (95A Bloor Street West) has crashed and burned after barely a year. It’s hard to say if the Coke connection did them in, as Far Coast did their best not to publicise their pedigree, preferring to keep up the appearance of being a socially-concious independent, but considering that the first hit in a Google search for “Far Coast coffee” is a NOW Magazine exposé on their true ownership, it was a pretty well-known secret. A bit further down in the Google hits, there’s a link to an article on Treehugger.com claiming that Far Coast workers were let go with no severance. Classy move, Coke.

If you have a scoop to share about the local food & restaurant scene, please let us know so we can include it in a future edition of T.O. Tidbits.