Soon-to-open new restaurant The Grove, next to Churchill on Dundas at Lakeview, is already getting preview attention for its English menu.
The local art scene is also getting some coverage, starting with a story about art which mentions some street art on Queen near Ossington. It’s a cool picture – definitely want to check it out!
Over the past year, we welcomed a number of new businesses to the neighborhood, not as many as in 2010, but quite a few! We hope they’ll grow and succeed, so to help, we’ll remind you of these restaurants, stores and art galleries. If you haven’t visited them, you can add them to your “check out” list for 2012.
More than Pasta opened it’s doors officially at 121 Ossington in March 2011, but we got an advance look at the delicious pastas, sauces and prepared foods they make in-house.
Fishbaropened in May, serving happy hour and dinner at 217 Ossington Ave, and since then they’ve added a lunch menu for all the fish lovers around. Also in May, the Lakeview Storehouse opened, selling produce and groceries, along with poutine, adjacent to the Lakeview Restaurant on Dundas.
Just in time for summer, Eagle’s Nest Espresso and Ice Cream opened at 1199 Dundas Street West.
November was a busy month for openings: we noted the return of Lennox Contemporary, now at 44 Ossington, and the opening of The Dog Bowl at 984 Dundas West. Also new is G Gallery in the back at 134 Ossington.
In December we welcomedtwo of the newest businesses on the street: Yours Truly is now open 6 nights a week (closed Tuesday) for dinner at 229 Ossington, and Don’t Tell Mama is a gallery and art space.
There are also a lot of places we’ve been talking about opening but are still waiting for - like Amaya, The Saint and Bellwoods Brewery. More to look forward to in the new year!
About 10 days ago another new gallery and art space called Don’t Tell Mama opened on Ossington, just south of Watusi and beside the soon-to-open Amaya restaurant at 108 Ossington. They had their first event on December 19th featuring work from Laura Scholey, Soux Ellis, and D’Andrea Bowie, all various multi-media visual artists.
We like their new sign and storefront on the street, although we haven’t yet found their website or other social media to keep us in the loop on what’s coming up. Let us know if you come across them.
Ossington is a destination for people from across Toronto and beyond, partly for the mix of eclectic festivals that draws us and others to the strip. 2011 was no exception, so we’re looking back at the festivals this year on Ossington.
The year in festivals kicked off in January with a dance festival called Connect TO at Lower Ossington Theatre, which is a prime festival location.
The music came back with the return of NXNE in June, and we saw some amazing shows right here in Ossington Village. This July, the Painted Lady created a new festival to coincide with the Toronto Jazz and Fringe Festivals. Maybe next year, we’ll see more venues join the fun.
The Contact Photography Festival covered art galleries for the entire month of May, and didn’t miss Ossington, with exhibits at The Painted Lady, Angell Gallery, Brockton General and Levack Block.
Jane’s Walks, which take place all over the globe on a May weekend, were also led in our neighborhood. Maybe next year you’ll see an Ossington Village Jane’s Walk instead of “the Hipster’s Guide to Ossington!”
Summerworks returned in August, bringing music and theatre to Lower Ossington Theatre and other local venues. The hugely popular Havana Culturareturned for it’s second year in August, with Cuban music, art and food on offer at almost every spot on the street. Who can forget the cigar roller surrounded by scantily clad women? Another returning event was Queen West Music Fest, which celebrated it’s third year this summer in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
Some was sipped, and some was likely chugged, but either way, Toronto Beer Weekalso returned to Ossington in 2011, with tastings and pairings at local restaurants and bars. Ossington also saw the return of TO Sketch Fest, with lots of comedic troupes taking to the stage at LOT this past November.
We continue our holiday gift guide with an easy to buy at the last minute gift.
The gift: Theatre tickets. With a focus on delivering the arts to the community, LOT offers entertainment throughout the year. Seats are on sale in 2012 for Avenue Qfor the adults, or, for the little ones, Pinkalicious.
Who would like it: People who like the theatre, or just a nice night out. Young kids who would be enchanted by a Sunday matinee (and their parents, who would love it if you’d take them off their hands for an afternoon)!
Lennox Contemporary has reopened at 44 Ossington, formerly occupied by C1 Art Space. The gallery and print shop had closed in December 2009 at the earlier space at 12 Ossington, and after some time off decided to re-open in the smaller and more manageable location. John Petcoff, the owner and curator, is well-known in the neighbourhood for supporting the arts and is a partner in Oyster Boy, around the corner on Queen. The gallery and store is focussed on paper prints and currently has a great collection of old maps from the 1800s which are available for purchase, as well as books on art, which they share from another local bookstore.
We welcome G Gallery to our neighborhood. We learned of G Gallery from Joe Fuda’s Oz Studios blog. This new art gallery is located at the back of Oz Studios building, 134 Ossington, with a separate entrance on Foxley Place, the alley around back.
G Gallery has been open at least a month, and will be open Friday-Sunday from 12-5pm. This is a not a new gallery, having moved from Queen and Sherbourne to Ossington in October. According to their website, G Gallery is a collaboration between John Goodwin, the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph. The gallery is run by Guelph alumni, with assistance from advisors from Guelph faculty and SOFAM.
The current exhibition, called Calculus of Forms, is an examination of urban forms, with a look at architecture, history and politics through models of 7 public housing sites on The Great Lakes. The next exhibit launches Nov. 18 and features work by Miles Collyer.
How did you get involved with the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival?
We’ve been performing in various venues around Chicago for the past year, and really wanted to get some experience on the road – we did some research and the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival seemed like a great place to start. Everyone we know that’s been to Toronto describes it as a nicer, cleaner Chicago, so we’ll probably just end up leasing an apartment when the trip is over.
What other troupe’s show at this year’s Festival do you most want to see?
Obviously we are extremely excited for ‘Two Kids, One Hall’, but we’re also looking forward to seeing fellow Chicago sketch-guys “Kerpatty“!
Why should we come to see your show?
It’s pure sketch, straight-up, no gimmicks. Does that sound arrogant? Oh, I forgot to mention, we’re also arrogant. (Only joking – my actual answer would be: “Come see our show because we are EXTREMELY not-arrogant!”)
What is your favourite place on Ossington? If you haven’t been to Ossington, where do you most want to go?
We’ve never been there and literally know nothing about it, but to avoid being rude we did a Google Maps (TM) search for “Ossington Street, Toronto”. Then Google corrected it to “Ossington Avenue, Toronto”, and we street-viewed the randomly-generated “A” location to get an idea of that classic “Ossington Flavor” (TM). It seemed to be a residential area, but I have to say we are now very excited about visiting the boarded-up and possibly condemned storefront at 648 Ossington Avenue.
Toronto Sketchfest starts tomorrow, November 8 and if you are still deciding which shows to see, check out our troupe profiles to learn more about some of the performers. Another troupe you may want to check out hails from Seattle: Charles consists of two members, both aptly named Charles. You can catch them on November 11 at 10PM at Lower Ossington Theatre or the following night at 9PM at Comedy Bar. Chuck and Charlie answered our questions here:
How did you get involved with the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival?
Although this is our first year performing in the Toronto Sketch Festival, we have previously performed in Toronto as part of the 2010 Fringe Festival. That was a qualified success, but an unqualified great experience. When it was over, we knew that we wanted to make some major improvements to our show, and we also knew that we wanted to return. Toronto is a great comedy town, and we’re excited to see old friends and show off new material. We also just really enjoy the hassle of bringing six foot rubber snakes through customs.
What other troupe’s show at this year’s Festival do you most want to see?
Seeing Uncalled For‘s Hypnogogic Logic the last time we were in Toronto was a major inspiration for where we wanted our comedy to go. We had a similarly enlightening experience when we saw Peter N’ Chris at Seattle SketchFest this year. We’re obviously pumped to see those groups again, but we’re also hoping that a new Canadian sketch group will expand our ideas of what can be done on stage. The Really Good Show sounds promising.
Why should we come to see your show?
We were called “fresh-faced” by NOW Magazine. Of course that was more than a year ago, so we might be “old hat” at this point. Assuming you are the writer from NOW Magazine who wrote that, you should probably come see for yourself if it needs to be updated. In the unlikely event that you are not that writer, perhaps a description of our comedy as “hyperliterate, design-savvy…hip and dilettante in the best possible way” by CultureVultureVictoria.com will persuade you to come out. And just in case you’re wary of the dots in that quote or the dot com in its source, the last thing we will say is that we are performing with Uncalled For, so you should probably buy your tickets in advance.
What is your favourite place on Ossington? If you haven’t been to Ossington, where do you most want to go?
It’s hard to say. From looking at Google Maps, there are a number of martini glass icons that look like they represent swanky lounges. We’ve always wanted to be permitted into one of those.
When you hear the phrase “British Teeth,” you probably don’t picture what you’re going to get at this year’s Toronto Sketch Fest! Filip Jeremic and Allana Reoch are the duo behind Toronto’s British Teeth, and they kindly answered our questions for this profile. You can see them perform this week at The Comedy Bar, November 9 at 7PM.
How did you get involved with the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival?
We’ve been hustlin’ our sketches around Toronto for about a year, and we decided it was time to get festive wit’ y’all.
What other troupes’ show at this year’s Festival do you most want to see?
Because WE’LL be there! And so will our friends – they’re hot and SINGLE. (We do comedy for the sex)
What is your favourite place on Ossington? If you haven’t been to Ossington, where do you most want to go?
That Portuguese bakery across from the furniture store and beside the Lower Ossington Theatre. You know the one. Prosciutto sandwiches for 3 dollars, yo!
It’s time for a recap of press coverage of Ossington area businesses.
When you hear the phrase “British Teeth,” you probably don’t picture what you’re going to get at this year’s 