Manita Rosedale is a welcome second act, bringing the crowd-favourite all-day concept to a hungry uptown audience.

Now an Ossington staple, Manita's first location opened in August, 2020. A time defined by uncertainty and lockdowns, reduced opening hours and a surfeit of pivots, it added up to the type of circumstances that would make any restaurateur cringe.

Still, says Ian McGrenaghan, the veteran restaurateur who owns Manita with partners Colin Tooke and Sam Lipson, the pandemic directly influenced the vision for the new spot.

"As a result of opening during the pandemic," he explains, "we treated it as if it might be our last restaurant ever. With that in mind, everything from the food to the ambiance and the service was geared toward what if we, the three of us, had to work here 16 hours a day for the rest of our lives. What would be the dream place for us to exist in?"

The answer? "A kind of community hub, rooted in what we like to think is ultimately not too fussy food. Mediterranean-ish, but with the neighbourhood staples that you can eat every day," says McGrenaghan.

It's a place, he adds, "with an atmosphere that allows you to pop in for a coffee, catch up with friends, have a date night or special occasion but also just eat a burger with your shorts on, on the patio."

Since opening its doors, Manita has resonated with its Ossington neighbourhood; its laidback energy, curated wine list, killer breakfast sandwiches, burgers and more serving as essential lifeblood to locals.

When thoughts of expansion began to percolate, location was key.

"We were very mindful that it would be in a community that had that sort of tight-knit support network. The sort of place that our staff could feel that they weren't just coming to work but that they were stepping into a neighbourhood," says McGrenaghan.

Unquestionably different to the Ossington strip, yet similar in the ways that mattered, Rosedale sat at the top of the team's dream list. Serendipity struck when a mutual acquaintance notified them that the owners of The Rosedale Diner wanted to quietly retire.  

"It was kind of love at first sight," says McGrenaghan. "I've been through a lot of deals that aren't very exciting for either party. This was truly quite magic… They felt that we were a natural follow-up to what they had done for 45 years here."

Eight months of renovations led to Manita Rosedale's opening, in late September. "We fully transformed the spot," explains McGrenaghan. "Not in the sense of wanting to get rid of the energy. In fact, we wanted to enhance it. Make it a 2024 version of what they had been doing for so many years."

Similar to Manita Ossington, the Rosedale iteration is worn and warm, stylish without looking deliberate or staged.

Spread across two floors, it invites you to lounge in its warm embrace, whether in the a.m., when streams of sunlight bestow a vitalizing glow, or later in the day when the buzz heightens, the wine flows and the flicker of candles slows time to a crawl.

At Manita Rosedale, the menu, says McGrenaghan, "is substantially similar," to Ossington's, with a few original dishes popping up at each location.

"Fundamentally, it's Manita," he explains. "Most people who have been to both can appreciate that they're different in the ways that matter but also fundamentally similar because that's important to us, that you know you're getting the same experience and menu ideation."

So yes, settle in to read Manita Rosedale's menu, and you'll find the Manita Burger ($29) beckoning from the page.

Made from a blend of quality beef and ground bacon, with house pickles and remoulade, onion and American cheddar, it's "not quite a smash burger but it's also not quite a super fancy, big, thick burger," says Tooke. "People like a burger," he adds. "It'll always be the best-selling item on the menu so we wanted to make sure it was really good."

You'll also recognize the Mediterranean Plate ($29), a nutrient-packed feast of a dish, brimming with house-made dips and grilled Blackbird Bakery bread, fresh and marinated vegetables, cheese and a soft-cooked egg with a yolk the colour of a dandelion.

Four deeply crisped, herb-dyed chickpea torpedoes ground a Falafel Plate ($29) that also holds a sprinkling of salad, a pool of tahini and a smattering of pickled goodies. With a sidecar of warmed pita, it becomes a shared plate that easily sates two.

Roasted Mushroom Salad ($27) finds maitakes and oyster mushrooms breaded and fried, then heaped onto a bushel of wild arugula and dusted with a mountain of parm. A hidden knob of burrata makes eating through the jumble feel like a treasure hunt.

As the day wanes, the morning's lattes and fresh juices step aside to make room for classic cocktails and the team's carefully curated list of wines.

Sample an Aperol Spritz ($19) or a Manita Negroni ($19), made with Sipsmith Gin. Shedding a particularly trying day? A bracing bourbon-based Manita Manhattan ($21) might be in order.

By the glass or bottle, Manita Rosedale's assortment of wines caters to a new neighbourhood with a taste for grapes. "Wine consumption here is definitely more of a thing," explains McGrenaghan. "People drink a lot more bottles here."

To slake the thirst, Manita Rosedale's wine director created a list that's approachable but not run-of-the-mill.

"We're fundamentally offering stuff that people are familiar with, in terms of the grape varietal and region, but examples of that by more interesting producers than maybe they might find elsewhere," explains McGrenaghan.

The team's intention, he adds, is to offer a list that "doesn't take you too far from what you might expect but that might open your mind to what the possibilities are."

At its core, Manita Rosedale is "a neighbourhood restaurant," says McGrenaghan. A place where you can welcome the day, close it out, or simply regroup midway, the space brims with possibilities.

"It's here for all the reasons that people would want to get together in a room," he concludes. "And that's super important to us."

Manita Rosedale is located at 1164 Yonge Street.