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By Brians, February 21, 2010 8:56 pm

This weekend the National Home Show is taking place at the Direct Energy Centre in the Exhibition Grounds. The show is absolutely enormous. There are over 700 exhibitors, and have a fancy dream home and such D-List Celebrities as Ty Pennington. The real fun of the show is checking out the new stuff around the show. I was there working on the booth for HomeStars, my day job, manning a booth we have down there. One of our local Ossington businesses has a full booth down at the show which I stopped by and said hi.

It seems that our local supplier of everything from paint, to tiles, to lumber (everyone should know they have a big lumberyard behind, down the alley, where they keep all sorts of building material too big for the store) has a full booth at the show. They do more than just being the local retail location. They are also designing and building kitchens and bathrooms with their design centre.

On the HomeStars site they’ve got a good lot of reviews, but it’s all for their retail work rather than their design work.

I like all the neat tubs and hardware they’ve got on display.

One of the booth visitors:

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By Brians, February 19, 2010 10:15 am

I received a note the other day through this blog from Jim Likourezos, who is running in Ward 19 (ours) now that Joe Pants is running for Mayor (god help us if he wins) as well as a flyer in my mailbox. It’s the first candidate we’ve seen so far.

His webpage says he’s for “responsible government”, which really doesn’t help us out much. (not that we don’t like responsible government, but give us some more!).

So, to help us get to know him he’s holding a couple of meet and greets in the area, although unfortunately none on Ossington… yet.

The first of his meetups is at Victory Cafe on Monday the 22nd at 7pm

The second meeting takes place at one of my faves, the Wheat Sheaf Tavern the next night at 7pm also.

I’m sure he’ll be heading and meeting up with us here on Ossington soon. Reposado, Sweaty Betty’s and The Painted Lady make for good meet-up locales, and the local business owners would love to find out more about him.

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By Brians, February 15, 2010 8:57 pm

On the way home tonight we saw this sign on a storefront beside Opera Bob’s on Dundas.

It looks a little small to be a full sized grocery store but perhaps a fine foods shop? The name of the store seems to be City Store, with small print below that says “Groceries.” Can anyone fill us in on what’s going in here?

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By Brians, February 1, 2010 4:30 am

We’re adding a new series here on the Ossington Blog – Ossington Business Profiles. They are a short set of questions we are asking the business owners on the street about running their business on the Ossington strip.

Appropriately, our first profile is on Sweaty Bettys, one of the first hip places to be on the strip. Sweaty Bettys has been around since before Ossington was known by the rest of the city, and was an out-of-the-way place often frequented by celebrities who wanted to find a more secluded place to go. It’s still small and quaint, but busier with a broader audience. It’s still one of my favourite patios in the city.

So here it is: 8 questions with Pol Cristo-Williams, from Sweaty Bettys:

What’s your business?

Sweaty Betty’s

How is your business unique?

We tell people to piss off and they still keep coming back. Totally unique.

How long have you been in business here on Ossington?

5 years for Sweaty Betty’s, and my wife had an art gallery at the same location for two years before that. And we had The Sparrow Restaurant for a couple of years before it became Delux.

What drew you to be in the neighbourhood?

My wife. She’s cool. (see above)

What changes have you seen since your business has been here?

People shoot each other way less.

How do you see your business and Ossington five years from now?

Probably knocked down and turned into a Starbucks. That, or it’ll be full of aging hipsters who don’t really like Betty’s, but agree to still go there because the beer is cheap and it’s walking distance from home.

What is your favorite spot on Ossington (other than your own, of course)?

Downtown Lumber. They sell everything. And Jaiden’s Petals. Flowers are nice.

Any other thoughts on the neighbourhood you’d like to add?

Um, if Pantelone leaves, do we get our street back?

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By Brians, January 31, 2010 11:20 am

Things are happening again on Ossington and the expansion of the culinary scene continues (these restaurants had their applications in before the new regulations). The restaurant scene expands.

A couple weeks ago, during the Interior Design Show, Audi held a party at Bohmer, despite the fact that that it isn’t yet open to the public. The outside looks almost ready and the inside, while not stocked, is pretty bare-bones.

MartiniBoys is reporting that the spot is going to be about 5000 sqft with an attached store. Here’s some pics of the front and inside:

We are assuming that they are going to have a bigger sign going up soon. The opening was promised for January 20th, partly because of the design show, but we assume there are other issues holding up the launch.

Another restaurant that looks set to open is Salt Wine Bar, that looks like it’s been sitting idle for many, many months. Last week they put up a new awning.

We’ll head over to them when we see the paper comes off the windows and update on the food and drink.

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By Brians, January 14, 2010 7:46 pm

I haven’t looked in the window in a couple days but I did come across this listing on a commercial real estate site.

Semolina, while never very busy, was/is a good little spot for fresh bread, pastries, good coffee, and sometimes a quiet place to work. It may have been too quiet.

Does anyone know whether they are going to disappear? Can new owner continue to run a bakery, or do the new restrictions apply to them also?

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By Brians, December 17, 2009 11:34 am

In a series they are calling Heros and Villains of 2009, Torontoist has named Joe Pantalone one of the villians of 2009. We’d agree. By stifling the growth of the strip (and we understand aiming to enact more laws like this across the city to ensure Torontonians don’t go out and have fun) he’s slowed the growth of the neighbourhood and may not allow more seating in places like Pizza Libretto, who needs more seating and has the space upstairs.

Here’s hoping he runs for mayor….. and loses.

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By Brians, December 8, 2009 10:06 am

Last Wednesday night the Dakota Tavern, the little underground music joint which caps our row of great merchants on Ossington turned 3 years old with a party complete with great musicians.

The Dakota is really what Ossington is all about. I would consider it like a metaphor for the street itself – sometimes too commercial (line-ups and bouncers), sometimes too rowdy (yep, there are drunk people coming out), but mostly hip and accessible, and serving some great food. It’s was born like the street itself, bringing life out of an old broken down basement bar, and like the street itself has an uncomfortable but cordial relationship with the Portuguese bar that sits atop and to the south.

For my friends with kids who don’t go out much any more I always suggest the Bluegrass brunch which they serve up on Sunday afternoons. It’s a family style brunch served in front of some great bluegrass musicians, and there are always lots of kids dancing to the morning to mid-afternoon music.

One of the mainstays of The Dakota are The Beauties, who play Sunday nights. It’s a night where musicians come to listen to other musicians, and if you go often enough you might see Fiest, or Ron Sexsmith, or one of a number of talented Canadian musicians take the stage.

Last Wednesday night the audience just this crowd. Talking to a few people in the crowd I don’t think I met anyone who wasn’t a musician.  I couldn’t stay late into the set, but managed to stick around for few songs from Justin Rutledge, another regular at the Dakota.

This month every Tuesday Jason Collette (of Broken Social Scene fame) is doing a Basement Review – a multi-disciplinary variety show with poets, songwriters and great musicians.

Update: Also noticed tonight that the Crooked Star is turning 5 this week. Don’t forget to head over and wish them a happy birthday.

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By Brians, November 28, 2009 1:19 pm

Gallery TPW is holding their annual Photorama fundraising exhibit this weekeend. This is their annual fundraising exhibition featuring artists selected by their Board of Directors. Last year they raised over $38,000, of which $13,000 was paid out to artists. They are looking this year to raise over $30,000.

Apart from the fundraising there are some great works displayed. Check the preview out online at their site here, but better yet see it in person at 56 Ossington. It’s always better that way!

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By Brians, November 20, 2009 2:06 pm

With all the hoopla going on around how ‘hot’ Ossington is, it was interesting last weekend to walk down the street and see the reality of the situation. There are still a lot of places on Ossington not leased, nor will they likely be leased in the near future. Only 6 months past the moratorium it seems that the street is starting to close for business.

Below are a few photos of the recent devestation:

Empty Storefront on Ossington

The Long Awaited Saint closes - is Joe Pantalone to blame?

Get Real awoke to the new Ossington Reality.

Does Ossington need another mechanic now that Rolly's will be closing?

A Fantastic Potential Restaurant Location - but no more

(will I have to change this blog to be the DundasVillage blog? – or is that the next local target)