Sadness in Bloor West Village

[PierreBiere]

Bad news for those of you in the West end of Toronto - the Rebel Chop House is closing its doors for the last time this Saturday. I was in last night and was told that the overhead was just too much to justify keeping the place open any longer. I'll dearly miss the RCH, which was one of my favourite pubs in Toronto. The food was always great and the selection of Ontario micros was second to none in this part of the woods. The Yonge Street location will remain open, thankfully.
First Dennisons, now the Chop House - what next?

[JerCraigs]

I must apologise to everyone as apparently the RCH closing is my fault. I am moving in this weekend and they are *clearly* closing it just to spite me!

[tupalev]

As a resident of the high park area, this is very sad news. Good beer is tough to come by down here. Thanks to RCH for the fine pints these past few years and good luck in the future.

Jeff

[GregClow]

On 2004-02-27 12:18, PierreBiere wrote:
First Dennisons, now the Chop House - what next?

While it's sad to see a pub that supports good beer closing, I think on a larger scale, things have gotten MUCH better for Toronto beer lovers in the last year despite the closures you mention.

Yes, we've lost two good spots. But we've gained beerbistro, the Blue Meaney, Cafe Volo (not a new place, but their excellent beer list is a recent development), the expanded C'est What, and the new take-out service at The Granite.

[esprit]

The previous tenant was Mad Apples the owner of which was a good friend. After many years in the location he was faced with an astronomical rent increase which basically put him out of business. Seems like the landlord continues on the same track....here's hoping the location remains vacant for years and puts the landord under!

[esprit]

I should add that I frequented the Rebel and the food was very good and the draft selection excellent and better than anything in the west end of the city all the way out to Oakville. Bloor West has become too gentrified and unless you own the building, the chances of any business succeeding are slim to none. Soon, it's going to look like Sherway Gardens with only major retailers and high end restaurants being able to afford the rent.

[Cass]

Bummer. I always liked the Chop House, and it was of course the pub featured in the Pub Walk that was published in the Toronto Star in March of 2003.

[hurricane]

Just wanted to say thanks to all of you really good regulars who kept us alive; and to all the new folks who were kind enough to mention that they had just discovered the ChopHouse and were sorry they hadn't been there sooner. It was fun while it lasted. See y'all at the Yonge St. Rebel.

Dave and Bruce

[BrewsTraveler.com]

For those of you in the west end, the Wembley Pub near Bloor and Royal York has a great quantity of craft beers including Mill St and Church-Key

[tupalev]

Thanks for the tip - I have not been but will definitly pop a couple subway stops over to check it out.

Jeff

[JerCraigs]

Stopped by the Dark Horse at Jane and Bloor yesterday. They had Fuller ESB and Mill St Tankhouse on tap, and signs for Steamwhistle everywhere though I can't recall if it was draft or bottles. Not a bad little place, though a bit smokey by the bar.

Anyone been to the Yellow Griffin? (sp?) Whats the tap list like?

[tupalev]

I have not been to the Dark Horse in about a year, but it is good to know that there are a couple of decent taps in there. I too found it smoky in the very open environment, but it did have some character.

The last time I was in the Griffin, the tap list was standard British selection, but again, that was over a year ago (I’ve been meaning to stop back in, but that sign advertising the new upstairs “dance floor” usually scares me off and then I go over to RCH, but that isn’t an option anymore). They do seem to be constantly advertising on their window their “growing” bottle selection.

Jeff

[Uncle Bobby]

Anyone been to the Yellow Griffin? (sp?) Whats the tap list like?

Is this the place across the street from where the Chop House stood? Narrow storefront, seating for 40-ish people?

I was in there on Saturday lunch...the Yellow Something. We had been hoping to enjoy our first and last meals at the RCH. I guess we misread the post.

The beer selection was comprised of lousy "imports": Guinness, Smithwicks, Kilkenny, Carlsberg, and others of that ilk. Although they might have had others, the server seemed both overworked and not very knowledgable. (She was also Russian/Ukrainian and told us that one of the beers was "Myoosekkkhead...")

The food however was really good. Great hand-made hamburgers, generous sandwiches, nice salads, etc.

And the service picked up once the lunch rush slowed a little -- the server explained that only two people were there to cover both the kitchen and the front-of-house.

We also saw that actress in there -- you know, the one who played the nurse in "North of 60". Felt like a neighbourhood hang-out. Nice strip of Bloor West Village, too.

-Uncle Bobby

[Cask]

Thanks for the Fuller's tip, JerCraigs. Will have to check out the Dark Horse. Does anyone know if there's anywhere else in TO, besides Dora's/Allen's, where Fuller's is served on tap? I'd heard they were making inroads into Ontario not long ago, but they don't seem to have penetrated the market very much. Would love to find London Pride along with the Porter & ESB.

[tupalev]

Well, The Beer Bistro has a Fullers Tap, originally with London Porter and now with ESB (as of last time I was there, about 10 days ago). And while not on tap, the LCBO locations I have visted lately all have a healthy stock of the London Porter, at $0.20 off a bottle.