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Three Out of Four Ain’t Bad
For the next little while the culinary spotlight in Toronto won’t be on Queen West, Rosedale or Yorkville. Instead critics and foodies should spend some time at the corner of Oxford and Augusta in Kensington Market. In recent weeks a bakery and two restaurants have added to the rich culinary stew in the market.
First to move in was Annex stalwart, Alchemy Bakery(ignore the address on the site, they really ARE in Kensington). Their old digs on Bathurst is slowly being turned into a video store and sadly Annex residents will now have to trek down into the market for some of Alchemy’s artisanal loaves or their quirky shortbread cookies.
Torontoist had also been noticing the construction going on across the street from the bakers and was pleasantly surprised to see a bright, clean new Vegan restaurant pop up. The Urban Herbivore (pictured above) is a Kensington Market outpost for Fressen owner Stephen Gardner. The new restaurant has been getting buzz with vegetarians and vegans around the market for their massive tasty and huge sandwiches (bbq tofu, sesame tempeh, avocado, grilled veggie are your options) and salads.
The third newcomer turned the “Fish Shack” on the southeast corner of the street and turned into a burrito bungalow. The feel and decor at Big Fat Burrito is antiseptic by market standards but part of that probably has to do with the fact they’re too busy wrapping burritos to worry about touching up the place. Torontoist went in over the weekend and was dismayed to see the frazzled employees trying to cope with weekend crowds. Fortunately, he wasn’t disappointed by the burrito.
Judging by the late hours, the owners of BFB are aiming the restaurant at hungry bar patrons that are tired of pizza and nearby Chinese. Let’s hope they get a little quicker on that grill, drunken bar hoppers are known for a lot of things, patience isn’t one of them.