Rudy owner Luke McCann shares his favorite neighborhood bites

Luke McCann built Rudy into one of Toronto's last independent fast-food chains by obsessing over smash burgers — grinding beef fresh twice a day and guarding his hamburger blend like nuclear launch codes. A decade after opening as a tiny College Street joint in 2016, Rudy remains a cult favorite even as it expands beyond the GTA. This summer, the brand opens its 17th location, a drive-through in Huntsville.

Given McCann's well-documented devotion to meat, Toronto Life asked him to take us on a carnivorous crawl through the Annex and Yorkville neighborhood he calls home.

At The Oxley on Yorkville Avenue, McCann is a regular. He and owner Andrew Carter became friends after Carter nearly bought McCann's earlier restaurant, Petit Castor, in Summerhill — a deal that fell through but forged a lasting connection. While McCann praises their burger, the two menu items he returns for are the pork chop and the veal sweetbreads. Both showcase the restraint and technique that define Carter's upscale pub cooking.

McCann's journey to Rudy began unconventionally. After leaving a career as a financial journalist for Reuters, he opened Petit Castor with, as he admits, "absolutely zero restaurant experience." The restaurant was an immediate hit, which he notes "in some ways was unfortunate because I really didn't know what I was doing."

That hands-on learning shaped how he built Rudy. The smash burger — with its deeply savory center and crackly lacy-edged crust from two daily grinds — became his signature. McCann's success reflects a broader rarity in Toronto's food scene: an independently owned fast-food concept that hasn't been swallowed by corporate consolidation. Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, Burger's Priest, and Fresh all began as single Toronto restaurants before becoming chains absorbed into larger portfolios. Rudy, still family-run, is an endangered species.