This Harbord Village restaurant just opened a market and takeout counter next door

Since opening Maven, a restaurant that quietly and seamlessly reinterprets eastern European and Jewish dishes for modern diners, chef-owner Shauna Godfrey has had another project simmering on the back burner.

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“I’m a huge fan of Ina Garten,” she says. “When I was in cooking school, I thought I was going to open a prepared-foods store—like Barefoot Contessa or a riff on a European-style épicerie—long before I ever opened a restaurant.” That dream was put on hold as Godfrey focused on building her buzzy Harbord Street spot, but the plan was never completely abandoned. Attached to Maven, on Robert Street, a former salon sat quietly waiting for its next chapter.

“We always knew we were going to use the space,” says Godfrey. “But we wanted to get a feel for the neighbourhood before we committed to anything.”

It didn’t take long to figure out what locals wanted. Godfrey soon realized that Harbord Village residents were looking for high-quality prepared foods and easy takeout options. The result is Rose’s Pantry—named after her two beloved bubbes, coincidentally both named Rose—a pantry stocked with cheffy prepared foods, pantry staples and grab-and-go meals.

The shop, with its old-world sensibility and custom millwork, feels part Hudson Valley market, part shtetl grocer. It’s stocked with prepared foods, fresh breads and sweets, fancy tinned goods, nostalgic candy, seasonally rotating soft serve, and sandwiches.

Early standouts include a dilly egg salad sandwich made with both soft- and hard-boiled eggs tucked between slices of Maven’s famous challah baked into a pullman loaf; a smoked sprats and albacore tuna salad sandwich brightened with dill-infused rice vinegar and layered with thinly sliced pickles; and a pesto farfalle salad studded with sun-dried tomatoes, bocconcini and fresh cherry tomatoes.

There’s also Godfrey’s take on an iconic baked good that appeared in every Jewish household in Toronto in the ’90s: the blueberry bun, reimagined at Rose’s as the Blueberry Kolache.

Related: Where Alebrijes chef Adam Ryan eats in Harbord Village

“We’re very careful about naming things here,” says Godfrey. “Torontonians are creatures of habit, and if they expect something to taste a certain way and it wavers, it can be a disappointment. Harbord Bakery is right across the street, and their traditional bun is stellar.”

Unlike a typical blueberry bun—which is stuffed with blueberry compote, folded into a rectangle, crimped at the top and sprinkled with coarse sugar—Godfrey’s version is open-faced, slathered with a thick layer of sweet cream cheese and topped with jammy blueberries.

And there’s more to come. Hot offerings like a weekly soup (two matzo balls, please), a proper breakfast sandwich and rotating hot sandwiches—think Maven’s barbecued salami between bread or schnitzel on a bun—are on the horizon, with full-scale catering services also in the works. For now, Rose’s Pantry is exactly the kind of neighbourhood spot Godfrey once dreamed of opening: equal parts pantry, café and community gathering place.

Rose’s is open Thursday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.