Toronto’s best new patios

Dear reader,

In this week’s edition of Table Talk: a roundup of the city’s best new patios (it’s a work in progress that we’ll update as CaféTO permits are doled out), what’s on the menu at the recently revamped Lakeview Restaurant, and a look inside midtown’s swanky new supper club with Queen West roots.

Until we’re given the green light to (legally) crack a cold one in a park, the city has a new crop of patios on which to have a drink or two. Now that the air quality has improved ever so slightly and a long weekend is upon us, it’s time to get out and enjoy them. And a rain-filled forecast doesn’t have to put a damper on any outdoor fun—at least one of these spots has a retractable roof.

Speaking of the long weekend, get all patriotic by sipping on our country’s clammy national cocktail. Here, seven of the city’s most excellent caesars, including one topped with a whole Cornish hen and this (lower-key, still very delicious) version with a Filipino twist from BB’s Diner in Parkdale.

After a brief closure in April—followed by a few false starts with different chefs and menus—the 90-year-old Lakeview is back to doing what it does best: early morning breakfasts and late-night noshes. But now the food is fresh (never frozen), and natural wine shares space with bottles of Labatt 50. See what else is new.

In more restaurant makeover news, Ultra, Charles Khabouth’s glitzy Queen West supper club, has risen from the ashes of the aughts. It’s now a bit farther north, at Yonge and St. Clair, but still very much dedicated to unabashed luxury.

Toronto used to have one of the best transit systems in North America. Now it’s crowded, unreliable, underfunded and dangerous. And—despite all of that—it still costs the city more than $2 billion a year. In our July issue, the inside story of what went wrong and who’s to blame. Still not receiving Toronto Life at home? Subscribe today.