Rediscovering My Home City of Toronto Through Its Ever-Changing Food Scene

22.03.2024 - 16:57 / cntraveler.com

There are two t's in Toronto, and if you pronounce the second one, you're visiting. This isn't the city's only outsider-tell, nor is Toronto the city's only name: It was Toronto's very own Drake—who appeared on the cover of his 2016 multiplatinum album, Views, sitting on the edge of the iconic CN Tower—who melodically dubbed the city The Six. The moniker stuck. Now the reference is as Toronto as “We the North” chants at Raptors games.

CN Tower, Toronto’s tallest structure, seen from Trinity Bellwoods Park

Sweet and savory brunch options at the Ace’s restaurant, Alder

Most people are unaware that the rap god chose the numeric nomenclature as a salute to two things: the city's original area code (416) and the 1998 amalgamation of six municipalities (Toronto, East York, North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, and York) to form the megacity of Toronto. That a land zoning decision could influence a rap song is a testament to how seriously Torontonians take their neighborhoods.

It's the kind of pride that bubbles along city blocks, gets passed down through generations, and winds up on T-shirts. Toronto is a city of immigrants who laid claim to the enclaves where they landed, set down roots, had kids, and made those kids swear to remain neighborhood-faithful forever. It's just one of the things that makes visiting the city so incredible: Residents haven't given up the nuances of who they are here. So if you're open to it, each visit offers an opportunity to discover something new.

The lobby at Ace Hotel Toronto

Vinyl store Play De Record

I was born in Toronto—Little Jamaica, to be precise—and even though I moved to the suburbs in grade school, most of my formative memories are rooted in the city. I browsed albums at Play De Record on Yonge Street. Wore out the treads on brand-new white Keds jumping in the streets during Caribana—the city's annual Caribbean carnival celebration. I partied at clubs that no longer exist, slept on the subway during rush hour, and trailed my parents through Kensington Market butcher shops while they searched for the freshest fish and oxtail. Ask me to name some of the neighborhoods that make up Toronto and I can easily recite dozens. But ask me when last I visited one of them, and until recently you'd have been met with a sheepish shrug.

In an effort to raise global citizens, my husband and I swapped family trips to Toronto for opportunities to see places farther away. This means that my sons have slurped spaghetti in Rome and ridden camels in Egypt but have never known the juicy joy of a pan chicken dinner on Eglinton Avenue West. Adulthood turned a trip to the city into a commute and my youthful excitement into parking-search fatigue. Toronto became a place I drove through.

To be