Introducing: Inigo, a Queen West churrasqueira, takes over Igor Kenk’s old space
While Dundas West is in the midst of a carnivorous craze with a serious emphasis on the pig (we’re looking at you, Porchetta and Co.), a new Queen West takeout spot at the southern end of Trinity-Bellwoods Park is putting its faith in the original white meat: chicken. Carlos Hernandez opened up shop at Inigo last week—in Igor Kenk’s old spot— where he’s offering his take on the Portuguese churrasqueira, those homey greasy spoons ubiquitous on College and Dundas West.
“At the end of the day, everyone seems to say they want something simple,” Hernandez, the former chef of the Kensington Market tapas staple Torito, told us. Simple, in this case, means free-range, grain-fed chicken that’s sprinkled with sea salt, then roasted in a convection oven in alternating bursts of dry heat and steam, to retain moisture. The result may not be rotisserie-gold, but Hernandez would rather have taste and moisture than colour any day.
Inigo espouses a create-your-own-meal ethos, with roast chicken as the mainstay (half $6.75, a quarter white meat $4.75), as well as “other species” (that’s actually what the menu says), like braised beef cheeks with root vegetables ($6.25) and braised venison with apples and currants ($6.75). Start by choosing a main; add such sides as mashed potatoes (made from scratch, $2.50) and brown basmati rice ($2.50). Ratatouille ($5.75) and a selection of salads, including French lentils and squash ($3.25), round out the vegetarian options. Food is prepared beforehand and set up on a steam table, so the wait is virtually nil. And with just over a dozen seats, the idea is literally to go in and out: “in-I-go,” as the name suggests.
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- A new churrasqueira replaces Igor Kenk's notorious bike shop
- Outside Inigo
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- The small space features paintings by Francesco Gallé
- Inside Inigo
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- Chef and owner Carlos Hernandez
- Carlos Hernandez
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- Quarter chicken, dark meat, with a potato salad ($6.75)
- Quarter Chicken
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- Braised beef cheeks with mashed potatoes ($8.75)
- Beef Cheeks
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- Inigo's menu
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The narrow space is adorned with paintings by Toronto artist Francesco Gallé, including two done in espresso. Countertops are decked out in pressed bamboo, while large windows at the front keep things bright—there’s nary a reminder of the space’s dingy, dubious past. Still, it’s impossible to completely erase such a legacy. “If you dig around in the back yard,” Hernandez quips, “you could probably find a bike.”
Inigo, 927 Queen St. W. (at Strachan Ave.), 416-645-6707.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/introducing-inigo-a-queen-west-churrasqueira-takes-over-igor-kenks-old-space/&title=Introducing: Inigo, a Queen West churrasqueira, takes over Igor Kenk’s old space&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/outside1.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_52487" align="aligncenter" width="656" caption="Inigo is Carlos Hernandez's take on the churrasqueira"][/caption]
While Dundas West is in the midst of a carnivorous craze with a serious emphasis on the pig (we’re looking at you, Porchetta and Co.), a new Queen West takeout spot at the southern end of Trinity-Bellwoods Park is putting its faith in the original white meat: chicken. Carlos Hernandez opened up shop at Inigo last week—in Igor Kenk’s old spot— where he's offering his take on the Portuguese churrasqueira, those homey greasy spoons ubiquitous on College and Dundas West.
“At the end of the day, everyone seems to say they want something simple,” Hernandez, the former chef of the Kensington Market tapas staple Torito, told us. Simple, in this case, means free-range, grain-fed chicken that’s sprinkled with sea salt, then roasted in a convection oven in alternating bursts of dry heat and steam, to retain moisture. The result may not be rotisserie-gold, but Hernandez would rather have taste and moisture than colour any day.
Inigo espouses a create-your-own-meal ethos, with roast chicken as the mainstay (half $6.75, a quarter white meat $4.75), as well as “other species” (that’s actually what the menu says), like braised beef cheeks with root vegetables ($6.25) and braised venison with apples and currants ($6.75). Start by choosing a main; add such sides as mashed potatoes (made from scratch, $2.50) and brown basmati rice ($2.50). Ratatouille ($5.75) and a selection of salads, including French lentils and squash ($3.25), round out the vegetarian options. Food is prepared beforehand and set up on a steam table, so the wait is virtually nil. And with just over a dozen seats, the idea is literally to go in and out: “in-I-go,” as the name suggests.
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The narrow space is adorned with paintings by Toronto artist Francesco Gallé, including two done in espresso. Countertops are decked out in pressed bamboo, while large windows at the front keep things bright—there’s nary a reminder of the space’s dingy, dubious past. Still, it’s impossible to completely erase such a legacy. “If you dig around in the back yard,” Hernandez quips, “you could probably find a bike.”
Inigo, 927 Queen St. W. (at Strachan Ave.), 416-645-6707.){kind=link}
the chef is at best mediocre, the food,…well u can see is caca~! hey hernadez did u buy those pans at winners????really toronto life can u pls post relevant chefs in here not some has never been never will be ding dongs~!~thank u very mmuch
kunpao
You’re probably some disgruntled ex-Torito employee who can’t keep a job anywhere because you’re such an illiterate jackass.
Never worked there? Well, then you’re just an illiterate jackass. Go f yourself.
Just checked this out on the way home today. Awesome food! Fresh, tasty, and and affordable. Tried the quarter white chicken with basmati rice. Delicious! And can’t wait to try other items on the menu. A welcome addition to the neighbourhood!
I LOVELOVELOVE chicken done Portuguese styles, and while this place is way out of my area, I will definitely make a point of trying it, the sides are different from the standard but all sound really yums.
And yeah what is up with kunpao, I didn’t get what this person meant about dingdongs…but anyway there should be nothing negative said about Portuguese chicken unless the piri-piri and potatoes are off.
To the morons trading “intelligent” arguments here: you’re both off side for lacking even basic spelling and grammar skills. An argument isn’t worth presenting unless you do so credibly.
And ‘kunpao” what an interesting moniker you chose. I assume it alludes to kunG pao chicken. Clever. Too bad your speling is off, phonetically so now you’ll never know if you called yourself a delicious chicken or a whale’s vagina.
Nice.
Shannon, you made me laugh til I cried, girl! I deplore bad spelling, also…just saying.
I, for one, am looking forward, with anticipation, to my Spring bike ride across the city to try my very favourite Portuguese Chicken!
“To the morons trading “intelligent” arguments here: you’re both off side for lacking even basic spelling and grammar skills”
Both?
Maybe you could pull your copy of Elements of Style out of your ass and explain what grammatical or spelling errors I made in my post.
While you’re busy doing that, let me tell you about a couple in yours: “off side” is one word, “speling” requires 2 L’s and “Clever.” is not a sentence.
And, of course, anyone who can read and write English properly knows that “Too bad your speling is off, phonetically so now you’ll never know if you called yourself a delicious chicken or a whale’s vagina.” is a lot of things but a complete sentence isn’t one of them.
No, I’m not surprised that you don’t have a clue what Elements of Style is.
Is Igor not cooking in the kitchen anymore???
I think it’s a little sad when a review of a new chicken place deteriorates into name calling and arguments about grammar. Everyone together, deep breath.
It’s a new chicken place, food looks good, hope it is.
so so unfortunate that inigo does not serve good food. Their chicken is tasteless; especially when portugese chicken is usually so tasty! We were so excited to have a new healthy place in the hood, but won’t be back due to the tasteless food & high prices for the quality and serving size. Can’t imagine it will last the year. Too bad because the owners seem like nice people.
Very tasty food at reasonable prices. Healthy, delicious, guilt-free takeout, for a change.
Let’s stick with the main course, and save the glamour of grammar for another time: Hernandez’s touch is sure, some might say profound. The food is nuanced, the servings are generous, and the ambience is redolent of a master’s workshop.
I’ll be back again and again.
Fantastic food at a reasonable price. Cute location. Hernandez is a master at his work. Check it out for yourself. . .
This sounds personal not about the food.
Food is really great, I found the portions of the sides a bit small but the second time I was there I mentioned it to the server and she gave me more…I offered to pay double but she said not to worry about it.
I loved it! The best take out chicken I’ve had. Going back today.
I’ve visited Inigo a number of times and decided to look up on the web what people are saying about this fantastic place. There seems to be mostly very positive reviews with the occasional negative comment. And a lot of nonsense about grammar etc? Reviewers, this is not a literary forum … it’s about the food! The food!! … Which is absolutely delicious!!!
The chicken is perfectly cooked, full of flavour and fall-off-the-bone tender, and has very tasty skin. (My favourite part. Mmmmmm…) My wife and I have also sampled the venison. It was cooked to perfection – the sign of an amazing chef. Perfect take out venison? You HAVE to try it to believe it!! On another occasion, we had the opportunity to sample the chef’s version of beef cheeks. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Beef Cheek Heaven, yep.
Bottom line, we *love* this place. I love to cook but I must admit that I now cook one (or two!) times fewer each week and let Inigo’s chef please our palates. And, IMHO, he is ridiculously underpricing Inigo’s fare in comparison to what else is out there… but I’m not complaining.
:-D
Everybody listen. This place has good intentions but ultimately does NOT deliver. Portions are ridiculously small and unless you don’t mind paying $4.00 for a cold, 6 oz. soup and almost $8.00 for a couple of spoons of “lightly buttered mashed potatoes” and what looks like a quarter quail on a diet. Alright, overall taste is just OK, but come on guys, this is not hearty Portuguese food, its just pretentious. No need to give’m a second chance, at least in my opinion. Sorry.
Just had the lamb with chick peas and rice to go. Delicious, and I’m stuffed like a Portuguese grandson. I have no complaints about price, quality, or portions.
I find the common thing here is Portions, I ate there the other day and was pretty hungry, Im also a big guy so was expecting a decent portion of chicken stew, for the price of the food I was surprised with how small the portion was for mashed up chicken, We want a decent amount of food in Toronto, I often eat and support a lot of the small restaurants but will most likely not be back to this place due to the lack of value one is getting. The food was good but had no spice and needed hot sauce, the herbs if there were more would of brought the flavour out more. Dont hesitate to make your food spicier. I really had to write a review, I was really disapointed in the small portion.
I do not get the attraction for this place. The chicken is flavourless. It should not be called churrasco as it is just plain chickens with no outstanding taste. We also found the portions to be on the small side. I wonder how a place opens with such a lousy chicken recipe!!??