Flo's Diner
Flo's Diner is a bit of an anomale in swanky Yorkville. The 50s-style diner offers tasty, classy diner food at prices as close to 1950s prices as you'll find around those parts.
The restaurant, on the third floor with a patio overlooking Yorkville Avenue, is adorned with Coca Cola memorabilia and vintage posters. The floor and bar are checkered and you expect the gang from the Archies to walk in any moment.
Like a good diner, Flo's serves breakfast all day alongside gourmet burgers (add guacamole and brie or roasted red peppers and goat cheese), grilled cheese, pizza and a selection of home-cooked platters like their hot turkey sandwich.
Flo's is the perfect place for dinner before a movie at the Cumberland theatre or for a delicious dessert after.
Flo's Diner
70 Yorkville Avenue
416.961.4333
Web Site
Kit Kat
Kit Kat is a cosy Italian restaurant on what used to be called "Restaurant Row" on King Street West. The home style cooking is so popular with locals and tourists alike that it can feel a little too cosy at times. Luckily, the food is delicious enough to distract you from the couple at the next table with whom you're rubbing elbows. The polenta is traditionally prepared with asiago, the pasta specials are so enticing, it's hard to decide which to order (I tried the jalapeno cheese ravioli special on the weekend) and the mains include tender filet mignon, rack of lamb and osso bucco.
Kit Kat has a second location, formerly called Club Lucky (the sign still says so) on John Street so both restaurants are perfect pre- or post-theatre.
Ideal Coffee
Nope, that's not a witty headline, that's the name of the coffee house. Nestled in a tiny box of what was probably meant to be a house in Kensington Market, Ideal Coffee makes some of the best coffee in the city. Ideal's coffee is organic and local. The baristas use Italian coffee presses and make full bodied espressos and Americanos.
Do not expect Starbucks. The milk and sugar sit on the counter in kitchen containers and real spoons are used instead of stir sticks. Despite the decrepit furniture, shabby atmosphere and tiny space, Ideal has the ideal patio for low-key coffee drinking and people watching this spring and summer.
Ideal Coffee
84 Nassau Street
416-364-7700
Web Site
Hair of the Dog
Hair of the Dog is a charming Church Street restaurant. Mindlessly called a pub, Hair of the Dog is much more. With a big varied menu, including lamb stew in a Yorkshire pudding bowl, goat cheese and pear salad and homemade curry, it's much more a cozy spot for great cuisine that happens to also serve beer and have a big wooden bar.
Funny photos of weimaraners adorn the walls, the tables are dark wood and the lighting is low. It feels laid back on a weeknight evening, romantic on weekends and comfy for brunch - which of course, is the perfect time to take the restaurant's name to heart and order a mimosa or bloody mary with your breakfast.
Hair of the Dog
425 Church Street
416-964-2708
Web Site
Mill Street Brew Pub
The Historic Distillery District is home to a collection of art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques but if you're a beer fan, the Mill Street Brewery, with its own restaurant should be your main stop.
Mill Street is known, in particular, for its Organic Lager, but the Coffee Porter and Tankhouse Ale are also popular options. And what better way to sample their brews after a tour of the brewery than at their accompanying restaurant?
The Mill Street Brew Pub serves a classier take on classic pub fare and their patio is the perfect place to stop for a summer snack and pint.Try their Mini Slider burgers, Brewers Onion Soup - made with Mill Street Ale Broth or their handcrafted Lager-Battered Halibut and Chips.
Mill Street Brew Pub
55 Mill Street, Building 63
416-681-0338
Web Site