The restaurant that replaced a popular Portuguese bakery on Ossington is now open
Toronto’s first location of Calgary-based Central Restaurant is bringing comfort food, cocktails and a year-round patio to the strip
Name: Central Restaurant
Contact: 114 Ossington Ave., centralrestaurants.ca, @centraltaps
Neighbourhood: Trinity-Bellwoods
Previously: Venezia Bakery
Owners: PJ L’Heureux
Chefs: Phil Allain
Accessibility: Fully accessible
The newest addition to the ever-evolving Ossington strip is a Calgary transplant bringing with it the laid-back energy of the west. “PJ created this restaurant as a central gathering place,” says regional manager Andrew Gordon. “For us, it’s not just about celebrating life’s milestones but celebrating anything—at any time of day—with a menu that’s approachable enough to do that.”
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To that end, Central is open every day from 11 a.m. until the wee hours of the morning, bucking the post-pandemic trend of restaurants taking a break on Mondays (and Sundays and Tuesdays). The menu lists an assortment of crowd-pleasing comfort food (pierogies, pizza, poke, pork bao) and weekend brunch featuring things like chicken enchiladas and a tater-tot eggs Benny. “Part of our mandate is to show up in neighbourhoods where we’d actually want to eat and then make our food accessible to everyone,” Gordon says. “I had my first beer in Toronto, at Bellwoods Brewery. We want to create more firsts like that here at Central and invite more people into the Ossington community.”
Related: This buzzy new Trinity-Bellwoods pizzeria has a park-facing patio and margarita towers
The Food
The globe-trotting menu features hits from Mexico, Japan, Poland, Italy and the US, to name a few. No-brainers include various burgers and sandwiches, the standout being a fully loaded white cheddar burger on a potato bun stacked with double-smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms. And while sushi may seem like a stretch at a place like this, the pressed sashimi-grade ahi tuna is worth sharing.
The Drinks
The brazenly expansive drink list jumps from a blue-collar bottle of PBR to a bougie-but-playful strawberry and lychee soda spiked with indigo-hued Empress gin and popping boba pearls. Then there’s the Shaft, a creamy and caffeinated West Coast classic that blends vodka with coffee liqueur, milk and cold brew—here, it’s served on tap. There’s also a decent selection of wine by the glass, booze-spiked slushies and some playful zero-proof drinks.
The Space
With its roll-up garage doors, oversized music posters, vintage record displays, and banquette seating upholstered in leather and denim, the space gives off the cool, industrial vibe of that warehouse apartment you dreamed about in your post-college years (but that, in reality, exists only on New Girl).
Erin Hershberg is a freelance writer with nearly two decades of experience in the lifestyle sector. She currently lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two children.
