What’s on the menu at Union Chicken, a new poultry palace from the owner of the Carbon Bar
Name: Union Chicken
Contact: CF Sherway Gardens, 25 The West Mall, 647-341-1900, unionchicken.com, @union.chicken
Neighbourhood: Etobicoke
Owners: Yannick Bigourdan (The Carbon Bar), Adam Teolis, Michael Angeloni and Dan Kennedy
Chef: Michael Angeloni (Grand Electric, Splendido)
The food
Poultry-themed menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Rotisserie-roasted or deep-fried, the free-range birds are all sourced from southern Ontario farms. Morning meals include fried eggs and gravy and pulled chicken with biscuits. Most dishes on the short main menu are made to be shared. Sides—many of which are vegetarian—include classic barbecue staples (smashed potatoes, creamy coleslaw, molasses baked beans) and more fusion-y fare, like tomato-and-harissa fried rice.
The drinks
House takes on classic cocktails, including a gin-based Lavender Mule and a cilantro-tinged margarita; as well as a couple of beers (Goose Island, Mill Street) and Henry of Pelham wine on tap. And because minors love a good mall-hang, there’s also an impressive soft drink selection of fancy lemonades and sodas.
The space
With an open kitchen, roll-up garage windows and vintage light fixtures, the 80-seat space is more like a slice of King West than a mall restaurant. Bigourdan went antiquing in search of chicken tchotchkes, but hunting down the decorative fowl proved harder than he had anticipated—it’s the Year of the Rooster after all, and many of the dealers had been picked over.
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.
