At
the corner of Baldwin and McCaul there’s a new place to chow down at (make that
two). What was initially slated to be
another location of the wild wing franchise has been transformed into TWO
restaurants in just 30 days. On Monday night, a bunch of us were invited down
to Yakitori Bar for their media
launch party.
I
first heard about Yakitori Bar (@YakitoriToronto) from a tweet linking to a blog. Alright,
I’m liking this font and the colour scheme, so I figured I’d read on: “HOW TO OPEN A RESTAURANT IN 30 DAYS”. Author of “Woody Allen Ate My Kimchi” and
involved in the food industry for over 25 years, Sang Kim embarked on a
crazy journey to open a restaurant in a month after a buddy of his showed him the space at 1 Baldwin and chronicled every day of this stressful adventure. After chatting a bit on twitter, it was awesome to finally meet him in person!
Here’s
a look into kitchen. Things were just starting up so the chef and cooks were
doing a lot of prep. I saw bacon strips being passed around so excitement
merited. Beside the pass is a walk-up counter. It’s half-chef’s table (omakase)
and half-walk-up counter.
To
start us off, we all got to choose between 4 different soju infusions. This one
is the cucumber infusion. It was refreshing and not too strong.
Hungry.
I know I was starving so it was a relief when some food started coming out of
the kitchen. This is their bulgogi cheeseburger.
Sang
mentioned to us later that there will also be kimchi in there as well. That
crunch and heat is what will make this cheeseburger.
Mary
(who organized the event, @MaryLuzOnFood) and Sang (@koreanjohnsmith) welcomed everyone who came
and introduced the restaurant. The inspiration for the restaurant came only
after Sang saw the space in-person. It sounds like he’s got some really great
things lined up for the future so you’ll wanna come check it out! (ie.
featuring guest chef’s yakitori, having Korean grandmothers come in to showcase
their kimchi, sake tastings, sushi-making classes…the list goes on!).
Not
only is Sang successful restaurateur, chef and writer, he’s also a great
supporter of communities in need. He even
mentioned a time when , after a sushi-making class a mom invited him into her
home to teach her sons how to cook with what’s around!
Sang
wasn’t joking when he said there’d be lots of cocktails! Clockwise from the top
left: a "gangnam style" (soju, Korean yogurt & orange fizantte),
gin w/ rosemary, berries and sake (or was is soju?!), the berries infusion and
finally non-alcoholic drink, pear juice!
After
a brief introduction, Chef Rossy Earle went into the kitchen to grill up her “Diabla’s
Alligator Kiss” yakitori. Yup, ALLIGATOR! Growing up in Panama, alligator was a
regular meat served at the dinner table so Rossy’s no stranger to it. The meat
is naturally sweeter and the marinade’s got smoked pineapple, candied ginger,
habaneros and rum (etc) in it. I was hoping there’d be more to go around!!
Some
nibbles came around to showcase more of what to expect. There’s Sang’s own
kimchi (read it here!) on the left!
And
then more alligator yakitori came out!! Cue the angelic voices “ahhhhh!!” My
friends and I regretted our choice of seating. Aka, too far from the kitchen! I
swear, as soon as food came out, people snatched it up right at the pass. (We
learned our lesson and Sophie even went to grab food for us later. Thanks!)
The
event was very successful. Everyone was enjoying themselves and it was really
nice of Sang to come around to chat with everyone. But the food took a little
longer than expected to come out. Here's the beef flank yakitori. Tender and immensely juicy, I could snack on this all night.
Finally, we got a taste of their bibimbap. It was simple and delicious. I love sticky rice…and the cute quail egg was perfectly done.
Finally, we got a taste of their bibimbap. It was simple and delicious. I love sticky rice…and the cute quail egg was perfectly done.
Usually
I just mix everything together with a spoon but Justine told me that it’s
better to mix with chopsticks to avoid creating a bowl of mush. Her method
worked a lot better! A little spicy, perfect.
Does
this say yakitori in Japanese? It’s on every table.
A
couple hours into the launch, Kyla and Matt Basile (of Fidel Gastro’s) came in.
Instantly, we heard several “Olé’s!!” Fidel Gastro just celebrated their one
year anniversary and things for them are going super well!! (I mean they landed
a reality show and got a food truck going so I’d say things are good). This is
Matt’s “Alabama Yakitori”. Beef tenderloin carpaccio wrapped in bacon w/ maple
syrup, aged cheddar, and jalapeno shallot. I LOVED this and was actually able
to grab a second! ;D
The
party was still going on but my friends and I had to leave. I thought this was
really nice, they prepared gift bags for everyone! :D Inside, we found a menu,
the bios and yakitoris for the “yakitori top chef” contest, Korean beverages
and a container of Sang’s kimchi! How awesome is that?!
Beyond
the kitchen there’s another room. It’s got a separate entrance and will be
opening as a second restaurant as well: Seoul Food. It’s going to be a take-out
counter featuring a rotation of soups, sandwiches, burgers, bibimbap (lots of
options), w/ freshly squeezed oj and espresso (the machines are quite
impressive!).
Here’s
the Alabama yakitori again. Matt, that was darn good!! :D
The
goodies. Thanks Sang for blogging about opening Yakitori Bar and Seoul Food.
The posts were fun to read and gave us a peek inside the things owners go through
to open a restaurant! It’s definitely not as easy as one might think!
Sang’s
Kickass Kimchi. I’ll definitely be back for more good times and good food. They’ve
got a yakitori grill set up beside the bar so once that gets going, they’ll be
grilling up skewers much faster and more efficiently too. :D Located in the adorable Baldwin Village with price points that are more than affordable for the students nearby, you've got to check out Yakitori Bar (& Seoul Food when it opens in a week-ish)!
Check ‘em out! www.yakitoribar.ca
Here’s
the link again for Sang’s blog: How To Open A Restaurant in 30 Days
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