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Liza Agrba

Liza Agrba has worked as a freelance journalist in Toronto for over a decade and has earned multiple awards. She covers food, business and culture and writes memoir-style pieces. Her work frequently appears in the Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, Toronto Life and many other publications

Latest from Liza Agrba

Sort-of Secret: Littlemans Kitchen, a fledgling food brand and pop up that makes insanely good Japanese cream puffs

Find out how to get their sweet, sweet cracked puffs

Sort-of Secret: Spice Girl Eats, a one-woman operation selling delicious, homemade Indian takeout

Sort-of Secret: Spice Girl Eats, a one-woman operation selling delicious, homemade Indian takeout

When Becca Pereira ended up out of work because of Covid, she got cooking

"People are willing to commute two days a week to get more space": We asked a realtor about recent market trends

Real Estate News

“People are willing to commute two days a week to get more space”: We asked a realtor about recent market trends

Last month, the city experienced a real estate boom, owing to pent-up demand following months of lockdown. Tom Storey, a real estate agent with eight years of experience in the Toronto market, had a front-row seat for all of the action

Sort-of Secret: This Toronto-made ice cream is so popular, it sells out in minutes every single week

Sort-of Secret: This Toronto-made ice cream is so popular, it sells out in minutes every single week

One-woman operation Ruru Baked is doing bonkers business

Toronto stores and restaurants that deliver to cottage country

Toronto stores and restaurants that deliver to cottage country

Including Cheese Boutique, La Palma and Barberian's Butcher Shop

This guy turned his farm into a pop-up picnic spot, and his triple-fried fries are out of this world

This guy turned his farm into a pop-up picnic spot, and his triple-fried fries are out of this world

No reservations are required at Culinary Academy 1909's outdoor dining room

Sort-of Secret: This excellent shawarma stand is hidden in the back of a convenience store

Sort-of Secret: This excellent shawarma stand is hidden in the back of a convenience store

This is no ordinary variety store

Six Ontario pop-ups, food trucks, dairy bars and takeout windows worth the drive from Toronto

Six Ontario pop-ups, food trucks, dairy bars and takeout windows worth the drive from Toronto

Two words: road trip

How to reopen a resort in cottage country: Frisbee golf, room service and curbside check-in

How to reopen a resort in cottage country: Frisbee golf, room service and curbside check-in

Jesse Hamilton, the general manager of Deerhurst Resort in Muskoka, discusses the challenge of jump-starting operations during a pandemic

"It costs $1 million a year to feed the animals": How the Toronto Zoo is functioning without revenue

“It costs $1 million a year to feed the animals”: How the Toronto Zoo is functioning without revenue

Toronto Life went behind the scenes while it was closed to the public

“One buyer wanted 25 per cent off”: Are city slickers scooping up property in cottage country? We asked a realtor

Real Estate News

“One buyer wanted 25 per cent off”: Are city slickers scooping up property in cottage country? We asked a realtor

Greg McInnis says plenty of people are trying to buy cottages during the pandemic, but inventory is low because would-be sellers are holding onto their properties

"Not normal is the new normal": How does the pandemic impact mental health treatment? We asked a CAMH psychiatrist

“Not normal is the new normal”: How does the pandemic impact mental health treatment? We asked a CAMH psychiatrist

Dr. David Gratzer has seen a lot of things during his 15-year psychiatry career. But the pandemic poses unprecedented challenges

"When Covid-19 hit we were hemorrhaging money, and every Foodora order was like salt in a gaping wound": What some Toronto restaurateurs think of third-party delivery services

“When Covid-19 hit we were hemorrhaging money, and every Foodora order was like salt in a gaping wound”: What some Toronto restaurateurs think of third-party delivery services

The field is divided. Here’s what six business owners have to say

Toronto restaurants that have morphed into markets selling groceries, meal kits and food-box subscriptions

Toronto restaurants that have morphed into markets selling groceries, meal kits and food-box subscriptions

Including Buca, Montgomery's and Mattachioni

Pantry Raid: Sash Restaurant chef and owner Sash Simpson's five essential kitchen supplies

Pantry Raid: Sash Restaurant chef and owner Sash Simpson’s five essential kitchen supplies

And what he does with each one

"Now more than ever, we are seeing people engage with local food": How Ontario farmers are faring during the pandemic

“Now more than ever, we are seeing people engage with local food”: How Ontario farmers are faring during the pandemic

Some are struggling to keep up with increased demand

"The whole company went into overdrive": What it’s like to run a grocery delivery service in the middle of a pandemic

“The whole company went into overdrive”: What it’s like to run a grocery delivery service in the middle of a pandemic

How Fresh City Farms is dealing with a deluge of orders

"Giving back was already part of our business culture": How five Toronto restaurateurs joined forces to feed the front lines

“Giving back was already part of our business culture”: How five Toronto restaurateurs joined forces to feed the front lines

The Marinara Boys have provided more than 3,200 meals to front-line workers and those in need

"We will always find a way to lift each other up": Operation Ramzieh volunteers on what it's been like to help some of Toronto's most vulnerable citizens

“We will always find a way to lift each other up”: Operation Ramzieh volunteers on what it’s been like to help some of Toronto’s most vulnerable citizens

The organization has delivered more than 5,000 crisis kits to those in need

Five wholesale food distributors that are now open to the public

Five wholesale food distributors that are now open to the public

Buy the same meat and produce served at some of Toronto's top restaurants

Six Toronto chefs that are offering mini cooking classes on Instagram

Six Toronto chefs that are offering mini cooking classes on Instagram

Learn how to make bolognese sauce, butter chicken and babka from the comfort of your own home

"There was a need to be filled": A Q&A with chef Danielle Bassett, who is bootstrapping a community kitchen to feed hundreds of Torontonians

“There was a need to be filled”: A Q&A with chef Danielle Bassett, who is bootstrapping a community kitchen to feed hundreds of Torontonians

She’s working out of the commissary kitchen at the Depanneur

How are the Raptors staying in shape during quarantine? We asked their trainer

How are the Raptors staying in shape during quarantine? We asked their trainer

An NBA-level workout, from the comfort of home

"I found out my restaurant was closed from social media": Out-of-work servers on coping with the new normal

“I found out my restaurant was closed from social media”: Out-of-work servers on coping with the new normal

How five servers were coping, roughly a week into the present reality

Summer Camp Guide

Summer Camp Directory 2026

Summer Camp Directory 2026

Discover our top-rated summer camps for kids of all ages

Wines of the World

Wines of the World: Rediscover your favourites from Toronto Life’s Best Restaurants

Wines of the World: Rediscover your favourites from Toronto Life’s Best Restaurants

From cabernet and merlot to icewine and chardonnay, these wines are primed to pair and delight

Big Stories

Charm Offensive: The cottage country mortgage broker who lost $101 million of his clients’ money

Charm Offensive: The cottage country mortgage broker who lost $101 million of his clients’ money

Sandy Sussman spent decades wooing the upper echelons of Toronto society, becoming their go-to investment guy. He took their money and made a huge bet on cottage country. When the market tanked, he lost it all. Then he did everything in his power to cover it up

The Monster Cottages vs. the Resistance: Inside the ruthless battle for the future of Muskoka

The Monster Cottages vs. the Resistance: Inside the ruthless battle for the future of Muskoka

From Gravenhurst to Port Cockburn, the uber rich and powerful are buying up shoreline for private island compounds and sprawling mega-resorts, radically changing the face of Muskoka and infuriating environmentalists, locals and long-time cottagers

Dead Reckoning: The executor of their estate was supposed to divide it among their friends and family. Instead, he bankrupted it

Dead Reckoning: The executor of their estate was supposed to divide it among their friends and family. Instead, he bankrupted it

When Sami and June Suomalainen died, it fell to the executor of their wills, a lawyer they hardly knew, to sell their million-dollar midtown home and split the proceeds among their inheritors. Seven years and six lawsuits later, the beneficiaries haven’t seen a cent

These are Toronto’s best new restaurants of 2026

These are Toronto’s best new restaurants of 2026

This year’s list includes a 150-square-foot omakase counter, a Parisian brasserie in the Annex, Korean comfort food, Filipino karaoke and a Summerhill seafood spot that’s reinventing the raw bar

Hoop Dreams: Inside the making of the Toronto Tempo, the city’s newly assembled WNBA team

Hoop Dreams: Inside the making of the Toronto Tempo, the city’s newly assembled WNBA team

After years of false starts, months of nail-biting negotiations between the league and the players’ union, and an 11th-hour scramble to build a roster, Toronto finally has its own major-league women’s basketball team. Now it just has to live up to the hype

Live From New York: Inside the slay-or-be-slayed world of Studio 8H with SNL rookie Veronika Slowikowska

Live From New York: Inside the slay-or-be-slayed world of Studio 8H with SNL rookie Veronika Slowikowska

Slowikowska is the first Canadian to join the cast of Saturday Night Live in more than 25 years. She’s also this season’s breakout star. Now all she has to do is keep crushing it

Better Call Deepak: Meet drug lord Ryan Wedding’s self-styled cocaine lawyer

Better Call Deepak: Meet drug lord Ryan Wedding’s self-styled cocaine lawyer

The man who represented the infamous drug lord is unapologetically flashy—he has a Lamborghini and two Maseratis and wears $1,200 Louboutins. But did he become an accomplice to his client’s crimes? Deepak Paradkar says he was just doing his job. The FBI says he crossed a line

The Redemption Tour: The Blue Jays are back. Can they finish what they started?

The Redemption Tour: The Blue Jays are back. Can they finish what they started?

We’re not over it, but they are. Six months after that devastating defeat, the Jays take the field once more, bent more than ever on winning the World Series. Dispatches from the dugout

My Life as a True Crime Spectacle: My father’s crimes fractured our family. Then came the press

My Life as a True Crime Spectacle: My father’s crimes fractured our family. Then came the press

My dad was the infamous Rolex Killer. The news of his crimes nearly broke me. And ever since, my family has been hounded by reporters, podcasters and true crime fanatics—a whole new circle of hell

Robby on the Line: Out and about with Robby Hoffman, comedy’s equal opportunity assassin

Robby on the Line: Out and about with Robby Hoffman, comedy’s equal opportunity assassin

Larry David is the indisputable king of brutal honesty. But if anyone comes close, it’s Robby Hoffman, the suddenly everywhere comic from whom no group is safe

Notes on an Academic Scandal: Why did TMU demote a leading advocate of DEI?

Notes on an Academic Scandal: Why did TMU demote a leading advocate of DEI?

Pamela Sugiman, a former arts dean at Toronto Metropolitan University, was a key player in the school’s push for diversity, equity and inclusion. When the backlash against DEI arrived, she was demoted. The school says it was a coincidence. She disagrees

City of Renters: The dream of home ownership isn’t dead. Maybe it should be?

City of Renters: The dream of home ownership isn’t dead. Maybe it should be?

Scenes from the rent-for-life revolution

This generation was pummelled by Covid high school. Now the job market wants to replace them with AI

This generation was pummelled by Covid high school. Now the job market wants to replace them with AI

It’s hard out here for a 20-something

The High Price of Hope: Inside Toronto’s white-hot fertility market

The High Price of Hope: Inside Toronto’s white-hot fertility market

Desperate wannabe parents are betting their life savings on unproven treatments and false promises

Man vs. Machine: ChatGPT caused him to spiral into delusion. Now he’s suing OpenAI

Man vs. Machine: ChatGPT caused him to spiral into delusion. Now he’s suing OpenAI

Last spring, a chatbot convinced Allan Brooks that he had discovered a revolutionary mathematical theory. He says it nearly destroyed him

Smart City: 20 mind-blowing Toronto inventions that are changing the world

Smart City: 20 mind-blowing Toronto inventions that are changing the world

Homegrown innovations that will transform lives for the better

293 Days Without My Son: I gave up everything to rescue my kidnapped child from my abusive husband

293 Days Without My Son: I gave up everything to rescue my kidnapped child from my abusive husband

When Valentino was abducted, I knew three things: he’d been taken by his father, he was somewhere in India and I would not rest until I found him

Just Listed

For Sale: 99 Lake Promenade

For Sale: 99 Lake Promenade

This classic Hamptons-style home by Chatsworth Fine Homes offers an exciting opportunity to customize a new dream home and build instant value - without the long wait of new construction

For Sale: 92 Arjay Crescent

For Sale: 92 Arjay Crescent

As luxury buyers become increasingly focused on wellness, privacy, and long-term livability, a new generation of custom homes is emerging – one defined less by excess and more by thoughtful design

For Sale: 171 Durant Ave

For Sale: 171 Durant Ave

This rare property features 2 houses on 1 lot

For Sale: 50 First Avenue

For Sale: 50 First Avenue

A testament to time presiding over one of Uxbridge's most storied streetscapes, this magnificently preserved circa 1880 residence commands its prominent corner lot with the quiet confidence of a true architectural landmark

For Sale: 7 Bentley Drive

For Sale: 7 Bentley Drive

A commanding architectural statement in prestigious Stonegate–Queensway, this newly completed custom residence by Bali Homes Group presents a refined interpretation of contemporary luxury living