There's a new night market in Toronto taking place every Wednesday night at 99 Sudbury. Similar in scope to the Midnght Mrkt which has popped up occasionally this year at the 2nd Floor event space on King West, this new night market brings together a lightly curated selection of local artisans, food and drink vendors looking for a new outlet to sell their goods.
Venue-wise the space isn't the biggest (or brightest). Those familiar with the 99 Sudbury complex will recognize the occasional gallery space it's housed in - a space that has hosted its share of events over the years including a Nuit Blanche installation last fall.
After a number of weeks in soft launch mode, the new night market at 99 Sudbury finally had their official coming out party this past week. I stopped by for a couple of hours to check out the scene, fill up on some tasty eats and cocktails and chat with some of the vendors.
Here's a rundown of five vendors that stood out the most.
Menu Food Truck
One of our favourite vendors at the recent Night It Up! night market in Markham, Menu is here serving up three variations of their fried rice balls. Anything but dainty, these offerings included the wittily named named Angry Birds (roasted chicken, mozzarella and vegetables), the Pokeball (Chinese sausage, smoked mozzarella and vegetables) and the mighty Porkzilla (braised pork belly, mozzarella and vegetables). If your face doesn't get splattered with sauce and grease by the time you finish tackling these mammoth creations you're probably doing it wrong.
La Rivolta
La Rivolta means the revolt in Italian, and that's exactly what this pop-up bar and catering company is striving to accomplish through food and drink. Here at the night market, La Rivolta's artillery consists of three innovative cocktails: the Bourbon Daisy (bullet bourbon, Grand Manier, lemon, dem rara), the Pimm's Cup (Pimm's, muddled cucumber and limonata, pompelmo), and the majestic Midnight Chase (Prosecco, elderflower liquor, thyme, cucumber). Cheers to that.
The Co-Op Kitchen
This stall is run by The West End Food Co-Op. Those familiar with the Parkdale store will know that the Co-Op is a non-profit and that many of its products are shipped from nearby family-run farms and artisans. If you're interested in learning more about what they do they're more than eager to chat. But more importantly having them at the night market means there's food to buy here that doesn't need to be eaten on the spot. Those looking to stock up on groceries on the way home from work will appreciate their appearance here.
Cool City Oyster Yard
Since the night market takes place at 99 Sudbury it only makes sense for local resident Cool City Oyster Yard to make an appearance here. On this night they were drawing crowds eager to slurp down freshly-shucked BC oysters at $3 a pop. Of course, for those looking for more of a focused oyster splurge there's no need to hunt them down here. Just walk around the corner of the building were you can plop yourself down on their pretty patio.
Pretty Sweet Mobile Cupcakery
In addition to the collection of vendors inside the 99 Sudbury space, one or two food trucks will be making a weekly appearance parked next to the entrance. This week the food truck was Pretty Sweet. From their large menu of cupcakes they were selling mint chocolate, regular chocolate, red velvet and salted caramel ($2.75 for one, $15 for a half dozen and $30 for a dozen). The perfectly moist cake and creamy frosting made it excruciatingly difficult not to eat fifteen of them in one sitting.
The night market at 99 Sudbury runs every Wednesday evening from 5 to 10pm.
Photos by Emily Baille
by Haley A Steinberg via blogTO
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