Eat Like You Mean It!
As the fight against COVID-19 goes on, we’ve seen Toronto’s restaurant scene come to a halt in a critical effort to keep staff and the public safe. While we’re still finding ourselves adjusting to this new normal, many restaurateurs have shifted their focus to takeout, delivery and curb-side pickup options.
So even though we might all be stuck indoors, we still gotta eat; and there’s no reason we can’t continue to help support these vital businesses while comforting ourselves with some delicious local eats. Here’s a short list of some of our favourite go-to spots:
Mary Be Kitchen
Billed as “whole food for the soul,” Mary Be typically caters to the Yonge and St. Clair lunchtime crowd with delicious, healthy options that don’t sacrifice flavor in the name of clean eating. So forget the charcoal smoothies and wheatgrass shots; expect a seasonally rotating menu of unpretentious, approachable food that makes you feel straight-up good.
Mary Be is currently serving their regular menu (delivery/takeout/pickup) plus scratch-made grocery items like granola, bake-and-serve cookies and family-sized soups and stews. They’re also offering curated meal boxes for purchase online, as well as the opportunity to buy a healthy meal for front-line workers.
Impact Kitchen
Founded in 2015 on the belief that food has the power to shape our daily lives, founders Frank Toskan and Josh Broun work closely with farmers and suppliers to make sure they’re only getting top-quality, fresh, local ingredients. Backed by a support team of chefs, nutritionists and fitness experts, Impact boasts a menu that requires each and every item to serve a nutritional purpose. Oh yeah, and it has to taste amazing, too.
With four locations and online delivery and takeout options, you can’t go wrong with their extensive, immunity-boosting offerings. If you’re looking for a place where you can find high-quality food for any meal of the day, every day, this might just become your new favourite spot.
Nutbar
While studying nutrition at the Institute of Holistic Nutrition, Kate Taylor Martin began dreaming up the concept for Toronto’s next healthy establishment: a superfood snack café serving the world’s most nutrient-rich, high-quality foods alongside coffee, matcha and energy-boosting smoothies.
There’s absolutely no corner-cutting here. Every single item is obsessed over (a healthy obsession, of course) before making it onto their vibrant snack-based menu. Since opening their first location in 2016 in Toronto’s Summerhill neighbourhood, Nutbar has always promised to make you “feel good here” by providing a healthy mind in a healthy body.
Kate and her team are currently working on contact-free delivery options. Be sure to give them a follow on Instagram (@nutbar.co) and show some love.
Terroni
Calling Terroni ‘a Toronto institution’ is like calling water ‘wet’; it’s pretty obvious. Their legacy goes back to 1992 when Cosimo Mammoliti and his good friend Paolo Scoppio returned from a summer in Puglia with the idea of opening an Italian place of their own. What began as a modest storefront on Queen West soon expanded to pizza service, followed by the addition of stools and tables. Before they knew it, they had their first restaurant. Now you could say they have one or two more.
If you haven’t been, this should be one of your first stops when restaurants open back up. Until then, be sure to check out takeout/pickup options which serve their multiple locations. And yes, it’s still some of the best pizza in the city.