Posted by Greg Clow in restaurant closings, restaurant news, restaurant openings on August 10, 2008 at 6:49 pm

It's been nearly a month since the last instalment of T.O. Tidbits, and during that time, Toronto's restaurant scene has had a couple of big openings - one expected and eagerly anticipated, the other a bit surprising but quite welcome.

The expected was Nota Bene (180 Queen Street West), the long-awaited collaboration between Splendido co-owners David Lee and Yannick Bigourdan, and legendary restaurateur Franco Prevedello. The doors opened on July 22nd, and as you'd expect from a Splendido-affiliated venture, both the food and the service have been earning raves right out of the gate. Glowing reviews appeared in both the Star and the Post yesterday, and comments on Chowhound and have been overwhelmingly positive as well.

The surprising was Madeline's (601 King Street West), which quietly opened on July 18th in the space formerly occupied by Susur. The new restaurant has abandoned the clean and minimal look of Susur in favour of a lush, Morrocan-influenced atmosphere, and the ornate and expensive tasting menus have been replaced with the increasingly popular "plates for sharing" theme. While Susur sous chef Dominic Amaral is officially in charge of the kitchen, Susur Lee is still spending a fair bit of time there when he's not down in New York getting things ready for Shang, the restaurant he's due to open at the new Thompson LES Hotel this fall.

Kitty-corner to Madeline's in the old Amsterdam Brewery location, the Prime Restaurants group have opened Bier Markt King West (600 King Street West), an off-shoot of the popular Esplanade Bier Markt. The space has received a full reno and has been opened up a fair bit from its days as the Amsterdam (and briefly, the Portland Beer House), and the beer and food selection are virtually indentical to the Esplanade location.

A bit east of there, the King & Spadina location vacated earlier this year by a failed Shoeless Joe's franchise is set to open soon as another sports bar and casual dining restaurant, Stix 'n' Stones Bar & Grill (401 King Street West). And another block away, the spot where cafe and magazine shop Journo used to be will soon be the newest location in the gourmet burrito chain Z-Teca (327 King Street West).

Speaking of burritos: Torontonians will soon get their first (and second) taste of Mission-style burritos, a version of the Mexican wrap that is said to have been created in the Mission District of San Francisco in the 1960s. Mission-style burritos are known for having copious fillings wrapped in a large flour tortilla that's steamed before wrapping, allowing it to stretch and hold more good stuff inside than a typical toasted version. Opening this week are the fittingly named Mission Burrito (109 McCaul Street) in Village By The Grange, and the first Toronto location of the popular US chain Chipotle Mexican Grill (10 Dundas Street East, Unit 114) in Toronto Life Square. The latter officially opens on Friday August 15th, but if you're feeling brave, head over the day before for their Free Burrito Day.

In last month's column, we briefly mentioned the impending opening of Pizzeria Libretto (221 Ossington Avenue), and a bit more information has come to light since then. Originally thought to be owned by Rocco Agostino, chef/owner of Silver Spoon, it now known that the owner is actually Max Rimaldi, who has managed numerous restaurants including Brant House, Maro and Jacobs & Co., while Agostino is handling the set-up of the kitchen and creation of the menu. The pizzas will be Neapolitan style, made to the guidelines of the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, and using ingredients sourced from local purveyors including Montforte Cheese, Niagara Food Specialties, Cookstown Greens and Soiled Reputation Vegetables. Dinner service will start later this month, with lunch and delivery to follow in September.

Not opening this month - or ever, from the looks of things - are the long-awaited Toronto locations of the Wolfgang Puck restaurant empire. The originally planned Yorkville location has been dead for some time, but spots at Yonge & Sheppard and Eglinton & Avenue had reportedly been set to open "soon" for months now. However, the Puck signage at the Eglinton location has recently disappeared, and the Yonge & Sheppard spot had an eviction notice posted before the doors had a chance to open.

We got a scare recently while riding the Queen streetcar when we passed legendary diner Stem Open Kitchen (312 Queen Street West) and saw it papered up. Thankfully, a closer look on a later walk-by revealed a "Closed for Renovations" sign, which is still a bit worrying given that the old school decor is a big part of the Stem's charm. Our fingers are crossed that Stem 2.0 will still retain most of the charm and all of the cheap eats of the original.

Finally, it's just not a complete T.O. Tidbits column without mentioning a couple of new Thai restaurants. On Queen West, the Friendly Thai Grand Buffet has been replaced by Queen Lovely Thai Buffet (534 Queen Street West) where those looking for late night eats can chow down until 2am. On the slightly more formal side of things, Sit In Bangkok (713 College Street) has taken over the space where Flight 55 previously operated, promising that chefs formerly employed by "the best Thai restaurant on Danforth" and the best Thai restaurant on Bloor Street West" will provide diners with "your best Thai cuisine". (If they're really the "best", does that mean we can finally stop with the new Thai restaurants now??)

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.