Rosewater’s former chef, Paul Boehmer, jumps on the Ossington bandwagon with his new restaurant
How much more can Ossington take? A lot, it seems. The avenue’s seemingly endless gentrification will take another step this summer when chef Paul Boehmer opens his first restaurant, Böhmer. After considering Queen West and Yorkville, the former Rosewater Supper Club chef set his sights on a 5,000-square-foot single-storey building at 93 Ossington Avenue. “I see a real surge of restaurants on Ossington. It’s bringing the whole street alive, and it’s full every day,” says the chef, whose credits also include Scaramouche, Atlas and, more recently, Six Steps. “If you capture a reasonable market—like, don’t charge $45 for an entrée—and keep it to a price range where people can afford it and hang out, they’ll keep coming back.”
Boehmer sums up the menu with one word: local. “I’m going back to my roots, to when I apprenticed with Michael Stadtländer 25 years ago,” he says, noting that caribou and foie gras will be some of the items featured. “I’m also working with Michael Potters [Harvest, Spoke Club], and there’s going to be a market concept on the side where we’re going to sell preserves and vinegars.” He estimates appetizers will cost $10 to $20 and mains $20 to $30.
The dining room will have a recycled wood motif, done by local furniture makers Brothers Dressler. The decor will be a collaboration between Boehmer and Roy Banse, whose clients include the Toronto Film Festival and condo builder UrbanCorp. And to get the neighbourhood involved, he plans to display artwork and photography by locals.
As for the vanity moniker, Boehmer says it wasn’t his idea. “I got convinced by my friends—mainly Adam Calhoun from Oyster Boy, who insisted on it. So the signage is my signature.”
“If you capture a reasonable market—like, don’t charge $45 for an entrée—and keep it to a price range where people can afford it and hang out, they’ll keep coming back.”
Novel concept – ‘don’t gouge people’ – it’s just crazy enough to work! I Just pray more upscale business ventures keep moving in! It was such a tragic strip before.
Who needs a neighbourhood where you can walk down the street without tripping over drunk hipsters at night or fat investors surveying the possible store locations during the day.
who needs another spot on ossington. Boehmer, How can you choose ossington over Yorkville??? Do you really leave in beautiful To….Maybe you can’t afford to pay the rent on Yorkville.
Good luck on oss
Didi
“Boehmer, How can you choose ossington over Yorkville???”
“Didi” (LOL), could it possibly be that Yorkville is a soulless enclave of cranial-rectal inversion par excellence, crammed with lost people wasting time and money, and a number of hopelessly pointless, dysfunctional bars? The only thing there more consistently present than the smell of delusion and desperation in the air are the Ferraris in front of that place that burned down. I mean, have you actually been to One and looked around? LOL … ugh.
“Boehmer, How can you choose ossington over Yorkville???”
uh, Didi? yeah….I’m with WhatSo (and I can imagine most of the sane people in this city are….)
I’ve been looking forward to the opening but haven’t heard anything, does anyone know if and or when it is opening?
Any info or update appreciated.
I’m oh so looking forward to tasting chef’s latest!
Drooling
I think the restaurant will be opening very soon by the looks of it. It’s quite beautiful I’m looking forward to it too.
I went into the newly opened Bohmer Saturday night for a quick drink and ended up booking my birthday dinner for 21 ppl next week based on the really cool decor and promise of a fab meal. Sooooo looking forward to “another” great restaurant on Oss. With Union and Foxley, this is becoming quite the resto strip.
Ted, a warning to you about booking your birthday dinner here. We went to the much anticipated Bohmer for my birthday with 5 girls on the Saturday after it opened. We had 7:30 reservations. Our wine glasses were constantly empty, we had to go to the bar to order more wine. After waiting 1.5 hrs to get our apps, we were starving. We thought our entrees would soon follow. Not so! We were served our dinners at 10:40pm and we couldn’t even talk, we were so famished! The food was not impressive and the portions were not satisfying. We complained many times to all the staff and the manager did not take care of us. It was my birthday and they brought cake for others in the restaurant but not me. It was an absolutely terrible experience. I would never go back and not recommend this to anyone. There are restaurants more concerned about service and experience in this city!
I passed by this restaurant and decided to try. The maitre gave me a face. straight and no smile. We were seated at the back of the restaurant. Lamb and duck were stinky. Smells like blood. They should be able to cook better than that if they have ever cooked before in their entire life. After finishing the dish, I wanted to run one block north to the Golden Turtle for a refresh of my tongue. Just clean the soiled mouth. The picture hanging on the wall is a forest with garbages around. What kind of decoration is that? The frame of the picture must be more expensive than the actual picture.
The best thing in this restaurant was the desert. It was awesome. I feel sorry for this patissier who works at this restaurant to follow such a bad dishes…
Seriously, don’t go here if you don’t want to waste your money and time.
My husband and I had dinner at Boehmer with another couple a little while ago. The food was uninteresting – the veal cheeks were a big disappointment. The service was astonishingly slow, but the worst part was the noise level. It was so loud, we couldn’t talk. Even the waitress couldn’t hear our orders and got it all screwed up. We left without having coffee and dessert because we just had to get out of there. We will never go back.
Went there tonight. Utter disappointment. Uninspired over priced food in a loud, cold room. Skip it.