One of Toronto's oldest and most beloved patios at a closed dive bar is now being repurposed as a new backyard barbecue oasis.
The Caddi at 1296 Queen St. West comes complete with bottle service, a big screen showing sports games and capacity for a hundred. It's located where the legendary Cadillac Lounge patio used to be in Parkdale.
It was created by Jonny Poon of Superpoint and Favorites along with Gani Shqueir of now closed Camp 4. The pair are also partners at Paris Paris.
There is a lots of shade thanks to a thick canopy of tree branches overhead, and a covering over the area housing the projector in case of rain. They might also show movies on this screen as well as sports. There's no access to the inside, which has been left in an unfortunate state of disrepair.
The run down patio has been totally refurbished with new paint and artwork, including a mural on the wall in the alleyway leading to the bar that depicts some mischievous raccoons done by Emily May Rose.
Everything on the menu here is handheld, making it easy to cut down on cutlery and more contact with dishes.
That includes a cucumber salad ($7) served in sort of boats with tomato, herbs and shards of tortilla chips.
A patty melt ($8) comes off as more of a burger on a squishy bun with shredded lettuce, but it does have a nice steamy quality with cheese melted on top.
Barbecue shrimp are worth it at $14, succulent shell-on morsels swimming in a mildly spicy sauce and served with summery tomatoes.
Miami ribs ($13) are the other star, juicy short ribs topped with a ton of boldly seasoned chopped peanuts and caraway.
A drinks menu is drawn in fancy script behind the bar, listing rail drinks, shots, glasses of cava and cans of Modelo, Woodhouse, Ace Hill vodka beverages or Steigl at $8.
There are also Aperol Spritzes and Dark n' Stormys for $13.
Jager Bombs and Vodka Redbull are $10, and for $250 you can indulge in a bottle service experience complete with sparkler.
Check this place out on weekends, when they'll have a rotating cast of guest chefs from restaurants like BBs Diner, Dreyfus, Rudy and Good Hombres coming through.
Though there is a dedicated sidelong smoking area here, you can't make reservations and there's no bottle shop component so you won't be able to pick up any drinks to take home.
There are bins for cans and recycling into which you can throw your own trash.
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