Opening
This week in casual, rustic-style Italian restaurant news, Levetto has opened its first Toronto location at 68 Sudbury (at Lisgar). Serving up house-made pasta and Romano-style pizzas, the 30-seat restaurant also has locations in Waterloo and Vaughan. A second Toronto location at 940 College (at Dovercourt), the former site of Hadley’s, is still in construction mode after more than a year.
Closing
Hudson Kitchen (800 Dundas West, at Palmerston), the corner restaurant serving chef Robbie Hojilla’s blend of contemporary American and Filipino cuisine, closed last week. The spot took over what was once the Palmerston Café and Jamie Kennnedy’s Provenance Regional Cuisine food shop and quietly opened in the midst of TIFF 2013 to feed its famous folk.
Up in midtown, Vita Sociale (2472 Yonge, at Eglinton), the Italian restaurant that was rebranded from the fine-dining institution Centro, has closed. No word yet on whether Armando Mano plans to turn the space into something else, but it’s a sad end at a location where, at other eateries, top chefs like David Lee, Jay Carter, Marc Thuet, Bruce Woods, Michael Bonacini and, yes, Hudson Kitchen’s Hojilla once cooked.
A notice of distress has been (once again) placed on the doors of Parkdale Ethiopian restaurant Addis Ababa (1184 Queen West, at Northcote). A similar notice was placed there a year ago due to cash flow issues (the owners were having problems with incoming rent from their other properties in the area), but it reopened soon after, so maybe this is a temporary closure.
Changes
The on-again-off-again relationship between chef J.P. Challet and Yorkville’s Windsor Arms Hotel (18 Saint Thomas, at Bloor West) is back in the “off” status. The chef has parted ways with the hotel less than a year after he returned there to open Ici, a larger, fancier version of the restaurant that Challet previously operated in Harbord Village.
Eat and feel good at A Midwinter’s Night Feast, the Chefs For Change dinners that benefit Community Food Centres Canada, an organization that promotes food education, community gardens and kitchens, and affordable farmers’ markets in neighbourhoods across the country. At Propeller Coffee Roastery (50 Wade, at Lansdowne) on January 23 and 30 and February 20 and 27, top chefs from across the country cook up multi-course dinners. Tickets are $75 each from chefsforchange.ca.
New York star visits the Drake
On Wednesday (January 21), Drake One Fifty (150 York, at King West) is bringing in chef David Santos of New York’s Louro to cook a Portuguese-inspired dinner alongside the Drake’s resident executive chef, Ted Corrado. A four-course prix fixe costs $65, but everything on the menu, including mackerel escabeche and piri piri quail appetizers and a braised rabbit legs entrée, is available à la carte. Call the restaurant for reservations. Find out more here.
Know of any openings, closings or which Winterlicious restaurant is already booked up? Email food@nowtoronto.com.
