Photo taken just after midnight on Friday by Jonathan Goldsbie. The "For Renovations" part of the sign has since been torn off. You know what's annoying? When the media overexposes a story while at the same time openly asking, "Is the media giving ____ too much coverage?" The Daily Show reams the cable news networks for that all the time. And yet, we have some sympathy. Maybe it's a cry for help. Maybe it's......

A day after Toronto Public Health told CityNews they "found no evidence of a rat infestation" and "no problem whatsoever with compliance with public health standards" at Happy Seven Restaurant on Spadina—this despite a somewhat obvious rat problem—the restaurant has finally been shut down.......

At just about noon today, Jesse Ship was walking along Spadina on his way to lunch with a friend when he spotted something slightly less appetizing in the window of Happy Seven restaurant, at 358 Spadina: a rat. He snapped the photo above, of the rat conspicuously beside a Toronto Public Health DineSafe Pass, and sent it to us and to BlogTO immediately, and recorded the video above on his cellphone. As it turns......

Three months or so after the Toronto Star predicted that it might save the “blighted” intersection of Bathurst and Queen, Starbucks is finally open on the northeast corner, the former site of a doughnut store/hangout for what outsiders regarded as degenerates, dope fiends, and all-round ne’er-do-wells. Beauty, as always, is in the eye of the beholder. But after a couple of weeks customers seem thin on the ground, and the corner—which fond locals still......

Have a closer look at the posters on 234 Augusta Avenue after the jump.......

The Post is reporting that talks are currently underway with Starbucks to rent the former home of J & J Fruit Market—on the corner of Augusta and Nassau and thus smack-dab in the heart of Kensington Market. Some Market residents who the Post interviewed were unsurprisingly ready for a fight, and, as the property is partially on city land, Adam Vaughan has said that it will require neighbourhood approval anyway and will become a "very......

After 90 years of serving customers in Toronto, the Dominion banner begins its vanishing act this week as owner Metro undertakes a year-long process of renaming the Ontario grocery stores acquired in its purchase of A&P Canada. Recent renovations at several stores around the city will culminate with the official launch of the Metro banner at the Bayview-Eglinton location on Thursday. Before the brand becomes as historic as the high-collared gentleman carving the roast, we......

Cheap Thrills is a new bi-weekly column filling you in on fresh ways to get your kicks in the city and on the cheap. Photo by lucianvenutian. Whether you're a certified foodie subsisting on caviar and champagne, or a slob scraping by on a modest regimen of ramen noodles, groceries are an essential part of living. Shopping for foodstuffs covers two of the basic necessities of life―and without food and water, shelter is out of......

Photo by mama loo from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Cities can, should, and may need to start producing much of their own food. Four panellists—a farmer, an historian, an architect, and an activist—collectively presented a vision of cities as centres of agriculture at the From the Ground Up lecture, held Wednesday night at the Gardiner Museum. Urban agriculture provides, according to these speakers, a raft of environmental, social, and economic benefits, and ought to......

The second annual Picnic at the Brick Works was held this past Sunday, and it was a veritable extravaganza of foodie fun. From the simple (sliced and dressed heirloom tomatoes) to the avant-garde (chocolate beet cakes, anyone?), local ingredients and chefs showed off their stuff. The goal of the picnic is to highlight local and sustainably produced food. It's also a fundraiser, a joint venture between the Toronto chapter of the Slow Food movement......

FOOD: After their wildly successful inaugural event, Picnic at the Brick Works is back for a second year. For four hours, celebrity chefs are paired with local food producers to create unique culinary creations using sustainable, Ontario-grown foods. The goal of the event is to promote economically-friendly food, for the sake of a sustainable-food future as energy costs continue to skyrocket. This year's celebrity chefs include Jamie Kennedy, Keith Froggett, and Owen Steinberg. Rain or......

We all know the Four Seasons is soo last year for weddings, but what's the number one place to say your wedding vows this year? Why, KFC of course—nothing says "I love you" like a hefty carton of deep-fried chicken. And the best part? They cater, too—even if you're vegan. KFC Canada has got one wing up on its competition—it's where vegan PETA member Alex Bury wed her fiancé Jack Norris earlier today inside of......

BENEFIT: Best Buddies Canada, a non-profit organization that promotes individual friendships between students and intellectually disabled youth, is having their thirteenth annual gala fundraiser this evening. The gala will be hosted by eTalk Daily's Tanya Kim, and will feature a performance by Chantal Kreviazuk and an appearance by special guest of honour Shirley MacLaine. Muzik (15 Saskatchewan Road), 6:30 p.m., $750. MUSIC: Experimental rock band The Walkmen are in town this evening, playing at The......

Photo by amy_b. This past weekend, Toronto's 24th annual Vegetarian Food Fair, a veritable food festival presenting an array of edible options for strict vegans and wavering vegetarians alike, took over the Harbourfront Centre. The fair is touted as the largest event of its kind on the continent, so we, being the ravenous sometimes-soybean journalists, in need of a break from Al the Hot Dog Man's mediocre veggie dogs, forged the fair's classes for......

The CBC is reporting that Cheese Magic has had to throw out $1,000 worth of cheese and are currently being investigated for listeria contamination, after a pregnant woman allegedly ate cheese from the store and contracted listeriosis. According to Cheese Magic's Establishment Inspection Report from Toronto Health, the store was given only a conditional pass on Tuesday's inspection for a whole host of problems. (Slashfood was in the store yesterday, noting that "the long expanse......

It may not have had the comedic potential of a banana phone, but imagine the looks bypassers may have given to anyone grooving down the street with a pop can nestled next to their ear...or not, given the number of novelty promotional portable radios produced during the pre-Walkman/iPod era. The manufacturer took no responsibility for anyone who mistook the radio for an actual can of locally brewed ginger ale and discovered the lovely fizz......

Cheap Thrills is a new bi-weekly column filling you in on fresh ways to get your kicks in the city and on the cheap. Photo by DAVID BOOGIE. So, you finally made the move. You popped the question, fumbled over exchanged numbers, and set a date for a date―soon, but not desperately soon. Now it's the day, and due to unforeseen circumstances (gas pumps, anyone?), your pockets are looking a little lonely for your big......

Photo by jeff caires from the Torontoist Flickr Pool High-end pizza joint Terroni needs to get over itself. With three locations in Toronto and one in Los Angeles, the owners mean to bring a taste of the southern Italian old country to the West, but one element that is hardly Calabrese-like is the excruciatingly tedious attitude. As reported in the September issue of Toronto Life, simply asking for some cheese on a fish pasta......

Happy Simcoe Day, formerly known as the Civic Holiday until the powers-that-be decided it would be more more festive to name your undeserved day off after an English man than a Japanese car. Malls and liquor stores are open, banks and Canada Post are closed, so you can get drunk but you can't get mail. Last night saw a spate of violent crime—or in the words of the Sun headline, "bloody mayhem"—with three knife......

Three years after A&P Canada was purchased by Quebec-based Metro, changes stemming from the deal are becoming evident to shoppers at the company's Dominion stores in Toronto. The Equality and Master Choice house brands are gradually being replaced with the Selection and Irresistibles labels. Bakery shelves include loaves of Première Moisson bread. Aisles are being rearranged and exteriors torn away as three aging stores (Yonge-Eglinton Centre, Bayview-Eglinton [top], and Bloor-Robert [bottom]) undergo renovations. Though......

Eat Me is a regular feature about the nooks and crannies of Toronto's restaurant scene, about the amazing restaurants that are—for some reason—criminally underpatronized. If you find yourself with a bit of spare cash, or you’re celebrating an anniversary, want to impress a date, or if you just feel like being decadent, head over to STEAK Restaurant on Richmond Street. Hidden in the back of the hulking Sheraton Hotel (with entrance off of Richmond Street),......

Every Wednesday, Torontoist receives transmissions from the travel log of Gleebax, the alien Urbanaut, as he explores the foreign land of Toronto.......

In Toronto, a lot of people like to eat street meat. This is a fact. With a selection of sausages to brag about and toppings to tumble for, Toronto's meat reigns top dog even over bigger breeds like NYC. With juicy, succulent sausage and that perfectly-grilled, mustard-coloured bun, it's easy to dress your own decadent hunk of street meat. And when there's a million ways to craft the perfect wiener, you know someone's going......

Toronto Public Health's Antoine Nikolopoulos has gotten back to us; he's the Entertainment District's Environmental Health Officer, and yesterday he inspected Second Cup's 307 Queen Street West location after Kate Bowen spotted a mouse inside the store on Sunday morning and sent photos along to us. First and foremost, Nikolopoulos concluded that the store has "adequate pest control." (And Second Cup told us that they were immediately taking additional steps at that particular location to......

Photo by portfolium. Samosas—those centuries-old puffy tetrahedrons continue to sweep up Toronto in their potatoey wave of popularity. Though available pretty much anywhere you look—"Memories of Punjab," anyone?—we decided to stretch out our search, from the Junction, to Little India, and a couple of places in between. So find yourself a comfy pillow, throw some Anoushka Shankar on your gramophone, and read on as we find out just who will come out as Toronto's......

Photo by DimsumDarren from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Famished one bright, sunny, morning, Torontoist was in no mood for the greasy spoon fare most oft served for weekend breakfast. We felt the need for something with a little heart, and so turned our gourmand gaze towards Spadina and Dundas, and the delightful dim sum options on offer in that colourful and cacophonous square block radius. One of the more adventurous ways to fill your......

Photo by milowinningham. Mmm, soy. From tofu, to sauce, to the good old bean form we will explore here, soy just tickles Torontoist something fierce. Full of healthy-slash-trendy properties, frozen soy beans are now widely available for home consumption. Though tempted to stick with edamame, or "twig-beans", we wanted to—no pun intended—branch out to new territory. The results were varied—tasty, green, and sometimes, a little frightening. As the old, marginally related, Japanese proverb says,......

Journalists are no strangers to being sent odd things in the mail to get them excited about new products. For the most part, writers are paid such a pitifully small amount that we’ll take whatever freebies come our way. Free CD? Awesome! Free food? Hells yeah, we’ll go to your restaurant. But Sun Media's technology writer Steve Tilley was less than impressed to receive a pie from Rogers this week to announce the arrival of......

...unless you're a vegetarian. Ziggys Fantastic Foods was a chain of gourmet deli/specialty food shops around the GTA, located in stand-alone locations and within Loblaws stores as part of the grocer's revitalization attempt in the mid-1970s. Their prices were considered high—when complaints of price jumps of up to 89% after the conversion of Loblaws' Yonge and Yorkville store to Ziggys made the front page of The Toronto Star in November 1975, Loblaws president William......

Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com. Do donairs exist in Toronto? Coming from Nova Scotia, I miss my donairs, and more importantly: donair sauce! I have yet been able to convince a Torontonian that donair sauce is delicious! I haven't seen any around the local supermarkets. Am I doomed to wait until my glorious return to NS to pick up some donair sauce? —Emma......