Seasoned chef can rest on his Old Laurel
Rancho Relaxo’s replacement reinvents moody British pub with exceptionally good grub
Davy Love grew up on Brit grub, and he’s spent the past few years figuring out how to best reinvent it for his beloved Toronto.
He thinks he’s landed on the right recipe with the Old Laurel. Slipping into the old home of Rancho Relaxo on College St., he has removed the Mexican vibe and replaced it with Tudor finishes. This place really looks like a moody, hang-out-for-awhile British pub. But with awesome food.
Love has been around the Toronto club and restaurant scene verging on forever. “I did every job there is,” he said. He worked as a DJ in the ’80s, then had various gigs in bars around town. For a decade, he ran a roving rave club called Blow Up that threw parties in the west end.
He briefly owned a restaurant called the Oxford Circus in Kensington Market in 1998. “We had a good time,” he said. “We knew how to not run a bar.”
He then tried to leave the biz. He went back to school for broadcasting and ended up on the air at a Top 40 radio station in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Hated it.
So Love went to chef’s school in Barrie. In 2011, he opened a tiny ode to British food on Christie St. called the Bristol Yard. Things started slow but then some positive local reviews led to serious lineups, particularly for brunch. In 2014, Love made what he thought would be a great move. He partnered with Nav Sangha and opened the Bristol on Queen St. W. in a space that had triple the capacity of his original spot. Hearty Brit breakfasts, Love’s now infamous savoury pies and lots of decadent curries were on offer.
But a year later, the partnership was in trouble and Love’s connection with his new customer base — upwardly mobile condo dwellers, not his usual west-end crowd — inspired him to move on.
Opportunity came via Donnie Blais, who closed Rancho Relaxo this sum- mer to focus on his catering business.
He offered Love both the space and a partnership. Love also paired with Dan Burke, who will book bands in the restaurant’s ample upstairs bar (otherwise, it’ll show international soccer games on a big projector screen). After a quick renovation, the Old Laurel opened in September.
This place is very much done on Love’s terms. The menu has a punkrock look. The menu features creative spins on curries, vegetarian experiments and the expected breakfast and dinner meats — but always with a twist.
There are Sunday roasts. Brunch is “total hangover food.” Said Love, “Everything I’ve done, it’s all been learning how to run this place.”