Broadview Hotel's food director reveals three Riverside gems worth your detour

Jason Chapman has worked as food and beverage director at the Broadview Hotel since 2017, steering the Riverdale landmark through significant change. The latest shift came with Archie's, which replaced the Civic, the hotel's main-floor steakhouse that itself replaced a vacant space once home to Jilly's strip club. Chapman sees Archie's as a better fit for the neighbourhood's character — family-friendly and welcoming to both visitors and locals.

Born and raised in the east end, Chapman is proud to contribute to the area's revitalization. After helping open Marriott properties in Vancouver, he returned to Toronto and relocated to the Beaches. "I missed this city, and I cannot imagine being anywhere else now," he says. The Broadview now offers a Get a Room package including a bottle of bubbly and breakfast for two in the hotel's bistro, catering to locals staycationing amid rising costs and political uncertainty.

When off the clock, Chapman explores the neighbourhood beyond the obvious spots. He wants to highlight three lesser-known gems worth visiting.

Supreme Taste, at 351 Broadview Ave., draws from a deep well of Asian dining history in the neighbourhood. "A lot of people like to head north to Richmond Hill and east to Markham for great Chinese and Vietnamese food, but this area has offered incredible Asian restaurants since the 1970s," Chapman says. At Supreme Taste, run by owner Ben Yin, his go-to is the three-meat platter: char siu (sweet lean meat with fat rippled throughout), chicken perfectly balanced between salty and sweet, and roast pork with ultra-crispy skin. When he's under the weather, the century-egg congee—hearty and creamy with hunks of century egg and sweet pork—picks him up. He asks for a side of jiang cong jiang, a ginger-scallion sauce, drizzle it over everything, a habit he picked up from his Chinese Filipino grandfather who took him to these same restaurants.

El Hijo de Tizoc, at 797 Gerrard St. E., was a walk-to-work discovery Chapman stumbled upon and predicts will soon be wildly popular. Run by husband-and-wife team Sofia and Augusto, the restaurant's name references a 1950s Mexican drama starring Pedro Infante. Beyond the cool vibe, Chapman loves how it echoes family trips to Guadalajara. His go-to drink is the Paloma—tangy with lime juice, sweet with agave, tart from grapefruit, and fizzy thanks to Jarritos. The Paloma Rose cocktail at Archie's, Chapman notes, was inspired by this drink.