Uncle Ray’s Food and Liquor is coming to Toronto. The team behind the new restaurant and the recently openly Hamilton soul food spot of the same name includes well-known Toronto restaurateur Yannick Bigourdan as well as Adam Teolis, Michael Angeloni and Dan Kennedy.
You might recognize the Bigourdan name from popular restaurants such as Carbon Bar, Splendido and of course, chef David Lee’s now closed, Nota Bene.
The new concept, set to open near Church and Front, boasts “food with soul, and liquor with love”.
Uncle Ray’s will open at 11 Church St. in the new year.
Bigourdan has paired up with a team of other restaurant mavens including Teolis, who was Bigourdan’s right-hand man and general manager at Carbon Bar and Nota Bene; Dan Kennedy, the operating partner of Open Concept Hospitality as well as executive chef Michael Angeloni. Angeloni cut his teeth in plenty of notable Toronto kitchens, like the Black Hoof, Splendido, Grand Electric and more recently L’Unità Enoteca, where he was the chef de cuisine.
Diverging from his Italian roots, Angeloni will be cooking up some Southern soul food at Uncle Ray’s.
The menu at the new spot will consist of fresh takes on comfort food. The red snapper fish tacos are a standout at the Steeltown location and will surely grab the attention of IG foodies.
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Served whole, this snapper is decorated with taco fix-ins and served with fresh tortillas. Yes, of course, the former executive chef of Grand Electric is making his own tortillas. The menu is a long list of creature comforts, but the big star is the Southern platter that features everything but the kitchen sink.
The Hamilton location opened Dec. 11 and the plan is to open the Toronto location in the coming weeks just after the holidays. I guess the only question we really have left is, who the hell is Uncle Ray?