Toronto’s grandmacore restaurants are serving your favourite childhood meals, Canada Reviews

Toronto chefs are turning to grandmacore, a trend that puts family recipes and home-cooked dishes at the centre of their menus. Across the city, restaurants are serving the dishes they grew up with, often in spaces filled with family touches or pieces of their past.

Here are some of the spots leading the way.

Beisl

Beisl lives inside True History Brewery, where the focus is on Viennese comfort food. Caleb Way spent his teen years in Vienna, and he draws on those memories for dishes like thin, crisp schnitzels, Käsespätzle with fried onions and beef cheek goulash that melts into paprika-spiced gravy. Charlotte Castro-Guerra runs the front of house and helps bring Way’s memories to the table. The menu rotates, but the classics remain. No reservations, and the place fills quickly on weekends. 1154 St. Clair Ave. W.

Maven

Shauna Godfrey named Maven after her grandmother, Bubby Rose. The small dining room serves Eastern European Jewish dishes including schnitzel with fermented plum, duck confit cholent and Bubby Rose’s cheesecake. Stained glass and family heirlooms make the space feel like someone’s home kitchen. 112 Harbord St.

Zia’s Place

Zia’s Place is loud, lively, and warm — just like Jess Maiorano’s childhood dinners. The southern Italian dishes here are rooted in family recipes: hand-rolled fusilli with pork shoulder ragù, cavatelli with broccoli, and seasonal vegetables. The dark wood, marble bar, and hanging milk-glass lamps make it feel like a dining room where everyone talks over one another, plates piled high, and no one worries about napkins. 1543 Dundas St. W.

Daisy May’s

Daisy May’s wears its heart on its sleeve. Named for Theo Laan’s grandmother, the restaurant is full of personal touches: wood from Laan’s childhood home forms the bar, old church pews line the walls and hand-painted signs hint at the neighbourhood’s past. Breakfast sandwiches are simple but thoughtful — soft scrambled eggs, thick-cut smoky bacon, sharp cheddar and house-made pickles. The challah French toast is burnished and rich, topped with berries and candied hazelnuts. Laan says it’s meant to feel like visiting a grandmother’s kitchen: familiar, comforting and a little indulgent. 968 Bathurst St.

Susie’s Rise and Dine

Three childhood friends — Adam, Matthew and Tyler — opened this Asian-inspired breakfast diner as a tribute to Adam’s grandmother, Susie. Mapo Frito Pie, crispy Cantonese shrimp sandwiches and golden pancakes all nod to family meals, while the décor is sprinkled with references to their grandmothers: floral prints and jade-green accents. Chef Kelvin Ng, who grew up in a Cantonese household, helps translate those memories into food that’s comforting but with a twist. 539 College St.