Andrew Youngson is a food industry for-lifer.

Youngson got his start working in restaurants at the age of 15, his impressive resume includes places like Terroni, Yours Truly, AME and Bar Raval in Toronto and several others in Vancouver. 

"I have a very long history with food. I started loving cooking when I was about eight or nine years old and have really dove into it wholeheartedly ever since," he says. 

After a stint in bartending and catering private events, Youngson decided it was finally time to start his own venture—and VERA VERA was born. 

VERA VERA is a pop-up cafe and bakery in West Queen West blocks away from The Drake Hotel, that just opened this summer.

In the short time that it has been open, the temporary occupant of 1166 Queen Street West has become known for its Mediterranean phyllo pies ($8) and other lavish sweets, like Chocolate Olive Oil Cake ($10). 

Phyllo is a staple of Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. Most are familiar with spanakopita, a popular Greek phyllo pie. However, iterations of the pastry exist in several countries in the Middle East and along the Mediterranean. 

"All over the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean they make their own versions of these phyllo pies. They all have different names for it, but at the end of the day it's all phyllo dough filled with various fillings," explains Youngson.

Youngson was heavily inspired by his wife's culture when conceptualizing VERA VERA. "My wife is from the Balkans. Her family years ago taught me how to make hand stretched phyllo," he says. 

"Although everybody's familiar with phyllo, I don't think that many people have actually tried a properly-made, hand stretched authentic phyllo, the way that we're doing it at VERA VERA."

Youngson saw endless possibilites with this medium, "I saw that as a great opportunity to really explore flavors, because it's such a it's such a perfect vessel. You can really fill it with whatever you want, whether it's sweet or savory."

VERA VERA has classic Eastern Mediterranean fillings and flavours, such as spinach & cheese and beef & onion, as well as more inventive ones.

"We try and get extremely creative and do some fun and unique [flavours] and try to use anything seasonal. We are planning a few interesting brand collaborations as well. So that's something cool to stay tuned for," he says. 

However, VERA VERA is just the placeholder for Youngson's real plans for 1166 Queen St West site. Youngson plans to open a Sicilian-inspired cocktail bar in the space, called Bar Antonii, likely closer to 2026. 

"Once we realized how much lead time we had before demo started, things just kind of snowballed and we realized that we had until the end of November, which I saw as a really great opportunity to do something fun and creative in the space," he explains. The concept for Bar Antonii is to be "almost like an American Bar with Sicilian food," says Youngson.  

Youngson feels a major kinship with Sicily, "I love Sicily so much. It's my favourite place in the whole world. I feel so at home there. My food background is very broad, but I very much started off with Italian food."

Youngson also finds the culture and cuisine of the region fascinating, "If you ask a Sicilian person where they're from, they say, Sicily first, and Italy second. There's some commonality of course with mainland Italian food, but the food is also very unique."

"It's been an island that's been conquered by so many different people at various points in time—the Greeks, the Romans, the Spaniards—that there's so much other influence in the food," he elaborates. 

A major renovation will begin in November, transforming the space into Bar Antonii and marking the end of VERA VERA. Though not to fear, Youngson plans to revive VERA VERA at a later date. 

"There's some really exciting stuff on the horizon. We're definitely going to look for a future home for VERA VERA as well, because it's been great so far and we would love to keep it going."

For Bar Antonii, Youngson hopes to compensate for Sicily's lack of bar culture, "There's not a huge like cocktail culture in Sicily. We want to explore Sicilian flavors and really unique things with our beverage program and then pair it with Sicilian food."

"We are going to be really focusing on ingredient-driven cocktails and and being super seasonal and simple but done in the right way."

While you still can, make sure to snag one of VERA VERA's traditionally-made, yet uniquely-flavoured phyllo pastries, as it may be years before there will be another opportunity—and keep an ear to the ground for updates on Toronto's soon-to-be, newest Sicilian-inspired cocktail bar!

VERA VERA is located at 1166 Queen St West until November.