Walk Bloor between Bathurst and Spadina on a Thursday evening in mid-2026 and the marquee names on the awnings are unfamiliar in this location but familiar somewhere else in the city. Brasserie Côte at Bloor and Brunswick is the second act of an Ossington bistro. Bellis, inside the new Nomas Hotel, belongs to the group behind an izakaya on Dupont. Pizzeria Badiali on Markham is a follow-up to a five-year-old slice shop that people used to line up half an hour for.
That's the actual story on Bloor this year. The strip isn't discovering new operators. It's being adopted by proven ones who chose the Annex for their bigger, more ambitious room.
The pattern, laid out
For residents who have watched the same signage cycle for a decade, the shift is worth looking at side by side. Three operators, three second locations, all within a short walk of each other on Bloor.
| Restaurant | Annex address | Operator | Where they came from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brasserie Côte | 400 Bloor St W | Teo Paul + Eamon O'Dea | Côte de Bœuf, Ossington |
| Bellis | 561 Bloor St W | Jeffrey Chu + Attila Baksa | Yuugi Izakaya / Tebasaki Wing House |
| Pizzeria Badiali (Annex) | Markham Street | Ryan Baddeley | Pizzeria Badiali, original slice shop |
Each of these is a bigger room than the original. That matters, because the operator constraint that shaped the first location, cramped seating, no reservations, a butcher counter squeezed against the dining room, gets released in the Annex version.
Brasserie Côte is not Côte de Bœuf
Brasserie Côte took over the former By the Way Café space at Bloor and Brunswick, a local fixture for over 40 years. If you lived here in the 2010s you likely had brunch there at least once. The room now belongs to Teo Paul, the chef behind Union and Hearts, and his longtime Côte de Bœuf manager Eamon O'Dea.
The Ossington original built its reputation on a very small footprint. While the Ossington location is famous for its cramped, elbow-to-elbow intimacy, Brasserie Côte offers something the original never could: space. The interior is a love letter to 1920s Paris, featuring signature zinc countertops, a vintage chandelier and stunning arched mirrors. Rich burgundy banquettes and a wainscotted bar anchor the room, while huge street-facing windows flood the space with light.
Two practical notes for residents deciding when to try it. First, the sprawling outdoor terrace brings a "patio culture" back to the corner of Bloor and Brunswick. Second, the reservation policy carried over from the original. The menu puts the spotlight on the steak dishes that Côte de Bœuf is known for, but it's also expanded to include breakfast and lunch. It's currently in its soft opening stage, open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays during March. Reservations cannot be made in advance, so the wait strategy from Ossington still applies.
Nomas is the anchor most residents haven't clocked yet
The Bellis story only makes sense once you understand what's above it. Nomas is a 17-room boutique hotel in a former mixed-use building that the partners acquired back in 2023. "There are many hotels in Toronto, but we wanted to create a boutique experience in central Toronto for the 25-plus crowd, who aren't interested in major chains but who also don't want to stay in an Airbnb," says Jeffrey Chu.
The framing Chu's partner Jerry Tsang uses for why they picked Bloor is worth reading directly:
"Mirvish Village is returning to its former glory, with dozens of historic buildings being restored and a new urban centre under construction. Our team saw an opportunity to contribute to this revival by converting a tired early 1900s brick building into a new destination where travellers can truly live in the community."
That's an investment thesis, not a marketing quote. A boutique operator putting a hotel on Bloor is betting that the streetscape west of Bathurst is about to feel meaningfully different for the next decade. If you own a house on a side street between Brunswick and Bathurst, you are effectively downstream of that bet.
Bellis, on the ground floor, is the daytime and evening face of the hotel. The restaurant sits at 561 Bloor St. W., moved into a space between Insomnia and Big Way Hot Pot, and is connected to the Nomas Hotel. Bellis functions as the hotel lobby and provides room service to guests. Customers can expect Japanese izakaya-style cuisine blended with Italian influences, along with a cocktail program built around the food menu. Chef Attila Baksa's background includes serving as General Manager and Chef at Guu Izakaya, Executive Chef at Tebasaki Wing House, and bartending at Cold Tea.
Pizzeria Badiali picks up the Markham Street corner
The third second-location follows a slightly different logic. Though whispers of the pizzeria's Annex location have been circulating for nearly two years, the restaurant has finally confirmed that it's landing on Markham Street on Monday, May 11.
Two details residents will actually use. The pizzeria is getting a much-needed pressure release, as a long-awaited sister location prepares to open its doors this May. So the line at the original should ease, and the Annex version becomes the more sensible walk-in option. And while it will feature the exact same lineup of pizzas, dips and salads that have earned Badiali its stripes, the pizzeria is also introducing a special square, thin-crust "Granny-style" pizza exclusive to the Annex location. Markham Street is the only place in the city to get it.
The recent additions that came before this wave
BlogTO's read on the neighborhood in March 2026 was direct: the neighbourhood is home to recent stars like Makann, Daisy May's and Golden Horseshoe BBQ, with even more impressive additions, including a sister location of the uber-popular Pizzeria Badiali, on the horizon. It seems as though there's never been a better time to eat in the Annex.
Read those three names against the three in the table above. The first cohort were independent originals opening their first Toronto rooms in the Annex. The second cohort are established operators opening their bigger, second rooms here. In sequence, that's a strip moving from ground-floor discovery to consolidation.
The daytime spine did not change
Underneath all this, the anchors that give Bloor its texture on a Saturday morning are the same ones that have anchored it for years. If you have out-of-town guests coming through this fall, the walk still works like it always did:
- BMV Books, 471 Bloor St W, for discounted and pre-loved stacks
- Seekers Books, 509 Bloor St W
- Presse Internationale, now relocated to 515 Bloor St W above Maji Curry
- Knifewear, 517 Bloor St W
- Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St W, which serves as both a performance venue and community hub, housing organizations including Tafelmusik and the Toronto Consort
- The Tranzac, 292 Brunswick Ave, which describes itself as a non-profit arts organization hosting more than 1,400 events a year and supporting over 70 artist residencies
- Lee's Palace, marking its 40th year with a concert series running through 2026
The independent bookstore-and-café spine is the reason the operator wave landed here rather than on Ossington or Queen West. The buildings on Bloor were already carrying weekday foot traffic from residents, not just weekend destination diners. Brasserie Côte's breakfast and lunch service is a direct read on that.
What this actually changes for someone who lives here
Three shifts residents will feel in daily life this year.
Reservation math tightens. Two years ago, a Thursday night walk-in on Bloor was easy. With Brasserie Côte holding no reservations, Bellis running an evening cocktail-and-snack service that doubles as hotel lobby traffic, and Badiali absorbing pizza demand from the original's queue, the strip's Thursday-through-Saturday window is materially busier. Sunday and Monday become the quiet windows.
The "where do I take them" answer changes. For visitors staying midtown or downtown, the pitch used to lean on Yorkville or Ossington. The Annex version of a nice dinner now has an on-Bloor answer that doesn't require a cab.
The block west of Bathurst is next. Tsang's Mirvish Village framing is the tell. The current wave stops at Bathurst, but the historic-building restorations he references sit west of it. If you own on Palmerston, Euclid, or the northern edge of Harbord Village, this year's Bloor is a preview of a broader corridor shift.
The through line
For a decade, the Annex's food identity leaned on its independent originals: places that were only here, only one location, and often only run by the person who founded them. That texture hasn't disappeared. What's been added is a second layer, operators who built their names elsewhere in Toronto and chose Bloor for their next scale. A strip becomes durable when both layers coexist. That's what 2026 is quietly building.
If you own a home on a side street between Bathurst and Spadina and you're watching this shift with an eye on what it means for your address, Taylor Townley tracks the block-by-block changes that eventually show up in valuations. Request a Confidential Consultation to talk through how the Bloor Annex's current wave reads against your own timeline.
