House glass at Bar Isabel: Prohibido Cantar. · Bar Isabel official site · source
Little Italy · 797 College Street, Toronto
Bar Isabel, still the octopus room
This taverna’s ability to lay the charm on remains as strong as ever, over a decade in.
Canada’s 100 Best
Bar Isabel opened in 2013 at 797 College Street. Grant van Gameren’s Spanish tavern is the room that taught a lot of Toronto to order grilled octopus and stay late. enRoute named it the country’s best new restaurant that first year. The taverna is still on College.
Canada’s 100 Best still files it as a house of patatas bravas, pan con tomate, bone marrow, and a Spain-centric list. The official site is mostly a reservation card. The photograph is the Prohibido Cantar glass — house decor, not a stock tapas plate.
A February statement. The charm is the point, a decade on.