black hoof toronto

The Black Hoof is closing after 10 years

One of Toronto's most impactful and, dare I say, important modern restaurants is calling it quits this summer after 10 years of elevating our city's charcuterie game.

Say goodbye to the Black Hoof, friends, and say it before August 20, when the popular meat-centric Dundas West spot closes up forever. Sorry Anthony Bourdain — no more bone marrow luge for you.

Restauranteur and author Jen Agg, who also created Cocktail Bar, Rhum Corner and Grey Gardens, announced the closure of her flagship restaurant on Thursday night via Instagram, because "what's the point of a press release when I can just do this?"

"The Hoof (now in its 10th year) is so special to me — it’s where I learned how to do what I do (so often the hard way)," she wrote, "But it's time."

"I've never approved of closing a busy restaurant, (seems crazy, tbh) but we've said all we have to, and ten years in this business is a LONG FUCKING TIME," she continued.

"I'm so proud of what this place was and what it has become. Totally without hubris, it was a turning point for the restaurant scene in our town... We'll be going hard 'til August 20th. Come say hi/bye!"

Agg later wrote on Twitter that it had always been her intent to close the Hoof after a solid 10 years.

"There've even been clues!" she wrote, pointing out that she is "literally walking away from" the restaurant on the cover of her 2017 memoir I Hear She's A Real Bitch.

Well played!

Agg hasn't yet specified what she'll get up to after the Hoof is closed, aside from running the rest of her restaurant empire and eloquently taking down jerks on Twitter.

That said, she will be holding on to the space.

"TRULY no plans for it for now," she wrote in response to a question on Twitter. "Focused elsewhere, gonna let it lie fallow til the thing good enough to fill the shoes comes along."

Here's to hoping she writes another book in the meantime, because watching old ladies react to the first one was a riot.

Lead photo by

theblackhoof


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