Ed Ho of Globe and Earth tells us how he’s making My Place into his place

Ed Ho of Globe and Earth tells us how he’s making My Place into his place

Ed Ho (Image: Renée Suen)

After My Place opened, closed and reopened in the space of a couple of years, we finally heard the last nail being hammered into its coffin a few weeks ago. Ed Ho, owner of Globe Bistro and Earth, has confirmed he’s taking over the 18,000-square-foot space and will be using all four floors for his growing restaurant empire: a main floor dining room that fits a hundred, an accompanying bar area that can comfortably seat another 50 to 60, a private dining space in the upper mezzanine (the rooftop patio’s partial kitchen will turn out grilled plates) and a 350-capacity basement. Including bar and patio standing room, that’s space for about 735 people. “Clearly, I’ve lost my mind,” Ho told us.

“This restaurant is going to be bigger than any restaurant we have, and while I don’t have any precise plans on the expansion of the empire, it was a good opportunity from an opportunist’s point of view,” he explained. In particular, Ho managed to secure a reasonable rent, and the My Place owners had already conducted a lot of necessary renovations to the kitchens, washrooms and bar. “All I needed to do was to change the decor: painting the walls, changing the light fixtures and buying new furniture.” He hopes the location will be open as soon as May.

The basement remains a challenge. “I’m a little overwhelmed at the moment with what we’re going to do with the downstairs space where the sports bar used to be—it has a capacity of 350. We can use it as a catering space for 200. From an operational standpoint there’s so much space that we can consolidate some of our operations and prep, or set up our in-house baking into a sort of commissary kitchen here.”

More generally, Ho told us that his goal all along has been to build a neighbourhood bistro—“an everyday place to eat out at as opposed to a finer dining place that you only go to once and a while.” Although he had to shelve that concept when he came across the space for Globe Bistro in 2006, he was able to follow his original plans in 2009 with Earth in Rosedale. While he recently pulled out of a proposed Earth 2 in Mississauga, Ho tells us that Bloor West was a perfect spot. “There aren’t very many restaurants offering local and seasonal foods, or lounges where you can have a nice glass of wine in the west end.”

We’re told that menus at both Earths will be identical.

Earth, 2448 Bloor St. W., earthbloorwest.com.