Toronto Life articles from May 2004

Toronto Life archives from May 2004

Shame.(This City)
May 1, 2004... The warning signs were there. Jewish groups and the media were reporting that anti-Semitic sentiment was on the rise, that a desensitization was occurring, that casual racial slurs were slowly, insidiously becoming more acceptable. Not here, we...

The tortoise and the hare.(Profile)(Sheila McCarthy and Peter Donaldson)
May 1, 2004... The marriage between actors Sheila McCarthy and Peter Donaldson is a study in symbiosis: she is levity incarnate; he provides ballast. During an interview at their Stratford home, she thinks aloud, her chat filled with malapropisms, a layer of...

And the brand played on.(Telling Tales)
May 1, 2004... A few days after the close of fashion week, Peter Nygard teamed up with New York society mag Gotham to host a launch party for the Nygard Fashion Network (NFN) at the Social Club on East 27th Street. An e-mail invite asked people to come out...

Not so elementary.(Telling Tales)(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's papers to be auctioned)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... In March, Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts the world over donned trench coats and lit ceremonial pipes when Christie's announced it would be auctioning "the lost personal papers" of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--items that had been missing for over 40...

The Boyd gang.(Telling Tales)
May 1, 2004... In late winter, when Flare editor-in-chief Suzanne Boyd announced she was heading to New York to helm a new fashion and style magazine, the competition for best farewell party was on. In her own personal Mardi Gras, Boyd graced a succession of...

Biological clock.(Telling Tales)(Stephen Bogart shows Humphrey Bogart's watch for Longines)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... In April's Vanity Fair Proust Questionnaire, Hollywood icon Lauren Bacall listed her sons as her real-life heroes. Toronto had a recent brush with the famous bloodline when one of those heroes, Stephen Bogart, arrived stumping for Longines with...

Wise guys.(Telling Tales)
May 1, 2004... Homemakers Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman have turned the Designer Guys into a successful TV show and an overall winning brand that just about any star decorator wannabe would kill for. But word has it they're risking it all and abandoning...

Urban decoder.
May 1, 2004... Dear Urban Decoder: Just west of Yonge leading south from Adelaide, I noticed a street sign for Grand Opera Lane. This seems a rather highfalutin name for what amounts to about 30 metres of blind alley. --Basil W. Johnston,...

Belle epoque.(Found)
May 1, 2004... Of all the crowd-luring schemes dreamed up by Sunnyside Park's attractions manager in the 1920s (flagpole sitting, dogs in doll clothing, bears on bicycles), the Miss Toronto pageant was the most popular, inspired by beauty contests south of...

Rage against the machine.(Reality Check)
May 1, 2004... We've all been there. It's Friday evening, you're running home from work with a lengthy list of errands to cross off on the way, and you realize you have no cash. Your bank's closest machine is at least a 10-minute walk away, but there on the...

This issue.
May 1, 2004... WHEN I SAY THAT RICHARD BRADSHAW, THE SUBJECT OF Gerald Hannon's profile ("Super Conductor," page 74), is the general director and principal conductor of the Canadian Opera Company, I'm stating a fact. When I add that the day he took the job...

The mighty Oakville.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2004... I was annoyed and disappointed by the article about Oakville ["Pleasantville," March]; it is one sided, narrow minded and mean spirited. I've often heard that people from the posh district of east Oakville dislike crossing the Sixteen Mile...

Oops.(Correction Notice)
May 1, 2004... An error appeared in the profile of Norman Jewison ("The Storyteller;" March): the 2003 Academy Award for best movie went to Chicago, not The Pianist. In the 2004 Restaurant Guide, several restaurants were awarded the wrong star ratings....

Theatre.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... OPENINGS Biography, a Game. The English-language premiere of a 1968 drama by Swiss post-war master Max Frisch. He has made it his life's work to answer that persistent question: how could the culture that nurtured Beethoven, Bach and...

Outward bound.(This Month)(Tara Rosling)
May 1, 2004... There is something of a storybook heroine about the lanky, ginger-haired actress Tara Rosling--she's what the 19th century would have called an adventuress. Born to hippies in Seattle who separated shortly after her birth, Roslinq and her music...

Classical music.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... ORCHESTRAL Esprit Orchestra presents music from Dutch and Canadian composers, including Peter-Jan Wagemans, Tristan Keuris, Jose Evangelista, Alexina Louie and Chris Paul Harman. An Esprit commission (Axle by Harman) and a North American...

Photo finish.(This Month)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... PHOTO FINISH As a sickly child in the early 1900s, Jacques Henri Lartigue was determined to preserve the "scent of happiness," and from the age of six, he extensively photographed his wealthy French family's comings and goings. The pell-mell...

Dance.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... Bad Girls Run Amok. In the 1990s, burlesque made a triumphant comeback. Clever shows poke fun at and pay homage to such grand dames of vaudeville as Gypsy Rose Lee and Sally Rand. This gala celebrates women's sexuality and power, and the...

Art.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... [FREE] Robert Archambeau won the Governor General's Award last year for his earthy, low gravity, wood-fired vessels. Objects of Zenlike equanimity, Archambeau's pots are three-dimensional paeans to the art of just sitting. Their organic...

Curse of the glass slipper.(This Month)(Cinderalla ballet)
May 1, 2004... No matter how lacklustre (or downright dreadful) the choreography, story ballets are box-office cash cows. Take, for example, Cinderella, which has been putting bums in seats since its Vienna premiere in 1813. When Prokofiev debuted his...

View finder.(This Month)(Doris McCarthy)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Having attained the fine age of 93 is reason enough to do precisely as one pleases. But artist Doris McCarthy has always been a free spirit. Showing a disregard for convention and, to some, a paucity of common sense, McCarthy bought a 12-acre...

Nightlife.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... CONCERTS Bjorn Again. The touring ABBA extravaganza has attracted countless fans to more than 3,000 shows in 50 countries since it began 15 years age in Melbourne. Devotees love this reincarnation of the disco pop quartet for their...

Jazz and standards.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... CONCERTS Buddy DeFranco and the Toronto All-Star Big Band. Now 81 years old, DeFranco is a member of the jazz pantheon. The first musician to successfully adapt the clarinet to the bebop line's high-speed and jagged harmonies, he retains...

Kids' events.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... Big Bad Wolf! (vs. Lord Underwearface yon Schtinker). After years of tormenting pigs and nightgown-clad grandmothers, the wolf picks on someone his own size. This fairy tale spoof promises high-speed chases, sing-alongs and more than a few...

Diversions.(This Month)
May 1, 2004... [FREE] Canadian Jewish Book Awards. Arlene Perly Rae reads a selection from Mme Proust and the Kosher Kitchen, the book by Kate Taylor, which took the fiction prize this year. This ceremony also celebrates Jewish-Canadian works in a dozen-odd...

Night crawler.(This Month)(Dominion on Queen)(Riverside Cafe and Bar)(Barrio Lounge)(Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant)(Johnny K)(Bar Review)
May 1, 2004... To most, Queen Street refers only to its west end, but the artery's cool factor does in fact stretch past Yonge. Take a walk on the east side. Your crawl begins with pints of Mill Street ale at the Dominion on Queen (500 Queen St. E.,...

Shipping news: while we were dithering over how to reinvent our waterfront, an American millionaire came up with a plan. Dominick DeLucia's Rochester-Toronto ferry will turn prime lakeside real estate into a parking lot--and no one up here seems to care.(Politics)
May 1, 2004... IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, DOMINICK DeLucia is a man with no fear of falling. As he gives me the pro forma office tour, the driving force behind the Rochester-Toronto fast ferry pauses admiringly before a picture window overlooking the Genesee...

Captain Toronton: nobody disputes that he's one of the game's finest centres and worth every penny of the $12 million the Maple Leafs pay him. But in a city desperate for a Stanley Cup, fans want more from Mats Sundin--they're looking for a saviour.(Sports)
May 1, 2004... IN FEBRUARY, I MET MATS SUNDIN FOR breakfast at Sizzling Jaks, a workmanlike restaurant he favours on the Queensway. The Maple Leafs were scheduled to practise in a couple of hours at the Lakeshore Lions arena in Etobicoke, and Sundin,...

Shooting stars: at a time when the genre has hit an influential high, a new wave of local documentary filmmakers is producing some of the world's most talked about work. It turns out that truth is more popular, more compelling and, yes, stranger than fiction.(Arts)
May 1, 2004... EVERY SO OFTEN, AN ARTISTIC MEDIUM OR style becomes the darling of a generation. In the late 15th century, a group of young Italian artists, among them Michelangelo, took as their tool, to the biblical line Ecce homo (Behold the man),...

Super conductor: for the past 15 years, he has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of the Canadian Opera Company, schmoozing his way into the city's most powerful circles, importing talent from far-flung locales, all the while pursuing the dream of a new opera house. Richard Bradshaw in the performance of his life.
May 1, 2004... I know how to shut Richard Bradshaw up. This is no small achievement. He is the famously eloquent general director and principal conductor of the Canadian Opera Company, a man who does not so much enter a room as sweep into it, flags and...

Training day.(Rituals)(Toronto Police Emergency Task Force)
May 1, 2004... A black van and a white Jeep appear along the gravel of Mill Road in the heart of an otherwise empty Black Creek Pioneer Village. They stop, and 10 uniformed men from Special Weapons Team 2 of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force step out...

The $500,000 home: from Oakville to the Beach, Riverdale to Richmond Hill, here's how far your money will take you.
May 1, 2004... When you factor in everything on the market--from decrepit one-room condos to palatial Bridle Path abodes--the average house in Toronto sells for $295,000. We decided to start with a more generous figure, a hypothetical half million--enough, we...

Material world.(Icons)
May 1, 2004... There are a few weeks in early spring when sunshine mercilessly spotlights the wine stains on your sofa and the tatters in your drapes. That's when thousands of home improvers trek to Designer Fabrics' orange horizon. Anyone who's ever been a...

Truth and consequences: with a white-hot passion for change and best-seller on the shelves, Irshad Manji--a hyperintelligent, pint-sized, spike-haired Muslim lesbian--has managed to enrage both Muslim and lesbian groups, and to throw her personal life into turmoil. The chance to be heard by millions has been costly.
May 1, 2004... Irshad Manji often falls asleep with a reading lamp beaming on her face. Her mother, Mumtaz, remembers going to bed, leaving her teenage daughter doing schoolwork in the living room of their Richmond, B.C., home. In the morning, Irshad would be...

Bow-wow!(Dog days and heeling power)
May 1, 2004... A boon to downtown hounds and their busy, guilt-racked owners, Urban Dog Fitness & Spa is an 8,500-square-foot doggy salon, daycare and boutique. The spa area is replete with shower, hair dryer and on-site groomer. The daycare area--or "indoor...

Dish fulfillment.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Porcelain plated with platinum, the delicate Thirsty Bowl hails from French company Tse & Tse (no relation to the African fly). It's part of a dinnerware collection that also features the Famished Plate and Thirsty Goblet; Dickensian in name...

Rake's progress.(Dog days and heeling power)
May 1, 2004... This glinting trio of garden tools--a ground rake, a shrub rake and a cultivator--is pretty enough to inspire the botanically impaired. From Canadian company Holland Greenline, these little helpers are aluminum (ergo rust resistant and...

Avon calling.(Dog days and heeling power)
May 1, 2004... Perhaps your bedroom is already host to a romantic tragedy. If not, there's one available on 200-thread-count cotton. Nigel Smith and Alison Hahn of Hahn Smith Design have cleverly silk-screened Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet onto a crisp queen...

Fancy footwork.(Dog days and heeling power)
May 1, 2004... Outshining the snazziest heel noir, this vertiginous three-inch leather stiletto is sexy and unabashedly impractical. Hand painted with Impressionistic brushwork, it's the creation of Franklin Elman, who worked with Helmut Lang, Christian Dior...

Track marks: for years, residents of this west end area fought for a better community. In the wake of Holly Jones's murder, they are more determined than ever.(Neighbourhoods)
May 1, 2004... IN THE RIGID GRID OF RIGHT-ANGLED streets that is Toronto, Dundas West is an anomaly. Gently, almost imperceptibly easing northwest as it heads past Spadina, the former Dundas Highway then veers sharply northward at Lansdowne, tracing the edge...

Calendar.(Events & Opportunities)(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... Get the inside scoop on this month's hottest events and promotions from the following advertisers: FASHION CARES 2004 VIVA GLAM SUPERSTAR Check out the hottest Ecket in town--an all-star charity event in support of the AIDS Committee...

Waiting for tables: SARS, lawsuits and runaway construction couldn't stop them. Three boutiques--the Drake, Le Germain and the SoHo Met--break the curse of the hotel restaurant.(Food)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... VERY GOOD EATING, THE SPINY DOGFISH. It was always my mother's choice when she took us down to Mr. Thompson's fish and chips shop on Battersea Bridge Road, back when I was a nipper. Being English, of course, we didn't call it a dogfish--or even...

Tasting notes.(Drinks)
May 1, 2004... Great white hope In the constellation of European whites, Austria's gruner veltliner is a local light with universal appeal. I recently tasted 25 gruners side by side. Their quality and character impressed, and I am convinced the white world...

A la mode.(Restaurant)(North 44)(Oro)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... North 44[degrees] *** 1/2 Mark McEwan's flagship glides smoothly on, every detail attended to, 1:o pampering notion unexplored. The large, elegant room is a study in soft light and shadow, with mirrors, frosted glass and square vellum...

The sound of hammering echoes through the industry.(Tidbits)(Lee's)
May 1, 2004... The sound of hammering echoes through the industry. On February 1, Susur Lee started work on his new property, a former furniture store right next door to his renowned King Street West flagship, Susur. "The place will have a very different,...

Up on Mount Pleasant, the Oliver-Bonacini group closed Steakfrites on March 13.(Tidbits)
May 1, 2004... Up on Mount Pleasant, the Oliver-Bonacini group closed Steakfrites on March 13. Six weeks and some $600,000 later, if all goes according to plan, the property will reopen as Square. "1 think it will add another interesting layer of dining...

In other news, Sang Kim, former co-owner of Blowfish, and Elena Embrioni, former chef at Southern Accent, are opening a new restaurant in the College and Bathurst area.(Tidbits)
May 1, 2004... In other news, Sang Kim, former co-owner of Blowfish, and Elena Embrioni, former chef at Southern Accent, are opening a new restaurant in the College and Bathurst area. "We're calling it Turquoise," explains Kim, "and putting together a...

A cold wind was gusting through Chicago in January, but the welcome was warm for three Canadian chefs, invited to cook at a James Beard dinner at the renowned restaurant Tru.(Tidbits)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... A cold wind was gusting through Chicago in January, but the welcome was warm for three Canadian chefs, invited to cook at a James Beard dinner at the renowned restaurant Tru. Anthony Walsh from Canoe, Rob Feenie from Lumiere in Vancouver and...

Grano's Roberto Martella was master of ceremonies; two uniformed carabinieri stood guard over a solid-gold, $11,000 risotto spoon; 19 chefs, out of sight, stirred their pots; judges and a cheerful crowd of 300 tasted and voted.(Tidbits)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... Grano's Roberto Martella was master of ceremonies; two uniformed carabinieri stood guard over a solid-gold, $11,000 risotto spoon; 19 chefs, out of sight, stirred their pots; judges and a cheerful crowd of 300 tasted and voted. Yes, Brunello...

American.(Restaurants)(New Orleans Desire)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... New Orleans Desire ** 1/2 Jazz paraphernalia adorns the walls: old records, battered instruments and placemats highlighting Bayou tourist destinations--not to mention an iconic print of Louis Armstrong that dominates the place. A couple...

Bistro.(Restaurants)(Blacksmith's Bistro)(Fat Cat)(Massis)(Verveine)(Vox)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Blacksmith's Bistro ** 1/2 A charming two-storey relic of Unionville's 19th-century aesthetic. Though the upper floor has been gutted, sloping ceilings and exposed brick keep the attic cozy; downstairs, where a bar and kitchen co-exist,...

Shopping with chefs.(Restaurants)(Yasser Qahawish of Osgoode Hall)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Yasser Qahawish of Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen St. W., 416-947-3361 Robed lawyers hunch over mussel soup and fanned documents, walls are lined with leather-bound tomes, and sunlight slips through stained glass windows in rainbow splotches. This...

Tajines.(Restaurants)(Boujadi)(Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar)(Gary Hoyer of Millie's Bistro)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Truffles and caviar have their place, but where's the magic in heaping luxury upon luxury? The frugal gourmet performs true alchemy, taking less desirable cuts of meat, overlooked vegetables and a most basic form of cooking, like the humble...

Chinese.(Restaurants)(Shanghai Lily)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... [NEW] Shanghai Lily *** Cool: China on Spadina has never seen the likes of this Lily. To look at, it's the Rain of Cantonese, dark and sleekly minimalist in chocolate and slate hues. A room-length banquette in faux pressed bamboo, big fat...

French.(Restaurants)(Bodega)(Le Trou Normand )(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Bodega *** It's the homiest of' rooms, with warm ochre walls and bay windows in three corners. Romantics are drawn here; the rest of the crowd is seasoned and casual: neigbbourhood academics and their out-of-town guests. Paul Biggs (ex-Le...

Greek.(Restaurants)(Avli )(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Avli ** While some members of the Danforth establishment have spent oodles on cosmetics, Avli remains a straight up, no nonsense sort of place, with 20 tables surrounded by paintings and a mural. Even early on a weeknight, there's a buzz...

Hotel.(Restaurants)(Cafe Victoria)(Citrus)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Cafe Victoria *** The ornately decorated wails and high ceiling (think sculpted white chocolate) give the flagship restaurant of the King Eddy an impressive air. An equestrian portrait of the patron royal dominates the entrance, overseeing...

Indian.(Restaurants)(Debu Saha's Biryani House)(Sidhartha)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Debu Saha's Biryani House *** Established in the bay-fronted, second-storey space opposite Wellesley station, and hoping to break the location's curse, chef Debu Saha seeks to raise the ante on Toronto's Indian restaurants. Candlelight,...

International.(Restaurants)(Courthouse)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Courthouse ** 1/2 All is opulence: marble floors, coffered ceilings, gas-burning fireplaces, vast glimmering mirrors and enough pillars to sate a Roman senator. The building that saw Toronto's last execution now turns out solid steak and...

Italian.(Restaurants)(Grano)(Tutti Matti)(Zia Plera)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Grano ** 1/2 Irresistible energy propels this busy uptown trattoria forward. It's a place of vitality, high colour and a downright baroque decorating sense; if one happens to chow down in the Christ mas season, the creche is worth a...

Japanese.(Restaurants)(Sushi Kaji )(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Sushi Kaji **** The once plain wall behind his back is now a regal mural of leaping koi (plus one outrageous pun), and the music is more likely Bach than Bacharach, but owner and sushi chief Mitsuhiro Kaji has lost none of his...

Portuguese.(Restaurants)(Sintra)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Sintra ** 1/2 The room conforms to the College Street template: long, narrow and outfitted to beguile. In this case, that means cushioned banquettes, white tablecloths, well-stocked wooden wine racks and a tiny wooden bar up front. Almost...

Seafood.(Restaurants)(Starfish)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Starfish *** 1/2 World champion oyster shucker Patrick McMurray hasn't let success go to his head; you'll still spot him serving tables during busy hours in his simply charming, bistro-ish little room near the corner of Jarvis and...

Out of town.(Restaurants)(Globe)(Restaurant Review)
May 1, 2004... Globe ** 1/2 Two rooms in this handsome 19th-century former hotel are set up with dining tables. Edwardian-style wallpaper, wainscotting, lace curtains and plates lined quaintly along wall mouldings set the mood for real country cooking,...

The Mike Bullard Show: November 10, 1997-March 11, 2004.
May 1, 2004... The conventional wisdom had stood for so long that it took on the sheen of gospel: Canadians can't do late night TV talk shows. Even Peter Gzowski, our own avuncular Cronkite, tried and famously failed. And don't even mention Ralph Benmurgui....