Jennifer Agg of the Black Hoof (928 Dundas W, at Gore Vale, 416-551-8854) has just announced on the resto’s blog that BHCO – the hotly anticipated sequel to the Hoof Café that was due to open any day now – will not launch until next spring.
“We wanted a spring opening and we missed 2011,” writes Agg. “So spring 2012 it is.”
Frankly, we’re not surprised. Co-owner and executive chef Grant van Gameran told us not a month ago that BHCO was about to start a series of dinners for friends and staff to test-run BHCO’s new tasting menu concept.
So what went wrong? The delay suggests Agg and van Gameran are re-thinking the BHCO concept. Cold cuts and haute barnyard brunch are one thing, $200 dinner another.
The space – 16 seats, eight of them at the bar – has always been challenging at best. And since BHCO was supposed to be open only Thursday to Saturday night, can you imagine the reservation requests? No wonder the previous Hooves have been reservation-free.
Or maybe they just want to back off until they’re ready.
“If you’ve been reading our tweets, then you know we just returned from Chicago on a much needed stress relief/dining trip,” writes Agg. “We’ve spent a lot of fun time cultivating relationships with chefs, restaurateurs and bartenders in other cities and we plan to feature our new friends in a dining series tentatively called Hoof House.”
Can TO expect visits from celebu-chef Grant Achatz in the near future?
