Toronto Star ePaper

The scoop on some GTA hot spots

Journalist Brandon Gonez on where to eat, drink and watch ‘the best ballers in the city’

DIANE PETERS SPECIAL TO THE STAR

There are two things our city is never short on: fascinating people and interesting experiences. In this series, the Star asks locals you know (and locals you ought to know) about their Toronto.

If you’re not watching the Brandon Gonez Show on YouTube, you’re missing out. The weekly show is national, but has a real Toronto feel to it, with feel-good news, gee-whiztype segments — such as a look at surgery men are getting to make them taller — and visits by lots of celebrities, with singer Shenseea and Toronto FC soccer player Jonathan Osorio making appearances in recent weeks.

Then there’s the irrepressible charm of Gonez himself, whose easy charisma very much belongs on the screen. This York University and Seneca College grad has done on-air news, helped to host CTV’s Your Morning and most recently worked as an anchor and reporter for CP24.

He got into business for himself in early 2021 and launched the show.

“It’s crazy to think it’s been more than a year now. I feel like it’s been five years when you look at how fast things have been moving,” says Gonez. Indeed, the show has clocked nearly two million views and has more than 37,000 subscribers. Its Instagram and TikTok channels are on a tear, too.

Gonez says viewers can expect some new happenings this summer and beyond. “We’re taking the show on the road,” he says, with some on-location segments being shot in the coming months and, in the later half of the year, some “public-facing elements” happening that he won’t disclose just yet. He also promises “even more and bigger stars coming on the show.”

Rexdale-born and Bramptonraised Gonez — whose parents hail from Jamaica originally — now resides just west of downtown Toronto and shoots his show in Etobicoke. He takes us through his top GTA finds.

What are your favourite restaurants these days?

I’ve been hanging out in the Junction quite a bit recently. I was walking with my friend and we came across this place called The Hole in the Wall. The dinner was so good. Everything is made fresh. I tried the Sunday roast and it was bomb, and I don’t usually do roast. Over the weekend, I tried this place on the Danforth called Sugar Kane. It’s a Caribbean restaurant, Jamaican themed, and the vibes were hitting, the food was hitting. The drinks were making you feel like you were back on the beach.

When you’re with your pals, what do you do?

I like go out for drinks with my friends. We go to a few different places. We often check out The Parlour on King Street, which is a nice little spot. I like the Bisha Hotel’s Mister C Bar Room, especially if you want a little bit more intimate vibes and you want to have a night out and spend a bit of extra coin. Sometimes we dial it back a bit and go to Ossington or Dundas West — we like a place called Bar Mordecai.

Any other hobbies you do with your friends?

We like to play ball, especially now that the weather is better. We’ll go the basketball courts at City Place. But if we ever want to check out some ballers that are just so dope, right at the waterfront at Bathurst and Queens Quay are some great courts and the best ballers in the city play there and it’s so entertaining to watch them. I think they go there because courts are really nice and it’s the vibe there — being so close to the water.

Where are your nostalgic spots in the city?

I like to drive through Rexdale because that’s where I was born and we lived there before moving to Brampton. For most people, it’s not the more desirable part of the city, but it’s also an authentic part of the city. There are so many cultures that collide there. You can get some really good Trinidadian and Guyanese food there. Good roti and good doubles.

My mom still lives in Brampton so I still go there a lot. My uncle owns a great Jamaican spot called Xaymaca. It’s a great place to sit down and go for a date. There’s great fish, jerk wings. I love dessert and there they have rum cheesecake. Let me tell you, once you touch the rum cheesecake, you need widen your waistband.

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2022-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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