It's Deadpool for Mel's Montreal Delicatessen, Taste of Magic, Somethin's Fishy, Minnow and Bass, Abstract Tree, Speedy Burger
An Annex institution is no more. Mel's Montreal Delicatessen, a late night spot on Bloor both loved and reviled by residents of this city, has closed its doors. Or rather, had its doors locked by the landlord after reportedly failing to pay rent that was months in arrears. Deli fans will remember Mel's came in 5th in our poll of the best delis in Toronto and readers let us have it. Margaret commented that Mel's "was the worst experience at a deli/restaurant/service place I have ever been involved in." Others gave it a pass for their smoked meat poutine.
A few blocks west on Bathurst the space formerly hosuing The Taste of Magic is for rent. The restaurant served Korean style Chinese cuisine but never seemed to draw in huge crowds; and priced itself too high for students who flock for cheap pork bone soup, bibimbap and other good eats in Koreatown.
Somethin's Fishy Fish & Chips was a great little spot on Augusta in Kensington Market and was 9th on our list of the best Fish & Chips places in Toronto. But I'm not convinced management was ever that into it. The restaurant shut down for the winter and this Spring its future became uncertain when a Business for Sale sign popped up in the window.
Elsewhere in Kensington, eco-fashion emporium Heart on Your Sleeve has bit the dust, both online and at their retail location. I guess locally made, environmentally friendly clothing isn't as easy a sell as it should be.
At the foot of Augusta at Dundas, the short-lived Minnow and Bass gallery space sits empty. Their blog hasn't been updated since June so not sure if a move is in the works.
On Roncesvalles, Abstract Tree restaurant is no more. Could it be there are now too many dinner options in the area?
At Queen and Parliament, Mr. Tasty had occupied this corner location for as long as I can remember. Signs went up months ago promising a renovation but recently a new sign was put in place announcing that Peter's Corner will be opening soon. I suspect that the owners of Peter's Cajun Creole Pizza next door are expanding their empire.
Speedy Burger, the greasy-spoon in the strip mall just east of Queen and the DVP has closed after 25 years in business. The whole lot will be making way for a new condo development.
And finally, at Queen and Coxwell, Pachira Asian cuisine got decent reviews - including one on this site - but the restaurant never seemed too busy and has now closed after a few years in business.
Comments (50)
Years ago I worked near Mr Tasty....called it "Mr Nasty" after some co-workers got food poisoning from eating there!
Can say I had some great memories of drunk late night breakfasts at Mel's in my early years in the city and in the annex but ultimately it was never a place I'd eat sober.
Scary now how big a wave deadpools are going in, did the Gelato place on Ronce get a mention? It's gone tits up too...
Man, I loved the kishka at Mel's. I mean, I'm pretty sure the appeal was due the fact that it was something like 50% fat and it frequently took a few tries to get the people to understand what I was ordering (I was once brought a knish and had to get a menu to point to what I wanted), but still. Mmm.
Mels had one thing.
The smoked meat combo with a beer for like $10.
That was sweet.
Anyhow, for smoked meat i hit up Centre Street Deli.
Do you actually have confirmation from Natalie (owner of Heart on your Sleeve) that the business is permanently gone online? I know the Kensington shop closed down back in April because Natalie was expecting her first child, but as far as I know the online shop was still running as of a few days ago. They'd even recently added some more items to the online shop.
Yes, the website currently shows an 'account suspended' page, but that's a problem she's had for ages due to her web provider and is not something she has control over. I don't have all the details there (obviously) but I bet she'd tell you if you asked.
Her blog and twitter account still exist, although neither have been updated in a while: http://wearyourheartonyoursleeve.blogspot.com/ and http://twitter.com/FollowHeart
I have fond memories from my university days of Mr Tasty at Church and Gerrard. Open super-late, good fries, wonderful ambiance (i.e. hookers, old men drinking cans of of Blue and playing what looked a lot like illegal VLTs). Don't know what relation, if any, the Queen St location was to the one on Church. There's still a burger place by that name out at Danforth and... Dawes or something?
Funny, I just told an out-of-towner friend of mine last week, "Never eat there" about Mel's. He won't find that advice hard to follow now.
If you're looking for *good* deli meat, you want to head north to Pancer's on Bathurst between Wilson and Sheppard. Although Zulpy's on King just east of Sherbourne does a great hot roast beef with (or without) gravy too.
For Mel's style smoked meat hash type of food, if you're in the mood, I'd suggest checking out the Retro Cafe on St. Clair on the south side of the street just a few doors west of Vaughan Road. Retro is cash only (or maybe they take credit cards too) so plan ahead.
mel's was good the first couple of times i went there (almost 10 years ago now). it had got so bad in the past few years though i wouldn't dream of walking in. still late night spots are late night spots, always tough to lose one.
has anyone actually been to Speedy Burger?
just curious because I live 3 minutes away, but never went...
I once went in to Mels on a crusade to find cretons (actual Quebec headcheese, not the salad bread topping) a couple years back and experienced the most bored waitress ever who had no clue what I was asking for. "Montreal" indeed!
Never set foot in it after that.
I have always wondered that same thing. I transfer streetcars across the street and have never seen anyone in there & wondered if anyone did ever eat there.
Retro Cafe is gone - they were doing weekend brunch only for quite a while and now it, too, is one of the 100 businesses that have succumbed to the mess that is the St. Clair Right of Way project.
I was surprised that blog T.O. put it on their best list. I took their recomendation, tried it out... All I gotta say is I'm not surprised in the least that they're tanking... Worst corned beef sandwich I've ever had, for real.
Mark, are you sure about the Retro Cafe? I drove past there just yesterday and it looked as though it might be still there ...
If so, it's a real shame. Granted, I haven't been there in almost a year (see notes about the horror that is St. Clair these days) but still ...
Never liked Retro much and I boycotted along with many of my neighbours when they went overtly anti-Right of Way. I think Retro is more a victim of self-fulfilling prophecy than anything else.
If you wanted to eat at Eggspectations (over-priced wankers) then why'd you go to Mel's? Don't slam it, it served its purpose: Mel's was reasonably priced, always open (until now), and have you ever tried their homemade JAM?! On a bagel?! With the hashbrowns?! At 4 a.m. after the Dance Cave?!
Those were the days. Not my present life, but everyone should have that opportunity, it's a toronto rite of passage. RIP.
Okay, Speedy Burger is thankfully gone, likely apart of the decision to replace that strip mall with 56 new condos. But Something's Fishy in Kensington Market is a "Business For Sale", I spoke with the owners about two weeks ago and it was more of a labour of love staffing failure than straight up cash flow. Somebody needs to pick up that place because we need good F&C in the Market.
My friends and I had a standing brunch date on Sunday mornings at Mel's around 2000. The hashbrowns, home made jam and bagels were great. Our regular waitress was great. When I went back about 18 months ago it wasn't the same and I wondered if its days were numbered...
Retro Cafe is dead and gone. They personally thank Joe Mihevc and his campaign for the streetcar right-of-way that is responsible for the dissolution of 89 businesses along St. Clair.
Most of the businesses on St. Clair that have closed were marginal at best and primarily eyesores. Plus, there are a bunch of places that have opened during construction or are in the process of opening right now.
I'm pretty sure minnow in bass (or some incarnation of it) is going to open up somewhere else. The idea was that it was going to jump from unused space to unused space.
Mel's was good for two things: food in the middle of the night, and hashbrowns. And for those things, I'll miss it.
@Dead Robot: If you want cretons, try Cora's - every outpost I've been to serves them. Or maybe that Taste of Québec place in the Distillery...
You can also add 'Indus Junction' on Queen St West, to the next deadpool list. I see that they are selling the business as listed on mls.ca. Such a shame as it was one of my favourite Indian restaurants but was never quite busy enough.
The NIMBYs on St. Clair were initially wrong: they thought parking was more valuable than transit. In the end they turned out to be right: you can't screw up a street for THREE YEARS and not expect businesses to fail. Once again the city has done such a hatchet job they are going to face a fight on every implementation of 'transit city', should we ever get the money for it.
Cora's is just Eggspectations or the Sunset Cafe with a Quebecois theme. Food is so-so, and the prices are way too high for breakfast.
My brunch answer is this: The MILL STREET BREWPUB in the Distillery District. It's not the best, but good enough, and I can finish brunch with a good pint. The real reason I like it is there is never a line for weekend brunch, and a line when I am hungover, or just need my coffee, is something I cannot abide.
Ill miss Mel's Big Baby Breakfast.
speedy burger was not fantastic, but it was there before gourmet (bullshit) burger joints. Dangerous Dan's was worth a block's walk east and to a lesser degree Pete's (John's) Open Kitchen two blocks west
Yes, the transit project is to blame for the Retro Cafe closing. Even though it's in a section that was finished a year before it closed. But, it's just like the other hundreds of business closed on St. Clair... oh no wait... thousands of businesses! The number seems to double by the hour. Apparently this project is so terrible its effects are crossing through space and time. Business in other cities and countries are affected. Even shops in other dimensions are closing because of it.
What has closed on St. Clair? A dozen dingy run down sports bars patronized by the last three old Italian men in the neighbourhood. Crappy restaurants that never had customers and never would have.
9/10 small businesses don't last a year. The only difference on St. Clair is they have a convenient scapegoat. This project has rejuvenated the neighbourhood by clearing out the deadwood that had been able to cling to life for far too long.
Actually the sports bars or caffes aren't the ones that are dying. If one does the space reopens as....a sports bar or caffes. Even the beer store fled as soon as construction started at nearby Dufferin Business is down everywhere but in St Clair more so.
I have too many friends and collegues from outside the neighbourhood who won't return, even to places like Ferro and the Rushton, until the ROW is finished just because the street is such a disaster. They want to come back, but they will wait until it's done. We're lucky that the Wychwood Barns has opened up as a magnet, but I am unsure how that is affecting nearby businesses. Once the project is done, I expect life to go back to some normalcy, but it has gone on for too long. That cannot be laid at the feet of a five month injunction by NIMBYs (or if you prefer local community groups). The city of Toronto has been the project manager. They've done a lousy job. That missigning of Wychwood as Oakwood kind of sums up the whole thing.
the fried zucchini sticks and bagels with jam/cream cheese at mel's will be missed. yeah, it wasn't a culinary highlight, but it was tasty.
I don't understand the hating on mel's. Instead of thinking of it as an imperfect deli, think of it as the best diner in the annex. There is nowhere else I'd rather eat at 4am.
I agree that most of the stores on St Clair that have closed were crap. But anyone saying it is not cause by the ROW has not been to St Clair lately. It is a mess beyond any I have ever seen. I have lived in the area for 6 years, it has been a nightmare. Constant detours, road closures, messy work areas.
Mihevic should enjoy his remaining months at the trough, bet he loves to watch the movies he made with his camera on his Projector and Movie screen at home.
The finished part of St Clair is a disaster for the very people it was supposedly built for -- the transit riders. Every stop is now 1 block PAST where the stop is marked. No eastbound stop at Yonge so if you had hopes of hopping off to shop at those stores, you have 1/4 mile to walk back from the station.
I've cancelled going to anything along the unfinished part too. There's no hope of getting anywhere on St Clair in time for assigned meeting times.
It's one enormous mess. I won't go there, even when it's finished unless I have NO CHOICE.
I'm not sorry to see Mel's go. I stopped in there only once with a friend, only to find out they didn't have a single vegan item on the menu. Not one. Then I discovered that the washrooms are not only non-accessible, but the stalls are so tiny as to be nearly unusable by people of size. It's a rare thing that I manage to be excluded from a restaurant by BOTH my diet and my weight, but Mel's managed it.
I feel like a part of my family has gone with the passing of Mel's. It wasn't great, but then tell me the perfect family. Mel's was more "experience" than great dining. It was a landmark. I could agree to meet almost anyone at Mel's and they'd know where to go. I have good memories and warm feeling for Mel's. Sad to se it go.
@Marcus: Just because Indus Junction is listed for sale on MLS doesn't mean they're closed. There are a bunch of restaurants listed there that are still open while the owners try to sell.
It could be that LJ has closed - I haven't been by there in a while to see. But their attempts at selling the business isn't enough evidence on its own to put them in the deadpool.
thank you, jammer. now i don't even have to try and find the words. :-)
R.I.P. mel's. i loved you for so many reasons other than your smoked meat.
so Meera, are you saying you're overweight and a vegan?
i didnt think weight gain could be possible by eating birdseed...my two cents
Re. Mel's, Like many people I used to go there often after a night out on the town or for an early morning hangover fix but I went there around 6 weeks ago after an absence of several years from Toronto and both the service and the food were horrible. I promised I would not go back there again. I think many people had a similar experience. It's not all about the economy or the chaning neighbourhood.
Hey dude, places come and go-this one had it's time, and the people weren't able to make it go on. There are other F&C places in the city-get off of your butt and look for them.
minnow & bass is a migrating gallery, it was always destined to move on from Kensington (or at least the corner augusta & dundas).
As for the lack of blogging, i was not in the virtual world more stuck in the real one. We have been on the search-moves for our new location (still in the works). I have updated the blog since-thank you for the reminder.
Also, sincerely - thank you for missing us the way you may be missing 'something's fishy'.
-faye of minnow & bass.
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