Kensington Market gets a taco-free Mexican spot

Kensington Market isn’t short on Mexican restaurants, but its newest one offers something different than the usual lineup of tacos and empanadas. Torteria San Cosme specializes in tortas, and has been doing some swift sandwich business since opening earlier this month. “We sold over 350 tortas one day last week,” says owner Arturo Anhalt, who also owns the Milagro restaurants. “We couldn’t even do a dinner shift because we ran out of bread!” Almost all of the ingredients are sourced from the market, including the chewy telera rolls baked daily by Blackbird Baking Co., and the meat, sourced from Sanagan’s. The popular Cubana (pictured above) features pig three ways: smoked ham, adobo pork and bacon, topped with avocado, gouda, tomato and a smear of mustard. Other snacks on the menu include corn on the cob, stewed beans, house-made chips and churros.

The colourful room, designed by +tongtong (The Drake Hotel, Drake Devonshire), was made to resemble a street-food stall. Anhalt had no plans of opening a new restaurant, but when he spied this perfect corner spot, he couldn’t resist. “I told my girlfriend not to let me do it, but of course I called the landlord the next day.”

The mural, featuring Mexico City’s Angel of Independence monument, was painted by Milagro server Stephanie Latulipe.

The Mexican sweets aren’t sourced from the market (they come straight from Mexico).

181 Baldwin St., 416-599-2855, sancosme.ca, @SanCosme_