The Starting Block

Block has touched on several themes in its time, from community (Issue 29) to sustainability (Issue 26) to accessibility (Issue 25). These are all important topics, and it has been fascinating to see the variety of ways creatives have tackled them, but none are as delicious as this, our first-ever food-and-beverage-themed issue.

Food—how we grow and farm it, how it’s packaged, how we talk about it and what it means to us—is a multi-faceted matter. It’s not only life-sustaining but nourishing in the most expansive sense of the word: in its connections to memory, family, culture and community.

Restaurants and bars are places where we consume but also meet and socialize. They are essential and knitted into the urban fabric. Allied, in addition to its workspace offerings, has numerous F&B spaces in its portfolio; they are an amenity for office tenants, they animate the street—and now, the pages of this magazine.

In The Business (p. 14), we hear from superfood purveyor Kate Taylor Martin on how she built her Nutbar empire—the Adelaide and Brant streets location, covered in tiles the colour of nut milk, is her fourth in Toronto and in an Allied building—on the motto “Feel good here.” Speaking of feel-good products, we waft on over to Hof Sucrée in Montréal (The Interior, p. 18) to glimpse their signature babka and rugelach in a post-modern-style setting. In Work-in-Progress (p. 30), we feature Cheyenne Sundance, a farmer who’s providing space and opportunity for marginalized growers—and planting the seeds for a next gen of farmers. In our cover story (The Creators, p. 24), we meet Juan Lopez Luna and Lindsay Brennan of Alma, a Montréal Mexican-cuisine staple (and number 24 on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants listing). And, finally, we peek in on the inaugural event hosted at Block by Allied in Toronto’s King West Village (The Moment, p. 8): a cooking class celebrating Black History Month through good food and great company—because that’s truly the best pairing.