What’s on the menu at Pinkerton’s, a new snack bar named after a Weezer album
Name: Pinkerton’s Snack Bar
Neighbourhood: Leslieville
Contact: 1026 Gerrard St. E., 416-855-1460, @ChefPinkerton
Owner: Marc Baglio (Czehoski)
Chef: Andy Wilson (Czehoski, Hooked, Hey!, Globe Bistro)
The food
Chef Wilson’s small plates are based on whatever proteins and seasonal produce he picks up from Kensington Market, but there’s always an emphasis on Asian ingredients and techniques. A tuna tostada, for example, switches out tortillas for wontons, and sirloin tartare gets a Laotian twist. The seven-item menu (supplemented by nightly specials) is anchored by three permanent features, the most popular of which is the braised pork neck served on a kimchi pancake.
For the tuna tostadas, deep-fried wontons are topped with citrus-and-ponzu-tossed B.C. albacore, coconut-avocado crema, bird’s eye chilies and nori. $10.
Fausto’s chicken (named for a dearly departed friend of Baglio and Wilson) is cooked sous vide for 24 hours before being deep-fried and coated in house-made piri piri sauce. $11.
This laab-style beef tartare is flavoured with mint, makrut lime, chilies, coriander and fish sauce. It’s served with crunchy lotus root chips. $10.
Quick-braised pork neck is served on top of a kimchi-filled pancake then finished with chilies, candied peanuts and scallions. $10.
The drinks
A dozen classic cocktails with weekly one-offs, and an always-changing list of local tallboys. The short wine list focuses on Canadian bottles but it’s rounded out with a few Old World vintages, like a 2013 Ripasso.
Corpse Reviver #Blue (a special in support of the Jays) adds blue curaçao to the cognac-based cocktail.
Baglio plans to add more Japanese whiskey to the bar menu.
The space
Baglio brought the building back to its bones, pulling up three layers of laminate floor and ripping through rafters (now repurposed as shelves) to expose brick walls. The 46-seat room is decorated with a mix of antiques and salvaged industrial pieces Baglio found on the Leslie Spit.
The bar’s name is a three-pronged reference that pays homage to a Weezer album, a character in Madama Butterfly and the detective agency.
Wilson’s girlfriend Joyce Lau created the vinyl stencils affixed to this traffic light. The amber light goes on for last call and switches to red when service stops.
Toronto artist Anthony Fantastic marked up the washrooms with fun Sharpie-drawn illustrations.
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Caroline Aksich, a National Magazine Award recipient, is an ex-Montrealer who writes about Toronto’s ever-evolving food scene, real estate and culture for Toronto Life, Fodor’s, Designlines, Canadian Business, Glory Media and Post City. Her work ranges from features on octopus-hunting in the Adriatic to celebrity profiles.
