With the plethora of restaurants in our neighborhood, you can buy a gift card to suit anyone’s tastes. All you have to do is stop by one of these establishments one night this week and buy a gift certificate, put it in a card, and you’re done. Maybe if you’re lucky, the recipient will take you for a meal! Bon appetit!

The gift: Restaurant gift certificate

Where to get it: Fishbar for seafood lovers, Boehmer for the traditional, Union for the meat eater, Delux for Cuban, Foxley for Asian tapas, Salt for Portuguese tapas, Pizza Libretto and Enoteca Sociale for Italian. If you want to introduce them to somewhere they haven’t tried, Yours Truly just opened, and don’t forget Beau Lieu Bistro for the Francophile.  The list goes on and on.

Price range: Up to you

Who would like it: People who like to eat out. The range of choices in our neighborhood make it easy to please the people on your list.

Bohmer Restaurant is holding a Speakeasy New Year’s Eve, with a 5 course tasting menu with a glass of bubbly, for $75 pp.

At this year’s Dakota Tavern New Year’s party, CATL will have everyone dancing with a show starting at 10PM.

The Painted Lady sticks to what it does best, with music by Salazar and burlesque from Anastasia Burlesque.

The Ossington is planning an 80s boogie funk New Year with “Love Handle NYE Edition” with DJs starting at 10PM.

Opera Bob’s is hosting their 3rd Annual New Year’s Eve-Stravaganza, with live music from The Unknown Culprits and guests. Admission is $20 but go buy tickets in advance as they sold out well before the big night last year.

The Garrison‘s Annual New Year’s Eve party features Chronologic and Shit la Merde and tickets are available at Soundscapes and Rotate This for $20.

Lower Ossington Theatre‘s new event space, LOT, is hosting a New Year’s party for $10 with dancing all night. Tickets on sale now and the party starts at 10p.

UPDATE: Fishbar has announced their dinner menu for New Year’s (scroll down) and for $55 pp they are offering a 4 course meal, drinks not included.

People will be dancing at Levack Block. Featuring DJ Dougie Boom in the backroom with special guests in the front. Entry is $20 in advance, $30 at the door, plus there’s a $40 VIP wristband = entry to second floor & champagne toast at midnite. Doors open @ 10pm, serving till 3AM.
Tickets available at the bar from Thursday to Saturday from 5pm or through PayPal via levackblock@yahoo.com

We’ll keep updating this post as we learn of more happenings in the neighborhood.

Fishbar has announced they are extending their hours, starting next week. Lucky you if you are around the Ossington area during the day, as you will now be able to dine at Fishbar for lunch and happy hour! This is all according to their Twitter feed:

_fishbarFishbar

Lunch will be from 11:30-2:30 and Happy Hour goes from 3:30-5:30!!!

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Some fun news: Starting next week we’re open for lunch (Tues-Fri) and hosting a Happy Hour every Thurs-Sun!!! Enjoy

More Than Pasta announced new hours AND a special event. As of September 26, More Than Pasta will be open 7 days a week from 11AM-7PM. Plus, they will hold an Open House on Sunday, October 2 between 1P-4P. Everybody is invited to drop in and sample some new products, like their new high quality pasta lines, cold salads, and hot take-out meals.

Boehmer is organizing a fundraiser to help Eigensinn Farm back on their feet after a recent fire. Happening on Sunday, October 23 at 2PM, the meal will be created by eleven chefs including Paul Boehmer, John Higgens, Jamie Kennedy, Hiro Yoshido, Anthony Rose and others, plus 12 wineries, Creemore Springs beer and a jazz band. Cost per person is $275 including tax but not gratuity. Call Noboyu at Eigensinn to book 519-922-3128, cash or cheque only.

According to the notice posted on Bohmer’s door, filming will begin on Monday, August 8 at 7am at Bohmer Restaurant, followed by filming at Venezia Bakery on Tuesday, and explosives at Bohmer on Wednesday. The production notice mentions street closings on Wednesday, but the sign the city posted says the street will be closed on Monday. Be prepared for both.

We’ve tweeted about this one, but it’s worth repeating here: The much lauded new restaurant, Fishbar, offers a weekly special each Tuesday called #flexyourmussels. This is one for the tech-savvy – you need to check in on Foursquare to get a big bowl of mussels for $8. They are also doing an oyster special called UncleWillyWednesday on Wednesdays: pay for 9, get a dozen.

Another weekly deal is Delux‘s $1 oyster Tuesdays – lasting through the end of July. That’s right, all oysters for $1 all Tuesday at Delux.

More Than Pasta is expanding their offerings, with a special event coming on July 28 from 6-8:30PM. World renowned Culinary Olympic Gold Medalist, Executive Chef Roderick Strike will be cooking a special prix fixe 4 course dinner including wine showcasing their wholesome product and healthy ingredients. Cost per person is $75. Contact gabriellaAThollywood-foodsDOTcom

In a city that loves the stuff, BQM Burger’s “Poutine Throwdown” is sure to attract hungry mouths and curious onlookers. This event is scheduled for July 27 at 7PM. Wear a bib!  (?)

Summerlicious started on Friday, and Watusi at 110 Ossington is participating in the $25 dinner. See the menu here.

More prix fixe menus: Bohmer is beginning a summertime prix fixe tonight which will run Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It’s a three course $35 menu: there’s a sample one posted here. This is in addition to their previously mentioned 5-7 menu of drinks and nibbles. Toronto’s favorite pizza place does a mean prix fixe too: Pizzeria Libretto now offers a $25 locally inspired 4 course menu for dinner, and a $15 3-course lunch, both with pizzas!

New chefs have been announced or begun work at two Dundas Street West restaurants: Enoteca Sociale announced that Chef Matthew Demille is joining their team, and nearby Brockton General may have lost Chef Guy Rawlings (he’s not going far!), but they’ve gained Alexandra Feswick, most recently of Earth.

See what I mean about lots going on? Now all that’s left is to decide where to eat!

So, let’s get it over with. Robert Pattinson sightings have been fast and furious ever since his film started shooting at The Lakeview. Bloggers from Hollywood to Toronto have obsessed over where he hung out on Ossington, and the results are in: Crooked Star and the Dakota Tavern. Good choices, vampire.

Speaking of The Lakeview, the owners are being lauded as starting a new trend of restaurateurs opening food shops, as they’ve done with the well-stocked take-out and grocery, The Lakeview Storehouse.

Opera Bob’s is turning into a destination for baseball fans in Toronto. With the introduction of “Jays Days”, where they duplicate the ballpark experience for away games, with a hot dog/beer/popcorn vendor, special menu, full sound and big screens, they are getting rave reviews.

Also getting rave reviews, from Joanne Kates no less, is Bohmer restaurant. She loves the beautiful space, and if you haven’t been, they have early evening specials and serve Sunday brunch.

The Lower Ossington Theatre started a weekend cabaret series this June and comes recommended by the music critic at The Star.

The Churchill on Dundas gets a recommend as an alternative patio to the too busy Drake Sky Yard. Looks like we need to update our Patio Guide!

Opera Bobs Public House at 1112 Dundas Street West, just east of Ossington, begins a Jays Days promotion with “Opening Night” next Friday, June 17 for the Jays vs. Reds game. For this series of 6 away games, Opera Bobs will reproduce the live viewing experience in the comfort of their bar, with ballpark hot dogs (free on Opening Day!) and bagged popcorn, a host, and the volume turned up on the game. They will also have food and drink specials, and a comfortable atmosphere to watch. The National Post has called Opera Bobs “one of the best bars in the city to watch a baseball game” and these Jays Days specials will likely add to fans’ enjoyment.

Down on 93 Ossington, Bohmer Restaurant is adding some early evening bar specials to the menu. As of this Thursday, June 16, they are launching $4, $5 and $6 drink specials and some 1/2 prized nibbles at the bar or in the lounge. This promotion will run every Tuesday through Staturday night from 5:30PM-7PM until further notice.

So, if there weren’t enough reasons to get you over to Ossington Village for some enjoyable evenings, maybe these two very different options will.

This just in! Delux Restaurant at 92 Ossington has announced $1 oyster Tuesdays starting tomorrow, June 13. This special will run every Tuesday from  6P-close and applies to all the oysters they have.

If you know of any other specials or special events in the vicinity, tell us in the comments or via email.

We also know that Union wants to open their patio and is still waiting for the city’s approval. Would be nice to share that prime rib for two al fresco, non?

In the meantime, we have news about another patio on Ossington that is going to expand.

Those who follow us on Twitter likely already know the news that BQM is planning to renovate their front patio and add a back patio on Rolyat Street. This southern facing patio gets a lot of sun and is busy for lunch, dinner and drinks, so customers will likely approve the expansion.

Don’t forget, we began a patio guide earlier this spring, put it on hold after weeks of rain, but we’ll be back with more very soon!

Currently on Ossington there is only one boulevard license belonging to Painted Lady, and two that face onto sidestreets at Roylat -  BQM and Crooked Star. Bohmer is blessed with a bit of a boulevard space in front of their property as well as having front windows that open right up onto the sidewalk. Now that there are signs of the upcoming patio season, hopefully this will go through quickly and we’ll have another place on Ossington to sit outside and enjoy some drinks and, in this case, really nice food.

Lush and Lavish Salon and Spa is the first spot mentioned in a Toronto Star article about green and organic spas.

T.o.night newspaper (?) did a piece on Dundas West bar-restaurant The Port. Definitely go for the steak on a sword!

Tonight, Bohmer restaurant hosts a fundraiser dinner for Japan. With lots of well-respected chefs and wineries donating their time and talents, this sold out fast, but also got a lot of attention.

We already covered it when it happened, but it’s such a nice story, we like mentioning it again. Three bakery workers on Ossington won millions in the lottery and the press ate it up! (get it? bakery, eat?)

And it’s nice to see one of our local art galleries get some attention. The Globe and Mail highlights a recent exhibit at Gallery TPW.