A trip to Toronto. Come visit. There is lots of room.

           Toronto is a late rising city. Most shops don’t open until 10 or 11 a.m. The worker bees are in their hives by nine but since you are coming here on holiday, sleep in.  If you do like getting up early, or you are jet-lagged, go to the Mars, Toronto’s oldest greasy spoon on College Street at Bathurst. Jimmy has been working the grill for 30+ years. Classic greasy spoon food. Around the corner is a more recent take on the diner. A bit pricier with  higher quality ingredients, Auntie’s and Uncles makes great breakfasts.  You are now only three blocks away from Kensington Market. 

           On the way to the Market, check out She Said Boom for used books, records, CDs

          Just to make sure you don’t miss the best thing about the city, go to the coolest neighborhood first: Kensington Market. Bordered by College, Dundas, Bathurst and Spadina, the Market is the ideal big city hangout. It has restaurants, food shops, cafés, used clothing stores galore. Virtually all the stores are independently owned. When McD-----‘s wanted to invade the market, the locals protested and wrote letters in sufficient numbers to stop them. The last Sunday of every month from April to November is Car free day in the Market. Bands play outside, merchants set up street booths and the streets are packed with people reveling in one of Toronto’s fleeting pedestrian zones.

           If you love deli food, you owe yourself a lunch at Caplansky’s Deli. On the northern boundary of Kensington Market  (College at Brunswick), you will find Toronto’s best Jewish deli. Fabulous smoked meat. salami, lox, cole-slaw and a wide selection of mustards. The deli platter for two is really enough for 3-4 meat lovers.

           Porchetta & Co. on Dundas at Palmerston is a new business that has been selling their porchetta sandwiches, soup and beans ham over fist since opening at the beginning of 2011. They are destined to be the favorite sandwich outlet of all non-vegetarians. This could be the next franchise in the city.

          For vegetarians, Toronto is a very welcoming city. Akram’s, 191 Baldwin St. in Kensington Market, is one of the best deals in the world: the lunch special for $4.99. Good for meat lovers too.

The lunch counter at Noah’s Natural Foods, 322 bloor W. at Spadina, serves food by weight. They have a good range of delicious, mostly organic, food at reasonable prices. You have to stare at a wall if you eat there but the food makes it bearable.

Le Commensal, on Elm St. just east of Bay, continues the vegetarian tradition of selling food by weight. The buffet is huge and they are licensed.

A block away is Yonge St., the main drag of Toronto which divides East from West. The atmosphere is our equivalent of 42^nd street in New York or Oxford Street in London.  It is worth a look, but shopping will be the typical high street fare. Prices are geared towards tourists. That is to say, not the best deals in town.

            For entertainment options pick up a Now magazine. Films, comedy, openings and every other type of cultural activity will be listed in here. Boxes are on every main street in the downtown. Free. There is enough to keep tourists busy for at least a week and they would still have a few items left on their list.

             You can pay $15 to get into the big multi-plex theatre across the street for some Hollywood drek or you can go to the National Film Board at the corner of John and Richmond Streets for free movies. The expectations aren’t so high if they’re free, right? But lots of them are very good. A vast library of movies awaits: short films, long ones, animated, documentaries, etc;     

            One of the best things about Toronto is the small archipelago known as “The Islands”. There is Centre Island, the most crowded, for the kids, with an amusement park, Ward’s Island, where people live, Olympic Island, which also has homes, and Hanlan’s Point which has a clothing-optional beach. All the Islands are connected with a boardwalk, a road and bridges. There are no private cars on the Islands. Water taxis are available if you miss the last ferry back to town. BBQ pits are sprinkled around the parklands.

            Museums are mostly in the core of the city: AGO, the ROM, Bata Shoe, the ceramic museum across from the ROM. To find the newest art check out Queen St. West between Strachan (pronounced Strawn) and Gladstone. Take a stroll up Ossington from Queen to find the other gallery strip. Ossington five years ago was a lonesome thoroughfare with only a handful of karaoke bars with blacked out windows. Now every other business is a restaurant or art gallery. I am sure in 5 years some of them will have gone the way of the karaoke bars. It is getting a bit yuppie.  


            If you haven't laughed much in the day time try an evening at the Comedy Bar at 945 Bloor St. W. near Ossington. The city's merchants of mirth test out their wares here.