116 Albany Avenue is a semi-detached house on a quiet Annex street doesn't stand out too much from its neighbours, but inside there are quite a few unexpected surprises. Here you'll find a mix of traditional and contemporary styles and filled with unusual design choices, from a bright stained glass bathroom window to a home office lined with built-in bookshelves. The lot is only 25 ft. wide and the layout is a bit strange and cramped -- that closed off front room might induce some mild claustrophobia -- but there is no shortage of space or storage.

The renovated kitchen and bathrooms are nice (even the dark brick backsplash) and the windows and floors strike a balance of restored and new. The house has maintained some character features including fireplaces, crown moulding and exposed brick walls. The real selling feature is bound to be the 3rd storey master bedroom retreat with access to a rooftop deck. Bland carpeting aside, the bedroom is large, the bathroom is angular and clean, and the deck is a pretty ideal warm weather escape. Plus, judging from these pictures, you can probably play the drums in the bedroom without disturbing the rest of the house, right?

SPECS

• Address: 116 Albany Ave
• Price: $1,499,000
• Lot Size: 25 x 135 ft.
• Bedrooms: 4 + 1
• Bathrooms: 4
• Parking: 1 space
• Taxes: $8,861.56 (2013)
• Walk Score: 98

NOTABLE FEATURES

• Two large home offices
• 3rd storey master bedroom retreat with rooftop deck
• Custom built-in shelving
• Fully finished basement with storage

GOOD FOR

A buyer looking to get a foothold in the Annex who doesn't mind settling for semi-detached. At this price point you might expect a detached property, but for the right family the shared wall could be countered by the impressive deck, renovated touches and proximity to Bloor and Bathurst. The private parking space at the side of the house is especially useful considering the central location.

MOVE ON IF

Maybe you find the retreat bathroom reminiscent of peeing at church. Or maybe the rooftop deck isn't enough and you want to add landscaping and structure to the backyard. Or maybe that tight front room just won't do, and you want to open up some walls. There are a few spots in this house that could benefit from renovations, so bear the price in mind.

MORE PHOTOSRead other posts in this series via our House of the Week Pinterest board.

What's in a name? Clearly not much, because practically all of Toronto's downtown streets have been given a new title at some time in the past. Sometimes it happened when streets were merged, sometimes established names were tossed out in an attempt to curry favour with the foreign dignitary du jour.

The ever-changing street nomenclature gave us (briefly) the intersection of College and College (University Avenue used to be College Avenue) and Dundas and Queen (the lower portion of Ossington used to be part of Dundas.)

Here are five other Toronto streets that used to have different names.

QUEEN

It's hard to imagine now, but Queen Street used to be the northernmost boundary of Toronto, or York, as it was then. The road first appears as Lot Street when it marked the border between the original street grid and the start of the highly exclusive park lots - narrow 100-acre strips of land gifted by the Crown to hand-picked (read: rich) settlers.

Later, once extended west, the street was briefly marked on maps as Egremont Street. The Queen in question would appear to be Queen Victoria. The new name appears shortly after her coronation in 1837.

(Yep, the map is upside down: "Several plans made in the 1830s, including this one, were oriented to the south, probably under the influence of military map-makers whose attention was always focused on the harbour and its defense," says Nathan Ng, the keeper of the magnificent historical map collection that made this post possible.)

DUNDAS

Of all the streets in Toronto, Dundas has the longest list of former names, mainly because it is a Frankenstein creation stitched together from at least thirteen other roads. At one point Dundas penetrated the west of the city as far as Ossington where it abruptly curved south to meet Queen. That stretch has since been reclaimed by Ossington.

Arthur Street between Ossington and Bathurst, St. Patrick Street between Bathurst and McCaul, Anderson Street between McCaul and University, Agnes Street between University and Yonge, Wilton Avenue and Wilton Crescent between Yonge and Broadview were linked up and renamed through the centre of the city.

In the east end, Dundas absorbed several laneways and minor roads - Whitby, Dagmar, Doel, Applegrove, Ashbridge, Maughan, and Hemlock, if you're keeping track - to reach Kingston Road. Dundas' swerving route through downtown and the garages that face the road in the east end are the best evidence of its past.

BAY

There's a persistent rumour that Bay used to be Bear Street, but not so: the portion south of Queen has always been named for the sheltered water at its southern terminus. The part of Bay north after the jog at Queen used to be Terauley Street, however.

The name came from the home of James Macaulay, a surgeon in the British Forces, which stood in open fields where the Eaton Centre and the Church of the Holy Trinity are now. Lost Rivers writes that Macaulay may have created the name from a portmanteau of "ter," Gaelic for land, and a corruption of his own last name.

Terauley Street hung on until it was merged with Bay Street some time between 1913 and 1924.

RICHMOND AND ADELAIDE

King, Queen, and Princess haven't always been the only Toronto streets with royal names: Duke and Duchess streets were part of the early grid between Jarvis and Berkeley. The pair were combined with Richmond and Adelaide when the Gardiner Expressway ramps arrived in 1964. Sweeping jogs in both streets across Jarvis hint at the lost separation.

Richmond was once Hospital Street west of Bay and Adelaide was Newgate Street before being renamed for Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of William IV of the United Kingdom. The Australian city gets its name from the same person, though Toronto deployed it first.

(Happily, Duchess Street lives on in the name of Duchess Lane, a short service road just west of Parliament.)

PARLIAMENT

It doesn't take a shrewd observer to notice Parliament Street is nowhere near a parliament building. It's not a misnomer, though. The first Parliament of Upper Canada building, two small wooden blockhouses connected by a covered passageway, was originally located south of Front Street at the foot of Berkeley Street, which was the first "Parliament Street."

Confusingly, the road we know as Parliament today was previously Windmill Street south of King and Chapel Street to the north before the names were swapped around.

SEE ALSO:

• The story behind Toronto street names
• More stories about the origins of Toronto street names
• The lost street names of Toronto
• How Toronto neighbourhoods got their names

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Images: Lead: 1872 Wadsworth & Unwin Map of the City of Toronto - Tax Exemptions, Queen: 1833 Bonnycastle: No.1 Plan of the Town and Harbour of York Upper Canada, Dundas: 1893 Fisk and Co. Map of Toronto, Bay: 1913 Toronto Fire Insurance Map, Richmond and Adelaide: 1827 Chewett Plan of the Town of York, Parliament: 1834 Alpheus Todd Engraved Plan of the City of Toronto.

This new 100+ seat tequila bar on King West comes courtesy of the ownership group behind Little Anthony's Italian Restaurant, but they seem to know their Mexican cocktails and cuisine just fine, as evidenced by the smart tequila list and top notch tacos on offer.

Read my review of El Caballito in the bars section.

When people talk about the ingredients in beer, the conversation is usually about hop varieties, malted barley, or maybe even yeast strains. Water, though, is something we typically only bring up when discussing beers like Coors Light and Blue and even then we only do so to refer to the similarity of that beer to what comes out our sink taps.

But as Mill Street's talented brewmaster Joel Manning will tell you, the right water is actually extremely important to the production of great beer, and that's why for the latest addition to Mill Street's Seasonal Spring Mix six pack, he had to have just the right H20 trucked in on the 401.

Named after the route people traditionally use to carry their canoes around the Chaudiere Falls on the Ottawa River where Mill Street's Ottawa brewpub sits, Portage Ale was born at Mill Street's second location and, until now, was only available there.

This year though, they opted to bring the traditional cream ale to a larger audience and, for that, Mill Street required the soft water of the Ottawa River that's responsible for giving this beer its light texture, complexity, and smoothness.

The water, roughly 900 hectolitres (or 90000 litres) was literally trucked here from Ottawa and was used to make 10 batches of beer at Mill Street's brewing facilities.

Manning explains that it's actually a lack of mineral content that makes Ottawa water better suited to this refreshing style of beer. "Think of rainwater that has run over the Algonquin Shield and made its way into the Ottawa Valley system," he says "it has picked up very little mineral from the rock during this brief contact time."

Toronto water, on the other hand, has a much higher mineral content which can increase the perception of bitterness. That is, you can add similar bittering elements to a Toronto-made beer and an Ottawa-made beer, but Toronto's harder water means that the mineral holds the bitterness on your palate.

Or, put simply, soft water makes for soft and smooth beer. "Ottawa water is around 35 ppm hardness compared to 150 ppm hardness in Toronto water," Manning explains, making me giggle like a tween at the word hardness.

Not only is the beer a nod to Ottawa for its water content, but it's also a fitting tribute to Ottawa's brewing history. The traditional cream ale, fermented twice, once with ale yeast to produce a creamy, robust taste and then again through a secondary fermentation with lager yeast to develop a smooth and mellow character, is made in much the same way beer would have been made by breweries like Bradings Brewery, Union Brewery, and Capital Brewery, breweries that existed in the west end of Ottawa along the Ottawa River in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Of course, those brewers probably never imagined someone would be replicating their process with the same water 100+ years later, 450 kms away.

You can find Portage Ale in Mill Street's Seasonal Spring Mix Pack along with their returning Spring Thaw Maple Ale. The Spring Mix six pack will be available in early March at the brewery and at the LCBO for $13.45.

Ben Johnson also writes about beer over on Ben's Beer Blog. If you're cool, you'll follow him on twitter @Ben_T_Johnson.

This reliable no frills brunch spot is now under new ownership and has made modest improvements to its menu of daytime staples like Eggs Benedict, omelettes and various sandwiches. Fans will be happy to know that the signature garlic fries are still as spiced-up as ever and prices have dipped down.

Read my profile of College Street Diner in the restaurants section.

Hot on the heels of the launch of the new Ford brothers YouTube series, counter videos have popped up on the site with the goal of drawing into question claims made in the original clips. The gist is pretty simple. "This independent channel will review the content posted by Ford Nation and provide rebuttals where necessary, applicable and appropriate," reads a note of explanation on the Ford Nation rebuttal page. "Viewers are encouraged to review original source material and come to their own conclusions."

Pretty much every politician out there could be caught contradicting him or herself at one point or another, but the flip-flopping documented here is grin-worthy for how bald-faced it is. The creators of the channel encourage viewers to watch the original videos prior to the rebuttals, but I'm not sure that you really need to. Oh, and these clips are unsurprisingly far more entertaining than what's coming out of the Ford camp. Some free advice for Rob and Doug: get yourselves on the same page, guys.

The World's Biggest Bookstore will be replaced by a "Restaurant Row," Lifetime Developments has announced, shocking all of Toronto with the idea that the building could become anything other than condos. The World's Biggest Bookstore is set to close next month, as the site on which it sits at 20 Edward St. has been sold to the developer.

A press release states the four new restaurants will be completed by TIFF 2015 and "will be the best dining experience Toronto has to offer." Anybody wanna bet that this high ceiling-ed, "multi-level patio" endeavor will rival King West's restaurant row for tourist trap status? Anyway, you'll probably get the stink eye if you bring a book to dinner, but that's never stopped us before.

Here's a look at what the row is expected to look like.

Photo by Steve Harris on Flickr

When Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that she'd be doing a Reddit AMA this week, there was reason to be cautiously optimistic that the forum would provide an opportunity for the provincial leader to drum up some interest provincial politics, and, of course, her own position on issues of concern to her constituents. The goings on at Queen's Park don't typically tend to tend enrapture the general public to the same degree that, say, a cracking smoking mayor might, but taking to Reddit just sounded like a smart way to for the Premier to engage with a younger set of voters.

Well, that didn't happen. Instead, Wynne mostly squandered the opportunity by being overly selective about which questions she answered (10 in total) and failing to demonstrate much by way of openness and personality. In fairness, the AMA was only an hour, but the whole thing seemed like it was mailed in. This didn't go unnoticed by those participating in the thread, who racked up over 600 comments and questions, a healthy dose of which were critical of the Premier's perceived guardedness. If you want to interact with a community known for its high level of engagement, playing it too safe can ultimately backfire.

Perhaps aware of the disappointment in her performance, Wynne promised to answer one additional question a day for the next week. What do you think? Did the Premier miss an opportunity here?

Photo by Mark Spowart on Flickr

Photo by Phil Marion in the blogTO Flickr pool.

Today in Toronto music lovers can take in the electronic musical genius of Com Truise at Wrongbar, and or a triple bill at The Libertine with Jef Barbara headlining and a host of contributors on visuals. The 35th annual Rhubarb Festival begins tonight, and Buddies In Bad Times will be the epicentre of this festival that promises to be both forward and backward looking. Check out our preview here. Ladies Lugging Gear, a "salon-style" gathering featuring cutting edge female minds in the arts, will throw down at Tendril.

• Com Truise @ Wrongbar
• Jef Barbara/ Invasions/ The BB Guns @ The Libertine
• The 35th Rhubarb Festival
• Ladies Lugging Gear - Put A Hex On The Polar Vortex Edition
• Fun Palace Radio Variety Show

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo of Com Truise by Kaela Greenstien

This Week in Fashion rounds up the week's style news, store openings and closings, pop-up shops, sales and upcoming fashion and design events in Toronto. Find it here every Wednesday morning.

NEWS

Toronto Fashion Week (aka World MasterCard Fashion Week) has announced its preliminary calendar for the fall/winter 2014 season. From Monday, March 17 through Friday, March 21 both established and emerging Canadian designers will dazzle the tents at David Pecaut Square. Mackage, Joe Fresh, Beaufille, and Thomas Balint are just some of the names on the calendar. The shOws, an offsite fashion event featuring designers like Jeremy Laing and Steven Tai, has also solidified its dates for March 12 and 13. For the full (yet tentative) Toronto Fashion Week schedule, visit the official website.

Canadian fashion distributor Standard Apparel has added yet another leading international label to their roster: Nau. The newly introduced brand offers urban and outdoor apparel with a clean and timeless aesthetic for both men and women. Perhaps the most notable trait is its eco-consciousness; every garment is produced with premium fabrics like organic cotton, wool, tencel, and recycled polyester. Find Nau's spring/summer 2014 collections at Toronto retailers like Sporting Life (2665 Yonge St), Raindrops (50 Bloor St W), and MEC (400 King St W).

Last Wednesday, J.Crew opened a 6,500 square foot Collection store at 110 Bloor Street West. The new boutique is the first of its kind in Canada, carrying the brand's less conservative and more coveted pieces (as in the ones you can count on seeing in magazines, trend reports, and on fancy people). Although the stock is comprised mostly of womenswear, there's a small selection of luxe menswear as well.

Dapper chaps rejoice! Holt Renfrew recently announced that they've leased Roots' former Bloor Street flagship store (100 Bloor St W) to open a standalone, dedicated men's shop. The 15,000 square foot space - which just so happens to be right across Harry Rosen's massive flagship - is expected to launch this fall.

EVENTS

WORN Fashion Journal is once again hosting their ever-popular Heartbreak Karaoke night to soothe any and all sad, sad souls on Valentine's Day (February 14). Hit up Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton St) from 9 pm until 2 am to "mourn your latest romantic folly" by belting out Fly by Celine Dion (with a drink in hand, of course). Admission is $5 if you're wearing red or pink, and $7 if you're not.

Photo by Mauricio Calero

Footwork said goodbye to the club district last fall before heading to the former Annex Wreckroom. The new digs are more spacious, the stage more friendly to live shows, and the neighbourhood now boasts a bonafide dance destination.

Read my review of Coda in the bars section.

The top restaurants to chow down on Chinese lobster in Toronto serve up food that's a far cry from the plain simplicity of the steamed and dunked in butter version prevalent in most North American style seafood spots. The Chinese (or Cantonese) way of cooking lobster is pretty damn impressive and involves infusing these sea critters with seasonings and spices that make the whole dining experience a feast fit for a king. Common ingredients include Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, and ginger and many restaurants offer the option to choose whether you want the crustacean steamed, stir-fried, or deep-fried.

Here are 10 restaurants to hit up for Chinese (Cantonese-style) lobster in Toronto.

Wah Sing
A staple among Chinese lobster lovers in Toronto, Wah Sing's lobster special (two for $29.95) will easily trump most other options. My personal favourite here is the one done with black bean sauce. Just don't mind the ambience (nobody will confuse this place with Rock Lobster), which is passable at best, but the throngs of on-a-budget UofT students flocking here prove they must be doing something right.

Hua Sang
Located somewhat oddly right underneath Wah Sing (no, seriously), Hua Sang is your other slightly less known (but still excellent) option for two for one lobster specials ($29.95). The interior and overall appearance of the restaurant is, in my opinion, shabbier than its upstairs counterpart.

Fishman Lobster Clubhouse
Often mispronounced as FishERman Lobster, this modest-looking but rather roomy Scarborough joint is the definitive go-to place for Chinese lobster in the 905. The interior is quite fancy but you won't care as you elbow your friends trying to take photos of the towering 8+ pound lobster dish standing on your table, daring you to eat it. Try the deep fried garlic lobster for maximum flavour. Their prices, at $16.99 per pound, are pretty reasonable, too. Definitely one of those places you should visit at least once.

Fishman Wharf Seafood
Another Scarborough gem, this restaurant serves up a number of large lobster and king crab specials. My favourite is the lobster set (2 for $68) which features 5 courses and includes sweet and savoury lobster in Maggi sauce (a delicious seasoning that really should be more well-known in Canada).

Maple Yip
One of the best places for all-around Cantonese food, Maple Yip is well-known for its dated interior, hurried atmosphere, and astoundingly delicious lobster at really cheap prices. The light, steamed garlic variety is my favourite here. And with prices starting at around $15.95 per pound, it's definitely the biggest Value Menu in town. If a smaller lobster is more to your liking, you can snag 'em at $16.95 for the whole dish. Crazy crowds aside, it's a fantastic place to chow down.

Omei
At this long-standing Richmond Hill favourite the must-order is their famous lobster cooked 4-ways ($21.95 per pound) in which each dish features a different part of the lobster cooked with different seasonings. There's the classic deep fried lobster, a stir-fried lobster in Maggi sauce, fried rice with lobster innards (it's a lot tastier than it sounds) plus a whole lot more. The price point is a bit steep but there's a reason why it's one of the most popular lobster restaurants in York Region.

Best Dragon Seafood
Best Dragon's name apropos, considering the Chinese name for lobster is really dragon shrimp. There are two main options for lobster lovers here. Small lobsters are served 2 for $28 while large ones (usually 7+ pounds) go for $15-$16 per pound. Choose one of three ways to have them cooked: stir fried with ginger, black bean sauce, or deep fried with garlic.

Mr. Congee
Despite the chaotic atmosphere, Mr. Congee remains wildly popular with Scarborough residents looking for cheap and good Cantonese food. I've tried their stir fried lobster with ginger here, and at $16.99 can honestly tell you that it's one of the best values you'll get. It's not too big but it's succulent, tasty as hell and good quality. After you're done, walk off the calories inside the always quiet Bridlewood Mall.

Magic Wok
If you want good old-fashioned solid lobster dishes without any of the 4-way or towering madness that you get in some other restaurants, Magic Wok is worth a try. It's the epitome of a solid, no-nonsense Chinese family restaurant that serves up fresh and delicious lobster. The classic stir-fried lobster is the one to order here.

Congee Queen
If you're looking for easily-replicated lobster excellence, look no further than Congee Queen. The only chain restaurant on this list, they win points for their classic stir-fried lobster with ginger (value-priced at $17.99). The lobster may be on the small side but it's still absolutely tasty, which is really all you can ask for given its price and ubiquity.

Posted by Darren "DKLo" Susilo. He hangs out on the twitter and his own mansion.

Photo by Sebastian Ip in the blogTO Flickr pool

This map Toronto for visiting filmmakers and movie lovers by local super 8 filmmaker John Porter has been around for quite some time - according to Porter's Facebook, he's been "updating and photocopying this map for 14 years," a.k.a. the entire millennium - but now you don't have to approach him for a Xerox to find out where visiting artists should be hanging out in TO (though you still should - he's super nice).

Porter's 2014 version of the quirky Visiting Filmmakers' Map, now online with an accompanying Directory, is similar to sketchy, individualized maps I've drawn of the city myself over the years for artists and bands highlighting must-hit spots (The Skyline, Trinity's dog bowl, under-picked Goodwills - yeah, be my friend) but is much more thorough: Porter knows his stuff. While the map will tend to keep tourists away from east end jewels like Leslieville, The Beaches, Little India, and most of the Danforth, (plus Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, etc) everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Essentials like thrift spots, "trendy strips," "Beer" and "Liquor TO" are paired with art supply stores and film hotspots like LIFT, TIFF, Film Buff, and the Metro (RIP). If all this stuff seems way obvious, imagine making a cold call to Toronto and trying to decipher a Google map unaided.

Get the hi-res versions here:

John Porter's Visiting Filmmakers' Map of Toronto
John Porter's Visiting Filmmakers' Map of Toronto Directory

Porter encourages you to "add your own places, copy and colour for friends" - what would you add?

A play about Rob Ford is set to debut this summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world. This is totally unrelated to the fresh ink on that movie deal announced in Toronto on Monday, but it's not altogether that surprising that our mayor would serve as inspiration for the dramatic arts. Toronto-born, UK-based playwright Jason Hall's 21 Things You Should Know About Toronto's Crack-Smoking Mayor is based on the New York Magazine article of the same title.

The good news is the play won't shy away from the dark side of the story. Hall states on his Kickstarter page: "the idea grew out of my unease with the way the entire Ford story was being played for laughs in the international press. Instead, the events of 2013 give me the chance to lift the lid on some uncomfortable truths about Toronto, from deep ideological divisions among its citizens to the violent collision of gangs, guns and drugs in the parts of the city the tourists never see."

The play will star a woman named Kerry who on NYE 2013 has "one drink too many" and gets to speak her piece on Toronto's wayward Mayor in a "one-woman comedy about the one-man tragedy of Toronto politics." You can learn more about the play, and donate to support its production, here on Hall's Kickstarter page or on, ahem, crackmayorplay.com. While Scotland is a long trek for Toronto theatre goers, a successful run in Edinburgh could mean the play comes to TO.

The 2014 Edinburgh Fringe will run from August 1 - 25th.

There is a subtle cacophony in the Hale Coffee Co. headquarters. Khaldoun and Ramzi, two of the four business partners (missing are Adel and Khaled), are leading me through a typical roasting in their operation. Big burlap bags full of green beans sit in the corner, stacked bins of the roasted sit high on a shelf. Various coffee machines line the walls, and at the centre of the room is a table and chairs, the table full of trays of various bean types for me to sniff and try. My senses are piqued.

"Coffee roasting is a mix of the creative and the scientific," remarks Khal, as he pours a bucket of Ethiopian Harrar beans into the top of the Diedrich IR 2.5 machine. In the little window you can see the beans dancing round and round like customers at a Boxing Day sale. Over the whir of the machine, Khal takes readings, calling out numbers to Ramzi to later cross-reference with the computer data that runs straight from the roaster to a nearby Mac.

Soon aromas of light caramel and roasted chestnuts fill the room. They keep taking samples of the beans at various roasting times to test in a cupping tomorrow. For now, Hale Coffee only sells single origin beans - Ethiopian Harrar, Guatemalan Antigua, Costa Rican Tarrazu, Brazilian Cerrado, Colombian Supremo - though they are at work on custom blends.

Before they started up the roasting, we do a series of espresso shots. Using their La Marzocco machine Khal pulled a shot of their Guatemalan. It displayed a lovely tiger-skinned pattern crema, and tasted just as it should - sour notes at the first sip, but upon the second it opens up with balanced and rich chocolately notes.

He adjusted and ground another type of bean, this time the rare Yemeni. The Yemeni bean is one I've never tried. The near drought conditions, old seed stock and traditional harvesting and drying techniques results in smaller, tighter, uneven beans and the flavour is fruity and acidic.

Yemeni beans seem to me to be to coffee culture a loose equivalent of what Georgian orange wine is to oenology and viticulture. Due to (western) isolation and political instability, their products are steeped in history, retain a comparative unprocessed or rustic quality, and are hard to come by. They remind us of the roots.

After they roasting we share a final cup, this time a Costa Rican brewed in a Chemex. It's lighter, fruity and a little sour, a delicate finish to the day. We talk about the roots of their business. They all previously came from disparate careers (banking, sales etc.), but together got hooked onto the idea of coffee roasting as interest for local roasting grew in Toronto.

They saw a gap in the market, a need for fine roasted coffee distributed to mid-range businesses; bars, restaurants and coffee shops to be consumed on site or taken home as whole beans by customers who don't roast their own but care about a good cup. After some roasting and barista training, they began experimenting in October 2012.

What they lack in experience, they have ten-fold in enthusiasm. Khal and Ramzi stress Hale's interest in ethical beans, eschewing brand labels like fair trade, and highlight their business interest in coffee and food pairings.

The beans are done, tawny, bright smelling and just a little warm to the touch. Talk has switched to the future. Long-term plans involve a flagship storefront, but for now they roast and distribute to a number of Toronto locations. I like that their initial take on coffee has been focused and simple, but I am encouraged by their motto - "keep exploring" - it belies roots and wings. It also leaves them room to grow, and I believe, with their energy, they will.

Greenlid is a Toronto startup that wants to make composting easier. While the company's area of interest is anything but sexy, making humdrum tasks a bit less crappy tends to encourage us to do them more frequently, which is a very good thing when it comes to dealing with waste. I've certainly thrown lots of compostable material into the trash on account of the nastiness of my compost bin.

I've also pitched compost bins themselves when they've gotten so disgusting that I no longer believed I could restore them to acceptable levels of hygiene. So despite the fact that I spend less than a minute thinking about composting in a given week, I'm at least vaguely interested in this Kickstarter project that reinvents the compost bin.

The idea is pretty straightforward: Greenlid has made a compost bin that is itself compostable. Fashioned out of 100% post-consumer paper, the bin goes out with the organic waste. As the name suggests, the reusable portion is the lid, which is dishwasher safe and designed to absorb some of those glorious smells that waft up from below. As I said, not sexy -- but it does sound like a decent way to improve an annoying but crucial task.

Ole Ole, the three-floor tapas bar on King East that replaced Kultura, has shuttered a mere five months after its debut. One report on Chowhound paints a picture of uncleared tables, dead flowers, and notice posted to the door from the landlord seizing the property due to unpaid rent.

Reached on the phone, owner Andrew Lopez cited internal issues amongst managing partners as the cause for the demise of the restaurant, but hinted that the concept could reopen at a new address -- and presumably with a different ownership structure.

The restaurant launched last September with an expansive menu billed as Spanish-meets-Mexican tapas from 23-year-old chef Rodrigo Aguilar-Salas. While the food was generally well received, any praise was overshadowed by complaints about poor service, long wait times and small portions.

The familiar tale is also being played out at another nearby heritage building-cum-restaurant. The even shorter-lived, Olde Towne Bistro & Oyster Bar has closed after only three months.

The best cookies in Toronto are the stuff of childhood dreams, but the love one develops for these simple treats can last a lifetime. A straightforward enough thing - usually flour, eggs, sugar, butter plus a smattering of distinguishing ingredients like chocolate chips, raisins, oats, ginger, or peanut butter - the cookie traces its origins way back to 7th century Persia, though it wasn't made popular in North America until the late 17th century by the Scottish and Dutch.

Leave it to us to really big up the cookie game. Nostalgic remembrances of the after school special of milk and cookies, the giant cookie, the growth of the DIY bar (fro-yo to cookies), and the unfortunate trope of raw cookie dough as a desperate woman's sole comfort all contribute to designer cookie on offer here, each iteration a testimony to the cutthroat world of cookie production in this city.

Here are the best cookies in Toronto.

See also

The top 10 cookie companies in Toronto
The top 10 bakery factory outlet stores in Toronto
The Best Cupcakes in Toronto
The Best Macarons in Toronto
The Best Donuts in Toronto
The Best Muffins in Toronto

Photo by Neil Ta in the blogTO Flickr pool.