Leslieville

After many years of playing the role of little brother to more developed Riverside, Leslieville has finally emerged as Toronto's hippest place to dine, drink, shop and live, or so proclaimed a 2005 article in the New York Times that also anointed the neighbourhood as the new Queen Street West.

Bordered by Booth Avenue (Jimmie Simpson Park) to the west, Gerrard to the north, Woodfield to the east and Eastern Avenue to the South, Leslieville is generally what most Torontonians refer to when they think of Queen Street east past the DVP. On this point, however, they would be wrong.

Leslieville is actually sandwiched between Riverside and the Beaches (er, Beach). Historically, the neighbourhood has been home to light industry - particularly along Eastern Avenue - and is still the site of the sprawling South Central Letter Processing Plant and the TTC Streetcar yards directly across the street.

Despite the recent opening of a Starbucks, the neighbourhood has a number of bustling independent cafes like Mercury Organic Espresso Bar, Tango Palace Coffee Company and Red Rocket Coffee that lure in local and weekend residents with fair trade coffee, latte art and baked goods.

For the brunch scene, Leslieville is spoiled with some of the best options around. Edward Levesque's Kitchen is famous for their all day breakfasts while Okay Okay wins over fans with its classic diner vibe. Also on the radar is long-time favourite Toast Restaurant (formerly Hello Toast) or the vegan friendly Pulp Kitchen.

Leslieville has few notable bars, clubs or live music venues. This in and of itself would probably prevent it from being anointed as the next Williamsburg (Not that anyone's asking). But there's no shortage of restaurants that can whip up a great tasting meal such as Tomi-Kro, Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant, Leslie Jones and Barrio.

Not to be forgotten are the vintage and contemporary furniture stores that originally put Leslieville on the map. For decades the film industry and interior designers have been flocking to shops like Zig Zag, Ethel 20th Century Living and Machine Age Modern for their well curated selections of chairs, sofas and accessories.

Other places of note:

Sushi Marche
Don't be fooled by the appearance of this place. Minimal decor and only one table means few opt to eat on site. But Sushi Marche does brisk take-out service and offers some of the freshest and best selection of raw fish in the city. And even better, it comes with real wasabi!

Cajun Corner
Stocking a huge selection of Louisiana products and hard to find items like grits, Cajun Corner is also a worthy spot for a quick, cheap lunch of fish gumbo or battered catfish and sweet potato fries.

Nathalie Roze and Co.
A great source for women's clothing from local, independent designers. There's a tiny selection of men's stuff here including Leslieville branded t's. But most of the items that fly off the shelf are women's tops, skirts, hats and jewellery.

For more photos and information, visit Leslieville's Wikipedia page, Joe Clark's The Free City of Leslieville or Flickr.