This Toronto couple is the team behind hot spots in one of the city’s
Long gone are the days when Ossington was little more than an underdeveloped thoroughfare in Toronto’s west end.
Over the past twenty years, trendy shops, stylish cafes and top-tier restaurants have moved in, solidifying the street’s reputation as an uncontested place to see and be seen. International publications have even gone so far as to deem it one of the coolest streets in the world.
Over the past five years, real-life couple and business team Brook Kavanaugh and Lara Roberts have been at the forefront of keeping that legacy alive.
While their combined career of owning and operating some of Ossington’s most buzzworthy spots started in 2020, their respective culinary journeys began long before that.
Brook has been working in kitchens since he was 14 years old, starting his apprenticeship while still in high school and bouncing around fine dining restaurants in the early 2000s before landing a spot as Executive Head Chef at La Palette from 2006 to 2015.
From there, he worked in kitchens in Hong Kong and Dubai before ultimately returning to Toronto in 2020.
Lara, for her part, boasts a similarly impressive resume, having worked in various areas of the industry, including front of house at Jacob’s & Co. steakhouse, where she later began working as a pastry chef, designing cakes at a Michelin-starred pastry kitchen in Hong Kong and managing a multi-unit restaurant in Dubai.
Upon returning to Toronto, Lara (who is also a level 2 sommelier, the underachiever) began working as the manager of KOST, where she also managed their wine program.
All of this is to say that when, in early 2020, Lara and Brook decided it was time to open up a place of their own, they were off to the races.
It all started with Season Six, which, at the time, ran out of a 350 sq. ft. basement at Dundas and Ossington.
“It was a former eyelash salon with no kitchen,” Brook tells me. “We built everything ourselves, and as construction was underway, the pandemic hit.”
Luckily for them, though, the concept, a quick-service French bistro with little dine-in space in the first place, was well-positioned to weather the storm as the duo pivoted to takeaway and delivery.
“While all the high-end restaurants were pivoting, figuring out how to operate in the new uncertain times, it was already something we were planning for,” Brook says.
“We had already created a website through which we could take orders and manage deliveries; we had already sourced compostable takeaway containers and everything needed to smoothly operate a takeaway restaurant with high-quality dishes.”
Season Six, Brook and Lara’s first venture, is still alive and well on Ossington.
Weather the storm, they did, and after about a year, they moved Season Six to its current home at 188 Ossington.
Not intent on ditching the basement unit that had proven itself a formidable home during an otherwise awful year, though, they hung on to the space and transformed it into a new concept, which would prove to be perhaps their most popular venture to date: Sprezzatura Spaghetti Disco.
“The concept was a synthesis of two ideas: fresh, fast pasta and Italian Disco music. We would serve fresh handmade pasta from a quick service counter, similar to Baldasarre, but on the weekend nights, we’d host private groups for intimate dance parties that I would DJ and host Karaoke for, while serving up bowls of pasta and snacks from the kitchen,” Brook says.
Suffice it to say that the concept was a hit, and it, too, moved to a permanent location at 1166 Dundas, less than a block west of Ossington, where it continues to draw massive crowds and lengthy lines (which, in the parties-and-pasta world, is always a good thing,) to this day.
By now, it’s safe to assume at least one of two things: a) the basement unit at 216 Ossington has some sort of hit-maker magic buried under the floorboards, or b) Brook and Lara really know what they’re doing. I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter.
Come spring of 2023, Brook and Lara, with the help of Chef Arturo Fernandez, who now serves as the Executive Head Chef at Season Six, transformed the original space, which they now refer to as “the incubator,” into Taqueria El Valiente.
It almost goes without saying at this point, but it, too, has been a hit.
Badlands, a country bar, is Brook and Lara’s latest business.
Most recently, they’ve focused their energy on growing their newest baby, Badlands Good Time Smoking Saloon, a country music bar that serves Southern American-style snacks in an environment that’s decidedly more sophisticated, though no less fun, than your average country bar.
“A few years ago, we were approached by the landlord of the building beside Season Six. He wanted us to convert his ground floor into a restaurant. We were already quite busy, but we do have a lot of ideas for restaurant concepts, so we took on the challenge,” and, come December of 2024, Badlands was born.
It can’t be overstated quite how pedal-to-the-metal these past five years have been for Lara and Brook, but Brook tells me that each and every concept they’ve opened has been out of necessity; “we had a space and needed to open something,” he says.
While each concept is utterly unique, Brook says that they typically all start the same way: with the food. From there, they build out the concepts and spaces, with special attention paid to the soundtracks at each location.
“I’ve always found so many parallels between music and food,” Brook says, “so the music for each location is very much considered, and meant to pair well with the food and atmosphere.”
Owning and operating four of the coolest spots on one of the coolest streets in the city doesn’t come without its own set of challenges, to be sure, but Brook says having all their spots within spitting distance of each other certainly helps.
“It’s really synergistic to have them all in the same area,” he tells me. “Our staff often will help each other out if one of our spots is in the weeds, or needs ice, or just an extra set of hands.”
And even despite the challenges, the rewards are more than enough to make it all worth it, he says.
“I think the biggest reward is getting to play a role in someone’s life,” Brook tells me.
“We have couples come in for a first date, and come back again a year later engaged, and have started hosting weddings as well. I’m looking forward to seeing the first Spaghetti Disco baby in the coming months.”
Lookin’ good at Badlands.
Not content to rest on their laurels, Brook and Lara already have some new ideas in the works, too.
“Currently, we’re developing a 300-person wedding and event space just outside the city in a beautiful wooded space,” Brook tells me.
“We plan on doing some pop-up events with live cooking demos, food from ourselves and other friends from the industry, and, of course, live music.”
While there are no details on when, exactly, the new concept will be opening up (and, hey, why spoil a good surprise?), you can keep up with the latest news on Brook and Lara’s ventures by following Brook on Instagram.
