If you haven’t already been, and I suggest you do, check out Liberty Village hotspot LOCAL (and make sure to bring an appetite too!).

When LOCAL opened up in Liberty Village, I was ecstatic. Why? Not only was my little brother was going to be a chef there, but the restaurant is owned by none other than the JOEY Restaurant Group (JOEY Restaurants are a favourite of mine – love those spring-roll mash potatoes!).

The atmosphere at the Local is great, especially if you are looking for a casual but fun place to have dinner. Speaking of fun, they have a shuffle board in the restaurant which guests are encouraged to use! And whenever we had “summer-y” days here in Toronto the patio was packed!

Most of the dishes may be familiar to you, but what won’t be familiar are the unexpected ingredients or additions to the dishes. Avocado with nachos? Steak on garlic toast? Churros to dip in hot melted chocolate with marshmallows? Yummm!

Now the pictures that you are about to see were taken during two visits to the restaurant. I had to try out different dishes – and I loved them all!

Visit #1 (lunch meeting with a friend):

West Coast Chopped Salad: 

Sushi Grade Ahi Salad: 

Churros:

Visit #2 (with my brothers):

Fully Loaded Nachos (with avocado – amazing!! Also my brother informed me that the chips are made fresh in-house every day!): 

Steak Sandwich:

Time to refresh…