Restaurant Makeover
This month’s cover story began, as many do, with a phone call. I was catching up with a friend and occasional source, a lifelong Torontonian who knows every character, rumour, scandal, buzzy hotspot and emerging trend. Overall, the news was positive: the city was emerging from the pandemic with a bright energy. We talked about a fantastic new restaurant, and I mentioned how great it is to have the industry back.
My friend interrupted. “Restaurants are not back,” he said. “They are in a state of crisis.” He asked if I’d ever noticed how Toronto restaurants open, last a few years and then shut down. In Paris and London, by contrast, many restaurants outlive their clientele. They’re neighbourhood institutions, not fly-by-night culinary phenomena.
So what ails Toronto’s restaurants?…
