True drinks strong and free: Toronto soon to have an all-Canadian bar

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Take a walk down Toronto’s Queen Street West between Bathurst Street and Trinity Park and you’ll pass by the Offworld Bar, a space-themed watering hole with intergalactic cocktails and out-of-this-world snacks. But it’s about to blast off.

On April 11, Offworld will reopen as Grizzly Bar, which the website describes as “a Canadian-owned and operated bar and grill, serving Canadian food and drinks in a Canada-themed space, with Canadian music on the speakers and all-Canadian content on the screens.”

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It’s the brainchild of Jessica Langer and Jason Kapalka, who opened the Offworld Bar in 2022 (and got married in 2023). The space inside has more than a thousand square feet of video screens on the walls and even the ceiling, the better to present views as though from a spaceship.

Those screens made it easy to rebrand the bar for a Halloween-themed event last year, and then into “beach mode” in the waning days of winter. Then, when talk of U.S. tariffs and annexation began, they hit on a more permanent change.

“Obviously it was something that was inspired by current events,” says Kapalka. “But I’ve always liked the idea of a Canadian-themed bar.”

He’d seen them in places like China and England, where the Maple Leaf Tavern has been a Covent Garden landmark for decades. “But I didn’t think it was the kind of thing that would work in Canada itself.”

Langer adds: “It’s like going to the airport in Toronto and buying a Toronto shirt and then wearing it in Toronto. But in the current circumstance it seems like the perfect thing to do.”

Rebranding required sourcing Canadiana decor, which meant calling on friends, relatives and thrift stores.

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“A lot of flags!” says Langer. “And I’ve been on the hunt for vintage stuff. You find the weirdest things.”

She adds: “We really do want a space where people can go and just be jubilantly Canadian, and I think that the decor is going to reflect that.”

She’s particularly proud of a red mug she came across, emblazoned with a maple leaf. “It’s a Molson mug but it’s shaped like a boot. It’s this big red boot beer mug. It’s like: Who came up with this? But it’s actually pretty cool!”

Hudson’s Bay blankets, Rush posters and framed Canadians will adorn the walls. Might hockey legend Wayne Gretzky have a place?

“We’ll see if he redeems himself,” says Langer.

“That one might fall off the wall by accident,” adds Kapalka.

Food and drink will be Canadian in both theme and provenance.

“We’re doing our best to source everything locally, or from Canada anyway,” says Kapalka. Ingredients in the kitchen will include elk from New Zealand, produce from Mexico, and almost everything else from Canada, coast-to-coast, including Quebec bison and Alberta beef.

Drinks will have Canadian names as well as ingredients. The Black Hole, a mainstay on the Offworld Bar’s menu, has been renamed the Hadfield, in honour of the Canadian astronaut. There’s a Grizzly Caesar that comes with a side of ketchup chips, and another tipple called the Fort McMurray Fubar.

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Kapalka says flannel patterns will be the unofficial uniform. “We had toyed with a denim look — the Canadian tuxedo — but we were warned that all-denim outfits would not be very comfortable for service or working in the kitchen, so flannel it is.”

Langer adds: “We want everyone to be comfortable and happy but also super Canadian.”

The Grizzly Bar will feature Canadian-themed events as well. The bar’s event manager is planning a “Hoser Olympics,” with competitions that include building a tower of Timbits, or freeing your hands from a wrapping of hockey tape. Participants in the apology contest will be judged based on the quality of their “sorry.”

There will be opportunities to purchase your beverage with Canadian Tire money, says Langer. “But it has to be the paper Canadian Tire money, so everyone’s going to have go to their parents’ old car and find it in the cupholders.”

Until the bar’s website is fully up and running, interested patrons can go to CanuckCheck.ca to see if their true Canadianness is “eh or nay.”

That kind of soft-pedalled patriotic humour captures the spirit of the new establishment. “We didn’t want to be anti-American so much as pro-Canadian,” says Kapalka.

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“Quite a few of our staff were not born in Canada but everybody is all in on Grizzly Bar,” says Langer. “It’s been such an upswelling in pride in the country that we’ve built. It’s not perfect but it’s ours and we want to make it more perfect, we want to make it better, and we want to celebrate what we’ve achieved so far.”

She adds: “It’s for Canadians and it’s for our allies. If you’re not Canadian but you love Canada it’s for you too. It’s for everybody who loves and supports Canada and who wants to see us stay the true north strong and free.”

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