1. NEW! CAFE BELONG
550 Bayview, at Pottery Rd, 416-901-8234, cafebelong.ca. Open seven days a week from dawn till dusk, Brad Long’s eco-minded eatery at the Brick Works celebrates the local harvest. See it in such dishes as sustainable white bass with barley risotto and pastry chef Andrea Mut’s superb Monforte Dairy cheesecake. Monday to Friday from 4 to 6 pm, Long now offers a happy-hour lineup featuring $3.50 bottles of Steam Whistle and nibbly things he calls “pigs in a parka” and “schnitzel du jour.” But unless you plan on camping out overnight, scoring a table on the 60-seat no-reserve terrace during Saturday’s farmers’ market is nigh on impossible.
2. LE PAPILLON ON THE PARK
1001 Eastern, at Woodfield, 416-649-1001, lepapillonpark.com. Though this long-running French bistro on the edge of the Beach still offers a fairly traditional carte, its 90-seat second-storey deck features an extensive grilled lineup now that management has installed an impressive 6-foot barbecue. Dishes like escargots and tourtière rub shoulders with triple-A rib-eyes and the house sausage trio. Bonus: Sundays, the Leslieville farmers’ market sets up in the parkette across the street. Closed Monday, Tuesday, holidays.
3. Globe Bistro
124 Danforth, at Broadview, 416-466-2000, thinkglobaleatlocal.ca. Ed Ho hates wasps. Not straitlaced Presbyterians, but the nasty flying insects that nest near his ever-busy bistro’s Miami-style rooftop deck. To drive away the pests, the savvy restaurateur has installed not one, but two beehives. Should make the daily half-price appetizers from 4 to 6 pm go down that much easier.
4. Rooster
479 Broadview, at Riverdale, 416-995-1530, roostercoffeehouse.com. They say that if someone dropped a bomb on this always crowded Riverdale java joint, the Globe and Mail and CBC Radio would lose a considerable chunk of their workforce. And isn’t that Martha and the Muffins’ Martha Johnson and Mark Gane taking in the iconic skyline view over fair trade lattes in a pair of Muskoka chairs out front? Unlicensed.
5. Allen’s
143 Danforth, at Broadview, 416-463-3086, allens.to. Urban myth has it that this New York-style saloon’s “secret” hamburger is only available to those who know to ask for it, yet there it is in plain sight on the menu, right below the Kuala Lumpur shrimp and the blackened Cajun potato salad. Look closer and you’ll also note there’s an all-VQA wine cellar and more than 200 brands of single malt Scotch.
