The Handsome Daughter joins booming neighbourhood

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This article was published 09/10/2014 (4352 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jason Evaristo, Kirian Eyford, and Stefan Lytwyn — friends and co-workers at The Handsome Daughter — had initially tried to deter people from referring to their new business by that name.

Despite their efforts, the moniker stuck, and The Handsome Daughter is now the official name of a new live music venue and restaurant at 61 Sherbrook St. in West Broadway.

Evaristo, a 33-year-old West Broadway resident, co-owns the business with Eyford. Lytwyn is in charge of food preparation. According to Evaristo, The Handsome Daughter officially opens for business on Oct. 10, but the grand opening ceremony takes place on Oct. 11.

The friends reminisced on how they got the name for their venue.

“This was just kind of a funny thing that a cousin of mine had said on a trip to New York last year, and I mentioned it to (Evaristo and Eyford),” Lytwyn said. “We all agreed it was really silly and we probably shouldn’t use it.”

Word eventually got out about The Handsome Daughter, and people approached the three business partners asking, “When is The Handsome Daughter opening?”

“We tried to dissuade people from using it at first,” Evaristo said.

“It grew on us eventually, you know, it’s kind of catchy. I always pictured going online, looking at a band’s touring schedule, and thinking (The Handsome Daughter) would really stick out,” Lytwyn said.

“It’d look good on a T-shirt,” Evaristo said.

The entrance of the building features a garage door that opens to unveil a patio. Evaristo explained that he is in the process of building a year-round patio area out front. Past the patio is the restaurant and bar. At the back of the building is the live music venue featuring what they call their “real” bar and a stage.

“We pretty much gutted the place from the ground up. (We pretty much have) new everything. The layout is essentially the same. We cleared out a lot of room in the back and opened up the space a lot. It’s pretty much a new building at this point,” Evaristo said.

“We put down some new flooring, we built this communal bench along the wall. We painted the place — it was a really dark, dingy kind of vibe before. We really brightened it up, painted the whole thing white,” Lytwyn added.

The renovations satisfy Evaristo, Lytwyn, and Eyford for now, but Evaristo said he would eventually like to expand the bathrooms and build a bigger stage.

“It’s going to be ‘fix things as we go’ from here on in,” Evaristo said.

As far as the kitchen goes, Lytwyn said there is currently no cooking equipment in the building, but he sees the lack of appliances as a fun challenge.

“We kind of knew there wasn’t going to be anything in there,” Lytwyn said. “To put in a brand new hood and exhaust system when there wasn’t one existing (beforehand) is quite a bit of money for us. We just kind of thought we’d work with what we have.”

To Lytwyn, that means serving items such as smoked mackerel, charcuterie boards, and sashimi.

“Small cold snacks and salads and shared plates for now,” Lytwyn listed.

The limited menu will only last for a little while beyond the grand opening.

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