What Matt Blondin and The Food Dudes have been up to
It’s been well over a year since the talented (and typically outspoken) chef Matt Blondin and catering company/food truck operators/Rasa owners The Food Dudes announced they’d be opening the snack bar Junk (not to be confused with Junked Food Co.). But the restaurant hasn’t materialized, and Blondin has been conspicuously quiet. What’s the deal? “I’ve fallen back in the past couple of months to focus on what makes me happy and what makes the staff and the clientele happy,” he tells us. Turns out he’s been working on a number of low-profile projects with the Food Dudes (they’ve formed a consulting group called MBA), but he’s also been trying to keep out of the spotlight.
Earlier this year they took over Rosedale’s longstanding Caffe Doria and gave it a major makeover. They reopened Doria in May and serve rustic Italian food like Neapolitan pizzas, chopped salads and panini. As for Junk, it’s still in the works, but won’t open in the site of the former Levack Block space at 88 Ossington as originally planned. Instead, MBA will open a different restaurant at that site: Omaw, a southern spot scheduled to open later this year. Blondin won’t reveal specifics about upcoming projects, or take much credit for everything that’s happening, pointing instead to his coworkers. “They all bust ass and work incredibly hard,” he says.
