Name: Parc Ave
Contact info: 265 Davenport Rd., 2nd floor, 647-283-5307, parcavetoronto.ca, @parcavetoronto Neighbourhood: Yorkville
Owners: Harlo Entertainment and Travis Agresti
Beverage manager: Ben Kingstone
Accessibility: Not accessible
“There are restaurants all over Yorkville, but not many places you can go for pre- or post-dinner nightlife” says Kingstone. “We wanted to fill that gap.” This luxurious spot focuses on beautiful, creative drinks and stellar service—think dim lighting, ultra-knowledgeable bartenders, and hot or cold towel service (depending on the season, of course).
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Parc Ave is an intimate 28-seat cocktail bar, curtained off from the rest of the venue. The entire space opens up on weekends for a dancier vibe with a DJ, but it never turns into a full-fledged nightclub. It’s club-lite. Anyone who remembers Amber might consider Parc Ave its spiritual successor—but with a moodier, jazzier feel.
Beverage manager Ben Kingstone
The food
There’s no kitchen here, though a flatbread menu is in the works. In the meantime, most drinks come with an amuse bouche of sorts, like a mini waffle cone filled with coffee buttercream or a spoonful of caviar. It’s probably best not to arrive hungry.
The drinks
Around 75 house-made infusions, essences and cordials underpin a menu of meticulously executed cocktails. There are barrel-aged cocktails, martinis, juleps, sours, champagne-based tipples, and a vintage reserve section that covers classics made with top-shelf ingredients (and a touch of creative license). The most lavish offering? A $135 Sazerac with a caviar garnish.
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Here we have the Vampire Campfire, Parc’s take on an old fashioned, barrel-aged in French oak for six to eight weeks. Maker’s Mark bourbon, cacao butter–infused Lillet Blanc, lemon shrub, pink peppercorn cordial and Laphroaig Select Islay whiskey make for a savoury, spirit-forward drink with hints of vanilla, chocolate and smoke. The garnish is a house-made ruby Aero bar. (Parc tempers ruby chocolate and vacuum-seals it, which creates all those beautiful little bubbles.) It’s finished with precisely cut lemon and orange coins and a spray of lemon and orange essence. $36
Kingstone’s favourite cocktail, the fruity, bitter and refreshing Devil’s Advocate, combines summer berry–infused Campari, cacao nib Cinzano vermouth and rosé bubbles. It’s a take on an Americano, typically made from Campari, sweet vermouth and soda. “I’ve taken it a couple of steps further, infusing the ingredients and swapping soda with rosé bubbles for extra booziness and depth,” says Kingstone. It’s garnished with brûléed orange and a skeleton leaf. $24
This next cocktail comes with dessert
Harry’s Rabbit combines coffee butter–infused Roe & Co. Irish whiskey, Fernet Branca, hazelnut liqueur, salted vanilla, cold brew and egg white. (Whiskey sour, meet espresso martini.) It’s garnished with a dusting of cacao powder and a mini waffle cone filled with coffee buttercream. This is your dessert course: it tastes like decadent buttered coffee and chocolate with a hint of mint. $36
Here we have the Pineapple Express, a delightful mix of Dejado Blanco tequila infused with grilled pineapple, a bit of lime juice, bubbles and ginger gomme syrup (subbing in for simple syrup). It’s topped with blackcurrant foam and finished with a ginger-and-pineapple pat de fruit placed atop a banana leaf and sprinkled with 24-karat-gold Maldon salt. $36
This gimlet-style martini is the Bruiser’s Bill. Pink peppercorn–infused Tanqueray 10, a touch of clarified lemon juice, cacao butter Lillet Blanc, Cointreau and absinthe. The batch is infused with Palo Santo smoke (that’s the bubble on top) and finished with chocolate bitters. $24
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Here it is again, just after the bubble has burst
And once the smoke has cleared
The next—and most extravagant—cocktail begins with a perfectly shaped ice sphere
And ends with some caviar
Here we have the Sazerac, off the vintage reserve menu. It blends Remy XO cognac, Michter’s US-1 Sour Mash (small-batch Kentucky whiskey), and Peychaud’s bitters topped with a lemon twist and a wee spoon of caviar. $135
The space
There are two rooms with rather different vibes, each creating their own experience. If you’re feeling cozy drinks in a ritzy environment, you want the cocktail bar. Or, if you want to dance, wait for the weekend and hit the main lounge, where there’s a DJ booth and plenty of room to move. Designer Lisa Ho outfitted each space with high-end finishes, including custom millwork. Artwork from LA’s Art Angels, celebrity glamour shots, and vintage Hollywood photographs deck the walls.
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