Introducing: Wilbur Mexicana, the slick new Mexican restaurant on King West
Introducing: Wilbur Mexicana, the slick new Mexican restaurant on King West
Name: Wilbur Mexicana
Contact Info: 552 King St. W., wilburmexicana.com, @WilburMexicana
Neighbourhood: King West
Owners: Will Cumberland, Baird Cumberland and Stephen Chan
Chefs: Daniel Janetos, previously the chef de cuisine at Farmhouse Tavern, and Mario Escobar
The Food: The short menu sticks to simple Mexican street food dishes, mostly of the tortilla-wrapped variety (tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc.). To start, there’s queso-topped corn and traditional guacamole with chips. The salsa bar stocks eight condiments of varying intensity, including a dare-worthy blend laced with ghost peppers.
The Drinks: Beer and wine are the only options for now, but a tequila-heavy cocktail list is in development. Customers can help themselves to fizzy drinks at the old-fashioned soda fountain.
The Place: Wilbur is a “fast-casual” restaurant, which means guests order at the counter and then wait to be served at their tables. Named after American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville (the guy who invented the Scoville scale for measuring the relative heat of chili peppers), the restaurant feels more like a trendy apothecary than a typical cantina. The light fixtures are shaped like beakers and there are scientific formulas scrawled on the walls. (Oh, and no sombreros.)
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- <b>Wilbur Mexicana</b> is located at 552 King West, just west of Brant Street.
- (Image: Gizelle Lau)
- Introducing: Wilbur Mexicana
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- The restaurant is "fast-casual," which means customers order at the counter and then wait to be served at their tables.
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- The lab-themed decor includes lots of test-tube imagery.
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- Helpful recipes are also scrawled on the walls.
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- Guests can sample over 70 hot sauces.
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- There are also eight house-made salsas.
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- One of them is laced with bhut jolokia (also called ghost pepper), the world's hottest chili pepper (it's 401.5 times spicier than Tabasco sauce).
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- Beef-brisket taquitos are topped with guac and jalapeno-cilantro crema ($5).
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- The short menu focuses on tacos, burritos and other tortilla-wrapped snacks. Pictured to the left: a grilled-avocado taco with pineapple salsa and cojita (top, $3.75) and a Baja fish taco with beer-battered mahi mahi, pico de gallo and chipotle crema ($4.25).
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- Customers help themselves at the soda fountain. (Right now it's just standard pop, but a few custom flavours are in the works.)
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/wilbur-mexicana-toronto-restaurants/&title=Introducing: Wilbur Mexicana, the slick new Mexican restaurant on King West&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/wilbur-mexicana-intro-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_298571" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Image: Gizelle Lau)[/caption]
Name: Wilbur Mexicana
Contact Info: 552 King St. W., wilburmexicana.com, @WilburMexicana
Neighbourhood: King West
Owners: Will Cumberland, Baird Cumberland and Stephen Chan
Chefs: Daniel Janetos, previously the chef de cuisine at Farmhouse Tavern, and Mario Escobar
The Food: The short menu sticks to simple Mexican street food dishes, mostly of the tortilla-wrapped variety (tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc.). To start, there's queso-topped corn and traditional guacamole with chips. The salsa bar stocks eight condiments of varying intensity, including a dare-worthy blend laced with ghost peppers.
The Drinks: Beer and wine are the only options for now, but a tequila-heavy cocktail list is in development. Customers can help themselves to fizzy drinks at the old-fashioned soda fountain.
The Place: Wilbur is a "fast-casual" restaurant, which means guests order at the counter and then wait to be served at their tables. Named after American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville (the guy who invented the Scoville scale for measuring the relative heat of chili peppers), the restaurant feels more like a trendy apothecary than a typical cantina. The light fixtures are shaped like beakers and there are scientific formulas scrawled on the walls. (Oh, and no sombreros.)
[gallery ids="298588,298587,298575,298576,298574,298572,298578,298579,298580,298585,298586,298581"]){kind=link}
Finally…. there has been a dearth of Mexican options in the city recently…
Use Uber code UBERTORONTOFREERIDE to get $20 off your first ride. Just download the Uber app and enter the code. Valid anywhere in Canada!!