Where Rudy owner Luke McCann eats in the Annex and Yorkville

Is Toronto the ultimate fast-food incubator? Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, the Burger’s Priest and Fresh all began as single restaurants before growing into quick-service chains that eventually landed in corporate portfolios. These days, independently owned Toronto-born chains are becoming an endangered species. Rudy is one of the few holdouts.

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Back in 2016, Rudy was a tiny College Street burger joint serving smash burgers before half the city knew what a smash burger was. Owner Luke McCann obsessed over the beef, grinding it fresh twice a day and guarding his hamburger blend like nuclear launch codes. The result: patties with deeply savoury centres and crackly lacy-edged crusts.

A decade later, Rudy remains a cult favourite even as it expands beyond the GTA. This summer, the brand is opening its 17th location, a drive-through in Huntsville, meaning the great Highway 11 burger wars are about to heat up.

Related: Toronto’s best new burgers—a smoky, saucy, succulent ranking

Given McCann’s well-documented devotion to meat, we asked him to take us on a carnivorous crawl through the Annex-Yorkville slice of the city he calls home. Here, the man behind one of Toronto’s last indie fast-food chains shares his favourite meaty mains.

The Oxley

121 Yorkville Ave., theoxley.com

Years before Rudy, McCann was learning the restaurant business on the fly at Petit Castor, the Summerhill spot he opened after leaving a career as a financial journalist for Reuters. Despite McCann having “absolutely zero restaurant experience,” the restaurant was an immediate hit. “Which in some ways was unfortunate because I really didn’t know what I was doing,” he says.

In 2015, Oxley owner Andrew Carter came close to buying Petit Castor off McCann. That deal never went through, but a friendship was forged. Today, the two regularly compare notes on the joys and anxieties of running restaurants. And since McCann now lives a 15-minute walk from his friend’s upscale pub, he often finds himself there for a bite. While he does think they make an excellent burger, the two menu items he’s particularly fond of are the pork chop and the veal sweetbreads.

Related: Inside the kitchen of Andrew Carter, chef and owner of the Oxley

Go-to dish #1: Pork chop

For the pork chop, a whole pork loin spends 48 hours in a brine scented with lemongrass, ginger, garlic and fennel before being slow-roasted for two and a half hours. The lengthy process coaxes flavour deep into the meat while giving the collagen and fat time to soften and render. The result is a thick, juicy chop that’s cooked through but still boasts a rosy blush. “It’s a really nice piece of meat—very flavourful, smells great, looks great,” says McCann.

Go-to dish #2: Veal sweetbreads

When veal sweetbreads are on the menu, McCann makes a point of ordering them. “My dad was born in England, grew up in New Zealand and then moved to Canada, so sweetbreads were something he grew up eating,” says McCann, who inherited his father’s taste for offal. The Oxley changes up its sweetbreads seasonally. Today, they’re served with vadouvan curry and a warm spring salad of fresh Ontario artichokes and asparagus.

Morton’s

4 Avenue Rd., mortons.com

According to McCann, the best steak in Yorkville can be found at Morton’s, but he isn’t meat myopic. “They do everything well,” he says. “The salmon is amazing. The Chicken Christopher is amazing.” While he often orders the rib-eye when he’s with a group, he’s equally happy perched at the bar working on a plate of brisket tacos. “They have a great, comparatively affordable bar menu most people don’t know about.”

What keeps him coming back however, isn’t just the food: it’s the staff. After years of regular visits, most servers know him by name, and they’re committed to helping him conceal a culinary proclivity that borders on heresy: McCann puts ketchup on his steak. (Heinz, if you’re wondering.) The habit dates back to childhood. “My step-grandfather, Papa Joe, would order steak with ketchup whenever we went to House of Chan,” says McCann. “As a kid, I wasn’t really into steak—I was more of a hamburger person—but I remember seeing him do that and thinking, Let me try that. Decades later, the habit persists.”

Go-to dish: Rib-eye

There are plenty of choice cuts on the menu, but his go-to is the wet-aged rib-eye, cooked medium rare and finished with a healthy amount of char. “I prefer this to a dry-aged steak; it’s more tender, and there’s less of that mushroomy, earthy funk. It tastes meatier,” he says. “When I order a steak, I want to taste the beef.”

Le Paradis

166 Bedford Rd., leparadis.com

This 40-year-old French bistro with a charming sort-of-secret back-alley patio has been one of McCann’s go-to spots for 20-plus years. While the restaurant enjoys near-institution status among a certain generation of Torontonians, McCann suspects that younger diners are sleeping on one of the city’s best deals. “The prices here are unbelievable! A glass of wine for $8? A martini for $12? Where do you even see that anymore?” he says. “And the wine list is actually great, as is the food.”

Go-to dish #1: The duck leg

“It’s just a perfect duck leg,” says McCann. The skin is crisp, the fat fully rendered and the meat beautifully tender. At $32, it’s one of the pricier items on the menu, though he’s quick to point out that the portion is very generous. It’s served with braised red cabbage, potatoes, tangy macerated cherries and a carrot purée. The restaurant doubles down on its value proposition with 20 per cent off on Mondays and late-night discounts throughout the week.

Go-to dish #2: Escargots

If his cholesterol is feeling low, McCann will also order the escargots, which are just the right amount of garlicky.

Bar Eugenie

89 Harbord St., bareugenie.com

The last time McCann regularly frequented 89 Harbord, it was the Harbord Room. Now, he’s back for Bar Eugenie. Considering how many beloved Toronto restaurants have been replaced by condos, banks or disappointing facsimiles of their former selves, the success of this new spot feels like a small miracle. “You can’t recreate the Harbord Room—that was a very specific place and a very specific moment,” says McCann. “But this has a similar energy.” That’s high praise from a man who will occasionally eulogize Cory Vitiello’s famed burger.

Related: These are Toronto’s best new restaurants of 2026

Chef Rebekah Bruce’s menu of small plates is, according to McCann, best enjoyed with a group. That way, you can order with abandon and make your way through a healthy chunk of the menu.

Go-to dish #1: Bone marrow

This is one thing McCann always makes sure to order. It’s deceptively simple: wood-fired bone marrow topped with gremolata and salt and served with house-baked sourdough. “It’s so rich. It eats almost like a dessert,” says McCann. Bruce cuts the bones differently from most chefs: rather than the standard canoe cut, she slices them into thinner rounds, exposing more surface area and allowing the marrow to warm through without melting away. The result is less greasy, more decadent and almost custard-like in texture.

Go-to dish #2: Tartare

McCann gravitates toward tartare whenever beef is involved. But part of the fun of an always-changing small plates menu is trying things you might not normally order. While the lamb tartare wouldn’t have been McCann’s usual pick, he did think the seasoning was on point and that the accompanying warm wood-fired pita was incredible.

Bonus side: Complimentary pickles

McCann isn’t just a beef connoisseur; he’s also a pickle appreciator. (There’s a reason Rudy has pickle chips on the menu.) So Bar Eugenie’s house-made pickles are always a hit. Today’s complimentary pickle was made from Noki Farms’ first cucumbers of the season, brined with lovage, asparagus stems and chive blossoms.