Lay low (1144 College Street West, laylowto.ca, @laylowto) Open daily 5 pm to 2 am, brunch Saturday and Sunday 11 am to 4 pm. Access: one step at the door, washrooms downstairs.
Sometimes we strut into bars expressly to socialize and be seen – or more accurately to geotag, filter and post the shit out of our pseudo-social experience. But on other occasions, we’re looking for precisely the opposite. Bars can provide temporary reprieve from the exhausting over-stimulation of 21st century city life. They can be short term safe houses in which to unwind and occasionally, unplug.
Add Laylow to your list when you’re yearning for the latter. This cozy College Street beer and hip-hop haunt lives up to its name.
Opened two months ago in the adorable nook that was formerly Me & Mine, Laylow specializes in beer. But unlike most of Toronto’s beer joints, the focus here is more European than Ontarian – unless of course you count the hyper-local offerings brewed and bottled in tiny batches in Laylow’s kitchen. Out of six taps, only one is dedicated to a rotating Ontario selection from breweries like Great Lakes and Blood Brothers.
I sprang for the inky and satisfying Laylow house brew Black On Both Sides Stout, a liquid homage to Mos Def’s debut album. Laylow’s other signature brew of the moment – a saison with white pepper, coriander and curry leaf called Ghost In A Shell – also references a classic hip hop lyric. Bonus points if you can figure it out without resorting to Google.
Owners Dan Boniferro and Colin Weadick, who became fast friends after they met while working at a local brewery, have built an intimate beer hall with urban soul and simple dishes, most of which incorporate beer.
Boniferro describes the softy-lit room lined with repurposed church pews as “cathedral-esque,” noting that the interior, which he and Weadick designed themselves, was inspired by bars they visited in Portugal and Italy. Pieces by local artists are featured throughout the space, including a vibrant mural behind the bar that channels the iconic album art from A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory.
Even if you don’t identify as a golden era hip-hop-head, the chill vibes set by Erykah Badu and Hieroglyphics aren’t difficult to appreciate. In a city full of bars blaring uninspired trap loops at ear-bleeding decibel levels, it is possible to have an entirely audible, high-quality conversation at Laylow, whether it’s over late night beers or recently introduced weekend brunch.
