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Food & Drink

Toronto restaurateurs’ favourite after-work hangouts

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The Harbord Room’s Cory Vitiello
Toronto restaurateurs' favourite after-work hangouts
Cory Vitiello. Photograph by Dave Gillespie

“Sometimes after a long shift, a bunch of us will head over to BMB Karaoke at Bloor and Palmerston. They do late night private rooms—$5 per person per hour. You can’t have much more fun than that after 2 a.m. I don’t have a signature number, but I butchered “La Bamba” recently. For a lower-key night, I’ll head over to a bar on Bloor West called Three Speed. It’s chill, nothing too flashy, just a good, relaxed place to hang out. I get a tequila and soda. If we’re feeling up to it, we might go across the street to Duffy’s and shoot a game of pool.”  

Raca Cafe and Bar’s Ivana Raca
Toronto restaurateurs' favourite after-work hangouts
Ivana Raca. Courtesy of Ivana Raca

“When I was training under Mark McEwan at One, he would always tease me because I never wanted to join everyone for a drink after work. Now that I run my own kitchen, there are definitely nights when I want to go somewhere for a good drink. I like Chantecler because it has a super-relaxed neighbourhood scene. I’m a fan of classic cocktails, so I’ll generally order the Last Word, with gin, Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime ($14). They’ve also got a really great late night menu. It’s small and simple, but everything I’ve tried is excellent. I love the French onion soup, the steak tartare and the kale salad—it’s second only to mine.”  

Fring’s Kai Bent-Lee
Toronto restaurateurs' favourite after-work hangouts
Kai Bent-Lee. Photograph by Dave Gillespie

My brother, Levi, and I rarely take nights off, so when we’re done it’s usually pretty late. For food, there is a great Korean place called Owl of Minerva that’s open 24 hours. Their specialty is pork bone soup, but I usually get an omelette: ham and processed cheese fried with glass noodles and a bunch of vegetables. It’s junky and delicious. Other nights after work, we play Ping-Pong at Spin. They close at 2, but sometimes the manager will keep it open later for us. My friends and I get pretty competitive. We’ll make bets and go double or nothing. There’s a lot of trash talk.”

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Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”

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