Touring the Lisbon Hotel, Torontos Newest Cocktail Bar | Episode 43

hello Mark hello Joey what is happening in this episode today a lot we take a trip we do our first live on location that's right so you're going to definitely want to tune in to YouTube or Spotify where we are uh broadcasting in video Y and take a look at the Lisbon hotel that's right which is a brand new spot not Portuguese not Portuguese and not a hotel but it is a brand new spot in River City yeah it is the brain child of our good friend Adam pazzi right uh no stranger to the restaurant scene the hospitality scene uh as well is David wax the developer of uh of River City yes yeah yeah very cool project and uh amazingly tasty food which you'll see us get into yeah and as well as some uh some really good drinks absolutely cool I like it all right enjoy episode 43 Welcome to the Toronto livings podcast a conversation about all things Toronto with a focus on real estate the culture and of course the food I'm Mark SEL and I'm Joey virgilia and we're Realtors with sage real estate working together as a Toronto livings team with a focus on helping you buy better sell higher and of course having a little bit of fun along the [Music] way hello Joey hello Mark hello Adam hello guys hello Adam where are how are you we don't feel like home anymore this feels very different from what we're used to yeah fancy yeah we're doing our first live to air today at the Lisbon hotel amazing so happy to have you guys here thank you for having us we're with one of the partners of this beautiful space um really does feel like a a spot you'd find in lisban but not Portuguese if that makes sense doesn't feel Portuguese it's not Portuguese yeah it's uh inspired by European Hotel cocktail bar or european Hotel uh Lobby bars cocktail bars and that overall feel and lifestyle I think they nailed that yeah 100% yeah so not a hotel and not uh Portuguese off to a great start that's okay McDonald's doesn't sell meat so you don't have to that's right that's right um cool so what we want to do was kind of Spotlight some of the areas when we started the podcast we said we wanted to kind of hit up some of the other areas in the city and Adam graciously was nice enough to bring us uh to this place how long has it been open for just past a month a month five weeks now and we are broadcasting in River City that's right yeah uh so we're in the southeast part of the city and this has always been so way back in the day like probably 10 years ago I did a few deals in River City um and at the time it was very like there's nothing here we kind of an island on itself uh and it's good to see now that the businesses have come in a place like this where you can kind of get out of your apartment and come chill with friends so what's the reception been like how's things been you know what it's been an amazing reception good we've had a lot of love from the community you know even before we opened people were finding us on Instagram reaching out excited for there to be something in their neighborhood and as you guys know this neighborhood Has Come Together fairly recently and is still developing there are some wonderful pieces to it you know we have the cork Town common across the hall here or across the street and there wasn't really a place that ties together the neighborhood and so that's sort of how lisman Hotel was inspired my uh my partner David is the developer who built River City and so The Four Towers here and and as part of that you know the prog uh the project was progressing and they looked around and said you know we've created something beautiful here and we need to add life to it you know it needs to be a community that has a pulse and a heartbeat and so they reserved this space for that purpose and had had an idea of what it could be but didn't really know how to turn it into that and he had spoken to some other potential partners and thought about ways that it could come together and we got introduced through his wife so his uh wife is a longtime friend of mine I've known her for about 10 years and David and I had worked together on a Consulting project in Montreal so for one of his developments there that had gone well and then about a year later which was in late 22 he reached out to me about this and he said hey you know I'm working on something in Toronto I was maybe hoping you could help out let's talk a little bit about that and as we started chatting about it you know we both got more excited and decided to partner on it together and so this it's not really considered a restaurant it's more of like a cocktail lounge Lobby Bar fuel to it is kind of the vibe I'm getting from it yeah exactly and part of it was taking the the piece of clay and then molding into what it is versus saying this is what I want and finding the right place for it and so we knew we had this space which is about 1,200 ft so it's not a big space it's not big enough to be a full-size restaurant you don't have a lot of space for a kitchen so we did a really tight kitchen that can produce great food and said you know we want something that adds to the community that's morning afternoon evening and so the idea of that European hotel lobby bar came to mind where you may have breakfast there you may have a coffee and a cant and then you come and have a cocktail before you go out for dinner or you have one cocktail at the end of your uh night before you go to yeah which is uh something I've done on a lot of my trips especially in Europe well and that's the one thing the whole vibe of this place is a very walkable little Community where um you could go from you know chilling with your friends at their a condo come here for a drink and then head out into the core of the city but I like how it kind of keeps that vibe in the whole underpass Park I don't know if you've had a chance to walk through it that was one of my favorite additions to the area how they got this whole Community under the park where instead of having a darli neglected space they made something with it um and very much this ties in like the whole vibe it's got this nice kind of seamless correlation to sort of the vibe of the underpass park or the the culture and the looks and the colors like this mural wall here it all you guys did good is what I'm trying to say in a longwinded way um now you're no stranger to the restaurant scene you've been in the business for over a decade at least yeah it's it's uh approaching two two decades yeah my God there we go okay we're in good company we started out both you and I as uh meat Cutters and then we were oh you were in The Butcher business as well listen listen all great people start in the butcher business the second you meet someone you're like I know I'm going to like you cuz we started in the same spot and you know I got that vibrate off the Hop that like it takes a lot to be in that industry yeah you survive that you could survive anything uh but so you went from there and then tell us a little bit about your journey to get to where you're currently at today yeah yeah so I worked in some food businesses in high school did some other things and had uh a lot lot of the crappy jobs you have as a teenager and you know tried out a bunch of different things and so when it time came time to decide what I was going to do for University or postsecondary I realized that all the jobs that I didn't hate had to do with food nice and uh and so I decided to go to George Brown and do the culinary Management program and a little bit uh the rest is history you know I worked in some good restaurants in Toronto I used uh cooking and Hospitality business because it's a global industry because it's something that's really transferable to travel I worked in France for a year I worked in Italy for a year came back to Toronto uh ran the Tron at summerh Hill most I don't know if either of you guys have been there the best one I would say yeah big rooftop patio nice view of the city so I ran that for a few years I ran the bua restaurants and right now I'm running Italy in my uh full-time amazing job amazing good stuff and and you know 20 years does sound like a long time but when you break it down into a 2-minute summary like that's a pretty fast trajectory to get you to where you are today so kudos to you on on all that and getting it there um so tell us a little bit about what Lisbon hotel is about in terms of the drinks the food like what would you suggest someone tries when they come here so our menu is really curated around those smaller plates that are easy to eat we have some great options that represent you know the uh classic stuff from Europe salumi and cheese we have some interesting dishes that are takes on that like our warm chizo with green sauce and then a lot of easy Bites we have anchovy toast with cucumbers and lemon zest and our one dessert which is all you need because it's so good people are like already raving about it so we have a chocolate mousse that has olive oil Mal and salt and toffee on it and you guys are going to try it before you leave today all right yeah I've noticed this trend on Instagram where people are like putting olive oil in their coffee in their espresso I think it's that it looks disgusting I think it's just for clicks but I might be okay with it now that you're saying you're putting in the dessert maybe this is like there was that Trend around butter and your coffee bullet coffee I know 5 years ago or whatever it was this is the Gateway coffee is that that's what gets you into it yeah you start with olive oil and Progressive butter well you saw one where they put an orange p uh like a slice of orange and then they run the coffee through that yes so Citrus and coffee is is traditional in parts of Italy I think it's Sicily it's definitely the South obviously that's where the citrus gross yeah doesn't look feeling to me have you ever rubbed the rim of your espresso cup with Citrus zest like lemon zest or orange zest should I it's nice it's worth trying can we we can do that all right all right so you guys got a coffee bar here as well you kind of set up for that we do we do so right now we're opening the evenings only so 5:00 p.m. till midnight and it's quite long that's a good yeah yeah yeah yeah and then you know to again to be that sort of Social Hub for this community we are eventually going to be opening morning until night and so uh we have a coffee machine we have an espresso machine eventually we'll offer the pastries the coffee the daytime activities sweet and I I heard a potential rumor of a patio there is there is David was thinking ahead in uh planning this and so when they actually did the Zoning for the building this chunk of uh property just outside here is private attached to this business so I'm sure you've seen uh challenges with Street side patios in Toronto or with condo buildings having patios below them you know we have a great relationship with the condo building in the board we also have this as a private patio so amazing uh we yeah purchased the patio furniture last week and Licensing is in progress so we are very excited for the summer amazing um does David have any other projects coming in River City or it's it's complete River City is complete so this building that we're in is River City phase 4 four right and this was the last one which I believe was just Incorporated early last year so in 2023 okay yeah so you have three three is kind of the showpiece that really cool architecture you see it when you're looking like if you're along King Street and you're looking East it's just this really cool pixelated piece coming out um and what I so much love is that like you no longer have to go to Canary District or some of the other Pockets you can now come right to Lan hotel and uh stay in the community yeah you don't have to travel very far yeah and uh the hope well we know that the community is still developing we have Canary District just on the other side of those buildings and there's a lot of uh condominiums that are still coming online and this community will continue to grow and Thrive you know and I'm sure there will be more development as there is everywhere in Toronto yeah I heard about that can't escape it yeah so no it's got a really um uniqueness to it in the sense of you don't really see Toronto doing the whole Wine Bar Vibe too much yeah like everyone's more focused on the dinner menu and I love that you guys are kind of doing something a little bit different where you are would you say you're one of the first to do I think there are lots of people that are doing great things in Toronto you know thank you oh we got drinks coming up oh it's getting good thank you sir so uh yeah I think there are lots of people that are doing excellent things and you know what there there's no original art fair you're always Reinventing or reinterpreting something that exists and if you do it well enough then it becomes an original that's a very humble response I will accept that response I won't I won't press you further on it what are we drinking what do we got here let's talk about this so this is always available not on the printed menu but is my favorite drink and it's a port and tonic so with white port and tonic and there's something about the Aged and sweet character of the port with the bitter herbal quinine from the tonic that goes together beautifully that's the yeah that's the actual uh ingredient that is in tonic that makes tonic taste like a taste did you know that no no no can you say that word again quinine quinine I am going to sound so smart when I go home tonight to my wife do I have any quinine in the fridge is there enough Quine in our tonic water um so I was in Portugal this summer I've had a port tonic here but it's like when you never had a Negroni or a compari before like the first time you in Europe you're like who cuz you know in Toronto especially in the last I would say like 10 15 years there wasn't that much evolution in the cocktail scene there like barf was doing a couple cool things but few and far between and it's such a simple uh combination with such a like unique taste to it yeah well I'm excited for you guys to try it all right salute Cheers Cheers Cheers come on oh that's so good that is smooth oh that's really good a beautiful way to start the afternoon I uh I'm hydrated I feel hydrated just instantly satisfied yeah cool um so talk us a bit about what uh what the drink menu looks like you guys are still developing to that out or is it kind of where you wanted to be you know what we started with a very strong menu and it will continue to evolve I think we wanted in both the food and the drinks to start with a small menu that we can execute well there's no Duds and then once you know that you can execute everything you build on it you know you introduce specials our general manager who's also the creative mind behind a lot of this is her name is Sally Gillespie and she is a wizard when it comes to the did we meet her we met her very briefly Sally yes shout out Sally shout out big shout out to Sally oh excellent where that is massive lemon I can feed a family have you guys ever seen I think it's called a cedr lemon they're the size of a small melon wow no no they are from Sicily and their pith is probably 2 to 3 in thick and the yeah it's very cool so they grow in the Mediterranean as you expect there's one restaurant now a sort of like world class it's called Uh mirazur and they open it up Hollow it out and then cook a small chicken in it I think and then yeah they actually close it up throw the whole thing in the oven roast the chicken pull it out you know unveil the the chicken that's stuffed with whatever truffles probably or something inside and then they slice it for you table side we got to try this yeah this this sounds like something I need that's coming in the spring right oh yeah exactly exactly can we get a chicken inside of that no pressure but so and what about do you guys have the wine menu sorted out are you working on yeah so we have a a simple wine menu again you know for the wines we wanted to represent the best of Europe has offer we're not looking at the luxury labels the you know burgundy bolo bordo which are excellent wines they're at a price point that's not always accessible and there are so many other great regions from Europe that are under represented yeah and one of the great things is that we have a small space so we don't need a huge allocation of whatever we're buying so if somebody has a case or a couple of cases of something that's unique and available we can take it we don't need a lot of product to make it work here yeah what about ports you guys doing you guys going down that road we we are we are looking at having a great offering from Spain and Portugal Sally is working on that right now I know she had a meeting with some suppliers last week she needs a taste tester yeah we could we'll give you the N or on uh on Sally you know we could do another one for the uh tasting decide what the final ones are maybe off camera we'll uh we'll dolge that I I never had port wine before uh this summer is my like I said I was in Portugal and it was like such a delicious after meal treat almost a dessert in itself to just have that you know Italians were used to having uh graa at the end of it and don't get me wrong I love my kamam but something about that Port was such a my stomach my acid reflux really appreciated that it was a lot more like uh digestible than some of the uh the hard Compares and stuff um that's awesome man so talk to me about the food a little bit Yeah so the food is on a lot of it is with uhar small plates sharing style more than enough options to have a meal but can also be a little bit of a snack Mason sanki is our chef and he has done some really great interpretations of things we're going to try a couple of dishes one of which is the marinated mushrooms with a garlic aoli it's been a big hit so far simple and a lot of technique put into it that you know isn't isn't elaborate on the plate but hopefully you'll you'll taste it in the uh in the palet in the palette and similar with the warm trees or with green green sauce you know it's about the flavors and how it all comes together sure when you think about most restaurants I think a lot of people look at a lens of uh a Cuisine or a culture right you're an Italian restaurant you have to cook food that's traditionally made in Italy could be set of Chinese or or any other place that's sort of your palette that you paint with is the culture now in this case we don't have a culture strictly like we have a Portuguese name but it's not a Portuguese menu per se and so our limiting thing is actually the size of the kitchen so we don't have a hood we only have a superpowered oven so it's a combination oven and you know we got like a top-of-the line brand new very cool oven that has three decks and so really the canvas that we can paint on is what can we make in this small kitchen with limited storage limited cooking equipment right we don't have a boil like a pasta boiler we don't have a deep fryer we don't have uh gas stove top so it's really about that's the pette that you're using to paint from yeah and that's like how can your creativity be applied to use the limited you know options you have to come up with some really incredible dishes and pieces and stuff like that um there just a lot going on it's all good and and then uh in the summer we're going to expand you know we have we'll be doubling our capacity in the summer so we're going to have to add something we're planning had a little raw bar outside you know nice very cool oysters yeah oysters other Kudos and uh and seafood dishes I I think you guys are going to have tremendous success like just sitting here we've seen so many people we're in February it's cold yeah today's one of those weird minus 10 days which yesterday was like plus 10 anyhow and uh you see the people walking by and I think having that one central place where you can just pop in is uh something I so much love about Europe and that Gap is now what I'm learning from you starting to get filled in a place like this yeah and I think we're seeing it with Toronto you guys probably know better than me that Toronto is getting bigger and so the neighborhoods are getting smaller people don't travel as far one because it takes a very long time to get across the city of Toronto now Y and so it's more about what's in your local neighborhood what's your go-to spot and obviously Co really uh pushed the idea of like shopping local and supporting your local businesses and I think that's a long-term good thing for everybody yeah I definitely see the city getting like as it gets more dense like you hit it right on you're not going to want to travel your doctor is not going to be an hour away you're going to go to your local doctor your local dentist or whatnot um and I think your timing of this is probably like right in the right cusp where thankfully you didn't come out before Co cuz know that would have been um but now it's like everyone's wanting to go back to these places and I think the Toronto food culture scene in itself I mean I'm sure you know that now we have Michin star restaurants we didn't have this even 3 years ago uh people are open to exploring these new places and we have a lot of conversations with like where do you guys like going what do you suggest we go for dinner and stuff like that yeah so I want to kind of pick your brain um you know second to this place cuz obviously this is number one what are some of the spots in the city that you think people need to try I know you're a west ender oo I keep a a list on my phone for this because I'm in the industry people yeah are often asking for recommendations so I keep a list sort of thinking about you know what what's the occasion that you want are you looking for something for a date for a casual weekday dinner you know I have there are great representation of all cultures and Foods in Toronto you have great Ramen you have great sushi you have great Italian food obviously Italian food there are so many Italian restaurants too many maybe too many you know I I thought that for many years and then another Italian restaurant opens up and it's busy and then another Italian restaurant open up opens up and it's busy and I don't understand how people have this insatiable appetite for Italian food but in the GTA they do it's it's unbelievable truly so what would be like your uh Dark Horse we like you know what I'm a three for wild card this is the place you got to try it could be any can I reference the list yeah yeah of course you can refence list do you want to do maybe we'll drop a news you can use segment sure yeah we're just we're freestyling today the Toronto Star put out a story this week about 44,000 Realtors did you read that yeah 44,000 Realtors are leaving leaving the city or or leaving the industry which I welcome I wish that was the case but uh that's actually not true uh so the Toronto real estate board put out this pretty I wouldn't say damning but pretty accurate representation what this Toronto Star article did was they looked at all people in the real estate related industry so it's Realtors it's property managers it's appraisers and came up with a number of 44,000 leaving so unfortunately the competition is still really dense um but if you read that article the correct takeaway is about 5,000 have left the industry out of 110 we at 105 in Ontario it's very different number yeah guess how many Realtors are in the city probably I would imagine half are in the GTA of whatever is in Ontario is so 110 are in Ontario so I'm guessing it's 55 or 60 in the Toronto area 80,000 wow yeah wow there's more Realtors than Italian restaurants there is and you know a lot of uh servers and bartenders and people that were in the hospitality industry move to real estate during during Co and you know one of the reasons is the the sales skills obviously right the interpersonal sales the sales skills the understanding how to Market a product how to curate your Spiel to whoever you're dealing with right you can be selling the same product but who you're selling it to you're going to pitch it a little bit differently plus Hospitality like we've been doing aot lot of uh did you watch the bear oh yeah of course so good right so good so good we've been deep into that and uh we're reading like a lot of the hospitality books Danny Danny Meyers U I can't remember the name of the book setting the table setting the table thank you required reading for this indry like this is all new to me really and like I finally made the connection of hospitality and real estate like we don't yeah anyone could sell but it's how you make the people feel and that's anyone could cook food but it's what you're experienc like when you're having the food that really elevates the whole process yeah and like which Toronto is no cheap City when you're spending 500 bucks on a meal if you're getting service you're like you know that can ruin the whole meal even though the meal might be good right so um and I think on the opposite side of that service can be technically flawed but if it's warm and caring and you feel like somebody's genuinely trying to take care of you absolutely it can still be a good experience absolutely which is the perfect segue because I want to give you something a gift for having us here oh so we do this thing on the show where um basically we blow off a cannon of confetti I love that would you be interested in I would love nothing more cuz you are our inaugural on location podcast podcast I think it's only right that we we brought one on location um and we'd love for you to do the honors of blowing their first live to air no don't point it so you're going to twist it but you really want to yeah just so yeah there you go let's see what you got there we're open [Laughter] oh man Chef came out thought aom had gone off we got the authorities here we got a couple other things for here you keep this oh perfect you know what this is going to go up on the mant there we'll sign it at the end we got some more STK it's a pleasure to uh to have you guys here oh look at this swag hat when you're out there working the uh work in the patio in the summer protect that beautiful head of yours so oh there's more goodies in here we did yeah I thought it'd be fitting that since you guys are serving coffee we're going to give you our custom branded spresso cups ooh yes the saucer gives way to uh what's inside look at this this is amazing this is really good yeah we made a pretty big mess you good with very nice yeah we're going to have to clean that up okay we we can help after the cameras go off it's uh you know what it's fun yeah I think 20 minutes and we had to start with a bang right yeah absolutely but we were asking Adam where his favorite restaurants in the city were so the the one that comes to mind the secret spot that everyone should know is Piccolo piano sister restaurant of piano piano there's a few of them in the city one on harbard one on Mount Pleasant I think they have a spot on harbard which used to be called the harbard room small restaurant they have the best wood burning pizza and a little bit more creative menu they have a small patio in the back it's one of our favorite date spots in the neighborhood West End definitely great is it on Harvard as well it's on Harvard yeah Harvard and SP very close Toano the original piano piano have you tried dra right across the street from draf I've never been it's freaking good yeah it's like six courses um very family style like in terms of the cuisine that they serve there but it's like Hidden Gem and so good I'm so excited to try it I've always been uh interested by it but I haven't been there before yeah it's worth it you got a book in advance yeah I think we're like two and a half months to get a res there yeah and it was like Wednesday night at 9:30 harbard harbard has gone through phases where it's had great restaurants scene because there's also a a sushi place there okay yeah I it's called y yasu okay yasu great omaz menu okay it was one of the first ones in the city like it was early on I I remember going there probably 10 years ago now and uh and it's still there and and doing doing great so that little strip of Harbor's got some some good places some good gems yeah and I like that it's kind of like in the center of it all it's not like on a te technical Main Street uh but it still has like really good feeling and draus is in like this old Victorian house so it's not your typical old school restaurant style it's a very relaxed feel to it right yeah yeah I checked out the well recently I'm sure you guys have been I don't know if you're y oh anything there we're well versed in the well we did our tour what' you think I thought the well was very cool obv there's still a lot that's coming online I went to Lulu Bar for the first time there so uh Hawaiian inspired restaurant you know obviously Lulu Honolulu and the restaurant group is based in Calgary so this is their first expansion into Toronto and then there're they have another two restaurants that I think are opening in the well but uh that was a a memorable one that I went to recently have you tried Mandy salad I have actually you and I went together on aington we did yeah a yeah I think that's the only time I've been we did yes did you do the uh hos and duck salad no think they were sold duck oh they were sold out yeah so that's our yeah so so recently I actually went recently as well to the oen location and first time I went with Mark he took me to the aington location and same thing they were sold out of the hois and duck so I had uh we went for like The Lumberjack salad or something that's right yeah Lumberjack cuz he had a shovel yeah a big yeah they changed the look to go into the cuz they the they are yeah yeah very different aesthetic than aington but it's packed like every even though this is a relatively new space like every Prince Street Pizza okay for its own reasons it's really busy but like even Dello coffee Quantum coffee like I like that concept and I think it plays into what you were saying of that's going to be a community in its own all within that kind of structure where you don't have to go even though SP has some of the greatest restaurants in the city everything's right there at your doorstep yeah so I think more of that's something going be a play you know thinking about real estate I don't know of any other city that's leaned so hard into that concept the same way as Toronto has the well is the first one that's opened right Mish Village is coming along maybe it's going to you know I don't know if it's going to happen this year or not yeah that's a great question we don't have the answer to that Mish vill but similar idea where you have you know work live play allinone community over you know a big area and then there's two on duffen there's one at blur and Duff and then Brock school and Galleria Park the old Brock school there um yeah all these little micro communities I think what's good is like we can learn from other cities where New York is what do they call it like the city of neighborhoods right uh but they're built up there is no more room to create this Concepts and this is something that we're taking on here um that's going to be interesting like cuz we grew up in an era where like you traveled an hour for food like that was normal do you think you would adjust to that I think you you'll do it of course yeah you you would go to visit your friend and go to a restaurant in their neighborhood you'll travel across the city but are you doing it on a regular basis exactly I think so the convenience of of being able to just like hop down I mean we're surrounded by condos here right like hop downstairs and just get your cup of coffee for the day or sit down have your meal yeah chill I don't know if you grew up in Toronto Joey but I remember you know to go downtown for a restaurant was pretty normal like there weren't that many neighborhood restaurants and definitely not good ones right I feel like St Clair was like the first outside of downtown maybe College a little bit but St Clair was like the really one where like places like fedo and rushon when they opened up you're like oh I don't have to go downtown for food anymore and I think that's starting to expand more yeah I remember the rushan uh long time ago yeah very good restaurant yeah like date night you want to impress a girl yeah that's you take her yeah definitely I still take my wife there ni she's still not impressed but we'll keep trying no she's impressed she likes the Russian you know what that 20 years ago when you were uh a butcher cing that was that was a very nice meal out actually our first date was at uh it was called catch and it was across from the rushon they were that's right they were owned by the same uh people yep same people were managing it that was uh funny that it all comes full circle yeah um so what about coffee shops any places you think people I I'm partial to the Melo I do love their coffee I think they do a great job you got a Deelan right here yeah yeah Midtown uh and they opened up one just down the street from I guess this was a itional moment that's happening so there's there's a new location there's two on young just like a few doors down from each other yeah near young and Eglington that's right yeah and they have uh yeah new aesthetic and they're kind of pushing that more um more modern feel to it yeah yeah can I just say you've had probably 20 people try to come in that is a sign of a really good place it's uh it's been a very warm reception from the community and we're really happy to uh yeah we're really happy to have the audience yeah this couldn't be planned any better like there's there been at least four or five different groups of people uh we're we're recording about two hours before they open who want to come in so that speaks to you guys doing probably a lot of things right but that's uh at least one or two yeah so tell me about your coffee here can you share the beans or is that going to be a closely guarded uh so we're using pilot coffee and uh we're going to have an espresso I think uh any minute cool the coffee is pilot you know we have a FY machine I tend to like uh more European style or Italian style a little bit darker roast you know there are some great new age coffees as well oh that's a good word so I call it hipster coffee but I think new age is the politically correct word I should be using and uh and I I was opening an espresso Bar for a big company maybe six or seven years ago in the city and so we tried I think 10 different roosters mostly Canadian but you know small midsize roaster and Dello was the one that we ultimately picked after going through tasting at least 50 different espresso blands and uh I really love their dancing dancing goats or jumping goats dancing goats goats yeah that's what made me try yeah yeah gotta give you more credit man you're up there with uh with Mr Adam over here with the quality yeah yeah that's that's a good one dark hores uh very good coffee as well uh they're partnered up with detour so you know they're the one shop that's in the neighborhood here and uh and they they have a great following as well they've got I don't know six or seven in the GTA now yeah I think they started on Diner originally they had a shop um a coffee shop just down the street here in kind of Queen East and uh are they up to six you think five six I think so I know they're in Hamilton as well now so they probably went there during the pandemic expansion into Hamilton yeah yeah Ballz is another one that I was quite surprised of how many locations they have they have like 15 locations they're in like Niagara on the Lake yeah they they've grown a lot and actually they're on Porter so I think they have the maybe exclusive with Porter I know that uh whenever I fly you know the short Hall flights to the US it's ballzack coffee and steam whistle beer so steam whistle I knew I didn't know that about ballzack good on them I they're local right they're Toronto steam whistle ball yeah yeah yeah she uh she was quite early on in the coffee Movement Like think it was before you know es everyone was drinking espresso based coffees when it was still mostly drip coffee in Toronto she was on The Cutting Edge with espresso and you know beautiful design in their their shops and good coffee yeah my favorite one is the location uh lands down in St Clair in Foundry right right so they have one shop have you been there yeah have it's such a vibe in that spot when you go there that was a converted uh General Electric had one of their facilities there and uh just the ceiling Heights a smell the second you walk in like there's something romantic about food and real estate at least I I feel that romance I don't know if everyone else feels it but like getting that right is when they get it right that feeling is so pure and just makes you enjoy the space so much much more and what I like seeing where the city is going is it's not just condos anymore um and David and River City they they never were just condos there was always another element to that and I feel a lot of that's transferred over into the space here of like this isn't just another restaurant for the purpose of serving people food this this feels like a place where you can come and just uh be with friends and chill out and exactly exactly and so you know David was really adamant on making sure that the community had that and uh the hope is that we can replicate it in some the other Urban Capital communities where do you know off hand I can't tell you that yet oh but there are more coming there are the plan is for there to be more yeah okay I didn't know that talk to a restaurant tour and you get the you get the tea yeah yeah I love the intersection of real estate and Hospitality because with the example of Lisbon hotel in this community is when you have a coffee shop a restaurant you know it gives it gives life to the neighborhood right and it gives you a place to say hi to people we're already having that where customers will come in and wave to another table the Hey Joe how are you nice to see you and uh and so you know where you have that intersection of real estate that is with hospitality or you know commercial real estate like they they complement each other so you know to know one and not know a little bit about the other I think is uh putting putting blinders on for sure um and I think like we're going to be seeing more of that where the city's got to do a better job with zoning and kind of incorporating or letting people to have these type of ideas oo I'm excited I am pun oh do you guys smell that smells uh delicious there is that yeah I smell that yeah it smells great I've been I've been watching I've been stalking your Instagram since it came up so I am very excited about the food we got with the thing that caught my eye on the menu I don't know if it's uh available at this moment um the anchovy toast we're uh featuring something else today nice is going to try uh shrimp toast which is currently uh the special big shrimp guy here love my shrimp oh I'm I'm on Bo 100% yeah excellent so uh yeah there's also the outlet to be creative here because with this many seats you know you're not again you're not planning for hundreds and hundreds of orders of something you know if you have 10 orders that's probably more than enough for a night and you have to be more creative keep the team inspired and excited uh same thing with the bar so so do you uh who's kind of like driving the ideas here is it a combination of the staff and you guys Sally is the queen Sally is a queen yeah she got Sally on here she's the one with all the great ideas and uh you know David and I uh gave her the palette to paint with and uh support her you know creative uh expression that's amazing so we're having a Sally creation the shrimp toast is yes yeah good stuff all righty all right the shizo dish here sweet green sauce wendia windia and Herb based essentially it does have a little kick to it we can oh yes uh mushrooms my chi PTO Belling oyers a garlic Koli on the bottom of the plate and some fried herbs this is black Bird's uh sourdough amazing this looks incredible uh Joey do you want to do the honors uh yeah okay I feel like I've been talking you deserve oh the first time all right shot this looks Inc so she did say green sauce is a little spicy yeah so just uh more than okay with me all right all right and it looks beautiful it's easy I love the plates oh yeah the plates were some of them are uh from a restaurant supply company and then a lot of them were uh vintage shop and and sort of thrifted by Sally and myself same with the glassware love it one of the ideas was that in order for this to fit into the community it couldn't be something that was shiny and new and and feeling totally corporate right so in the design we were thoughtful to to not overdesign yeah there some good good faces keep talking cuz I got some words at the end of this yeah so we we didn't want to overdesign we uh we wanted to leave the space a little bit raw to uh also add some things that had a real patina to them so the plates the glasswar the knives are a type of knife that was created in the 70s and ' 80s in England they're called cheffield knives so we bought all of those and sort of imported them from Europe uh that were you know probably from somebody's grandmother's basement and they were selling stuff on Etsy and uh and that's how we you know put together a lot of the table wear amazing I was going to say this does feel like sorry Adam I'm meeting here no no please um this a lot of the the table wear does feel very European and very something much you would have at your grandmother's house you go over like even the forks I love the the whole intricacy on the spoons and stuff yep oh my God feel like a king thank you so much okay this the Shizu is this is next level yeah um the the flavors of the turo itself is incredible and that green sauce is it it does have a it does have a slight kick to it uh but oh my God it's just everything pops yeah very simplistic but like really really comes together 10 out of 10 Sally yeah yeah and we we wanted to have the ability to taste a bunch of different things you know there's there are great restaurants where you can go and get one plate obviously I you know I'm a fan of going and trying a bunch of different things you know what a what a waste it is to have a a pette and not use it to your uh to the full poti the full potential yeah what's like the wildest dish you like you tried ooh have you ever had gooy du duck go duck gooey duck gooey duck no you oh you really don't know a gooey duck no what's a gooey duck it's a type of clam that's uh so it's not even a duck no okay I definitely not had it uh it it's a type of clam you've probably seen it on online but it's got a oval shell and then a long appendage okay that that grows out of it okay sometimes shrinks sometimes gross understood it has some uh you know potential uh misre entation or potential for misrepresentation I feel the phallic Essence you're describing of this and uh and so it can be prepared like a clam it's sometimes used in not raw types of sushi but like a lightly cooked type of sushi so I had guoy clam that was interesting and uh one time at bua we actually had lamb testicles okay yeah I'm I I'm all about that like all the cuts that nobody likes I'm I could eat liver for days tripe doesn't scare me like I'm all for before I've had uh lamine like um yeah I've had testicles I've tried uh tried the D I tried it it's a little chewy so so you've actually had penis I have yeah wow what animal get in with shrimp toast oh amazing all the flavors of a shrimp cocktail and a little opened Sando 10 out of 10 so far your nail yeah um I just want to put in a little detail you guys got the Nova Pon cups the Nova Pon espresso cups so this is I'm very I'm very picky when it comes to cup so I always feel the bottom and sometimes they'll trick you with the knockoff ones and I N these people don't knock off this is the real deal it makes a big difference when you have a proper double thick ceramic cup and it holds the heat a lot more all right let's do this pinkies up before we dive into those shrimps cuz that looks so good did I just say I ate D on air [Laughter] roll with it oh that's good that's good that's very good a nice a nice pungent uh new age did I say that right nice new age flavor yeah the the most Italian ones have heavy roast so much that you lose some of the acidity we don't like a roast that's that heavy so to have something where it retains the acidity but you have that dark roasty chocolatey kind of flavor Y is uh is the style that we like no there's a lot of work and effort that went into all the ideas you know the the offering how to make the space turn into something that's viable and enjoyable uh you know in in thinking about Decor we wanted to create something that worked during the day we we have a lot of Windows floor ceiling window so you get a lot of light during the day and that can make for a beautiful coffee shop but if it feels too white and Airy then it doesn't is not the right Ambiance in the evening and if you go with too much dark wood and you know sort of evening colors and feel then it doesn't appeal to somebody to enjoy during the day and so it's tough to thread that needle of enjoyable at night and enjoyable during the day from a space and aesthetic standpoint so we really tried to do that so far the reception's been good I think you nailed it so far um everything we've had is so uniquely flavored and it's not like something you would typically get at a restaurant and I kind of like that element of like it's not a restaurant yet still the food is incredibly good cuz sometimes you go to these places and they just have like they'll they'll bring in the food from the outside and you never want to Y right um my big pet peeve is I don't like people working at coffee shops drives me nuts I think from a from a from a economic standpoint like if you're there for for 3 hours and you have one espresso it's very hard for them to stay in business yeah um so I do kind of like the fact that like I wouldn't I wouldn't come here to necessarily work maybe to fire off a quick email um but this is like a really good in between like a lunch spot you know you're doing showings you come in you have a quick bite yeah maybe have some por Tonic If your client's really stressing you out go on your way I want to try this shrimp toast really bad y do you want to get in there let's do it yeah everybody loves a shrimp cocktail and so it's all the flavors of that put into uh a different form is there a Jam at the bottom that's the cocktail sauce okay hi guy oh yeah oh my God little bit of Iron Chef here you guys got the the toast at the same time everyone's tasting that was fantastic yeah everything has been like I said it's different it's all different and really really well done you guys seem to compliment your compliment each other really well thank you appreciate it the uh shark and Swan and where what's the origin of the nicknames oh um mine was I don't know how I became Mark the shark I just started calling myself that I don't think anyone gave me that name but uh Joy the swan so going back to the book unreasonable Hospitality there's a line in it where he talks about how the service is not where I got the inspiration for Joey from but this just ties the hospitality piece together um that the swan is very graceful above water but below the feet are moving they're hustling it's it's getting it done and I find Jo always the same when you meet him he's very calm cool Collective he's not trying to fast sell you or do any of those type of things but below the water he's thinking okay how can I make this experience better where where are they telling me that they want to live without them telling me that he's always you always kind of got those um the engine turning in that regard right yeah yeah um but there was a a show about the Lakers I think it's called Showtime okay uh where documents how uh Magic Johnson enjoyed the Lakers and uh what's the guy from Step Brothers not will frell the other guy um what's his actual name I can't remember I can picture him yeah with the hair yeah he plays Dr bus the owner of the Lakers proba me got the name wrong but anyhow he describes himself that way where above water he's calm but underneath he's he's hustling I saw elements of that in Joey so I'm like you know what you need a you need a animal name so you enjoy the onean that's it yeah yeah beautiful I'm going have some more mushrooms cuz these are so good it's a that's actually a fairly common analogy in the hospitality world and I think they might have talked about it in the bear I don't know how far you guys are we finished it yeah you can spoilers are loud okay so yeah I think they talked about it in the bear where it's it's that idea of like presenting graceful while there's a million things going on and uh season 2 the last episode you know there there were a lot of things throughout the show that were almost uh traumatic for people that have worked in the industry like they did a very good job of representing it sometimes exaggerating but a lot of that stuff has happened and in the last episode of season 2 something that I think they just did an incredible job of was every time that one of the characters goes from the kitchen to the dining room or vice versa they change the music in an instant and it goes from really heavy intense rock music when they're in the kitchen with the very bright intense lights and the second they cross the threshold of the door the music changes they go to the low lighting of the dining room and that's an experience that you have as somebody that's working in a restaurant you know it's it's probably true of most uh most operations and most businesses there's a the the hidden underbelly all of the operational stuff that makes it work in Hospitality you go between the two so frequently which I think they really did a great job of showing I I didn't pick that up but I can totally visualize especially the lighting how it's so bright in the kitchen and you definitely get that Vibe of like the chaos ends in the kitchen and then the service starts in the um dining hall I guess or the restaurant you call it um was your who's your favorite character cousin rich is is a great one I I was I wasn't sure if you were going to say that that's ours is it yours cousin cousin is cousin yeah I wasn't sure if you're going to take the same take as being in the restaurant industry cuz some people have been like oh he's annoying we know that guy we don't like him yeah he's the he's the uh rags to Rich's story so you know it's it's easy to uh fall in love with that character got it yeah yeah they did such a good job transition to where you finished it right oh yeah okay good didn't want to spoil it for you yeah no no no we're good yeah yeah they they they had him get the best the the best turnaround that's like that he held on to that old tradition up until the last second yeah character Arc was beautiful yeah and you know obviously being from Toronto the the matd mat Hometown Hometown proud yeah we have you tried Matty's patties yet oh I have so good very good I was pleasantly surprised I thought it was going to be like ah Toronto like overhype thing but it was uh no very good burgers I think you you know the other one that you and I have spoken about before is cabanos I they also have great burgers are they still around oh yeah okay so they're no longer in k the kitchen Hub yeah at duffen so they're at Young and blur in their original location oh we tried that one yeah we were there on the it's like a side street St Joseph or something like that exactly it's one street just behind Young Street yeah cuz they um they used to be on Dundas yes and that's no longer there okay that's good to know so okay so I got a little worried that cabanos was yeah it's got that like almost like that Mac sauce that that goes with it it's like it's like a a mature Mac sauce that's a good way of putting it what was that word you taught us in the tonic yeah qu9 better write that down in the notes we got to work it into like a sales like when we're showing up oh the unit here is very Quine views are Quine yeah cabanos has great Burgers the other one from Maddie mat that uh I really like is Fonda bam okay it's on oh yeah on Dundas Dundas and palm maybe just west of BST and you know it was a partnership with him and the uh the team from ketal okay the I know they parted ways with grand fan gamron and you know there was a media coverage on it it was not a not a pretty break nice breakup got it and yeah they partnered with matd mat and so now there's this great taco and Mexican restaurant at on Dundas called fond I did not know I did know that I own Prime C food but I've not tried there yet I'm not eaten there yet supposed to be amazing like really excellent execution you know it's industry veterans there like the people that are actually there running it day-to-day are consument professionals like really experienced the the chef Coulson was I believe the executive chef of canoe for years like really talented guy great service and the space is beautiful yeah really uh and then that's a a restaurant that I think is going to be around for a long time you know they obviously invested in the build their location is great like it's at Queen and aington is but not on aington and the you know the aington that we all know and maybe Love sometimes not sometimes we want to forget about some yeah that one so yeah matd mat you know as much as his career has had a like unpredictable rocket ship trajectory like he has I think made a real uh positive impact on the dining scene in Toronto yeah and I think it's it's easy to hate on him when you watch from afar and kind of the pre bear stuff I I know I don't know he's had I've always had this weird feeling like is he really someone I don't know but after the bear and kind of definitely after that Burger I was like okay this is a real deal like I Parts in labor obvious he had a big part in that as well um but it's it's it's uh the guy works his ass off you cannot you know he's done so many things for so long from the vice days to the Queen West West days like parkta days like he deserves the success he has now it's easy to hate on someone when you see them but like it's been like 20 years of restaurants and shows and everything else and glad to see finally I think he's even executive producer of the bear or something on the that side of it he had a big part in it yeah no and you could tell when you're watching it that it seems very authentic it seems very like what you would experience in a restaurant and The Vibes like they get it right yeah yeah and uh this has been lovely we should uh probably start to wrap up because we got to clean up some confetti we we do absolutely Adam thanks for having us it's fantastic oh it's been a pleasure you guys location 19 Lauren Harris Square currently you guys are open Tuesday to Saturday 5:00 p.m. to midnight summer going to have a patio breakfast and lunch yeah we expect in the spring we'll be open from 8:00 a.m. until midnight awesome cool leave it there yeah thanks for having us thank you guys all right absolutely thanks for listening to the Toronto livings real estate podcast you could find more information on how we work over at Toronto livings with.com be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get price reports from over 15 see different neighborhoods in the city each and every month if you got any value please like subscribe and share with your friends and if you made it this far thanks for [Music] listening

2024-03-06 05:48

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