By Melinda M, on July 28th, 2010
 The annual Summerworks Theatre Festival runs this August 5th-15th. As the largest juried festival in Canada featuring predominantly New Canadian plays, SummerWorks looks to program a festival that uniquely reflects Toronto and Canada’s cultural zeitgeist. 2010 is Summerworks’ 20th year, and one of the venues for both the theatre festival and the sole venue for their music series is The Lower Ossington Theatre.
The Music Series is every night of the festival, with acts performing on the main stage upstairs, and in the new Performance bar downstairs. A great list of Canadian talent kicks off August 5 with The Hidden Cameras playing two nights on the mainstage, and other names like Laura Barrett, The Mountains & The Trees and more. The schedule for both theatre and music at The Lower Ossington Theatre is here: 
Individual tickets for theatre and music shows are $10, with package deals available and shows run Aug 5-15.
By Brians, on July 27th, 2010
 Last week I sat down with Karen Sun, another candidate for Ward 19, replacing the departing Joe Pantalone. We talked about Ossington and last year’s restaurant and foodservice moratorium and the restrictions on entrepreneurial ventures which were passed to follow, as well as the surrounding parks, and residential areas, and the great mix of communities within the Ossington area.
Karen comes from a ‘green’ background, having a Bachelors degree in environmental science, and then a Masters in urban planning – both quite useful skills in a city councillor. She worked, earlier in her career, for the City of Toronto’s forestry department and then moved on to working on other issues.
It was hard to find some part of municipal life she hadn’t worked in as she mentioned topic after topic that she’s had some interest or been a part of including Heritage Toronto, Good Jobs for All Coalition, the Toronto Open Budget Initiative and many others. Most recently she’s been the Executive Director of the Toronto branch of a non-profit human rights organization, Chinese Canadian National Council which helps build links between the Chinese community and others within the City of Toronto.
Her interest definitely was in parks as the topic came up numerous times, including discussions about Trinity Bellwoods, and some ideas on revitalizing the stretch of Bloor Street around Christie Pits. Outside of this particular Ward, she discussed working on a city-wide parks plan.
We talked quite a bit about last year’s restaurant moratorium, pushed through without debate by our current councilman and Mayoral candidate, Joe Pantalone. In her walks through the community and door-knocking, she says the topic comes up regularly, and many didn’t know what had happened, but knew that something had. She expressed to me that there were many ways to have solved the problem, and the outright ban, without community consultation, wasn’t the right approach. It also didn’t address the specific issue – which was the noise being created on the side streets to Ossington by people leaving bars at closing time and she presented some excellent ideas, some more challenging to implement than others, to address this. It was clear she had been talking to the residents in the neighbourhood, and had a pretty good grasp of this particular challenge.
I also learned a good deal about how the local election process works, and the party politics which are inevitably involved in these type of races.
As the campaign progresses I’m certain Karen will keep us updated on her positions on local issues, and we’ll pass along key information as it comes. If you want to follow what she’s doing, keep an eye on her FaceBook page and her Twitter account, or if you’re old school just sign up for her email newsletter.
It’s exciting that Ward 19 has some young and energetic candidates looking to change the community. Keep an eye here for more candidate profiles to come.
By Melinda M, on July 24th, 2010
As we already mentioned, Salt Wine Bar is having a tasting night tonight. The opening of this restaurant has been long overdue, and much discussed for many months! We heard through the grapevine that issues with permits, etc, caused the long delays. Now, finally, the restaurant seems ready to go with the first event tonight a tasting menu for $65. We photographed the menu, and have it posted here (a little blurry, but legible).
We aren’t attending, so please comment if you do go. We would love to hear if the food tastes as good as it’s described.
By Melinda M, on July 24th, 2010
Ossington has been mentioned in several news articles of late, so it’s time for our semi-regular press round-up.
The mentions are coming as far off as Ireland, where an article in the Irish Times cites our neighborhood as the “rising area” thanks to our bars and restaurants.
Another recent mention that garnered attention is from the Huffington Post, which calls Toronto “the capital of cool” and mentions Ossington as one of the “once dodgy, but now trendy…neighborhoods” for it’s galleries, shops and restaurants.
This sort of news must come in threes, because Daily Candy, a popular U.S. fashion and lifestyle blog, also visits Toronto and recommends Ossington for its restaurants and shops. Notably highlighted by Daily Candy are Jonathan + Olivia, Delux, Pizzeria Libretto and Camp 4.
So maybe we can expect to hear more Irish and American accents when we shop and eat on Ossington.
Finally, closer to home, new coffee shop Crafted by Te Aro is receiving positive press. We can attest to the quality of their coffees (both hot and cold) and the professionalism and dedication of their staff. If you follow them on Twitter, you would have read about their very high rating from The Coffee Review. Kudos and welcome to the neighborhood!
By Melinda M, on July 21st, 2010
As we posted last month, Frugal Fashion Week allows you to shop for a good cause in various neighborhoods around Toronto, including Dundas West/Ossington.
As Frugal Fashion Week kicks into gear tomorrow through the weekend, it’s time for a round-up of the events in our area that you can check out yourselves!
While there is an event each night around town, Ossington Village gets into the act on “Lazy Sunday” when FFW recommends a ”Shop Crawl”. FFW goes so far as to provide recommended zones around the city and recommended shops in those zones. The idea is to go out and meet and support local retailers and designers, and maybe buy something new for yourself. Because of all the great shops on Ossington, there is a pretty long list of recommendations: Silver Falls Vintage, LAB Consignment, I Miss You Vintage, Badlands, Oz Studios, Vintage Mix 1, and Penny Arcade around the corner on Dundas. There is no fee for doing the shop crawl.
Additionally on Sunday afternoon, to wrap up the whole event, LAB Consignment and Silver Falls Vintage host GLAM!, a stylish afternoon social. The party features cocktails, shopping (of course!), and swag and is on the back patio at 15 Ossington. Recommend donation is only $5 at the door.
By Brians, on July 19th, 2010
As I was walking home tonight I walked by the long awaited Salt Wine Bar. There is a new sign on their door announcing an Iberian Food and Wine pairing next Saturday, July 24th. You can call to make reservations at 416-533-SALT (7258). The sign says the price is $65 for the evening. Their chef Dave Kemp, formerly of the now closed Prego Della Piazza and Splendido is confident that locals will pay to come for the opening. (which we think is quite gutsy to charge for an opening, but if you can do it….why not?)
We are excited to see another place in the neighbourhood opening up. This place has been long awaited (any minute, as of February). We heard they have had issues getting their licenses accepted and all their permits approved. We don’t know whether they will open to the public right after the pairing night, or whether there are further approvals required. Let us know if anyone knows more.
Here’s the sign that’s in their window:
By Brians, on July 10th, 2010
 There was another awaited opening on Ossington yesterday. Goed Eten takes over the location where Semolina left a few months ago. We stopped by this morning for our morning coffee and met Johan who was still working putting things together. Going through the opening process can be a challenge.
Goed Eten used to be in Kensington and had some great reviews for their excellent food.
While the decor hasn’t changed much since Semolina left, Johan explained that he will be growing into the location. Right now the menu is still quite limited, although there is a range of coffees, from very short espressos, to longer Belgian style. The sign on the front explains that it’s a two step process, with them starting out serving some easier to prepare foods such as fresh made Belgian waffles, house made ice cream, and locally baked breads and pastries.
In a few months he plans to expand his offerings to prepared and packaged meals, as well as selling organic produce from local farmers.
You can keep up with their new offerings on their Facebook page here.
Our coffees this morning were excellent, and we welcome them to the neighbourhood.
By Brians, on July 9th, 2010
 While we are fans of I Deal Coffee, it’s nice to have new neighbours on the street, and another place to go for morning (or even afternoon) coffee.
This morning “Crafted” opened in the location where Get Real used to be at 135 Ossington. It is the newest location for the entrepreneurs behind Te Aro Roasted in Leslieville.
We stopped by this afternoon and tried a few of their blends – an iced tea which had a delicious peachy flavour and a cold filtered iced coffee. The people behind Crafted enjoy experimenting with different ways of brewing coffee and have a very funky machine which looks a bit like something I might have played with in a university chemistry class for making the cold filtered coffee.  (I’m hoping there won’t be too much caffeine in it or else I’m going to be up all night)
Although they are still shopping for some furniture the interior is already comfortable with warm unfinished wood paneling and a nice table where people can congregate and work – and they even have free WiFi. There’s also a back patio area with a herb garden as a place to enjoy a coffee outdoors.
 If you want to buy some of their specialty roasted coffee to take home, you can pack it up and take it with you.
They promised to be teaching some classes and having specialty coffee tastings and they’d tell us about. So keep an eye on the blog for upcoming events at Crafted.
In the meantime, stop by and welcome our newest business to the neighbourhood.
By Melinda M, on July 8th, 2010
 The Toronto Youth Theatre is a non-profit registered charity that offers students the chance to work in a professional theatre environment. The students learn the fundamentals of theatre while creating a full theatrical production in a professional venue. Currently, the students are rehearsing and preparing for their upcoming production, Hair!, which they will produce at the Lower Ossington Theatre.
“Hair” runs from July 21-31: Wednesdays-Saturdays at 7:30PM and Saturdays at 2PM at the Lower Ossington Theatre, 100 Ossington Ave. You can buy tickets online or other ways.
By Melinda M, on June 30th, 2010
 The Scream Literary Festival runs in Toronto next week with a variety of different events across the city. This festival, running July 6-12, features readings and performances by lots of talented authors, and one of the interesting events is a “Scream Pub Crawl” taking place on Dundas West and Ossington.
The pub crawl is scheduled to run next Wednesday, July 7 at 7PM at Camp 4, Reposado, The Ossington, Baby Huey, and Levack Block. Don’t forget though, this pub crawl is literary: Chart your own course through the evening: 18 Toronto writers are positioned in competing timeslots and venues along Ossington Avenue. Pick up your itinerary, a Choose Your Own Poetic Adventure storybook at each venue, or download a pdf from thescream.ca.
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The annual Summerworks Theatre Festival runs this August 5th-15th. As the largest juried festival in Canada featuring predominantly New Canadian plays, SummerWorks looks to program a festival that uniquely reflects Toronto and Canada’s cultural zeitgeist. 2010 is Summerworks’ 20th year, and one of the venues for both the theatre festival and the sole venue for their music series is The Lower Ossington Theatre.
