So I'm in Toronto...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

…what do I do now?

I decided to go to Toronto for a week’s vacation, then my life turned so hectic that I had no time to look up fun stuff to do. Now I’m here, and there seems to be oodles of lovely shopping, and I spent some fun time at the Gardiner museum, but I’d love to hear from some of you Dopers out there about good places to go, eat, see, etc… If you feel like alieviating my ignorance, of course.

The hotel I’m staying in is off of Queen St., near Bathurst, if that gives anyone ideas of stuff nearby, but I’m happy to travel, too.

mischievous

2

My brother lives in Toronto, and we love to visit. What a wonderful city. Here are some things we enjoy.

I can’t remember where some of these restaurants are, but perhaps a city directory would help you with that.

Queen of Sheba - Ethiopian food; delicious and immense amounts for oh, $6-8 per person

Li Garden - in the heart of Chinatown; truly excellent, with a mostly Asian clientele, which I always consider a good sign

Korean Grill House - 214 Queen St. W; the tables have little grills in the center, and you cook your own meat; great fun, and there’s an all-you-can eat option if you’re really hungry

Queen of Tarts - 283 Roncesvalles; not a restaurant, but the best bakery I’ve ever been in; world class tarts and cookies; my brother lives near there and we go every time we visit - the whole Roncesvalles Village area has fun shops, in fact
If you like old interesting buildings, you might visit the Church of the Holy Trinity in Trinity Square, right next to the Eaton Centre. It’s been there a really long time, and has an interesting history; half of it burned down at some time in the past, so the stained glass is different on the two sides of the church. The building is also noted for its incredible acoustics - artists like the Cowboy Junkies have recorded Trinity Sessions in the church for that reason. It’s open every day from 11-3. There’s also a meditation labyrinth outside the church, if you’re into that sort of thing.

You might also ask about Centre Island. You have to take a ferry to get there, and if I remember correctly, cars aren’t allowed on the island. There are homes there, but there is also a park. We were there in the summer, so I’m not sure what it’s like this time of year, but it’s worth asking about.

My 8 year old niece is obsessed with getting us to the CN tower, although we always have other things to do and haven’t yet made it there. There’s a restaurant at the top that is reputed to be wonderful, if somewhat pricey.

There’s a shop called Peach Berserk in the fashion district (507 Queen St. W) that has totally funky and fun fabrics and clothing for sale. The owner screen prints her own designs on silk and designs her own clothing as well. I, unfortunately, only own a scarf, since it’s all I can afford! Fun to look at though, if you have some time to kill and you’re in the neighborhood. Even if you’re poor like me. :slight_smile:

Okay, I’ll stop now. But if I think of anything else, I may pop in again.

3

Well, you’re about three blocks west of my office, so I feel fairly qualified to make some suggestions. :slight_smile:

King Street east of Spadina (to John Street) has a great stretch of mostly great restaurants. A personal favourite is Bandido’s, which is a great authentic Mexican restaurant where you can get lunch (soup or salad and an entree) for $4.95 or $6.95. There are lots of more upscale places too.

North of Queen on Spadina, of course, is New Chinatown. A lot of great food choices if authentic Vietnamese or Chinese is appealing to you. South of Queen and east of Spadina is the club district, with lots of dance clubs and trendy restaurants.

A ten minute streetcar west of you along King Street is a hidden gem of a restaurant called Caffino (1185 King St. W).

The Royal Ontario Museum is not too far away at University and Bloor. Further afield is the Ontario Science Centre, up near Don Mills and Eglinton.

If you are seeking crazy people to show you the sights, feel free to drop me a line at the email address in my profile. We’ll try to keep the rolling eyes and foaming-at-the-mouth to a minimum. I don’t doubt we could encourage a few other local Dopers to drop by if we pick somewhere suitably appealing.

4

Yes, there’s lots to do.

Take the Carlton streetcar to Little India, absorb the colours and smells, and then have buffet. Yummm…

After dark, check out the new U of T building on the northwest corner of College and University. There are two rooms suspended in the lobby that look like giant blobs of lava-lamp lava. I went by there tonight and it’s quite an eyeopener.

Walk down McCaul Street from Dundas and check out the Tabletop, the new addition to the Ontario College of Art and Design. Then you end up on Queen Street West by the ChumCity Building, the Museum of Television, the Friendly Stranger, and all sorts of other interesting places.

More architecture: check out the National Ballet School on Jarvis.

If you take the Queen streetcar way west, you end up in the gritty area of Parkdale, where there are at least three Tibetan restaurants.

(If you take it even further west, you end up near my neighbourhood…)

Doper meet? Wednesday or Thursday night? Somewhere central after 7PM? Sounds good to me… what a great idea, Cerowyn! :slight_smile:

5

Have to add a couple of my favourite Toronto eateries here. On King, east of John, is Baroote’s, which is slightly more upscale than Quotes, just beneath it. But they’re both owned by the same gentleman (Steve Baroote, if memory serves), so you can get a decent martini in each one. And the food and service in each place is great.

How do I know about these places? When my wife and I lived in southern Ontario, we’d often hit Baroote’s for dinner before going to the show at the Royal Alex. Then, we’d often hit Quotes for a nightcap after. I kind of miss going to Baroote’s/Quotes/the Royal Alex.

There’s an idea, mischievous–see what’s happening in the local theatre scene. Some great theatre in Toronto.

6

I haven’t lived in Toronto since 1990. I did live there for a little over a decade, so I can recommend some places you should see.

The CN Tower is a must. You have to go up to the observation deck of the CN Tower. Everyone who goes to Toronto ought to do that, in case they never get the chance again.

University Avenue is the heavy-duty business street. There are many government buildings all over the area between Spadina and University, from Queen Street to Bloor. There’s the St. Lawrence Market, where you can get any kind of fresh food imaginable. Kensington Market is another, smaller area not far from your hotel. There’s the Royal Ontario Museum, if you’re into that. The Ontario Science Centre, way out in BFE. You can get there on the subway. City Hall, just down the street from you. Its unique design is one of the symbols of Toronto. It’s next door to Old City Hall, which has been meticulously preserved.

There’s an underground network of shopping malls down Yonge Street! In the building that used to be called the Eaton Centre (Eaton’s went out of business some years ago), at Yonge & Dundas, you can go down one level, maybe still two. You’ll be on subway level. If you go south, you will meet up with other shopping malls that are in the basements of all the buildings, all the way down Queen Street to Union Station. Then you have to walk up into Union Station’s main concourse level and marvel at the architecture. It’s really beautiful. If you do this tour, wear comfy shoes! While you’re at Yonge & Dundas, a couple of blocks north and on the west side is Sam The Record Man, the city’s oldest and largest record store, if you like that kind of thing. I used to work there a long time ago. It can’t be missed, there’s a huge neon record on the front of the building.

That reminds me…set aside a day, and go for streetcar and subway rides. Take the Queen car west to Yonge. Get a transfer from the driver. Get off at Queen & Yonge. Go down into the northbound subway. Show the man your transfer, but do not surrender it, in case you change directions. You can also buy tickets or tokens at the subway station. Remember this station, it’s your home base. Get on the front subway car so you can see out the window. Then go all the way north. It’s quite a ride. Some of it is above ground. Every station is different, and some of them are quite striking. Come back again. Get off at Yonge at Bloor St… Change to the eastbound or westbound subway and ride that each way. Take the Dundas streetcar east through all the old neighborhoods and look at the sights like Cabbagetown and the old areas of Parliament St., Pape & Danforth and The Beaches. When you get back to Queen & Yonge, get off and walk up the Westbound exit, and

See if you can find a Hungarian restaurant, and go have some goulash soup and a schnitzel with fried potatoes. You won’t regret it. There used to be some right in your neighborhood. I don’t know if they’re still there, though. Hope you find one! There are some good Greek restaurants a few blocks east of Bloor & Spadina.

Sorry to go on so long, but I love Toronto. I did from the first time I went there from my little town. There are all kinds of places to explore there. I’ve only scratched the surface. But any of these things would probably be an interesting day out for you. Have fun!

7

Walk along Queen St, both east and west of Bathurst. It’s a fun area with lots of interesting independent shops, cafes, and bookstores. If you walk east, head up Spadina and mooch around Chinatown and Kensington Market. Chinatown is an interesting place.
The central U of T campus is quite pretty, except for the library shaped like a giant turkey. Head for the campus, stop someone, and ask for directions to the turkey-shaped library. It’s a must-see. It’s called Robarts.

The ROM’s mostly under renovation right now, but the Art Gallery is off Chinatown on Dundas, which intersects nicely with doing the Chinatown/Kensignton area.

Lots of fun places to visit.

8

Oops, I have to correct myself. Sam The Record Man is on the east side of Yonge. Sorry 'bout that. If you go there, you will have passed the nearly equally as huge HMV store.

9

Whoa! How long have I been away? That was the site of the U of T’s Botany Building–yes, the greenhouses. Are they no longer there?

I’d miss them! I knew one of the greenhouse horticulturists when I was a student at U of T, and spent many happy hours–especially in the winter–in the greenhouses, among the tropical plants. I’d be sad to hear that that nice little oasis of greenery in the middle of the city is gone in favour of (sorry, Sunspace) “giant blobs of lava-lamp lava.” Are the greenhouses still there?

10

Oh, I have been egregiously wrong with another one of my directions. Where I suggest taking the streetcar on Queen to Yonge, that is EAST. For some reason, I was thinking in the opposite direction.

:: slinks away, mortified ::

11

If you’ve a sweet tooth, there’s no better place to indulge it than at Sugar Mountain. There’s one at 2299 Yonge St, and another at 1920 Queen St. Tons of candy and stuff, including imports and retro candy.

If you have a bit of extra cash to spend, there’s also a Benihana hibachi restaurant located on the ground floor of the Royal York hotel at 100 Front St. W. The food is great, if a little spendy, but having them prepare the food at your table with all the attendant culinary acrobatics is worth the price of admission.

12

It’s expensive, though. I went up it with RickQ and Brynda a couple of years ago when they visited town.

Actually, to get to the Science Centre, you have to take one of the buses along Eglington Avenue, or the #25 bus from Pape or Don Mills subway stations.

It’s still called the Eaton Centre, even though it’s flagship tenant is now Sears.

And bring a map. The tunnels bear almost no relation to the street grid, since they were built from building to building as the occaision arose. After seeing the office workers streaming through the tunnels on the way to the railway station one afternoon during rush hour, my friend called the whole thing ‘the ant farm’.

Alas, they moved the greenhouses. I think they rebuilt them in Allan Gardens, but I could be wrong.
:: googles ::
Yes, they are in Allan Gardens.

13

If you’re still here Saturday morning, make sure you go to the St. Lawrence Market on Front and Jarvis. We had some friends over from Germany who absolutely LOVED it… I was just there on Saturday and the stores in the basement have so many European/World foods that it was totally overwhelming - in a good way. Get a peameal bacon (Canadian bacon) on a bun and enjoy the atmosphere…

If you’re there early enough (say, before 11 or so), there is a North Market across the street filled with local farmers… Baskets of fruits and veggies for amazing prices…

An amazing place even when you live here…

14

WOW, that is SO amazing! Mr. Daffyd and I walk the dogs there every day and had no idea that the greenhouses hadn’t been there forever. We just moved here a few months ago, so didn’t know they were from somewhere else… They’re gorgeous and fit in perfectly in Allan Gardens…

We were just discussing today how we need to find time to stop over without the dogs to go in and check them out.

Thanks for sharing that article.

15

I believe the Robarts Library only looks like a turkey in plan view. :slight_smile: From the side, it looks like a typical late-sixties Modernist not-quite-Brutalist building. We called it Fort Book.

I’m generally a fan of Modern architecture, but there are a few buildings I don’t like, and one of them is Graduate House on the northeast corner of Harbord and Spadina. You’ll know it when you see it: it’s dark grey with ridges and it has a glass-and-metal thing that sticks out into the air over Harbord Street. At the end is a large metal letter O. The glass contains the rest of the letters “University of Toront” but they are done in clear glass against frosted, and are next to invisible in contrast compared to the metal O and the dark grey of the building.

Speaking of Spadina Avenue, go to Spadina Station and take the streetcar south along spadina. You’ll go past U of T, then the cheap computer stores clustered arounf College and Spadina, then Old Chinatown, then Queen Street West, then the old Garment District, then over the bridge past all the forty-storey condos, then under the Gardiner Espressway and along Queens Quay and Harbourfront. It’s a classic Toronto ride.

16

Get introduced to Canadian 3-down football!

On Friday, October 20, the Toronto Argonauts host the Saskatchewan Roughriders at what used to be called SkyDome. Don’t know what it’s called now, what with corporate re-branding, but it’s right downtown, near the CN Tower.

The Argos are playing for first place in the East, but the Riders’s play-off spot is already determined. Might be an interesting game, depending which Rider team shows up to play - the dominating team that beats the league-leaders (B.C. and Montréal), or the frustrating wusses that get beat by the worst in the west (Edmonton).

17

I have to add in a word here for the U of T campus. If you like architecture, this is a great place to go.

Visit University College, which was built in the 1800s. And, after the 1916 fire, it was rebuilt, but with the outer Romanesque shell still there. Legend has it that a ghost of one of the original stone carvers still walks the halls–apparently, he was killed in a dispute over a woman, and was buried in the walls of the college itself.

Then head for Hart House, which is in a style called Collegiate Gothic. Note, before you go in, the clock tower and the area beneath it. This is Soldier’s Tower, and it is a memorial to the U of T students who went to fight in World Wars I and II. See their names carved into the walls. The Tower has one of Toronto’s few bell carillons; they give carillon concerts on summer evenings. If memory serves (ahem), it was a tradition some years ago to break into the tower on a fall evening and hit the bells with your shoe. Not that I would know anything about that. :wink:

Go into Hart House. This is the U of T’s equivalent of a student union. There are a couple of gyms, plenty of common rooms, and facilities for all kinds of social and athletic events. Queen Elizabeth II has visited here, as did the Queen Mother, and King George VI. The story goes that when the House was dry, and the King visited, he didn’t know, and asked for a whisky. It was procured for the King–and only then the King was told of the House’s dry state. He refused to drink his whisky, out of deference to House rules. So I’m told, the scene of the meal was the Great Hall, which is the equivalent of any English college’s dining hall.

John F. Kennedy–yes, that one–debated in the House’s debates room while a Massachusetts senator. His picture, with those of his fellow debators–still hangs on the Debates Room wall.

And on a personal note, I spent many hours in Hart House while a student at U of T. I did sports, read many books, tried my hand at art, and made many friends. And, my own dear Spoonette and I were married in the Hart House Chapel some years ago.

Well worth a visit, IMHO!

18

Thanks for all of the great ideas! Keep’em coming!

I think we’re going to do the “mooch along Queen St.” thing tomorrow with another friend of mine and check out the alternative/gothy clothing stores. Probably check out some of the architecture over the next few days, and we’ll have to take the subway/tram tours, because mischief-lover’s a big infrastructure fan.

If anyone wants to do a informal Dope meet, I’d love to come! I’m up for pretty much any cusine other than Korean (which I’ve always had bad luck with). Booze is a requirement.

I’ll check out as many restaurants as I possibly can. We’re from New York, so everything seems pretty affordable here. I already walked past the lava lamp building. Butt-ugly if you ask me, but I’m strongly traditionalist when it comes to architecture. On the same walk I passed by the Terrence Donnelly building, which is also ultra-modern, but which I thought was beautiful.

Does anyone know if there’s a good website that might have theater/danse info?

Thanks again for all the ideas, and I’ll keep checking in to see if there will be a meet.

mischievous

19

Oh, and we’re leaving Sunday early morning if that influences anyone’s recommendations.

mischievous

20

It’s the Rogers Centre. All us old hands still call it simply “the Dome” though–we never fell for the corporate branding the first time around either.

Not too far away is the Air Canada Centre, also known as “The Hangar”, where the Leafs and the Raptors play. I always thought they should have built the ACC as another round dome, and placed it right up against the other side of the CN Tower. Then there’d be a tall pointy thing and two big round things… :slight_smile: