T.O. Tidbits – Sunday, January 31st

Here's this week's round-up of the latest local food and restaurant news...

Closings:

• As rumoured for a while now, Greg Couillard’s Spice Room and David Nganga's Mayata, the sibling restaurants in Yorkville's  Hazelton Lanes (55 Avenue Road), have been officially shut down. There's allegedly been a lot of drama behind the scenes, with Toronto Life reporting all the sordid details about bounced cheques, a lapsed liquor license, and other nastiness.
• Those of us who spent much of our youth wandering Queen Street West before it became an outdoor shopping mall remember when Taro Grill (492 Queen Street West) was one of the most upscale restaurants on the strip (although given that our dining out budgets at the time were more suited to the 2-for-1 fajita night at Tortilla Flats, "upscale" was really a matter of perspective). Now, it's one of the latest to close, as a dreaded "Notice Of Termination" letter appeared in the window last week.
• A similar fate has befallen Michelle's Brasserie (162 Cumberland Street), as the charming Franco-Belgian bistro was apparently $55,000 in arrears on rent.
• Neighbourhood bistro Pico (243 King Street East) has closed less than a year after taking over from the very similar Toba.
• Casual Italian eatery Autogrill (495 Eglinton Avenue West) unexpectedly shut their doors for good a couple of weeks ago after a solid run of more than a decade.
• Yet another blow to the dining scene in the Gaybourhood, as the Church and Maitland location of Indian take-out restaurant Veda (506 Church Street) has served its last samosa.

Coming Up:

• Bill Sweete (co-owner of Sidecar and Negroni) and Christine Sismondo (author of Mondo Cocktail) hope to bring a bit of mystery and style to Toronto's cocktail scene with their private speakeasy-style club, the Toronto Temperance Society, which they plan to open in a secret downtown location in early summer.
• Amaya Express, the take-out/delivery arm of Amaya the Indian Room, will be opening a new location at 21 Davenport Road, previously home to one of the Ho-Lee-Chow franchises that fell victim to last year's bankruptcy.
• Apparently our previous report of the closure of Peter's Cajun Creole Pizza was slightly incomplete, as while the Queen & Parliament location has indeed been shuttered, the owners are planned to reopen in a new location soon. Once we find out where exactly the new Peter's will be, we'll pass it along.
• The whole gourmet burger thing is pretty well played out, and poutine is getting there - but how about gourmet burgers and poutine together? Great Burger Kitchen (1056 Gerrard Street East) is hoping that it'll be a successful combo when they open soon on what is currently a pretty desolate stretch when it comes to good eats.
• Given Sheryl's recently discovered love of fondue, she'll be happy to hear that Toronto Fondue (1250 Yonge Street) is getting set to unleash some cheese melting action.
• Seems like a strange thing to name a downtown bar/restaurant after an uptown TTC bus route, but that appears to be what the owners of The Wilson 96 (615 College Street) have done.
• Popular Junction java spot Crema Coffee Company is taking a cautious approach to expanding, and will be opening a small second shop inside an already existing location of salad and sandwich chain Freshii (53 Bloor Street East) in March. If it works, maybe it'll be like a cool downtown version of the Wendy's/Tim Hortons pit stops that you see along the 401...

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.

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