eaver Café is a good place to know about if you've landed in Parkdale. The name and decor are nod-andwink coffee-shop-kitsch, with quirky staff, fun breakfast menu and beaver-oriented design accents as well.

Easily the cutest new diner in these parts, Beaver Café is light and bright and features the best top-40 of 1979. That, and the forced intimacy of shared cooking on a hot grill, apparently does the trick. It's possible to order a la carte entrees, but the premier panini - which include a grilled bocconcini tomato and pesto sandwich - are the way to go.

From its rotating service staff (one day Matt’ll be serving while Megan cooks, the next day it’s Hazel, while Matt’s at the stove) to its modest-to-a-fault menu, Beaver Café is clearly aimed for what the future of this area will bring.

Whiten has made a name for herself at Oyster Boy and the Bovine prior to opening this café. Big, bright and full of energy, this casual spot has it’s flaws, as it’s still a brand new thing (Beaver opened mid-June), but there also are unexpected treats, such as the Grilled Chevre, ham and sundried tomato panini sandwich. These combinations are ours, as it’s a build your own sandwich system.

But first, ask Matt - or Megan or Hazel - to bring slices of rustic New Moon “Nana” bread. Next, an eye-catching mixed green salad ($4.95), dolled up for an additional two bucks with a mound of slightly grilled chevre. Among the daily specials, we sampled a round of breakfasts - eggs that were steamed - too long - with mounds of ham and toast ($5.50). The bowl of Granola provided the kick for a fine bowl with fresh fruit and yogurt ($5.50). A chocolate croissant was enough to inspire us to get up, get out, and go to work.

You could get high from the bus fumes at this Parkdale spot, and sometimes puts a hovering damper on the smell of the grilled diner food. The view is not exactly breathtaking, but neither are the prices astronomical - an arrangement the local artsy crowd seems perfectly happy to abide. It's a big-morning-on-the-town kind of place, for when the Beaver is more important than the meal itself. Brad Jamieson


Reader Reviews

STARVING ARTISTS NEED TO EAT FOOD CHEAP
froosh, toronto
December 3, 2003
beaver cafe is fresh, clean, new and rough around the edges .[sink those drywall screws into the wood - ouch!]which fits in with parkdale, that gives them one star. prices are good.... which would give them more stars - if there was actually food on the plate. the decor is a bit off, something is missing. we see they rented the big shiney fiama machine and they should have gotten the smaller one so that they can sever more food on the plate. STARVING ARTISTS NEED TOO EAT FOOD IN VERY LARGE PORTIONS FOR CHEAP. The cheap they got, large portins they did not. definately NOT a hangover breakfast spot. Keep trying, beaver represents canada and we like our grease in the morning!