Introducing: Northwood, a new Christie Pits café and cocktail bar
Name: Northwood
Neighbourhood: Christie Pits
Contact info: 815 Bloor St. W., Facebook page, @NorthwoodBloor
Owners: Richard Pope (co-owner of Mr. Pong’s) and Andrea Reynolds
The food: Currently in soft launch mode, Northwood is serving coffee shop staples like muffins ($2.50), chocolate chip cookies ($2) and butter tarts ($2.75). Once the owners settle on a chef, they plan to have a menu of Acadian, Quebecois and Cajun dishes as well.
The drinks: Classic cocktails ($10) from bartender Ana Wolkowski, some of which are made from traditional recipes (like the Manhattan), while others are contemporary interpretations of them (like her Canadian twist on an Old Fashioned). The cocktails will soon benefit from house-made bitters and syrups. There’s also craft beer on tap and the coffee is from Pig Iron Coffee Roasters.
The place: Pope describes Northwood as a “European-style café,” catering equally to MacBook-toting creative professionals, the after-work crowd and locals looking for dinner or cocktails. Along one wall is a striking vintage liquor cage salvaged from Casa Mendoza before it was torn down.
By the numbers:
• 38 seats (not counting the patio)
• 20 electrical outlets, which means 40 laptops can be happily powered simultaneously
• $15, the cost of a pound of Pig Iron Coffee
• 11:00 a.m. to 2 a.m., their “European style” hours
• 4 beers on tap: Beau’s Lug-Tread Lagered Ale ($6.50), Beau’s Beaver-River I.P.Eh. ($6.50), Junction’s Conductor’s Ale ($6.50) and St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout ($7.50)
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- Butter tarts ($2.75)
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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- Chocolate chip cookies ($2)
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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- Salt-dusted dark chocolate brownies ($2.75)
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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- Muffins ($2.50)
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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- Old Fashioned ($10): Rittenhouse Rye, clove, vanilla, maple syrup, barrel-aged bitters, orange juice and a sugar cube
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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- Introducing: Northwood
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- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
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- Introducing: Northwood
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- Coffee is from Toronto’s Pig Iron Coffee Roasters
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
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- Introducing: Northwood
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- Co-owners Andrea Reynolds and Richard Pope
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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- Northwood took over the space that used to belong to Regal Garden Chinese Cuisine
- (Image: Caroline Aksich)
- Introducing: Northwood
- Introducing: Northwood
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 and Andrea Reynolds
The food: Currently in soft launch mode, Northwood is serving coffee shop staples like muffins ($2.50), chocolate chip cookies ($2) and butter tarts ($2.75). Once the owners settle on a chef, they plan to have a menu of Acadian, Quebecois and Cajun dishes as well.
The drinks: Classic cocktails ($10) from bartender Ana Wolkowski, some of which are made from traditional recipes (like the Manhattan), while others are contemporary interpretations of them (like her Canadian twist on an Old Fashioned). The cocktails will soon benefit from house-made bitters and syrups. There’s also craft beer on tap and the coffee is from Pig Iron Coffee Roasters.
The place: Pope describes Northwood as a “European-style café,” catering equally to MacBook-toting creative professionals, the after-work crowd and locals looking for dinner or cocktails. Along one wall is a striking vintage liquor cage salvaged from Casa Mendoza before it was torn down.
By the numbers:
• 38 seats (not counting the patio)
• 20 electrical outlets, which means 40 laptops can be happily powered simultaneously
• $15, the cost of a pound of Pig Iron Coffee
• 11:00 a.m. to 2 a.m., their “European style” hours
• 4 beers on tap: Beau’s Lug-Tread Lagered Ale ($6.50), Beau’s Beaver-River I.P.Eh. ($6.50), Junction’s Conductor’s Ale ($6.50) and St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout ($7.50)
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I haven’t been, but judging from the pics this place looks cute, however I see these muffins in every coffee shop in Toronto!!! Isn’t it possible to come up with something new to differentiate yourself? Do a little research and check out coffee shops and bars in Moscow/Paris, they have amazing variety of desserts, etc, because the competition is so fierce, they want to be the first ones to come up with something different.
Nice to see Pig Iron growing. Amazing product; better than Stumptown.