More New Restaurants Food & Drink What’s on the menu at Ricky and Olivia, a playful new restaurant and bottle shop in Leslieville Food & Drink What’s on the menu at Café Renée, chef Nick Liu’s Italian-inspired French restaurant Food & Drink What’s on the menu at Arbequina, a new halal, alcohol-free restaurant on Roncesvalles Name: Aamara Contact: 1224 St. Clair Ave. W., aamara.ca, @aamaratoronto Neighbourhood: Corso Italia Owners: Kugendran Perampalam (ThaiRoomGrand, Savor) and Phanom (Patrick) Suksaen (Eat BKK, Koh Lipe, Som Tum Jinda) Chef: Arulmani Rajarathinam Accessibility ..read more

Welcome to Kiss and Tell, a series about the steamy, surprising and frequently absurd world of Toronto dating. Send your most memorable stories from the pursuit of love and lust in the city to submissions@torontolife.com. —As told to Juliann Garisto My friend and I were working as costume designers on this super-low-budget TV show. It was set in the ’70s, so I was looking for things like bell bottoms and sweater vests. At first, thrifting seemed like the most viable option, but there wasn’t even enough money for that. My friend suggested that we look up thrift stores that were ..read more

You look great. Tell me about the ’fit. I’m going for superhero chic. It’s for We’re Here, my new HBO series. You’ve also got a new single, an upcoming album and a Netflix movie slated for the end of 2024. Are you the hardest-working queen in Canada? I’m the hardest-working queen on the planet! I don’t wait for things to happen. People love the idea of a supermodel being discovered in a grocery store—but that shit ain’t happening to little brown boys from Whitby! I remember driving downtown with my parents and seeing the MuchMusic building. It was like seeing God. I needed to be there even th ..read more

elle cuisine’s long standing reputation as a top catering company speaks for itself. Executive Chef & CEO, Lauren Mozer, founded her company as a boutique private chef service that has since evolved, over the past 12 years, into one of the city’s most trusted and sought after full service catering and events business. Toronto Life is proud to boast elle cuisine as a preferred catering partner for 2024. As we roll into the second quarter of 2024, we caught up with Mozer to chat about a special charitable event they’re hosting on May 12 for Mother’s Day at The Symes, in support of Shelter Mo ..read more

More Sort-of Secrets Food & Drink Sort-of Secret: Southeast Sandwiches, a fast-casual spot in Woodbridge serving Vietnamese and Filipino twists on sandwiches, tacos and poutine Food & Drink Sort-of Secret: Bungalow 22, a monthly supper club featuring a rotating menu of regional Indian cuisine Food & Drink Sort-of Secret: Comma, a Korean restaurant on Queen West serving raw marinated crab The sort-of secret: Casa Verde, a family-run old-school Italian restaurant in Ajax You may have heard of it if: You have a thing for classic red-sauce spots But you probably haven’t tried it be ..read more

The buyers: Dylan Doyle, 33, marketing and communications manager at Ernst and Young, and Matt Maw, 36, director at Red Music Rising. More House Hunts Real Estate The Chase: This couple thought they’d be renters for life. Then the market shifted in their favour Real Estate The Chase: With the birth of their daughter months away, this couple raced to find a new home Real Estate The Chase: How one couple found their starter home downtown The story: For six years, Dylan and Matt had been happily renting a two-bedroom apartment in Little Italy for $3,000 a month. They weren’t looking to buy, b ..read more

Location: Port Carling Price: $4,299,000 Previously sold for: $3.5 million in 2022 Size: 1,800 square feet sitting on two acres of land Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 3 Real estate agents: Kate Gilbert and Kate Slater, Chestnut Park Real Estate The place A four-bedroom, three-bathroom cottage at the southern tip of Lake Rosseau—known for its calm waters and boating culture. The place’s defining feature is its dramatic retrofuturist roof. It also comes with an attached two-slip boathouse. Residents are a short drive from the restaurants and shopping in Port Carling, dozens of hiking trails, and several ..read more

When William Waters was a newborn, his mother placed him in a basket and abandoned him on the front steps of an orphanage. It was 1932, the nadir of the Great Depression, and few families in Orangeville—then a rural town of 2,600—were in a position to adopt. So little Bill went home with the only woman who offered to take him: a 51-year-old seamstress named Edith Waters. Single and childless, she doted on her son and, as he grew older, encouraged his entrepreneurial spirit. As a boy, Waters worked three paper routes and built a chicken coop in his backyard. After high school, he ran a local ta ..read more

Neighbourhood: The Beaches Price: $3,749,000 Size: 3,000 square feet plus a 1,100-square-foot basement Bedrooms: 4+1 Bathrooms: 6 Parking spots: 3 Real estate agent: Marc Trumphour, Real Estate Homeward The place A four-plus-one-bedroom, six-bathroom detached in the Beaches. Sitting at the top of a cul de sac, the three-storey home comes with a one-car garage and a main suite with a private deck overlooking a forested ravine. It’s within walking distance of the businesses on Queen, several transit routes and Silver Birch Beach. And motorists are a short drive from both Kingston Road ..read more

More New Restaurants Food & Drink What’s on the menu at Café Renée, chef Nick Liu’s Italian-inspired French restaurant Food & Drink What’s on the menu at Arbequina, a new halal, alcohol-free restaurant on Roncesvalles Food & Drink What’s on the menu at Bar Ardo, a new Sicilian-inspired cocktail bar Name: Ricky and Olivia Contact: 996 Queen St. E., rickyandolivia.com, @rickyandolivia Neighbourhood: Leslieville Previously: Wayla Bar Chef-owners: Olivia Simpson, Ricky Casipe and Adrian Proszowski Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible through the back of the restaurant off of Boston ..read more