You wanna see something?” Sasha Siegel’s features flicker with mischief as he leans toward my booth at Lonely Diner. “What?” I ask, but he’s already spinning on his heel. He deftly lights his own hand (covered in overproof alcohol) and breathes a ferocious stream of flames across the bar. Cheers erupt around me.
Siegel moonlights as a drummer and pours equal parts showmanship, flair and mixology expertise into the bars he opens. He’s relaxed, often roaring with laughter alongside guests, yet never neglecting service. He was the obvious choice for restaurateur-sibling duo Christine and Andrew Pham’s latest project: Lonely Diner, a fun, friendly cocktail bar that has confidently wedged itself into Little Italy’s stacked drink scene.
Despite the bartending brawn that’s been uncorked here — Siegel, as a lead bartender and self-proclaimed “wizard of liquid,” is flanked by Kaleb Hansen (BarChef) and Jon Kim (After Seven) — Lonely Diner feels less prestige mash-up (à la LSL), more passion project between friends. Inside, I’m put at ease by the 1970s rec room-diner design. Wood panel walls, soft orange lighting, displayed vinyl records, vintage fast-food booths and repurposed ’60s salon seats set the tone; it’s a laid-back yet gorgeous space for imbibing uber-creative tipples.
Sasha Siegel, known for launching the menus at standout bars like Lonely Diner, is onto his next act: Leslieville’s Bar Etc.
Carmen Cheung
The four-section menu is united by Asian influences and was a collaborative effort. These cocktails will introduce drinkers to ingredients that aren’t typically seen on Toronto menus, Siegel says. The Forbidden Fruit, for example, is a silky soy milk punch that pairs rum and baijiu with the famously polarizing durian.
The Haw-Yeah (“This one’s fun to pronounce,” laughs Siegel, “I don’t know if you can translate it into print”) is Hansen’s loose riff on a classic zombie. Planteray rum is infused with haw flakes, a traditional Chinese candy of dried hawthorn berries formed into wafers.
Kim draws inspiration from Taiwanese bubble tea shops for the Bohemian Raspberry. This playful, decadent mezcal drink layers lacto-fermented raspberry cordial beneath a hefty cap of Korean banana milk cream cheese foam you can practically chew.
College Street is one of the city’s most competitive cocktail crawls, but Siegel doesn’t see rivals, only neighbours. “It’s all love on the block,” he asserts. “There’s a real camaraderie developing.” That’s what makes Lonely Diner great — true camaraderie between some of mixology’s sharpest minds, and damn good cocktails as a result.
Ryan Nangreaves
Revitalizer
He’s not a scientist, but Siegel uses pectinx enzymes to clarify this tall tipple. “When you add that to ingredients, it takes the pectin in fruits and vegetables and clumps it all together so that when you strain it, it doesn’t go through the filter.”
While undeniably sprightly and refreshing, the Revitalizer surprises with depth and perfumey complexity from clarified galangal and grapefruit juice, along with St-Germain, cachaça, pisco and a potent house lemongrass syrup. Siegel, a forced-carbonation nerd, pumps CO₂ into this drink until it’s bubbly from rim to base. “This one gains trust for less experienced cocktail drinkers,” he says.
Ryan Nangreaves
Into the Mystic
Siegel’s favourite cocktail on the menu, this drink deepens Nikka’s iconic Yoichi Whisky with cold-steeped genmaicha and a black cardamom tincture, before boosting acid and sweetness with a house riesling cordial. “I’ve seen a lot of cocktail bars in Europe using wine in cocktails; I haven’t really seen a lot of that here,” Siegel says.
Steeping the tea in ice water helps retain the genmaicha’s flavour. “With this style of extraction, you’ve almost eliminated the tannic component of the tea,” Siegel explains. Then, a single sprig of dill placed on the ice cube delivers a strong aroma with each sip.
