ntering an enigmatic bar, the expense-account lounger takes a seat in a designer leather chair. He won't drink at King West anymore, that's sooo five minutes ago. He surveys the astonishing layout before him: a dark-hued Art Deco scene that channels a bygone era. 'How much did this cost?' he queries, betraying a tinge of envy. 'Half a million? Million?'

We're sitting in The Comrade, Leslieville's sweet little darling, and Expense Account is right about one thing: it really does feel like a million-dollar layout. The design of the distinctively striking, long, narrow room conjures 1930s Orient Express meets Tom Ford. Think original brick and beam, antique settees, and curve-y designer chairs.
At the Riverside/Leslieville divide, the Comrade is the latest neoteric bar to capitalize on the area's exploding scene. Formerly an ignorable thoroughfare, this strip of Queen East has quickly become a happening unto itself. It's about time that a red star combated the neighbourhood's rampant capitalism.

Comrade owners Nikki Andriet and Dean Fletcher run Leigh+James Furniture. The store draws myriad restaurant designers, all looking for mammoth quantities of distinct chairs, tables and ottomans. Eventually, this spurred the duo's interest in creating a distinct, slick bar space.