The corner of Yonge and Front used to be known for two things:
the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Shopsy's. A small tremor went through the city
when Harry and Jenny Shopsowitz's place closed up shop on the last day of 2008. The space has been
vacant ever since, but the Oliver & Bonacini Caf� Grill that's taking its
place is set to open in the spring after a $4.5-million renovation that company
principal Peter Oliver is referring to as more of a rebuild.
With 230 seats, a bar, a lounge and a wraparound patio
facing both Front and Yonge streets (which accounts for $1-million of the
renovation cost), the Caf� Grill is set to open May 1. It will employ 80 people
and occupy the same footprint as Shopsy's, a surprising 9,462 square feet.
The fifth of what director of marketing and communications
Teresa Suraci calls O&B's mid-range brand (the others are in Bayview
Village, Oakville, Blue Mountain and Waterloo), the menu is meant to cater to
the broadest possible audience.
It is being designed by Lindsay Anacleto of New Toronto's
Anacleto Design, a former associate at Yabu Pushelberg, who designed Canoe for
O&B. "It's going to be the flagship of this group of restaurants," says
Suraci, adding that design is going to be purposefully urban.
And that concrete staircase on the Yonge fa�ade that never seemed
to go anywhere? It's finally been taken down.