Café Cancan

89 Harbord St,
Toronto, ON M5S 1G4

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About the Restaurant

Victor Barry seems to have a love affair with Harbord Street. First, he shuttered Splendido for Piano Piano earlier last year. Now, heโ€™s back with Cafรฉ Cancan, a French bistro that occupies the former Harbord Room where he and wife Nikki McKean (who is also a co-owner) had many dates and โ€œawesome fun times.โ€ Not wanting to see the neighborhood staple fall into the wrong hands, he signed the lease.

Cafe CanCan
(IMAGE: YVONNE TSUI)

 

They had many ideas for what to do with the iconic spot but the team (which also includes co-owner Brendan Piunno, who Barry has known since high school) knew one thing: they were going to keep it simple. Ideas ran from diner to building the concept around a burger (the Harbord Room was renowned for theirs) and the final result was a modern French bistro.

The bistroโ€™s moniker, a nod to the famed cancan dance is synonymous to restaurants, which are โ€œhigh energy and similar to the dance; cutlery hitting the plates and people chatting.โ€ When asked what makes a great bistro Piunno states โ€œA bistro is a local, neighbourhood jointโ€ that is bustling with โ€œconversation and the cling clang of plates.โ€

He adds that it should also have โ€œa great cheeseboard, great maรฎtre dโ€™, good and reasonably priced wine list.โ€

Itโ€™s not pretentious, โ€œyou donโ€™t walk in and all of a sudden you have to sit-up straight,โ€ adds Barry.

Cafe CanCan
(IMAGE: YVONNE TSUI)

 

The 30-seat bistro certainly doesnโ€™t look like any other. โ€œJust to copy a bistro isnโ€™t hard,โ€ says Barry about the design. Tiffany Pratt who Barry collaborated with on Piano Piano strikes again on the design of Cafรฉ Cancan. On their collaboration, Barry confidently says that next time heโ€™s opening a restaurant heโ€™ll just hand Pratt the keys and show up when itโ€™s ready to open. โ€œCreating something different, vibrant and exciting that draws conversation out of people is art,โ€ he adds.

On the wine list, Piunno states that the varied selection is โ€œeverywhere from Beamsville to Bordeauxโ€ with wines ranging from $12-$16 by the glass in 5 ounce pours. Thereโ€™s currently a rosรฉ on tap by Tawse and trust this will rotate by the season. On the beer side of things, they have Mill Street Organic and Brickworks Cider with a limited by-the-bottle program. There is a cider from Ravine Vineyards and Goose Island beers by the bottle.

Bartender Justin Shiels (Dai Lo and Good Fortune )has quite the history with Barry. He cooked at Splendido ten years ago when Barry was sous chef. His cocktail list is a mix of easy-drinking to boozy to โ€œoffer drinks for people whoโ€™d want to sit for hours and enjoy libations without the side effects,โ€ says Shiels.

There are a 30-seat back patio and five-person front patio in the works which will make for great spots to linger and have a drink or two.

Cafe CanCan
(IMAGE: YVONNE TSUI)

 

In the kitchen, Barry has enlisted Adam Alguire as chef de cuisine. Expect classic dishes such as steak tartare and escargots. Thereโ€™s also a play on a cruditรฉs dish called Ce et Cette which translates into โ€œthis and thatโ€ which has bok choy, endive, shaved carrots, snap peas, boquerones, country ham with a buttermilk and chermoula sauce and a feature cheese, which is currently a pecorino. Alguire states that there will be specials du jour, such as duck confit and talks of a daily offal special.

Desserts will largely feature house-baked pastries produced across the street at Piano Piano mostly because thereโ€™s more space there. And yes, there will be croissants โ€“ in a variety of flavours.

Published on: Jul 10, 2017