Foodie Meets Cinephile

If you are anything unlike me at all, you probably spent your summer relaxing in the great outdoors, basking in the burning rays of El Diablo (read: the sun), feeling the tender love bites of the mosquitoes, and generally transforming yourself from a pale Trinity IR student into a tanned sportsman with an enviable Instagram account (#suntanfuntan #follow4follow).

For those of you who spent your summer in classrooms and offices, this lifestyle was not a reality. Outside of air-conditioned working environments, living in the city during the summer is basically like renting a room in Hell’s armpit: it is hot, cramped, and smells of a preteen boy with overactive sweat glands. To escape the heat, many of us city-dwellers found new friends in take-out food and Netflix.

Really, if there are two things in this world that fit together in perfect harmony, it’s food and film. In my empty summer hours, I’ve found five Toronto restaurants with decors and atmospheres reminiscent of famous movie scenes. I swear, these places will satisfy both the foodie and the cinephile within.

So, as you’re forced inside by the bitter autumn cold to mourn your fading tan lines, make sure to explore some of Toronto’s finest – and unintentionally cinematic – establishments.

1. The Deli in When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Toronto Restaurant: Ben & Izzy’s Deli

Address: 3513 Bathurst St.

Feature: Smoked Meat Sandwich

New York’s Katz’s Deli was, arguably, the setting of the most iconic restaurant scene in Hollywood’s history. Yes, Meg Ryan faking an orgasm over her sandwich is a moment that will always be remembered as the most awkward non-sex scene you have ever watched with your parents.

Ben & Izzy’s on Bathurst delightfully channels Katz’s casual, Americana décor. The restaurant’s checkered tiles and vintage fixtures are reminiscent of Katz’s, and, by extension, of When Harry Met Sally. It’s impossible not to look at every dish in the place and say, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

2. Café de 2 Moulins in Amélie (2001)

Toronto Restaurant: Tequila Bookworm

Address: 512 Queen St. West

Feature: Local beers and weekend brunch

The café where much of Amélie’s action takes place is memorable for its soft lighting and cozy atmosphere. It feels otherworldly, almost like a fairytale - or maybe something less lame, but that still makes the heart flutter.

Toronto’s Tequila Bookworm provides a similar atmosphere, and a lot more beer. With graffiti splattered over the warm-coloured walls, and a ton of spaces to work or hang with friends, Tequila Bookworm feels like a cozy neighbourhood bar. Its soft lighting and colourful décor channels the same whimsy as Amélie’s Café de 2 Moulins, making guests feel as if they’ve just walked into another world.

3. The Italian Restaurant in The Godfather (1972)

Toronto Restaurant: Enoteca Sociale

Address: 1288 Dundas St. West

Feature: Wine and vegetarian dishes

The restaurant scene in The Godfather is undoubtedly one of the most intense movie scenes ever created. Its setting only adds to the scene’s suspense, with the restaurant’s upscale feel contrasting an underlying grunginess.

Toronto’s Enoteca Sociale channels this atmosphere perfectly, with its casual décor combined with dim lighting and exposed brick walls, not to mention it has a wine list as big as the Corleone family. If you’re looking for a low-key date restaurant, Enoteca Sociale is the perfect place to regale that special someone with terrible Pacino and/or Brando impressions.

4. The Diner in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Toronto Restaurant: George St. Diner

Address: 129 George St.

Feature: Bleedin’ Caesar Cocktail and All-Day Breakfast

Nicknamed “The Little Red Diner with Heart,” the George St. Diner will satisfy all your cravings for kitschy 50s décor and hearty, home-cooked meals. Not to mention it looks and feels very similar to the diner in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. You know, where the notoriously circuitous plot comes full-circle and you wonder how John Travolta was ever considered a heartthrob?

At the George St. Diner, you can relive that film experience.

5. St. Elmo’s Bar in St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)

Toronto Restaurant: Betty’s

Address: 240 King St. East

Feature: Extensive Late-Night Snack Menu

If you haven’t longed for a neighbourhood bar where everyone knows your name and the bartender reserves a table for you and your friends every night, then you’re either lying or you haven’t watched enough sitcoms. Betty’s is that neighbourhood bar.

Featuring an upper level for stand-up comedy and live music, and a downstairs bar with homey décor, Betty’s channels the titular bar from St. Elmo’s Fire. John Hughes’s post-adolescent coming-of-age movie may be interpreted as extraordinarily depressing, but it can also be seen as the film in which Rob Lowe dons an earring and woos women with his alto sax. It’s all about your attitude.