LITTLE SHOP OF HONOURS
Who says bigger is better? David Ort talks to the oneman bands and smaller operations that turn scaling down restaurants into an art form. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SANDRO PEHAR
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ROM THEIR FIRST day on a hot kitchen line or working their way through the early basics at culinary school, most professional cooks entertain the big dream of owning their own restaurant. Add bartenders and baristas to the mix and you have a lot of potential establishments on the proverbial drawing board. By the time many get off the ground, they’ve taken on investors and bank loan officers who are more concerned with return per square foot than sticking to a certain
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ethos or perfectionist level of quality. Having learned from peers who see their dreams burdened with bloat, or because they fall in love with a tiny space, or for a long list of other interesting reasons, many restaurateurs in Toronto are sticking to a smaller footprint. When their family craft beer bar, Bar Volo, had to move out of its decades-old home to make way for a condo, the Moranas scoured the city for a new spot. “I lived in that neighbourhood for 10 years,” says Tomas Morana about the part of College Street that stretches west of Bathurst. →
