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Linny's
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David Schwartz, it would seem, loves a challenge. At his restaurants, Sunnys Chinese and MIMI Chinese, he and his crew regale guests with finicky regional Chinese specialities, from chili-spiked mapo tofu and sticky morsels of char siu, to knotted scallion buns and chewy noodles the length of tables. Sizzling and glossy, redolent of tradition and heady ingredient combinations, none linger long once they’ve touched down on the table. At Linny’s, his new spot on the Ossington strip, Schwartz applies the same dedication to quality and process, to ritual and to the package deal that is hospitality to steakhouse classics zhuzhed up with deli flair.
If you’ve never heard of a deli-inspired steakhouse, you’re not alone. Still, says Schwartz, “it felt like something in my mind that would make sense.” The idea, he explains, combines two concepts that are close to his heart. “A deli, in some way, shape or form, is something I’ve wanted to do for a decade but never thought I’d get to do,” he says, adding “steakhouses, outside of Chinese restaurants, are my favourite place to eat.”
Step inside Linny’s, and you’ll find a polished space inspired by a mid-century modern aesthetic. “I was having a hard time articulating what I wanted,” says Schwartz, of the process to transform a defunct Home Hardware into the west end’s hottest new hub. “In January, I took a trip through the California coast. We stopped in Palm Springs for one day, not even,” he continues, “and that crystalized everything for me. I found this really cool phone that I bought, and brought here. That Palm Springs aesthetic meets this very mid-century modern phone became our compass for the space.”
Designed by Jack Lipson, of Ipso Studio, the restaurant is sexy with a dreamlike intensity, its corduroy banquettes and wood trim placing it solidly in a Mad-Men-adjacent era. Dusky, with a carefully curated glow, it’s a space devoid of kitsch that adds a discernible dose of swagger to every diners’ steps.
“Linny’s is really about embodying that old-world hospitality, going back to when everything wasn’t about convenience first. We’re doing a lot of things here that restaurants stopped doing because they’re expensive and they’re time-consuming, down to using white linen tablecloths and hand towels in the bathroom.”
Named for Schwartz’s late mother, Linda, Linny’s is “very much an ode to my family and what they passed down to me, in terms of some cultural things as it relates to the food, but largely about the idea of hosting.” he explains.
“She always championed community and family and friend relationships, and her best tool for that was hosting people and having dinners. That’s kind of what this restaurant is largely about.”
Welcoming and bustling, Linny’s sidesteps the standard staid steakhouse vibe. Here, liver toast and karnatzal share space with rib eye and grass-fed tenderloin on a menu that’s both delightfully casual and eye-wateringly high-end.
“You can’t get out of most steakhouses without spending a certain amount,” says Schwartz. “Here, you can come in and not even get steak and have a great time. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure. There’s varied experience in the food, and there’s varied experience in the wine and cocktail program.”
Variety and approachability were definitely top of mind in designing the restaurant’s vast wine list. Housed in a large lower-level cellar, the array of bottles jumps from peppery Tempranillos and local gems, to aromatic Rieslings and fruity magnums of Barolo.
Inspired by a world of Eastern European flavours, bar manager Blaise Couturier’s cocktail list is a treat to unravel. Among its many surprises, stand the beet-laced B.M.P., tarragon-spiked Tarkhuna-Matata, brine-infused Dilly Dally and a drink called the Bubbe, made, per Couturier, from “things that your grandmother would have on her shelf.”
Clarified with kefir, the B.M.P., or borscht milk punch, combines aquavit, beetroot, citrus and raspberry syrup into a bright, balanced revelation. “The way we’ve designed it,” explains Couturier, “is that it’s reminiscent of a borscht, it has elements of a borscht, but it’s light and bright with some other aspects.”
Fresh with a whisper of smoked lapsang souchong, the High Tea is a low-abv cobbler enhanced with peach cordial, citrus and maple syrup.
It’s the type of distraction you’ll want to pair with noshes, followed by tallow-butter brushed proteins (“That’s our signature steak move,” says Schwartz) and house specials, like Shake N’ Bake Chicken and Linny’s house-smoked Cut Pastrami.
Relatively small, Linny’s menu includes hulkingly large slabs of meat and pickle plates, along with modernized riffs on classics. The unifying theme, says head chef, Ethan Rogers, is to create dishes that are “aesthetically simple, that sound simple, but have a lot of technique and work behind them.”
Take, for example, a supernal Chicken Liver Toast and light, clean, minimalist dish of salt-cured Fluke and Fennel.
“When David started talking to me about the concept, I wanted to make sure that we had a chopped liver reference,” explains Rogers. “For me, that’s quintessential deli, quintessential family meal. There’s always a big bowl of chopped liver. And the thing about it, it’s almost always disgusting.”
Buoyed by Rogers’ mastery of French techniques, Linny’s chicken liver is velvety and lush, sweet without a hint of metallic discord. Lavished onto bread from Dear Grain, topped with full-sour pickles from Tymek’s, crisp fried onions and a flurry of salt-cured egg yolks, it’s a dish that heroically brings the classic into the here and now.
“The trick,” says Rogers, “was to keep all the flavours and all the inspiration but make it palatable to everybody. So it’s not just this feeling of nostalgia but it’s also just objectively delicious.”
A dish Rogers describes as having “very deep nostalgic roots for me, for David, for pretty much any kid who grew up culturally Jewish,” Kasha and Bows is the epitome of gentle food.
“This is the kind of dish,” adds Rogers, “that your mom or your grandmother makes for you and it doesn’t really taste like anything but it’s super soothing.” Flaunting boiled and fried kasha, or buckwheat, tender butternut squash, house-made pasta, and a generous lashing of schmaltz, the team’s take adds layers of flavour to the dish’s intrinsic appeal.
“Our beef program is very thoughtfully sourced,” says Schwartz, turning to mains. “Every steak lists the farm or co-op, every protein really. That’s a big part of our meat program. We’re not just focused on marbling, we’re focused on working with farms that have character. The beef is pastured and raised properly. They’re eating properly. It’s all Ontario. Most of it is dry-aged.”
There’s also a tidy number of specialties generated from Schwartz’s belief in marrying high-brow to low-brow dining. “I’ve never liked the idea of a place that’s holistically focused on prime cuts,” he explains. “I figured, that’s not what we do at MIMI, that’s not what we do at Sunnys. If we do this, it still needs to be true to my values and personality.”
In addition to Roasted Lamb Neck and destination Pastrami, Tripe Schnitzel has become a sleeper hit. “This is staying on the menu whether we sell one a week or a hundred,” says Schwartz, adding, “but it’s selling.”
From a list of flavour-forward sides, lightly pickled zucchini ribbons are topped with intense lovage oil and mild Cantabrian anchovies for a dish that cuts cleanly through all the lip-licking fat.
A spot that feels timeless yet fresh, ambitious yet warmly comfortable, Linny’s wraps nostalgia, promise and tradition into one trendy, pastrami-proud package. Deeply personal for Schwartz, Linny’s is a love letter to another age. It’s also a hell of a good time for every diner who walks through its doors.
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