In With The New

Having visited old-time Black Horse, I thought that for the new year I'd dropped by a new neighbourhood spot. To be fair, Saving Gigi has been here for a few years. But it was one of the new businesses that originally brought gentrification to the area. It also has lots of clout including being host to several new music events such as the "Ossington Folk Festival". The Greek lettering on the window is a reminder that at one time, there was a small Greek community here separate from Greektown on the Danforth, with several businesses and even a small "social club".

On the inside, Saving Gigi is pure hipster. There are the mismatched furniture: long communal benches, window nooks, even a re-purposed desk within whose drawers you can find a chessboard. Shelves of vinyl records contain both recent and vintage albums, to be played on an old record player. Well, you can guess what the clientele looks like. One downside is that the waitstaff is correspondingly casual, which makes for idiosyncratic service. The food does arrive promptly and clean-up is fast, but you'll have to figure out on your own where the menu is found, how to order, etc.

I ordered the two-egg brunch ($9.70) and bottled juice ($2.50). The baked sunny-side-up-ish eggs went well with asiago cheese, but the green scallions didn't work for me. The turkey sausage was too crumbly and didn't pack enough flavour. It was average fare in a funkier-than-average spot.

Essentially, Saving Gigi functions as a spot for the "locals", as seen by all the handshakes and greetings. But whereas some long-time locals may stop off at the Ethiopian coffee shop, the defunct Greek social club, or the old pubs, the new locals (white "creatives") feel most comfortable here.