THERE are two Torontos. The one promoted most heavily to outsiders, and the one where people who actually live in town would be caught dead in off-hours. Don’t check into a downtown hotel on a Friday night and expect to be wowed. This city’s strengths lie not in specific attractions, but in its neighborhoods, all interesting for different reasons: Some are ugly, others dead sexy, and more are a mix of old, new, hip and unhip. Here, three favorites to hit now.
DUNDAS WEST
Why now? Get in on the ground floor
What’s it all about? If you remember what your favorite strip in gentrified Brooklyn was like ten years ago and wish you could turn back the clock, just head here. Nothing is more now than this somewhat garish avenue that, for years, was almost exclusively Portuguese. It still is very much the place to find churrasquerias and fishmongers.
But today, this neighborhood – now home to an elite group of bars, clubs, boutiques and cafes – is definitely the “next big thing.”
The address book: You’ll need to look for the big yellow sign reading “Lazare Snack Bar” to find the hippest spot of the moment, Communist’s Daughter. Still looking a lot like its days as a Portuguese lunch counter (but with better lighting, now), the atmosphere is blissfully informal and the crowd is of all ages, without a hint of snobbery. The juke plays everything from Peggy Lee to Kris Kristofferson, a pint is less than $5, there’s a jar of pickled eggs behind the bar and live music on the weekends (1149 Dundas St. W.).
During daylight hours, the eastern end offers some decent shopping. Clandestino is a cheery corner boutique facing leafy Trinity-Bellwoods Park (249 Crawford St.), just steps from Model Citizen/Georgie Bolesworth, two fashion destinations in one (891 Dundas St. W).
Directions: All listings are located between Bathurst Street and Ossington Avenue. The strip is served by the 505 streetcar.
DISTILLERY DISTRICT
Why now? See how adaptive reuse should be done
What’s it all about? It’s the kind of place that developers across the continent love to get their hands on: An old whiskey distillery, pretty stone streets, moody old Victorian factory buildings, and nice open spaces. In a lesser city, this is the sort of place that would be immediately converted into one of those tacky “shoppertainment” complexes, complete with ample parking.
In Toronto, it’s a hive of creativity, attracting a mostly local crowd. Art galleries, sculpture studios, cafes, restaurants, a microbrewery, home design shops and loads more diversions are crammed into the protected buildings.
In fact, many of the exteriors are so unchanged that it’s nearly impossible to see how much is going on inside until
you open the doors. The address book:. Whether it’s the chic duds (Wildhagen Hats, Case Goods Warehouse, Level 1) or tasty truffles made onsite (Soma, Denaturing Building, Level 1), it’s clear the management is rather keen on the artisanal.
Or, pass on the fancy and try the city’s best microbrewery, Mill Street, which serves free samples in its factory. The Organic Lager is on tap, and is a must-try (The Paint Shop, Level 1). If you’re not ready to get soused, grab a table on the patio outside Balzac’s Cafe, a vast, twolevel coffeehouse with a gigantic baroque chandelier and old-fashioned silver esspresso maker. The staff alternates between disinterested and cold, but the coffee never wavers (55 Mill St.).
The Young Center for Performing Arts is a new complex of small venues home to Soulpepper, a popular theater company putting on everything from Albee to Beckett (tickets and information for all performances at [416] 866-8666). Before the theater, head over to Perigee for the three-course prix fixe dinner. The wine list is excellent and the menu is omakase – that’s Japanese for whatever the chef feels like (Cannery Building, Level 2).
Directions: All addresses in the district are listed as 55 Mill Street, which runs east of Parliament Street. The district
is a ten-minute walk east of the St. Lawrence Market.
RONCESVALLES
Why now? A booming, locals-only neighborhood you won’t find in the guidebooks.
What’s it all about? Conventional wisdom would suggest that Roncesvalles is merely a nice place to live. Au contraire. This western area – a final, exuberant fling before it all starts to degenerate into suburbia – is one of the most pleasant parts of the city in which to be a visitor, if only to learn first-hand why its residents speak so fondly of their home when abroad.
Stretching for what seems like eternity up and down Roncesvalles Avenue, the streetscape is an appealing mix of old and new: Chic bakeries next to old-school Polish butchers, and wine bars near greasy spoons.
The address book: The Revue Cinema is one of the city’s best arthouses (404 Roncesvalles Ave.), while Queen of Tarts is known for its gingerbread men, iced to look like anybody from Dick Cheney (with hunting rifle), to Jesus, to Paris Hilton. Go on, bite her head off (#283).
Have lunch at the greasyspoon- gone-chic Freshwood Grill, where you can try everything from a marketfresh salmon to a killer plate of heart-stopping poutine, made with fresh, milky white cheese curds (#293). For something more sophisticated, the new Fat Cat Wine Bar, with its chic interior, should do (#331).
Or, stop consuming by mouth and feed your mind at Another Story, a gleefully leftist bookstore (#315), before cracking the wallet at the more fair and balanced Soap Scope shop, featuring an extensive selection of store-made items like tea-tree foot scrub. The staff could use another go at charm school, but the product is excellent (#297).
Past scores more shops, you’ll end up at the very southern end of things where the avenue terminates into Queen Street West. Turn left to end up on one of the city’s most serious antiquing strips. Celebrate the impossibility of buyer’s remorse down the block at Easy, serving breakfast all day (1645 Queen St. W).
Directions: Roncesvalles Ave, stretches from Queen Street West to Dundas Street West. To access from the
north, take the subway to Dundas West and walk south; from the south, take the streetcar down Queen Street and hop off at Roncesvalles.
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4 rooms – When in Toronto, there’s no need to stay average
* Is it a nightclub, or a hotel? The Drake is a bit of both (from $156; 1150 Queen St. W., thedrakehotel.ca).
* Quebec-import Le Germain is the best downtown choice (from $192, 30 Mercer Street; germaintoronto.com).
* Windsor Arms is all class. Intimate, lovely birch furnishings, Frette linens, 24-hour butler service and fireplaces. Oh, and lots of celeb spotting (from $257, 18 St. Thomas St., windsorarmshotel.com).
* A landmark building and former SRO that’s being slowly restored by local artists, the delightfully different Gladstone Hotel is a musttry, at least once (from $144, 1214 Queen Street W.; gladstone hotel.com).