Zachary Kolomeir and Carmelina Imola are on a roll. The couple moved from Montreal to Toronto in 2018, and shortly thereafter, opened Dreyfus, a lauded ‘French-ish’ bistro on Harbord St., and Taverne Bernhardt’s, a rotisserie chicken joint in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood in 2020.
Just last week, with the addition of co-owner Tristan Eves, Vilda’s, a variety and takeaway
located a stone’s throw away, joined the queue.
Vilda’s is easy to miss. It’s tucked away inside Nobrega’s Variety and Grocery, located at 209
Dovercourt, and serves sandwiches, salads, soups, and other noshes as well as some sweet
treats.
The space just made sense for us,” said Kolomeir. “We wanted a place where you could grab a
coffee or a sandwich or a snack before work and we felt like that was just lacking in the
neighbourhood.”
The ever-changing menu will spotlight seasonal ingredients and includes standouts like the
vegan BLT, with beets, lettuce, and tahini on brodflour seeded pullman, and the brown butter
chicken salad made from the leftover chicken from Bernhardt’s, whipped with brown butter
and mayonnaise.
There are also elevated salads like the roasted carrot with a dandelion walnut pesto, and a
sheet pan brassicas with broccoli, brussel sprouts and quinoa. Other offerings include an
eggplant or trout rice bowl with a cucumber salad, banana pickles and yogurt, and for
something sweet, pecan and raisin stickies.
In addition to sandwiches and prepared foods, the 600-square-foot space is also a convenience
store and will house everything from canned beans, olive oil, and pasta, to sour pickles, ritz
crackers, and Manishwitz Matzo Ball mix. “Not the insane variety you might find at a Fiesta
Farms, but you can find some really fun things,” said Kolomeir.
Vilda’s, which comes from the phrase, ‘Vilda Chayla’, means ‘wild child’ in Yiddish and is a name
given to Imola by a Bernhardt’s regular. Aesthetically, it’s based on the now defunct Wolfie
Cohen’s Rascal House, a Jewish delicatessen located in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida which opened
in 1954.
“We wanted to build a bright space, something that was both whimsical and modern,” said
Kolomeir. “We used Douglas fir from Ontario and the tiles are aquamarine, green, and yellow. It
looks like a classic convenience store but we brightened it up a little.”
Vilda’s is currently open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.