Virginia Johnson
Originally from Ontario, designer and illustrator, Virginia Johnson has returned from NYC with a new rootsy outfit. Gleaning from her experience with the crème de la crème of the design world – she was a accessories designer for Helmut Lang and an illustator of the simply stylish Kate Spade books – she has opened a bright little textile boutique featuring dresses, pillows blouses with a girly Merimekko-y vibe. Open on weekends or by appointment.

Cindiloowho

Transplanted from Dundas and Crawford, the owner’s curatorial vision has been supplying the city’s taste for utilitarian country for years now. Hip to the green craft movement, they also make their own pieces from reclaimed wood only. New items weekly. They also just opened the sweet little poem of a florist next door called Jaiden’s Petals.

Reposado
When they call it a “mature tequila bar’ we’re not sure if they’re refferring to the civilized clientele, or the aged style of tequila, Reposado itself. But either way, it goes down easy and the bartender is on it (rare in these parts).

If you go on Friday or Saturday, best to stick to pre-party hours as it gets a little “touristy” later on.

Ideal Coffee
A relatively upscale western outpost for the Kensington fave. There’s plenty more interior lounging room, but sadly, no patio. With another one popping up in Leslieville, they’ve become the indie chain favored by the city’s hipsters, or anyone requiring a real dark roast . On a strip known for its drinking establishments, a depth-charger (an americano topped w/ dark roast instead of water) keeps it anything but soft.

Foxley
Okay, so it’s on the list, but I haven’t tried it yet. But with “word-of-mouth” being all the rage these days, what the heck: I’ll tell you why I have to go (soon)!

First, I miss Tempo’s beautiful sushi, and if his cooked fare even comes close, I’ll have a new local fave. Second: ceviche, ceviche, ceviche! And I think he features even more varieties than that. Lastly, since this place actually is chef’s attempt at warmer and cozier fare, it will be interesting to see how a master of raw seafood does with the menu’s dumplings, ribs and mac ‘n’ cheese. Also, despite the lukewarm experience diners have told us about wait times (don’t take resos) and seemingly disorganized seating. We’ve learnt that this is not really the case: the host will gladly take your cell# and send you across the street to the Crooked Star for an aperitif while you wait for your table (hopefully it’s “Buck-off booze” night!).

Get Real Café
Boasting a menu that would “make a vegan out of Fred Flinstone” (according to Toronto Life), Get Real goes some way in clearing up the question of why so many vegetarians/vegans are, how shall we say… robust. Open-face bruschetta-style goodies featuring local growth and myriad cheesy possibilities are popular here and provide tasty and ample bang for the buck. Adorable postage-stamp back patio and ridiculously friendly owner and staff keep me coming back and ro-bustin’ out of my lululemons!

The Crooked Star

Grungy but lovable dive bar. Taking it way past the micros, this place is all about the booze. Throwback Thursdays sees 3 dollar Red Cap, Black Label and Labatt 50. Tuesdays are for “Buck-off Booze” and Sundays have a boozy take on Toronto’s favorite ritual, brunch. An impressive culinary list of assorted Bloody Caesars of all spicy variations: Kimchee, dijon and horseradish, ginger and wasabi, Jerk, Tandoori… the tongue reels. All best washed down with a weekly dose of Coronation St. catch-up. It screens there every Sunday.

Delux
Ronces functions pretty independent of its cross streets, although oddly enough it has one of the city’s most wonderful corners in Roncesalles and Dundas. As a transplant to Toronto, it always struck me as odd that only the East-West strips attracted all the commercial development in inner-city Toronto, so I am overjoyed to welcome the latest emerging and happening N-S Ossington strip.

Levack Block
Ronces functions pretty independent of its cross streets, although oddly enough it has one of the city’s most wonderful corners in Roncesalles and Dundas. As a transplant to Toronto, it always struck me as odd that only the East-West strips attracted all the commercial development in inner-city Toronto, so I am overjoyed to welcome the latest emerging and happening N-S Ossington strip.

Ministry of the Interior
Housed in a old auto body shop, this high-end design-gallery will outfit your condo with the right statement piece. From ironic “oh look it’s a charming romantic victorian mirror made of really eye-bleedingly bright polymer!” to Atari-yellow architects lamps, all your cool make-your-place-look-like-an-art gallery needs are met at MOTI. Be sure to check out our fave: the Wrongwoods collection by Richard Woods.

Rua Vang/GoldenTurtle
You’ve heard that Joanna Kates loves it, Susur too, even Jamie Kennedy. Is their humble bowl of beef soup worthy of such praise? You betcha! If you haven’t tried it yet, this star-anise inflected, feu (pho is Viet translation of the colonial french “feu”: to cook) beef broth cooks slices of raw to rare beef and combines refreshing mint, scallions, rice noodle and sprouts to please anyone in search of a light summer meal. Tastes even better on a hot steamy patio - très tropical.

Venezia Bakery
Beyond the yummy-foods-under-a-dollar trifecta of custard tarts, awesomely crusty and soft Pouguese buns and those fish croquettes, I know little about Portuguese goodies. But if everything in here is as good as their versions of above then I say Viva Venzia!

Babel Books
Earnest She-Said-Boom-y type of used bookstore with the indifferent staff to match. But in this post-Chapters world, do we expect anything from bookstore sales staff anyways? The reason to come here is the selection and curatorial eye: It’s like the wall-to-wall panty remover of a Cultural Studies PhD’s bachelor pad. But really though, it is nice to see another independent bookstore in a city that seems to have the very least of them of any major Canadian downtown.

The Ossington
Is it proper to run a review of a place you’ve heard little about, and peeked your head in once, only to decide to skip it on account of the jarring dance music? Well, this isn’t really a review is it? So go check it out, the space looks large and airy and I think the art looked cool too. If this place makes you feel  like College is creeping down to Queen by way of Ossington, well, there’s still plenty of other cool places around! So unfair, I really should have gone in.

Sweaty Betty’s
Regardless of the stock-in-trade hipsters drinking Stiegl and Anchor Steam, this Ossington iconoclast retains a warm neighbourhood vibe. Run by a former gallery-owner and artist, their street cred must be what keeps the tiny space rammed until last call. Sweet patio out back too.

You can’t pick up a marketing article without getting that feeling that the big ad agencies are just barely keeping up. That “blog-it-out” guy on the DirectTV ad is hilarious satire, until it hits you that they’d rather talk about themselves (even if it’s about “not getting it”) than listen to their market. We keep hearing the moan that advertising as we knew it is dead, that pumping a product has to make way for listening to consumers and being a part of their tribe. Make your product a brand in the constellation of choices that consumers use in constructing their identity. “Heck”, they say, “now it’s all ‘brand is so last year’”. Don’t create a brand, create a movement. Don’t piggy-back on a movement, be a movement.

Whatever the marketing cris de coeur is these days, one thing is certain: it still is – and always will be – about conspicuous consumption. The thing they need to tune into is that while people may still create their identity from consumer choices like Apple, Starbucks, Virgin and the rest, it’s no longer the products, and the brands they embody, that we are using as a badge to position ourselves; but positions and ideas themselves. We’re becoming our own cultural custodians and we’re becoming rather encyclopedic at it too.

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Welcome to Current Issue, the blog from the folks at Stewart and Weill Design, and thanks for dropping by. In our small corner of our web tube here we are reporting on our two favourite topics: design and the city, in particular our city, Toronto, and even more particularly the west-side neighbourhood known by many monikers as West Queen West, Liberty Village, Parkdale, and the Art and Design District. Since we live and work here (yeah yeah, condo -tick, design studio -tick), we see so many changes and developments to a neighbourhood that seems at some times on the brink of greatness and other times, the brink of destruction. Gentrification in these hyper style-y, hyper consumerist times, isn’t easy for designers like us: we want to be enriched by the environment we live in, but can’t help but see how our profession is used to spin and sell it’s best parts off to the  highest bidder (who then sell it off to the lowest common denominator - !?). So basically we want to wade through it all, enjoy what’s out there, and keep it in check. Hope you join us for the trek, so please comment often, and stay tuned for upcoming interactive features.

Honestly though, the return to more romantic iconography is soulful and adds a nice warmth after years of minimalism and techno, just avoid the overkill okay?

1. Rustic Cosmo Café:
It’s location at the end of the Parkdale strip makes it less noticeable to most, but overlook it at your peril: made to order selection of wraps, paninis and calabrese (whole wheat!) sandwiches from fresh and wholesome, ingredients do not disappoint. Skipping the carbs? They’ll also make salads from their eclectic sandwich menu.

2. Drake Café:
If you must have a burger, these are as guilt-free as the red meat gets, Localvore chef keeps it real by sourcing locally raised beef. The Naked Burger nails it.

3. Gladstone Lobby Café:
Honest and fresh, we love the salad menu. After being spoiled by the quick gourmet salads of Lettuce and the SandwichBox, the Gladdy fills a void.

4. The Beaver:
Paninis have been king here since day 1. Be warned though, the lamb burgers will induce irrational cravings and special missions.

5. Asia 21:
Come for the Pho stay for the Bun. They are both fantastic, and portions are huge. They’re great for pho take out because they separate out the noodles, rare beef, and cold fresh herbs so everything stays fresh. Also, the service is so fast you could eat in without killing a good part of your afternoon.

Recent food foibles:

I’m not trying to be mean, all consideration has been made to account for odd one-off problems, I am simply chronicling places that have dissapointed me on several occasions and so chances are, might disappoint you too.

1. The Friendly Diner
I get that it’s a greasy spoon and all, and this would be great if, for a place that prominantly features “All Day Breakfast”, they could turn out a credible version of its staple: toast. Seriously, they just throw the bread on the griddle, resulting in a less than crispy warm sponge flecked with dirty bbq bits. Not great when most of your menu comes nested between two of these. Meh.

2. Quiznos @ King & Dufferin
Usually Quiznos does a pretty good sub. Fresh fillings, cheese (real!) melted just right, Baked toastiness, not so processed that you can’t tell which animal the cuts came from. Well take that all back for this location. Subs barely heated up - and that bread is heavy untoasted, mayo (or sauce) so heavy it is all you taste, and even forgotten fillings, actually every time I get different things mixed in. It just never has that “this sandwich is greater than the sum of its parts” thing going for it, which I am loathe to admit but the Mr. Sub on Queen and Gladstone does. Also, I don’t think I have ever seen a manager or owner in there.

*If you call in your order. Websites with menus and phone numbers listed here where available.

It’s On:

Mildred’s Temple Kitchen, formerly Mildred Pierce of the awesome-est brunch patio, is opening at 85 Hanna (the building with the LCBO in it). BTW a new restaurant called Oasi is set to open in their old 99 Sudbury digs any day now, which I have to say looks very interesting from the outside, with that BC west-coast modern vibe going on.

Atelier Thuet expands, but has recieved lukewarm reviews from the Globe (not Joanna Kates though).

Brazen Head has nice patios (and that super-convenient 1 hour free internet access from Beanfield). Beware of the hidden upsell on sides though.

Liberty’s patio has free wireless too, with a more local vibe and nice thin-crust pizza.

Merci Mon Ami is the best expensive sandwich west of the SandwichBox. I think the gorgeous side salad and fresh fruit kabob that accompany it gratis actually make it better. Hey we got nothing against expensive sandwiches when they come this ample, nourishing, and gourmet especially with a salad and dessert thrown in. You can eat it at one of ‘em funky big communal tables too.

MyMarket, the farmer’s market, opens.

Haveli Home moves away from condo minimalism. Ornamentalism and colours. Nice.

What Up?

Merci Mon Ami: Cinq à Sept? No liquor license yet, but they’ve assured me they will be open for after-work cocktails soon. Just look at that patio: it’s sunny western exposure is just screaming Kir Royale, or at least a snappy rosé.

What’s going in the Barrymore Building? The Barrymore building is a former industrial building located next to 85 Hanna Avenue. The property is being renovated to accommodate a 20,000 sq. ft. retail space and a 50,000 sq. ft. office space scheduled for completion in Q4, 2008 (although another source says tenants will move in June 2008). Owned by First Capital Realty, their list of top 40 tenants are not too exciting, the best have already taken space in their other property next door: LCBO and Starbucks. They list Circuit City, Shoppers Drug, banks, video stores and other mundanity. Hope they find someone else, the artists rendering does have a hopeful mom ‘n’ pop vibe to it. We’ll see soon enough.

Liberty Village Market Building plans to resemble the Milan Galleria? “A glass gallery inspired by the Galleria in Milan will create a new space between the two parts of the building, with the railroad tracks preserved in the new walkway” writes Leslie Scrivener, Apr 22, 2007 on thestar.com. Looks almost complete, although perhaps more inspired by Mies than Milan (not that that’s a bad thing), or come to think of it - both. This especially deserves note as the first inspired piece of new public architecture in an area that held so much promise.

Once the provenance of li’l ol’ craft fair ladies on one end and crafty hipsters and stitch ‘n’ bitchers on the other, this do-it-yourself movement has really gained some mainstream traction! “DIY” projects popularized by Readymade, Blueprint, Wish and other decor magazines as quirky and original - an antidote or contrast to swiss modern - for the masses and by curators and industrial designers (see Canadian design sanctum, Made) for the more high-brow, this trend is fun to watch in the making. West Queen West welcomes 2 interesting players: The Workroom and Shopgirls (they’re neighbours incidently). The former is a workshop, and the latter a store selling only Canadian artisans’ products. Self-consciously hip, and extremely earnest, well maybe, but would you rather have the same stuff as thousands of people or maybe just 1 or 2?