The director of Ghostbusters is opening a massive new restaurant near the TIFF Bell Lightbox

The director of Ghostbusters is opening a massive new restaurant near the TIFF Bell Lightbox

Image: Montecito)

Ivan Reitman, the guy who single-handedly launched Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comedic career (and directed Ghostbusters, Stripes and a few other seminal 80s and 90s comedies) is branching out into food. The Toronto native has teamed up with local restaurant group Innov8 Hospitality and New York chef Jonathan Waxman (of Barbuto fame) to open Montecito, a 12,000-square-foot, 280-seat restaurant next to the TIFF Bell Lightbox building (and the square that bears Reitman’s name). King West currently has surprisingly few decent dining options, especially relative to the number of tourists it attracts.

Waxman is most famous for his impeccable roast chicken, a dish the New York Times has called “so impressive that it’s arguably cause for scientific study.” The rest of Barbuto’s menu lists things like gnocchi, wild-boar ragu and burrata crostini, so there’s reason to expect Montecito’s menu may skew toward rustic Italian dishes.

The outside of the multi-storey space, located at 299 Adelaide Street West, also provides some hints: along with a few pensive glamour shots of Reitman and Waxman, it bears the phrase, “Ivan Reitman inspired.” “Inspired” could mean lots of things in this case, but we’d like to interpret it literally—which means we’ll be disappointed if humanoid marshmallows don’t show up in some form, or at least a bottomless wiener plate. Or some meatballs, maybe? Or maybe Ivan’s son, Jason Reitman, will open an adjacent restaurant that coasts on the legacy with greater critical success, even though the dishes are often overwrought and painfully smug and self-serious. We’ll find out by summertime, when Montecito is expected to open.