Shuttered multi-storey cafe in Toronto transforming into restaurant and cocktail bar

A multi-storey coffee shop that shut down in Toronto a while back is about to make way for a new restaurant and cocktail bar.

Jimmy's Coffee has multiple locations in Toronto, but they no longer operate out of the location that they once had on Portland St. It's about to spring back to life by the people behind some popular bar and restaurants in the city.

The Jimmy's location at 100 Portland, directly across the street from their original location at 107 Portland, was a short-lived venture meant to expand upon the much smaller flagship across the road.

Shutting their doors only a few years after their 2018 opening, the two-storey redeveloped townhouse will now be home to a new restaurant called Cafe Renee and new cocktail bar, Charlemagne, created by the same folks behind Bar Poet and Astoria Great Hall.

Bianca Rossi, a spokesperson for both new establishment tells blogTO Cafe Renee will be located on the main floor and be a "lively and social brasserie," that will have a menu focusing on French-inspired pastas alongside an extensive cocktail menu and selection of old world wines.

Upstairs, Charlemagne will be an "intimate, candle lit, old world style Parisian cocktail bar," says Rossi, that will offer classic and bespoke cocktails created by Gus Edmundston, a mixologist who previously worked at BarChef.

Charlemagne will also offer a "small but delicious" dumpling menu (which are, in my opinion, the elite bar snacks,) crafted bt Chef Josh Ling and Executive Chef Nick Liu, from Dailo.

Cafe Renee and Charlemagne are expected to open just before the end of the month, as the team wraps up putting the finishing touches on the space.