Cafes
City Bar
City Bar is not your typical indie coffee spot. For one, it's nestled amongst denim cutoffs and Wewood watches that hang off shelves--not off irreverent patrons sipping lattes. You won't find drip coffee here, nor will you find any freshly baked goods. There is zero street presence, no quiet reading nooks, and only a gentle sprinkling of natural light. But with Espresso Romano as just one of the atypical drinks on its menu, I think City Bar will soon find it's niche.
Leave it to Lavish and Squalor to try to find mainstream love for the espresso, sugar, and lemon rind drink. The shop is poised to open City Bar in its upper level space sometime next week, and it plans to stray from some of the more common-touted coffee shop offerings.
"We want to be like an old-fashioned espresso bar," owner Anne Middleton says. "Not many people drink just espresso anymore; we want to offer something to customers when they're up here. A nice, rich, single-shot."
Anne says they finally settled on one particular local Ontario roaster after months of searching, and helped to create a custom blend that they are expecting to receive in the next few days. "It's very clean," Anne says. "No tummy aches, no headaches, or any of those other things that can come from bad coffee."
City Bar's focus will, of course, be espresso, with options such as the Cafe Miel (espresso, steamed milk, cinnamon, and honey), Flat White (espresso, flat steamed milk) and aforementioned Espresso Romano all on offer. There will also be loose-leaf teas and beans to take home, as well as glasses and coffee equipment.
"Pretty much everything here will be available on the retail end," Anne says, pointing out the Duralex glasses, Frieling French press and coffee accessories resting on the bar. "And we're still going to be doing Cinq à Sept," she adds, referring to the shop's complementary cocktail events.
Lavish and Squalor plans to see how customers take to City Bar over the next couple of months, and if all goes well, their next move may be a fully-integrated cafe on the main level. "We'll see," says Anne. "For now, we're just looking to offer an independent alternative for an area that doesn't have very many choices. And good espresso."
Photos by Jimmy Lu
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That's what shots look like when I use a bagged Lavazza from costco instead of a freshly roasted bean.
Either way, I think their investors (family and friends, no doubt) are screwed. Do the owners really think that their expresso bar is going to make money? This venture reeks of failure.
Another fancy coffee shop.
So glad.
Huh? I've been a barista in Sydney, Rio, London, Auckland, Berlin, and Toronto and I would say Toronto orders as much espresso as Rio or Auckland per capita (a lot). Also, what about the many many wonderful 'espresso bars' in Toronto that thrive? But that doesn't matter Anne, observing your local market is for losers.
I went in and grabbed what they call a "flat white" which is the go-to drink in Australia/NZ and was utterly disappointed. It was a cappuccino with less foam on top. The expresso was still bitter through the milk. So the barista(s) don't really know what they are doing. Only one or two places in T.O can do a proper flat white.
Your photograph shows clearly under-extracted espresso.
I like your cups though!
Just to clear some things up here:
1. The picture was simply a last minute pose for the writer that snapped it. As we said, we didn't even have our beans then, so we simply grabbed some coffee beans from the office and make Sandro pose for the picture :) Really too bad we didn't realize they would take a close up of the glasses. eeks
2. We have never served anyone a flat white, as we are not open yet and only pulling espressos for our customers to try . hmm?
3. We are a boutique that takes great pride in the product and atmosphere we provide for our clients. And we will work hard to do the same with our espresso and teas.
4. The CBC show was sadly a gross misrepresentation of our company and who we are. I won't go on....
5. We have loved Toronto and our customers for many many years now, and plan to do so for many more.
Thank you for you time - Come by for an espresso and we would be happy to serve you on the house.
~Anne
Not to sound completely obvious and redundant, but there's this old saying... you may or may not have heard it; (*adjusting thick framed hipster glasses*)"Don't judge a book by its cover." For the laymen, this quote stresses the simple fact that you couldn't/wouldn't dare attempt pass judgement or speak an ignoramus understanding of the books content, depth, theme, etc. before you at least dabble in its text. This saying accompanies more than just books; It accompanies photographs as well... where I can begin to state my point... Can you taste the espressos quality through the image? Can you trace the aroma by glimpsing at an image? If you've answered 'yes' to both of the above questions than unfortunately you should seek professional help and/or reply to me with the exact whereabouts of where you purchased an odor emitting computer monitor (because I HAVE to own one). Judge what you know. Ignorance isn't bliss; Ignorance is ignorant.
No doubt, espresso is a delight to behold as it settles into the cup. Go take a look first hand; don't invent some false apprehension while you update your blog using Starbucks free wifi.
Espresso is deep, rich and complicated. Don't belittle it by acting the exact opposite.
I think it's a lovely ADDITION to an already fantastic environment to shop.
Can't wait to try it out!
It's not even open yet - silly. What planet are you living in? Like all of you negative ho hummers. Do you not live in a neighborhood, work in one? I can't wait to have the option to enjoy an espresso or cold coffee there soon, while I shop and hangout a minute or meet a friend, during my times downtown.
Don't cut it, until you try and if you are too scared, don't go in - it's not for you, I guess. Like box stores and boring regurgitation huts might represent, to me.
Cheers Mate! And good Luck to Lavish&Squalor and all the other long hold independent shops, restaurants and music houses in our local core. Thanks to each of you for giving us your versions of doing business in Toronto and making up our independent merchant culture among all the over trendy, big boring guns on that strip. Toronto is way more fun than you negative commenters have got going on or are appreciating.
Can't wait to try it.
My opinion is that even though I consume most of my espresso by looking at pictures of it and shouting things like "YES. THAT COLOR TASTES BEST" and "WOW, HOW LONG AGO WAS THIS PICTURE TAKEN? THIS IS TOO OLD! YUCK!", recently I've been told that I'm doing it wrong. Apparently it has to touch your big dumb mouth. I'm skeptical, but I think we should settle our differences and have an all-Sam meet up at Lavish & Squalor.
See you there.
Sam(3)