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re you can eat late and eat great - The Globe and Mail
REVIEW
Girlfriends from Winnipeg toast their reunion at 416 Snack Bar at 181 Bathurst St. in
Toronto on April 11, 2013.
PETER POWER/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
CHRIS NUTTALL-SMITH
PUBLISHED APRIL 12, 2013
UPDATED MAY 11, 2018
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Maybe you've walked past 416 Snack Bar the way I had: late at
night, with the streets rain-slicked and quiet, the thunk-thunk and
screech of streetcar tracks and a hooting drunk on Queen Street the
only sounds. Then there it is, a warm window into a tiny bar on
Bathurst Street, with candlelight from proper candle sticks, the
happy crescendo of London Calling and shouted conversations, a
lineup inside the door.
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10/30/2019 416 Snack Bar and Archive: Toronto small-plate heavyweights where you can eat late and eat great - The Globe and Mail
It's just a dive bar, though, isn't it – a dive bar with a generic, kiosk-
in-the-Greyhound station name?
I went in one night, earlier this time, and noticed the drinks list.
There was Italian craft beer, cult Chablis, top Champagnes, and a
custom-bottled "416 cuve" Muscadet of sorts from Prince Edward
County's Norman Hardie winery. Here I'd been expecting flat
Labbatts and oven-temperature Yellow Tail.
And the crowd looked odd, come to think of it – not at all a dive-
bar crowd. There were groups of single, bejeweled young women
slurping trays of oysters and sipping from flutes, sitting thigh-to-
thigh with middle-aged couples gorging on platters of cheese and
charcuterie; there were young men in need of shaves and belts to
keep their pants up, in backwards ball caps, next to men in ties
talking Blue Jays ("Trade Dickey!") over tall boys of Neustadt Sour
Krautlager and sloppy, delicious-looking sandwiches.
For two years I'd walked past 416 Snack Bar and didn't get it. Who
eats at 1 in the morning? Mea culpa. They open at 5 p.m., I later
realized. There's good food there. I should have known – especially
because this is where chefs eat, crowded around the tables after
their kitchens close.
On the best nights, 416 also has Trinidadian doubles, which are
sandwiches made from golden, fried-to-order fritters, stuffed with
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10/30/2019 416 Snack Bar and Archive: Toronto small-plate heavyweights where you can eat late and eat great - The Globe and Mail
They opened 416 Snack Bar in January, 2011, with five years of tip
money as their budget. Their chef is 28-year-old Rory McGouran,
who learned to cook at Scaramouche.
And it's a must if you like good food and drink and loud, danceable
music and gorgeous, lively late-night people. Because 416 serves
some of the tastiest not-even-close-to-a-dive-bar eats in town.
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10/30/2019 416 Snack Bar and Archive: Toronto small-plate heavyweights where you can eat late and eat great - The Globe and Mail
The Coreas have a rare knack for being bona fide wine geeks
without acting it – they don't talk much about the wine unless
asked to, which is nice.
The food is humble, intended more for pre- and post-dinner snacks
than the full-meal deal. There are good cicchetti: Venetian-style
toasts slathered with white-bean pure and anchovies, or piled
with wild mushrooms. (The toast is too authentically Venetian,
though – bland and slightly cakey.)
CHEAP EATS
Wine and drinks: Superb wine list (ask for the big one) with
options for every budget; beers run from Lowenbrau tall boys
to Italian Bruton di Bruton.
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10/30/2019 416 Snack Bar and Archive: Toronto small-plate heavyweights where you can eat late and eat great - The Globe and Mail
Best bets: Trini doubles, mini macs, veg steam buns, winter
salad, Yorkshire puds.
Archive
NB: No reservations
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