Rating: NNNNN
BAR ONE (924 Queen West, at Shaw, 416-535-1655) With a family connection to two of College Street’s once hottest haunts — Bar Italia and Ellipsis — this streamlined satellite brings cachet to Queen West’s condo frontier. Cool decor and mid-range prices make the long, narrow room the strip’s most happening spot, but once the masses descend — and they will — watch lineups and noise levels swell. Best: superb thin-crusted pizza with crunchy red potato, fennel-flecked sausage, sweet Vidalia onion and Danish blue cheese spectacular daily breakfasts like ovo buco — baked egg on focaccia with al dente asparagus and melted Brie with chipotle hollandaise. Complete dinners for $25 per person ($17 at lunch), including all taxes, tip and a glass of wine. Open for lunch 11:30 am to 3 pm, for pizza 3 to 5 pm, and for dinner 5 to 11 pm. Open for brunch Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 3 pm, for dinner 5 to 11 pm. Bar open till 1 am. Fully licensed. Access: two steps at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNNN
IRIE (808 College, at Ossington, 416-531-4743) On a street synonymous with Italian food, this modestly decorated Jamaican diner offers island fare with expertise. Best: jerk pork tenderloin — possibly the city’s choicest — and jerk chicken and shrimp sided with tropical fruit and served with coconut-fragrant nutty rice and peas jerk chicken-breast salad with designer greens and tart tamarind vinaigrette JA-style thinnest-crust-ever roti pizza with avocado, sweet-pepper confetti and Parmesan thermonuclear hot sauce cooling fruit punch and coconut cream pie. Complete dinners for $25 per person ($12 at lunch), including all taxes, tip and a tropical punch. Open Sunday to Friday 4 pm to midnight, and Saturday 2 pm to midnight. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
LEVITY (1331 Danforth, at Lamb, 416-463-0438) Laid-back neighbourhood café and bakery dishes up straightforward sandwiches, soups and salads in a relaxed room decked out with oddball kitsch. Very Vancouver. Best: pizza-like cornmeal-crusted galette topped with slivered multi-coloured bell peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and gooey cheddar creamy veggie quiche the McLevity — a toasted poppy-seed bagel spread with sweet mango chutney and stuffed with sharp cheddar and tart green apple slices mildly curried egg salad sandwich kicked with red onion and sided with mesclun dressed with delicious poppy-seed cream. Complete meals for $15 per person, including all taxes, tip and a glass of house plonk. Open Wednesday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm, Saturday 9 am to 5 pm, Sunday 10 am to 5 pm, and for brunch Saturday and Sunday till 2 pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Beer and wine. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
