Tagged: diners

Hello, Goodbye

And the cycle of restaurant life continues with old friends: a permanent closure, and a reopening. The South End Diner, haven to cabbies and students and a great all day breakfast, closed after a fire late last year, and any faint hope of it reopening was quashed when the building came down today. If only the formica countertop could talk, the tales we might have heard.
Over on South Park, the Bistro had its grand reopening Saturday, after a soft opening late last year. The Bistro was quite the place back in the day, a lovely little restaurant with consistently good fare and that gorgeous atrium. After it closed, a line of uninspired and progressively more generic eateries opened until ever last spark of charm and culinary life was extinguished.  Now, former manager Liz Ingram-Chambers has taken over and reopened Le Bistro by Liz and restored the derelict space, brought back the sentiment spécial.

But how about the food? More on that later…

It’s all about the company, part II

One of my favourite haunts for consistency and value is the True North Diner in Bedford, and the turkey pot pie with handcut fries was my go-to comfort dish. Imagine my disappointment when, upon a recent visit, I noted the turkey pot pie was no longer offered, along with a few other things; in fact, I thought the menu was looking remarkably bland, indistinguishable from 1,000 other middle of the road eateries.
And then I found out the the owners of True North Diner, Jim & Carol Macauley, had just sold the restaurant to the Grafton Connor group.
I don’t know that it was the ownership change from hands-on proprietors to a large company that’s responsible for the menu change. I hope not. Grafton Connor holds some interesting eateries in their portfolio; good (Five Fishermen), bad (the Esquire) and indifferent (Pizza Pizza). I won’t give up on TND just yet, I won’t focus on the menu change, I’ll wait to decide on the quality.
In the meantime, THANK YOU to the Macauley’s for a fabulous diner. My stomach sends love and best wishes to you both!

Favourite Diners

From meatloaf and chicken pot pie to all day breakfast to rice pudding, diners serve the comfort food that warms our souls as much as our bellies. These are my favourites:
1. Westcliffe (Oxford & Young)
2. Jim’s (Bedford Highway)
3. Tom’s (Sackville Drive)
4. True North (Bedford)
5. South End (Barrington Street)