T.O. Tidbits – Monday May 19th

One of the best kept secrets in the local restaurant scene is a secret no more, as Gremolata leaked the news last week that Donna Dooher's new restaurant will be called Mildred's Temple Kitchen (85 Hanna Avenue). The "Mildred's" part is obviously meant to establish a connection to Dooher's previous spot, Mildred Pierce, and the "Kitchen" part is pretty obvious as well. Now we'll just have to wait until the mid-July opening to find out the significance of "Temple".

While local diners and foodies are glad to know that Dooher is soon to return to action, they're also shedding a few tears at the news that two of the city's best chefs are soon to leave town (and no, neither one of them is you-know-who). Tobey Nemeth (JK Wine Bar) and partner Michael Caballo (Niagara Street Café) will soon be packing up for a trip across Canada, followed by an indefinite excursion to somewhere in Europe. Needless to say, they'll both be missed.

Also missed will be the Queen West location of fair trade coffee and tea outlet Just Us! Café (490 Queen Street West) which unexpectedly closed up shop several weeks ago. The east end location at 2010 Queen Street East also closed around the same time, but reopened a couple of weeks later with completely new staff. There is no longer any mention of either Toronto location on the website of the Nova Scotia based coffee co-op, which suggests that the Queen East shop is now operating independently. In the meantime, the Queen West storefront won't be empty for long, as Greenavi Café is set to open there soon.

Other recent closures along Queen West include Opal Jazz Lounge (472 Queen Street West), Portobello Market Café (630 Queen Street West), and the "Grand Buffet" location of The Friendly Thai (534 Queen Street West). And opening soon on the site of a former hardware store near Bathurst will be the third location (and first in Toronto) of Adobo Mexican Grill (604 Queen Street West), providing a bit of competition for Johny Banana around the corner.

Already open is the first of two new locations of La Papillion (69 Front Street West) in the former home of Izakaya. The owners of that closed Japanese place, meanwhile, are close to opening their new and decidedly non-Japanese venture Table 17 (782 Queen Street East) where Food Savvy used to be. Word on the street (or more accurately, on Chowhound) says that it will be a two floor bistro and wine bar. Across the street, the long-planned Pic Nic (747 Queen Street East) should be opening soon as well.

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.