Speaking of that last post, one of the places we caught last time was 109 Ossington. This week we saw further transformation from Mundial Autos into the condo sales centre with a new mural. The building has new illustrations by Ian Keltie and were painted by Toronto-based muralist William Lazos.

We thought we would post this fun poster left over from the now closed Viva Salon (where More Than Pasta is), advertising their tanning services. We know the folks at 109 will probably take this one down very soon.

At the northeast side of Ossington, there is now a full-on strip of restaurants worth archiving. Starting just below the CIBC, are Yours Truly, The Saint Tavern, Salt Wine Bar, Pizza Libretto, Alex Rei, and Fishbar. So much great food in this one short stretch!

The location north of Levack Block has been undergoing a transformation. Connecting the spots between Levack and (now closed) Paramour, this once empty space seems likely to add another retailer to the northeast corner of Ossington and Humbert.

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.

How did you get involved with the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival?

Toronto Sketch Fest is the one place where we can expose our material to a new audience, and bring people out to our shows that go on the rest of the year. It’s always a great opportunity for us to meet other comedians, and expand our audience. This is our second year being featured in the festival, and we couldn’t be any more excited! We all got haircuts!

We would love to get the chance to see Two Kids One Hall. We are all huge fans of Kids in the Hall, but then again, it’s hard to find a sketch comedy troupe that isn’t. We’re also hoping on seeing some of the new and upcoming troupes that are featured on the roster this year.

We’re all really excited for the material we put together for this year’s sketch fest revue. We always aim to mix as many different types of humour into our shows as we can, and this set has a good mix of physical comedy, musical comedy, straight-dialogue humour, and theatrical sketch. As always, it wouldn’t be a Good Game show without a little touch of absurdity, but there’s really something for everyone in this show. This year we’re putting an emphasis on variety, and feel like this might be our best sketch fest set yet (that kinda rhymes).

Too many to choose just one… Pizzeria Libretto and Dakota Tavern are some favourites… you can often see us at The Lakeview having a few drinks or some coffee before checking out a show or event at Sketch Fest. Ossington Village is one of our favourite places to hang out during Sketch Fest events, since it’s walking distance from both the Lower Ossington Theatre and Comedy Bar.

The Queer Comedy Collective is performing at this year’s Sketch Comedy Festival at the Lower Ossington Theatre on November 9 at 10PM. They are the next troupe we profile in our series.

How did you get involved with the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival? 

Andrya, a member of our troupe, was out somewhere doing something entertaining in front of an audience or some such thing, and someone from the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival gave her his card. “It’s hard to find Queer sketch comedy troupes,” he wept. So we invited Sketch Fest to our pre-Pride show at Bread ‘n Circus in June, after which, we filled out all necessary paperwork.

What other troupe’s show at this year’s Festival do you most want to see?

Cory, Punch in the Box and Picnicface

Why should we come to see your show?

Scott from Xtra called it ‘cheerfully deranged.’ It’s bratty but good-natured. Sarcastic and stinging but you’d still want to be its friend. It’s not the bully of sketch troupes. Oh yah, and we’re the only Queer sketch troupe in Canada.

What is your favourite place on Ossington? If you haven’t been to Ossington, where do you most want to go?

Want to eat at Pizza Libretto and Campagnolo. Or, just want to walk up and down Ossington and be mistaken for cool people.

Susan from the Queer Comedy Collective sent me over lots of videos, so check one out here:

Gallery TPW tops the Art category as Best Independent Art Gallery citywide and for Queen West.  Show & Tell Gallery won the same category for Dundas West.

Not surprisingly, our neighborhood had a few Citywide Winners in the food category: Pizzeria Libretto for best pizza, The Dakota Tavern for best bar and pub, The Lakeview for best diner/greasy spoon. All three are also the tops in the Dundas West neighborhood. Pizzeria Libretto, The Lakeview and The Dakota are repeat winners in these categories – they were voted Toronto’s best in 2010.

2011 is a good year for The Dakota Tavern, which won a second award as the Best Blues Club city-wide.

There are many more winners now that they’re awarding every category in every neighborhood, so to see if your favourite is there, just look up Dundas West or Queen West. Congrats to all the winners!

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!

I met with Shane Fenton at the sales office for Motif last week. He and his father run Reserve Properties, which has multiple projects across Toronto. Shane has been hanging out in the Ossington area for a few years, and when the site at Ossington and Rebecca became available, they jumped at the chance to take it over. He is a big fan of the neighbourhood and believes in creating unique residences suited to people that want to experience the neighbourhood.

Fittingly, the architect behind the project, Roland Rom Colthoff of RAW Design, is a local who understands what the living options are and what is missing. In a recent article about the building, he points out that the buyers at Motif “…are people that would have bought a Victorian in the neighbourhood, but would have to renovate it.”

Of course, I had to ask Shane what his favourite spots are on Ossington. His answer? Pizza Libretto and Levack Block, but, like all of us, he likes the variety.

So, for people who are looking to move into our neighbourhood, Motif still has some towns and lofts. Future plans include creating more townhomes on Givins, behind Ossington.

Some of the businesses on Ossington are well connected to social media including our Dani Elwell of Jaiden’s Petals, who blogs from her site and is very active on Twitter. Opera Bobs keeps people up to date on Facebook. And don’t forget to be tempted by the tweets from Pizzaria Libretto, Union Restaurant and Bohmer who let everyone know their specials in the twitter stream. Want Tattoo advice? There’s even Imperial Tattoo on Twitter. There’s lots more examples on our street and you can check out our Ossington Places twitter stream here. But there are places on Ossington that don’t even have a website including the Crooked Stars and Sweaty Bettys. Are they losing out?

Luckily, without leaving our home of Ossington we can find out, or at least have a good discussion about, the efficacy of the medium. HomeStars (disclosure – my employer – and no, it wasn’t by coincidence it is hosted here – Thanks Shaun!), a social media site designed for contractors and homeowners looking for those contractors, is hosting an event for Social Media Week called Is Social Media Your Prize Winning Pig – Think Again where we’ll debate the effectiveness of social media. It should be entertaining, and could even get hostile.   The event will be tomorrow, Tuesday, night from 6:30 to 8:30 at the Garrison, on Dundas just west of Ossington. If there are tickets still available you can register on the Social Media Week site here. Or you can just come by and see whether you can slip in and get on a side of this debate. Because the week may be full of people who are ‘social media strategists’ it’ll be good to have some social media cynics. Are you one? Want to share your opinion? Come out and have some fun, get in on the debate, and join in this global conference on the future of social media.

Take a look through the entire schedule of Social Media Week and try and check out some of the other events. The week will end at a great event close by at the Gladstone Hotel where there will be an evening of Powerpoint Karaoke, which if you’ve never seen, definitely has to be experienced.

Many places will be closed including Julie’s Cuban, Beau Lieu Bistro and Pizzeria Libretto. You still have a lot of options, though, including:

Dance party at The Garrison! Featuring DJ Shit La Merde, revellers will dance to music from 1890 to 2011, in that order. Tickets are available in advance for $15, $20 at the door.  The Ossington offers another lively party with Some New Bullshit with Azuree & Carl, Champagne, bourbon and “sleazy tunes for the sinner”, $11 cover. The Painted Lady is a great option, with no cover and burlesque dancers and DJ NV spinning all night. The Port on Dundas West has a whole list of DJs (Poppy Seed, Luxury Bob, Miracle Whip and DJ Hot Pants) to get you moving, with $10 for advance tickets.

Live music is available at The Dakota Tavern, where Sunday night regulars The Beauties are headlining a New Year’s Eve Party, with special guests. Tickets available at the bar until they’re sold out.

We always have great dining options on Ossington, and this New Year’s is a prime example. Union is offering  their regular menu plus Grower Champagne, foie gras along with a few surprises, call for reservations!  Salt is celebrating their first New Year’s in style, with a special 5 course menu including 1 glass of Spanish Cava. Reservations are required, there are two seatings, 6:30 and 9:30PM, and cost is $70 per person.

Celebrate New Year’s 50s and 60s style at the very mod Watusi, where the dinner seating starts at 8PM and includes a sparkling wine toast at midnight and music from DJ Mark Foreman from 10:30P-3A. Bohmer will be open regular hours with a regular menu for New Year’s Eve, as will Foxley. Call now to reserve!

If you’ve got the coin and the appetite, head over to Dundas where Enoteca Sociale is offering a 6-course festive Italian dinner in honor of La Festa di San Silvestro, and begins at 7PM. Reservations required and details here.

If you’re looking to find Dinner on Ossington on Christmas Day you’re going to be pretty much out of luck. There are a couple places to get food on Christmas day including the Pho place Tien Thanh and Lakeview Restaurant, and you’ll be able to stop by Sweaty Betty’s and Opera Bob’s for drinks.

We’ve collected the hours from many of the local restaurants, cafes and bars for the Christmas weekend so you don’t end up heading out to a closed restaurant or bar.

Enjoy the holidays everyone!

Restaurant	24th	25th	26th	Notes
Beau Lieu Bistro	Closed	Closed	Closed
Bohmer	Closed	Closed	Closed
BQM	Open until 5pm	Closed	Closed
Communist’s Daughter	Open	Closed	Open	We miss Michael J’s Christmas Carols. Bring it back!
Crafted by Te Aro	Open until 1pm	Closed	Closed
Crooked Star	Open until bartenders discresion	Closed	Closed
Delux	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed until the 4th of January
Foxley Bistro	Closed	Closed	Closed
Goed Eton	Open until 1pm	Closed	Open!
I Deal Coffee	Open until 5pm	Closed	Open!
Lakeview	Open	Open	Open	Always Open as usual!Yum!
Levack Block	Closed	Closed	Closed
Opera Bobs	Open	Open	Open	To escape your family, head to Opera Bob’s for a drink
The Ossington	Closed	Closed	Open!
Paramour	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed all the way until the 3rd of Jan
Painted Lady	Closed	Closed	Open!
Pizzeria Libretto	Closed	Closed	Open!
Pho Tien Thanh	Open	Open	Open	Get your Pho here to warm up!
Rua Vang (The Golden Turtle)	Closed	Closed	Closed	Closed all the way until the 30th
Reposado	Closed	Closed	Open
Salt Wine Bar	Closed	Closed	Closed	Open on the 27th
Sweaty Bettys	Open	Open	Open	Bartender may close early on 24th and 25th.
Union Restaurant	Closed	Closed	Open for Dinner
Watusi	Closed	Closed	Closed