What’s on the menu at Leslie’s Sandwich Room, Leslieville’s new spot for heaping house-made sammies

Name: Leslie’s Sandwich Room Contact: 969 Queen St. East, @lesliessandwichroom, lesliessandwichrooms.com
Neighbourhood: Leslieville
Owners: Dane Kumar, Eileen Tsoumaris, Katherine McCallum and Neil Marley Chefs: Katherine McCallum Accessibility: Fully accessible

The partners behind this new Leslieville sandwich spot have worked together for a long time. They all started at Brant House, a King West lounge that was later supplanted by a nightclub called the Citizen and is now home to upscale Greek spot Myth—all owned by the same hospitality company headed by industry vet John Tsoumaris. After all these years, they’re essentially a chosen family and have come together once again to stake their claim in Leslieville’s increasingly rich sandwich scene.

Dane Kumar, who started as a busboy at a strip club 20 years ago and worked his way up the industry ladder, owns the building and lives upstairs. He’s a bit of a serial entrepreneur—during the pandemic, he sold PPE out of what is now Leslie’s Sandwich Room. But this business is more than a mere commercial venture. For one thing, given the proximity of the proprietor (who regularly refills his cookie stash from the restaurant’s coffers), you can bet he has a vested interest in the quality of his offerings. And quality they are: virtually everything, including chewy focaccia, roast beef, salmon and an array of excellent sauces, is made in house.

The food

There’s a menu of premium sandwiches, a handful of tasty salads, and kettle chips flavoured in house with everything from ketchup to peanut butter and vanilla. There are also a few desserts, including a very respectable chocolate chip cookie. All the sandwiches—except the “711” egg salad, which is served on plain white—come on house-made focaccia, baked with honey for a touch of sweetness.

The roast beef on La Boeuf and the salmon on the Cure are roasted in house, and deli meats are sliced fresh every day. Texture is king here: almost every sandwich includes a crunchy element, like crispy shallots or rye croutons.

Here’s a closer look at what’s on offer.

The drinks

Out of neighbourly deference to the nearby Pilot Coffee, there’s no java here. (You’re welcome to bring in a cup of Pilot’s finest to eat with your sandwich.) But there is Blink-brand tea and a nice selection of soft drinks like La Croix, Grüvi non-alcoholic sparkling rosé and Italian sodas like Orangiata.

The space

You know how sandwiches somehow taste better outside? There’s faux ivy on the ceiling to simulate that experience, matching the real ivy climbing the walls outside. Forest green is the brand colour here—which, funnily enough, started with Kumar’s choice of chair and worked its way out from there. There are wood finishes, big windows (read: plenty of light) and photos of old-timey Toronto on the walls. It’s warm, bright, and comfortable enough to eat in or out.