Neruda resto brings Latin heat to the Beach on open-fire grill
While it’s all chill at new King West spot, Coffee Oysters Champagne
It’s been a Greek seafood restaurant, a café and a controversial chain pub.
Now, the Woodbine Beach location at 1681 Lakeshore Blvd. E. is Neruda.
Businessman Alex Haditaghi, known for hanging out with tigers and Justin Bieber, remade the space into allegedly the world’s largest Argentine open grill, named for Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
Until earlier this year, the prime spot was Carter’s Landing by restaurant giant Cara Operations Ltd.
Cara sublet the space from Tuggs Inc., which won a controversial city lease extension in part to keep chain restaurants out of the area.
Cara pulled up stakes within two years after legal fights with Tuggs.
Executive chef Romain Avril (ex-La Société) and chef de cuisine Sylvain Assié (ex-Café Boulud) execute a menu that includes vegan roasted eggplant with quinoa ($22), smoked lamb shoulder ($30 a pound) and smoked potato purée ($11).
Open daily 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., then 5 to 10 p.m.
Peter Jensen (ex-Momofuku) has opened Donna’s at 827 Lansdowne Ave. Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch, 11 a.m. to 4p.m., and dinner, 4 to 9:30 p.m.
The name says it all. Glitzy Coffee Oysters Champagne at 214 King St. W. serves specialty coffees, freshly dressed oysters and what it claims is Toronto’s largest champagne menu.
These are not three things we want to consume together, but owners Sanjay Singhal, a tech entrepreneur and restaurant developer Steven Daicos expect you’ll spread them out over the day.
Open daily, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., offering champagne after11a.m. and freshly shucked oysters after 4 p.m.
Mercatto Hospitality opened its sixth and largest location, Cantina Mercatto, at 20 Wellington St. E.
The 5,300-sq. ft. restaurant has 200 seats and serves merguez pizza ($19) and smoked rabbit cavatelli ($22). Open Monday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight; Saturday, 10 a.m. to midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Bar Buca has opened an uptown location at 101 Eglinton Ave. E. The all-day spot has thick Pugliese pizzas ($10 to $15), Jewish-style fried artichokes ($12) and weekday aperitivi with antipasti. Open Monday to Wednesday, 7 a.m. to midnight; Thursday and Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.; and Sunday, 8 a.m. to midnight.