Canis chefs pivot to gelato with Cono opening this summer

Six years after their lauded Toronto restaurant Canis closed during the pandemic, chefs Jeff Kang and Tosh Agassiz are finally opening the gelato shop they've been dreaming about since before they met in Vancouver.

The two first connected while working at Diva at the Met on the West Coast, then reunited in Toronto—Kang at the Shangri-La, Agassiz joining him at Bosk. Together they opened Canis in 2016, which evolved from à la carte to a celebrated tasting-menu format, earning spots on En Route's best restaurants list and Canada's 100 Best before the pandemic forced closure in 2020.

While Agassiz moved back to Vancouver and Kang opened Oroshi Fish Co. and Takja BBQ, the dream persisted. When Agassiz recently moved back to Toronto for personal reasons and took a job at The Fare Food Co., the moment felt right.

"I think we both always enjoyed working with desserts," Agassiz told blogTO. "It's always been one of those nostalgic things. Who doesn't like ice cream?"

Cono will churn out ultra-small batches with the same precision the chefs brought to their fine-dining kitchen. Expect flavours both familiar—chocolate, naturally—and unexpected: sweet corn, blueberry, sourdough praline. Because batches are tiny, the menu will rotate frequently. Kang emphasized the approach is distinctly chef-driven. "We've put a lot of thought into the techniques, the flavour, the texture and temperature," he said. "It's more geeky than just vanilla and chocolate."

The shop opens at 932 College St. in mid-July.