Civil Liberties brings cocktails, charcuterie and laid-back hospitality to Bloor and Ossington

This week marks the debut of Civil Liberties, a new speakeasy on Bloor West. Housed in a redbrick Edwardian just east of Ossington, the small bar is dotted with antiques, including a 110-year-old piano that may eventually become more than just a showpiece. (Co-owners Nick Kennedy, David Huynh and Cole Stanford are hoping to host live music acts in the space.) The trio, who worked together at Salt Wine Bar, is determined to make their new hangout as unfussy as possible. To that end, they’ve vetoed waiters, printed menus and complicated food items in favour of laid-back hospitality and simple snacks, like charcuterie boards and pâté-stuffed pastries. The drinks list is also pretty flexible—if patrons aren’t keen on the Prohibition-era cocktails scrawled on the blackboard, one of the bartenders will happily concoct something on the fly. Right now, they’re just happy to be opening their doors after a three-month-long renovation process, part of which involved sticking 14,000 pennies to the top of the bar. (Oddly, not the first time we’ve come across that particular decorative statement.)

Civil Liberties, 878 Bloor St. W., @CivLibTO