A look north from York and Adelaide. Image via Google Street View
The Drake Hotel announced details today about the launch of its second restaurant. Drake One Fifty is to be located at 150 York St. in a “deconstructed” space within the 1980s bank building on the corner of Adelaide and York. The new space is being designed by Martin Brudnizki who is reportedly overseeing the transformation of the space to one that is representative of the Drake brand. But the nature of that brand has become muddled since the original Drake Hotel’s re-opening on Queen West in 2004. Since then, the gentrification of the area has pushed art-crowd west-enders even further west and brought in the likes of 905ers and deep-pocketed creative and downtown types.
Some may see the move to the financial district as an uncharacteristic one for the Drake, but it just shows a continued move towards the “contemporary” end of their “self-described contemporary-meets-classic” style. One sure sign of this is the introduction of Chef Ted Corrado, who was once behind the launch of the recently closed C5 restaruant at the ROM. And while the Drake’s artist-in-residence program, to be continued at the new location, will keep some of the original spirit of the brand alive with the likes of Douglas Coupland, Garry Neill Kennedy and Laura Kikauka, the move seems to be a natural progression for the increasingly upscale brand.
[via Toronto Star]
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Eva Voinigescu is an intern at Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter @EvaVoinigescu.
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