Stollery’s coming down

By

-

2:05 pm

On Jan. 13, councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam put forth a motion to have the 114-year-old upscale men’s retail store Stollery’s at Yonge Street and Bloor Street West preserved as a heritage site. Four days later, the councillor was surprised to receive calls from residents complaining that the building was being unceremoniously torn down.

According to Wong-Tam, developer Sam Mizrahi’s demolition permit was issued on Jan. 16, and the construction crew was on site by Saturday morning, the very next day.

However, Mizrahi denies any correlation between the sought-after heritage designation and the demolition. “You can’t plan a demolition overnight,” he said. “It takes months of planning [and] design.”

Mizrahi has big plans for the site and predicts that it will be an iconic landmark for Toronto for the next 100 years to come. Pritzker Prize–winning architect Norman Foster, responsible for the Gherkin Building in London as well as the Hearst Tower in New York, has been tasked with the design of the new building.

“There’s a significant moral responsibility that comes with this corner, it’s one of the most significant corners for Toronto, if not Canada, in terms of commerce and in terms of retail,” said Mizrahi.

Although the councillor commends Mizrahi for seeking architectural excellence, she believes he acted hastily, without requesting the appropriate permissions from the city to occupy the sidewalk.

“We have 130 development applications in the development pipeline,” said Wong-Tam. “If every developer decided to tear down their building before approvals were granted, can you imagine what the city would look like?”

Briar de Lange, executive director of the Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area has other concerns.

“We worry about the interim time and what will go on site until the new building comes through after the application process because you don’t want something unattractive,” said de Lange.

Mizrahi insisted that he has no intention of leaving the site as a “scar on the city” or as a parking lot. Although Wong-Tam has pointed out that the city’s review of the proposal (to be submitted in 30 to 45 days) could last a while.

Pizza war heats up

By

-

2:05 pm

0

A pizza war has been heating up following the opening of Paoletti’s Pizzeria at Dufferin Street and Highway 407 in Vaughan.

The new mom-and-pop shop, which opened on Dec. 16, is located at 8700 Dufferin St., across from Dante’s Pizza Vino Pasta, successor to the original business Dante Paoletti and his four brothers founded in 1976.

Last March, Paoletti was let go as manager of his old restaurant by CDDC Hospitality Group. The investment group bought the business — which began at Yonge Street and Bay Thorn Drive — after it went bankrupt in 2006 and then opened its current Dufferin Street location in 2009.

When contacted, Paoletti, 61, declined to comment on the rivalry “until the [legal] stuff clears up.” But Paoletti was vocal about his return and his mother, Loreta, being a central force. “It’s a dedication to how we saw her work tirelessly and selflessly to create such a wonderful environment in the kitchen,” said Paoletti, who immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1959. “We didn’t have much. The most we had was the great quality of her food.”

The food on his new menu — pizzas, pastas, sandwiches — is all made using his mom’s recipes. Unlike his old restaurant, the new Paoletti’s Pizzeria, furnished with about 10 seats, is meant to be more of a takeout and delivery shop.

That hasn’t stopped Tomer Strolight, a loyal customer since 1988, from visiting six times in just the first few weeks.

“There’s nobody else who makes food like this. It’s a fresh, unparalleled taste,” he said, adding that the supreme pizza and milk-fed veal sandwich are his favourite items. “It’s amazing how quickly [Dante] is recapturing his old audience.”

“I want to keep the old tradition of a family-run restaurant serving food made by the same people, day in and day out,” Paoletti said. “A simple little place, almost like being in a nonna’s kitchen.”

The Thornhill classic

By

-

12:25 pm

0

Stuart Farb always rooted for the underdog. In fact, it was for this very reason that Boston Bruins’ hockey player Bobby Orr became his favourite player.

“Even though most hockey players are very tall and very big, Bobby Orr wasn’t,” said Farb’s son Philip. “My dad was also not very tall, so he really identified and liked the underdog.”

So when Stuart passed away in 2012, his children knew they had to keep his love for the underestimated alive.

To do so, they started the Stuart Farb Memorial Hockey Game Fundraiser three years ago, a charity hockey game that raises funds for the Rebecca Farb Endowment Fund at the Reena Foundation, based in Thornhill.

The non-profit social service agency is dedicated to helping children and adults with developmental disabilities realize their full potential and become integrated into the mainstream of society.

In the Greater Toronto Area alone, the organization helps almost 1,000 people in need of its support.

Born and raised in Thornhill themselves, choosing the Reena Foundation seemed like a natural choice for Farb siblings Philip, Guy and Jody. But its location is far from the only factor the family considered when deciding where to donate the funds. Philip’s cousin has seen the challenges of developmental disabilities first-hand since his daughter suffers from one herself.

But thanks to the Farb siblings, children just like her are getting the help they need. The event, which took place in the Thornhill Community Centre Hockey Arena on Jan. 10, garnered $6,113 in personal donations from friends and family.

The filled stands likely came as no surprise to Philip, who said getting the family together was yet another lesson he leaned from his dad.

“He and his brother [have] basically been a great role model for the family,” said Philip. “We all get together very well, and we get along very well, so we’re able to do things like this with each other.”

As an additional salute to the man who inspired it all, the players all sported Boston Bruins jerseys on the ice.

Slam-dunk the LOVE

By

-

12:25 pm

0

When Eric Sherman was 17 years old, he never could have imagined that working at Camp White Pine in Toronto would inadvertently change his life. In the summer of 2008, it just so happened that Leave Out Violence sent a group of youths to the camp. It just so happened that the camp needed staff members to assist with the youths’ leadership training. And it just so happens that Sherman has a love for basketball.

These factors spurred Sherman to become involved with Leave Out Violence (LOVE), an organization that uses an inspiring team of youths to communicate messages of non-violence in their communities.

So when he was approached to volunteer for the organization’s second LOVE & Basketball event, he couldn’t say no.

“I think that the basketball avenue for me also helps because I’m, you know, a sports guy, and I can connect with it,” said Sherman, 24. “I have fun doing it as well as it’s rewarding because you see the results.”

The three-on-three basketball tournament requires each player to donate a minimum of $250, though some go above and beyond, according to Sherman. The event raised more than $70,000 last year alone.

And while the basketball court is normally known as a space of competition or rivalry, LOVE transforms it into an area of non-violence, respect, creativity, friendship, problem solving and expression.

Transformation is, after all, a key element to the organization, which encourages participants to become youth leaders themselves after completing the program.

“They do a very good job — Leave Out Violence — of having youth leaders or youths who have gone through the program share their stories and feel comfortable,” said Sherman. “I always find it fascinating to hear a new story.”

These inspiring anecdotes are precisely what keep him interested in continually volunteering.

“When I volunteer for things or help raise money for things, I like to sort of see the results,” said Sherman. “You can see the youths, you can connect to it, and it’s all in your immediate community.”

The event will take place at the Hoop Dome near Downsview Park.

Cooking up awareness

By

-

11:17 am

0

The Stop’s Food For Change dinner series is back, and critically acclaimed chef Chris Brown is gearing up to feed about 40 guests this February.

After a nearly three-year hiatus, the monthly event will relaunch on Feb. 12 with a Valentine’s Day–inspired event at their location in the Wychwood Barns. It will kick off with a cocktail reception in the Stop Community Food Centre’s Green Barn classroom, followed by Brown’s four-course dinner — buttercup squash soup, smoked duck carpaccio, wood-grilled bison and elderberry panna cotta — in the 3,000-square-foot greenhouse.

Food For Change has raised over $72,000 since inception. Proceeds go toward the Stop’s transformative programs, which fight hunger, build hope and inspire change with the belief that access to healthy food is a basic human right.

However, Brown thinks there is greater value in creating awareness than writing a cheque. “I couldn’t measure that,” he said.

“There are lots of situations where people are left with the short end of a stick and not given the opportunity to break out of it,” the 36-year-old said. “As long as I live and have the opportunity to give back, why not do that for people who are less fortunate?”

Brown came up with the idea of making money for a non-profit organization during his years as a culinary student at George Brown College. So when the Stop approached him to develop their catering company in 2009, he left the fine dining scene — Avalon, Scaramouche and Perigee —behind for good. Brown worked at the Stop for four years, cooking up a storm for hundreds of fundraising events before leaving to start his own business, Citizen Catering.

His departure hasn’t stopped him from continuing to support the Stop’s fundraising events. In fact, Brown got involved prior to his employment through Cross Town Kitchens — a Toronto chef collective in aid of the Stop. At the time, he was a partner and executive chef at Perigee, which closed in 2009. “I was extremely bummed out and depressed,” Brown recalls.

But he has always believed that there is more to life than making money. “My job is to make people happy,” Brown said. “This might sound a little 1969 hippie-ish, but if the community works together as a well-oiled machine, everyone will be better.”

Homeowners protest near Bathurst & Lawrence

By

-

10:37 am

0

Karim Hajee and his wife dreamed of having a bigger home that could fit their family of six. After carefully checking online reviews of contractors and considering several companies, they decided to go with Adam Gardin at GarCon, which had great online reviews, ratings and customer feedback.

Gardin began the work in October — totally uprooting the inside of their house and backyard — took a sum of money as forward payment and then, essentially, quit.

“That was our life’s savings. And there isn’t a whole lot we can do now,” Hajee said in mid-January. “What has affected us [the family] the most was not that we lost money, but that we have to start all over again. Not just finding a contractor, but also finding the financing,” he said.

The Hajees are just one of several families who have been affected by GarCon’s failure. One family is living without a roof, and several others are still displaced. The families received a notice from A Farber and Associates that GarCon had filed for bankruptcy.

In early January the affected families and subcontractors held a protest outside Gardin’s house at Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West. Signs read, “Don’t trust Adam Gardin.”

Miguel Padille is a homeowner that was at the protest. “My savings from over 20 years is gone,” said Padille. “[GarCon] removed the roof of my house … put a very bad tarp, and it got ripped right away and the house was exposed to the weather.”

“That was our life’s savings. We have to start all over again.”

Hajee said that there is an investigation underway involving 20 homeowners that were impacted by GarCon, but that won’t necessarily lead to anyone getting their money back.

“We are all working together,” he said. “I believe what he has taken is close to about $1.5 million.”

As a result, Hajee — and all the other families disappointed by Gardin — are stuck trying to find new contractors and alternative options.

“There needs to be better regulations in this industry because there is just nothing in place to protect homeowners,” he said.

Hajee said his main concern is now putting back together the pieces of his home but warns anyone looking into homebuilding to be careful.

On renovator rating site Homestars, GarCon has a 9.4 out of 10 rating.

Developer pays $25 mil for Hogg’s Hollow spot

By

-

10:32 am

0

A Toronto developer has purchased the Toronto Transit Commission parking lot at Yonge Street and York Mills Road to construct a seven-storey, 480,000-square-foot office, hotel and retail complex, with an expected completion date of 2018.

The $25 million transaction, which closed on Dec. 22, was between Build Toronto, the City of Toronto’s real estate and development corporation, and the Gupta Group/Easton’s Group.

“I am looking to clean up the area and bring some new life to it with people living and working there,” said Steve Gupta, founder of the development company.

A 330,000-square-foot office building will take up most of the 3.2 acre site. The $300 million project will also include a 120,000-square-foot hotel, either a Marriott or a Hilton, with 210 rooms and a rooftop lounge, and an upscale casual dining restaurant.

The hotel and restaurant are expected to create 300 jobs; the entire complex 1,000.

“I am looking to clean up the area and bring some new life to it.”

Gupta, who will move his own offices to the site, was drawn to the project due to its location, overlooking the Don River and Don Valley Golf Course with close proximity to Highway 401, the York Mills subway station and three hospitals —Sunnybrook, North York General and the Humber River Regional Hospital.

The density was also just right: “busy but less traffic than Yonge and Sheppard,” he said. An important employment node right on transit, we were committed to not let it become another residential condo development, said Bill Bryck, president and CEO of Build Toronto.

Gupta will reserve 1.18 acres of the site for conservation and move some of the 266-spot TTC parking lot underground, making room for a three-level parking lot to accommodate 350 cars.

“A piece of property sitting dormant since forever, this project is a perfect example of Toronto’s commitment to creating value from underutilized city properties,” said Coun. Michael Thompson, Build Toronto’s board director.

672 units proposed at Yonge and Eglinton

By

-

10:23 am

0

Little is known about a recent development application filed for 1 Eglinton Ave. E. other than the proposed height of 68 storeys and 672 units.

But Coun. Josh Matlow already has predicted it will be met with strong opposition from the surrounding community. “The height, I can tell you already, is not acceptable,” said Matlow.

Even Matlow has not managed to find out more than what’s on the application. “This was very quietly put in by the developer,” he explained. “In most situations like this, developers will typically approach the councillor’s office to have a conversation. This was not done.”

The matter is made even more complicated by the recent retiring of city planner Tim Burkholder, who previously would have been in charge of the file.

“Tim was the one who would rush up to me and tell me what was going on,” said Matlow. “The planner who will be reviewing this is literally just moving into his office.”

“We will not support anything over 58.”

That planner is Giulio Cescato, who said he was not privy to pre-planning meetings and has not yet met the developer, who submitted the application under a numbered company name. Cescato is currently working on a preliminary report for the file.

“We will aim to have the report on the agenda as soon as possible to inform the community,” said Cescato, who could not provide a specific timeline but was adamant that the proceedings will be business as usual.

“A public meeting will be scheduled within the next two months and a preliminary report will be made to the public as soon as possible,” he said.

But Matlow said the developer, whoever it may be, is in for a fight, and the height is just one of the factors affecting that.

“The tallest [building in the area] is E Condos, at 58 storeys, approved,” said Matlow. “Their site was a lot larger, it’s set back significantly, so there’s going to be a lot of public realm at the northeast corner.”

There are also issues of timing and scheduling that may make construction difficult for those in the area. “There’s construction of the E Condos across the street, other condos nearby, along with the LRT construction,” Matlow said. He said he has recently met with ratepayers in the area to ensure that they will advocate for significant public realm to be incorporated into the 1 Eglinton Ave. E. development. Although he said he is willing to have all parties come to the table and work together, he says 68 storeys is out of the question. “We will not support anything over 58.”

Group of Seven sketches find a home

By

-

10:23 am

0

Ephry Merkur has been surrounded by art his entire life. His father was an art collector, his mother was an artist, and dinners with members of the Group of Seven were commonplace for him and his parents. But his parents’ home housed more than just memories of some of Canada’s most iconic artists. Unbeknownst to him, it also contained 10 original oil sketches by acclaimed Canadian artist James Edward Hervey MacDonald.

After creating the pieces early in his career, MacDonald and his son Thoreau buried them in the backyard of their Thornhill home, for safekeeping, where they remained for more than 40 years.

Through a stroke of fate, Thoreau’s house eventually caught the eye of commercial high-rise developer Max Merkur, in the ’70s. The topic of conversation changed from real estate to art as the two discussed the buried paintings, and Max decided to purchase them.

“The thing that Thoreau liked was that my dad didn’t resell any of the paintings; he just put them away. Thoreau wanted them preserved,” said Max’s son Ephry, 72.

“They just loved working with these people, and they were nice people.”

After his parents’ passing, Ephry contacted art curator Janet McNaught of Arctic Experience McNaught Gallery in Hamilton.

“They didn’t know the significance of them,” said McNaught. “I was very excited when I saw them but also a bit apprehensive about what the right thing to do was.”

That right thing ended up being a donation to the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

“We are thrilled to have received these extraordinary paintings that are accompanied by such an incredible story,” said director Kathleen S. Bartel.

For Ephry Merkur, it’s the relationship between his parents and the artists that gives the collection sentimental value.

“They just loved working with these people, and they were nice people. They were all human beings — very, very wonderful human beings,” he said. “I’m just so delighted that people can enjoy the great art.”

Brown Group has consolidated property for a potential nine-storey development in Leaside

By

-

9:52 am

0

A company known as the Brown Group has consolidated property on the west side of Bayview Avenue, between Soudan Avenue and Hillsdale Avenue, and is planning to propose a nine-storey, mixed-use development for the site, to be submitted in January or February 2015.

The Davisville Village and Leaside communities heard from the developer about plans for the nine-storey building at a public pre-application meeting at Leaside Library in early December. The proposed building, designed by architect Harry Kohn, set to have a combination of at-grade retail, rental replacement suites and condos, will exceed the prescribed height limit and require changes to the official plan and residential nature of the area.

According to councillor Josh Matlow, neighbours at the meeting shared his view that the height was inappropriate for the location, and many were concerned about the precedent the proposal would set. “In particular, the guidelines try to limit the height of the building to the width of the road. For instance, Eglinton Avenue is 27 metres in most sections, which translates to a preferred height of nine storeys in portions not part of the [City of Toronto] Urban Growth Area near Yonge Street. Bayview Avenue is only 20.7 metres wide.” said Matlow.

“With a retail component at grade, the guidelines would prescribe about six total storeys on the proposed site.”

“There were some people who thought it was great, [and] some who thought it was too high,” said Brown Group owner Adam Brown. “[But] people were happy we came before an application was submitted.”

“There is an openness there to try and work with people,” said Greg Russell, board member of South Eglinton Ratepayers’ & Residents’ Association (SERRA), of the developer. But he expressed four main concerns the community has for the development — height, density, traffic and streetscape — and also spoke to the precedent mentioned by Matlow, stating that residents were primarily concerned about development height creep down Bayview as well as the traffic the retail component (approximately 13,000 square feet) would cause.

Post Interview: All the young punks

By

-

9:57 am

0

Bruce McCulloch is a beloved honorary Torontonian thanks to his membership in legendary sketch comedy troupe Kids in the Hall. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, McCulloch had some anger issues as an adolescent, which comedy eventually tempered. But, the memories and likely a few scars are still there, and McCulloch put them to good use with his one-man show Young Drunk Punk. It proved so successful that it has evolved into a new sitcom premiering this month on Citytv. Young Drunk Punk stars Tim Carlson and Atticus Mitchell, who “have recently graduated from high school and don’t quite feel that they belong.” The two rebellious teens engage in a quest of self-discovery. McCulloch is credited as the series creator, writer and executive producer. Young Drunk Punk premieres on Jan. 21.

You’ve been gone from Toronto for over a decade. What have you missed?
I was there for a month, last summer, doing an exploratory trip. I had a house that didn’t have any TV, and I just listened to CBC radio and realized we [Canadians] are different.… Toronto is really the city I fell in love with as a young punk, even before I did comedy.

So were you a happy young drunk or an angry young drunk?
I was an angry drunk child. I was a punk for a while before I found comedy, [and the show] sort of touches on that. Like a lot of people, I found comedy, and I kind of lost the anger and had some fun. We had a skit in Kids in the Hall called “Too Many Drunk Dads” because most of us had dads who liked the bottle.

And what was the big city, to you, growing up?
When I was growing up, I’d get a New Yorker magazine and I’d look at it like it was porn. And then there was a place called Toronto where the Viletones and the Demics were from and where the Damned played, and you could drink beer at 11 in the morning.

What are you hoping people take away from this project?
My work and all these things I’m working on right now — and probably everything I’ve ever done in terms of the Kids in the Hall or anything — is all about weird outsiders. Being a lost 18-year-old in 1980 or being a lost 18-year-old now is exactly the same thing. I still think the ungainly search for ourselves never changes.

How does that come out in your art?
I’ll relate that to the other characters in my show or in my book or whatever. Everyone I’m ever been interested in as a character is searching. They’re not a successful lawyer who takes no prisoners; they’re a person trying to figure it out.

Do you prefer it just being you out there trying to win over the audience?
No, but I mean there is a certain connection you have only in that arena, in that form, communicating with an audience. It is one of my first loves. I had a show running at the Tarragon all the time while Kids in the Hall was running and a little after, and I really like that: to communicate with an audience in a different way.

So what does it all mean, in the end?
Your life’s work is to understand yourself. Isn’t that what we all do all the time?

Restaurant Review: The Food Dudes’ Rasa

By

lindsaylow

-

3:45 pm

0

toronto restaurant closings rasa — The Food Dudes' Rasa is temporarily closed

I would follow chef Matt Blondin pretty much anywhere. When he was at Acadia (RIP), his cooking was sublime beyond words. I was sad when he decamped for Momofuko Daishō but I knew it wouldn’t last because an artiste like him doesn’t do corporate. At least not for long. And he didn’t. Chef landed at the Food Dudes, which seems more his style. They have a large catering arm, a food truck and Food Dudes Pantry shop on Carlaw.

And now they have Rasa, a charming room (ex Momo) with much dark wood and clever dark scarred wooden tables. Chef’s relationship with the Dudes is interesting. Of the soon-to-open Junk resto on Dundas West, Blondin says: “That’s all me. I’ll be there every day.” On their site, the Dudes claim Junk. Of Rasa, which the Dudes opened in the summer, Blondin says: “I gave some help at the beginning for two months.” He says he now has nothing to do with Rasa.

Too bad. Because Rasa went from supernal at its inception to just kinda pleasant now. The menu is global and some of the food is still superb: On arrival they bring adorable warm pumpkin mini-muffins with a sizable dollop of salted caramel butter.

Image: CJ Baek

This sets the tone for dinner. It’s a high-fat experience. Which is fun — in the manner of very good bar food — but one feels somewhat … clogged. As in the po’ boy bites, which are a big fat deep-fried battered shrimp atop a buttery eggy squid ink brioche with artsy squiggles of yuzu aïoli and sweet ponzu sauce. And cheese steak — yes a Philly remake: This is a focaccia sandwich with thin-sliced beef tongue, provolone cheese, iceberg lettuce and a lot of garlicky aïoli. If it were one’s only meal of the day.…

I am a butterfat addict and a lifelong carnivore. If they had a 12-step program for foie gras I’d need it. But my feeling about fat is you better justify it with great taste. Which is not quite happening here. The sous-vide octopus, which is grilled to order, has mealy texture and its accompanying glazed pork belly is mostly fat. Goes good with the house-made potato chips. Apple and kale salad helps cut the grease, sort of.

When they’re on, it works like a charm. Truffle gnudi — potato-less gnocchi strewn with Portobello “soil” are utterly charming. The soil is tiny dots of intense Portobello. The gnudi are feathery. The mushrooms are beefy. And rich pesto knits it all together. This is cooking a la Matt Blondin.

Maybe they’re channeling his time with Momofuku with the cereal dessert. It’s like their milk bar. Crunchy chocolate, cookie-infused ice cream, macadamia “milk.” Not enough taste. Like the place: Good bones, needs focus.

Rasa, 196 Robert St., 647-350-8221
$85 dinner for two

Clarification: Adrian Niman is the executive chef at Rasa and Tyson Porcellato is their head chef. Chef Matt Blondin worked in the kitchen at Rasa for several weeks, soon after it opened last summer.

Junk is scheduled to open in late 2015 with Blondin as executive chef. It is co-owned by Blondin, Niman, and Food Dudes partner, Brent McClenahan.