Chris Black's Guide to Toronto

Don't sleep on the onion rings at Fresh.

Chris Black, aka @donetodeath, is as close as it comes to being a professional hater. He’s slammed everything from no-show socks (rightfully so) to movies (confusing) to the city of Los Angeles (to each their own). But one thing Chris Black unequivocally loves? Toronto. The brand consultant, GQ and New York Magazine style advice columnist, and podcaster, whose genuine tastes have spawned a thousand copycat dudes who think they have what it takes to pair loafers with jeans, has been coming to the city for decades and seems to appreciate its charms more than most locals.

“I started going to Toronto in 2007 because I was dating someone from there. My first exposure to Toronto was Forest Hill and Yorkville,” he says. “Now I know the city so well that I can comfortably make fun of it on stage like an insider, which always plays well. If I'm looking at the list of cities we're playing, after my hometown of Atlanta, Toronto's the number two [city I look forward to going to] for sure. Congratulations, you beat Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis.”

At this point, he’s so familiar with the city, he’s gathered a list of favourites he frequents each time he’s in town. We asked him for a peek inside his Toronto black book ahead of the How Long Gone live show at the Great Hall on June 20th, 2024, Read on for more of Black’s (extremely bougie) Toronto tastes.

Best Place to Sweat

Equinox

“I used to go there back the daym when it was still the Yorkville Club. It’s all hot 55-year-old women  with nothing to do and the newest workout clothes, which is a vibe I quite like. In New York, the Equinox I go to is defined by 28-year-old guys who went to Ivy League colleges and are making more money than me. Everyone is ripped and they played lacrosse at Brown. The Equinox in Toronto has that older, richer element to it.” 

The Badminton Racquet Club

“This is where my wife and I had our engagement party. I go there with my father-in-law and everybody knows him, we have access to whatever we want. it’s a pleasant environment. When I play tennis in LA or New York, it’s a pain in the ass. It’s rare to be able to sit down and have a meal afterwards in the same facility. It’s such an old school thing, so that’s always fun to do.”

Best Hotel

The Four Seasons

“Once you get to a certain age, you have no interest in cool hotels. You have interest in being in the same place where old, rich people are. It’s not even for an aspirational reason, it’s for the level of service those types demand. If I can catch the runoff of that, then I have to take it.”

Best Place to Eat

Buca

“I dream about Buca. They have this tableside branzino carpaccio which I’ve never seen it anywhere else and it’s so good. I think about it all the time. I eat it every time I’m in Toronto.”

Imanishii

“It’s very home-style in a way that feels nice. The crowd is cool, and there’s this corn fritter thing that’s so fucking good. I went there, happened to be in town pretty soon after it opened and I’ve been going ever since.”

Sud Forno

“I love Sud Forno — a tiny Eataly is basically what it is. The salads are amazing, pizza is amazing. Sitting upstairs is nice, it’s not a shitshow. I get a Margherita pizza. Those Nutella donuts are fucked up. I’ve cut out dessert in my life but those are insane.”

Fresh on Queen

“I think about Fresh all the time. It’s an old-school vegetarian restaurant, not like the 1970s, but early 2000s is kind of the vibe. They have these onion rings that I dream about. I rarely get the opportunity to order onion rings and the ones there are really good. I’ve had them many time over the years and I always crave them.”

Best Place to Relax

Sam James Coffee

“My version of relaxation is getting a coffee and watching the world pass me by, which I like to do at Sam James Coffee. There’s traffic. That’s what I like to see. To be completely honest, I don’t really like to relax. That’s not really my goal. If you really want to relax [in Toronto] you’ve got to go to Muskoka or Collingwood.” 

Best Place to Shop

Working Title (RIP)

“There was a store called Working Title, an independent men’s store in the general Yorkville area and that was really good and kind of ahead of its time. I miss it. I used to love going in there and hanging out with the guys who owned it. But everything else in Toronto has kind of stayed the same, in a good way.”

Issues

“There’s a cool-guy magazine store on Dundas West that’s actually very good. It’s impressive because a truly cool magazine store with some thought put into it doesn’t really exist in New York. We have great newsstands but something that’s really dialed in—that doesn’t exist in most places, so for Toronto to have that is cool.”

Best Cultural Experience

Art Gallery of Ontario

“You guys have culture? No, I’m kidding. I made an effort to go see the Wolfgang Tillmans show the last time I was in town. I saw in in New York but it was nice to see it there, with that fucking crazy Frank Gehry staircase in the background.”