Food Spy: Terroni’s Sud Forno opens
Sud Forno, a bakery from the owners of Terroni, has opened at 716 Queen St. W. (at Manning), just east of the Italian restaurant’s Queen West location.
Just Announced: ALL CAPS—the final chapter
This is the end for Wavelength’s ALL CAPS! Island Festival, which has taken over Toronto Island for the past four years. For its fifth and last instalment, audience members can camp out for two nights (on Aug. 10 and 11) and enjoy the sounds of Rich Aucoin (pictured), The Blow, Shotgun Jimmie, and more, plus some buzzy under-19 bands. Early-bird camping passes ($52) and festival passes ($24) go on sale June 25 at ticketfly.com or in person at Rotate This (801 Queen St. W.) and Soundscapes (572 College St.). Prices go up on July 9, so get ’em quick.
Food Spy: Rock Lobster Food Co.’s second location opens
Pop-up lobster roll man-turned-restauranteur Matt Pettit (pictured above) opened his second Rock Lobster Food Co. location today (538 Queen St. W., at Bathurst), bringing his loud brand of east coast Canadiana to the space formerly occupied by the Shanghai Cowgirl diner. There are some differences between Pettit’s new spot and the Ossington outpost: This location is open every day and it’s much more spacious, with 70 seats inside and another 80 on the back patio. There’s also a little retail counter at the front, manned by an actual fishmonger, for people to buy lobster tails, fish, crabs, mussels, and jars of McLure’s Pickles, as well as Pettit’s new line of seafood sauce, chowder, and relish.
Have you seen this bass?
North by Northeast can be a stressful gig for bands, what with the rushed set-ups, lack of soundcheck, and great effort required to dig out your gear from a pile of five bands’ worth of stuff. Unfortunately, the general air of busyness swirling around venues can make preoccupied performers susceptible to theft—like Brooklyn indie-pop outfit Brazos, who, upon packing up after their Great Hall NXNE showcase on Saturday, realized that some asshole had pinched their bass. And, now, they need your help to find it.
The missing item is a 1978 Fender Precision Bass, white with a black pick guard (pictured above). The serial number is S866543.
Anyone with information of its whereabouts should contact Patrick Guay at Common House Management: patrick@commonhouse.ca, or 514-658-1052.
Shop Talk: The evolution from NY Fries to South St. Burger Co.
Just as restaurants in the city are scaling down by serving lower-priced sharing plates to appeal to the growing number of self-professed food enthusiasts, fast-food shops have gone the opposite route to appeal to the same group. Recently, The Grid sat down with South St. Burger Co. founder Jay Gould and VP operations Thomas McNaughtan to talk about the company’s expansion, and to sample its new line of “Signature Burgers” (pictured top).
Japandroids pop the cork on Adelaide Music Hall
The significance of last night’s Japandroids show at Adelaide Music Hall was not lost on singer-guitarist Brian King. Given that the Vancouver duo was the first to headline Toronto’s newest concert venue, King likened the event to launching a ship with a champagne-bottle swing—”except we’re the ship, and you guys are the bottle.” Needless to say, everyone in the room got smashed: From the opening rave-up “Adrenaline Nightshift” to their combustable closing cover of the Gun Club’s “For the Love of Ivy,” the ground level of the venue transformed into a massive whirlpool of a mosh pit packed with more shirtless, sweat-soaked bros per capita than a Red Hot Chili Peppers video.
Though the room holds some 700 patrons, the Adelaide boasts an incredibly intimate feel. Thanks to a low hanging-balcony that runs along all four sides of the venue, those on the upper level get a tightly boxed view of the action below; at times, with all the bodies flying around, it felt less like you were watching a concert than a caged MMA match. But despite some intense crowd surges that forced those in the front row to seek refuge by camping out on the lip of the stage, the mood in the room was one of riotous revelry—celebration rock, indeed. For those who couldn’t be there, here’s a glimpse of the highs and whoas of last night’s show:
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Bud Light Presents Sensation: The Official Mini-Documentary
On June 1, the Rogers Centre was swept up in a wave of white, as Bud Light’s roving rave-cum-art-installation, Sensation, made its Toronto debut. If you missed out, fear not—you can live (and dance) vicariously through this mini-movie documenting the event:
Food Spy: Mark Cutrara now executive chef at Hawthorne Food and Drink
Former Cowbell executive chef Mark Cutrara is now running the kitchens of Hawthorne Food and Drink (60 Richmond St. E., at Bond) after two of the restaurant’s executive chefs left earlier this year.
Boiler Room heats up the T-Dot
For Toronto hip-hop heads, the big, must-see event of the weekend wasn’t Ludacris’ Yonge-Dundas jam—it was the covert arrival of the world’s hottest showcase series.
BY ANUPA MISTRY
Behind two closed doors on the third floor of The Great Hall, an early Friday-night crowd of 100 or so people watched some of the city’s hip-hop best play an exclusive party that was being simulcast via BoilerRoom.tv. Thousands more watched from their laptops or mobile devices around the world. Boiler Room, the East London-based cadre of party streamers had finally—after 500-plus shows in cities like New York, Berlin and Cape Town—touched down in Toronto.
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The best things we saw last night at NXNE: Saturday edition
Throughout NXNE 2013, we’ll be presenting daily digests rounding up the best of the fest.
Photo: David Pike/The Grid
Millencolin (Yonge-Dundas Square, 8 pm): Unfortunately, the emcee’s introduction served as an indicator to how this show would be received: “Do you like seven-foot-tall blondes? Do you like Mats Sundin?” The crowd cheered at the generalized stereotypes about Swedes—and that’s the loudest they would get until this veteran pop-punk band played their last song. The extremely diverse crowd that jammed themselves into Yonge-Dundas Square seemed to consist of people who were hanging out to secure a good spot for the headliners, Billy Talent, or were more concerned about seeing themselves on one of the giant live-feed TV screens. In a perfect world, this middle-aged quartet—who formed in 1992—would be headlining, as it was pretty evident that every North American pop-punk band that’s formed in the past 15 years owes Millencolin a debt. If you like New Found Glory, Sum 41 and Blink-182 you would love this band, who—perhaps knowing that the crowd would not be that familiar with them—didn’t bother announcing song titles, focussing instead on delivering a solid and fun set.—Laina Dawes
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