As has been speculated for months, Vancouver-based izakaya chain Guu (398 Church, at McGill, 416-977-0999, guu-izakaya.com) has confirmed that it’s about to open its second Hogtown outpost in the long-abandoned Burger King next to Lee’s Palace at 559 Bloor West.
Watch for a late February/early March debut.
“We wanted something similar to the Church Street location, close to the university,” says Guu’s James Kim. “Somewhere that a lot of young professional singles and couples would go.”
When Kim told me about the resto’s plan last May to move onto the cheap sushi strip, I told him he was nuts, but then again, that’s what everyone told him when it was announced the first Guu would occupy a dilapidated donut shop in a somewhat dodgy part of town. Who knew there’d be lineups every night?
“That’s what my friends all said,” laughs Kim.
Like on Church, the new Guu will be an anonymous-looking box geared to the after-work crowd and only open for dinner. What does he think of the many Guu clones – Queen Sushi Izakaya (655 Bay, at Elm, 416-979-3288, sushiqueenizakaya.com), Kokoni Izakaya (459 Church, at Maitland, 647-346-0886), Koyoi (2 Irwin, at Yonge, 647-351-5128) et al – that have sprung up nearby in Guu’s wake?
“It’s unfortunate that people are taking advantage of the name izakaya,” says Kim. “I don’t think they even know what the word means.”
