Chef Nick Liu opens Woodlyns, a Chinese-Jewish fusion spot at Bathurst and Eglinton

Woodlyns, a new restaurant blending Chinese and Jewish cuisines, opens this fall in a former Popeyes at the corner of Bathurst and Eglinton. Chefs Nick Liu and Josh Ling, alongside lawyer-entrepreneur Jeff Goldstein, are behind the venture, which aims to reinvigorate an area hit hard by years of Eglinton LRT construction.

Goldstein, who previously worked as an expropriation lawyer helping businesses impacted by the LRT, sees the restaurant as a way to give the neighbourhood "something it desperately needs, something I had growing up: a central gathering place with great food and a great atmosphere." Liu and Goldstein have been talking about opening a restaurant together for the past two years and signed the lease last January, just before the LRT finally opened.

"I was so in love with the area," Liu said. "I want to do for Eglinton's culinary scene what DaiLo did for College back in the day."

The menu concept came from recognizing the neighbourhood's significant Jewish population. "The area is populated by a lot of Jewish people, and Jeff is Jewish," Liu explained. "We asked ourselves: Throughout history, what have Jewish people liked to eat besides their own cuisine?" The answer: Chinese food.

Expect house-smoked pastrami seasoned with Chinese peppercorns and kombu, Reuben spring rolls, and deep-fried knishes stuffed with chicken served with sweet-and-sour sauce. "They taste like the greatest chicken ball you could imagine," Liu said of the knishes. Refined dishes include steamed branzino in a schmaltz–Shaoxing wine reduction and ginger chicken soup with fluffy matzoh balls and wontons. The house dipping sauce is a chili crisp made with schmaltz.

Ling is Liu's former sous-chef. The specific opening date within fall has not been announced.