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Best ViewJump
Commerce Court East, at Adelaide, 416-363-3400.
Found on the ground floor of Commerce Court East in the heart of the Financial District, Oliver Bonacini’s always-jumpin’ joint is a second home for Toronto’s business elite. Surrounded on all sides by skyscraping towers, Jump’s courtyard patio offers big bang for considerable buck. Chef Filippo Mancuso’s daily budget-minded Blue Plate Special cream of tomato soup with saltines, followed by pork chops and apple crumble will set your expense account back $35. But when the bill is presented in a setting this impressive, who cares about insubstantial stuff like money?
Bymark
66 Wellington W, at York, 416-777-1144.
Dwarfed by the four black Modernist monoliths of the Mies van der Rohe-designed Toronto Dominion Centre, this elegant Yabu Pushelburg-appointed patio is home to the legendary Bymark burger: 8 ounces of USDA prime beef topped with Brie de Meaux cheese, crisp pancetta, grilled porcini mushroom and shaved truffle. Bonus: sea salt margaritas!
Hard Rock Cafe
279 Yonge, at Dundas Sq, 416-362-3636.
Famed for its vast collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia – a plaque by the door commemorates the weekend in 1965 when folkie Bob Dylan hooked up here with then Friar’s Tavern house band the Hawks (aka the Band) – this busy piazza on Toronto’s main drag bordering on Dundas Square offers a front-row seat for summer-long concerts and street festivals. Gene Simmons platform boots and decent nachos, too.
Panorama
55 Bloor W, at Bay, 416-967-0000.
If you suffer from claustrophobia or acrophobia – or both – Panorama, the penthouse bar on the 51st floor of the Manulife Centre, won’t be your idea of a place to party. After a two-minute ride in a cramped elevator, you step out into an elegant nightclub in the clouds. Two outdoor terraces, one facing north toward tree-shrouded Rosedale, the other south to the downtown core and the Islands beyond, are lined with patio furniture and a sure-grip rubber carpet.
Vertical
100 King West, at Adelaide, 416-214-2252.
The downtown core’s newest patio is also its most luxe. Just off First Canadian Place’s gorgeously refurbished courtyard and surrounded by a breathtaking panorama that recalls New York City’s Rockefeller Center, this lavish veranda also overlooks a waterfall and the TD towers across the way. Can’t fork out the big bucks for organic Arctic char with spaghetti squash, or wild boar ragu over pappardelle noodles? The patio attached to First Can’s food court right next door has the identical view.
More patios with great views
Balzac’s
55 Mill, at Trinity, 416-207-1709.
This fair trade coffee house in the historic Distillery District offers organic brews and snacks on the cobblestones in front of a restored 19th-century warehouse
Beerbistro
18 King E, at Yonge, 416-861-9872.
After work, the Bay Street crowd unwind over exotic suds on a terrace sandwiched between two office towers.
Imperial Public Library
58 Dundas E, at Victoria, 416-977-4667.
A Rye High hang, this second-storey terrace may overlook futuristic Dundas Square, but its jukebox soundtrack is strictly retro swing.
