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Doc's Green Door Lounge
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A couple of years ago, Jayson Green, long-time Brooklyn resident, vocalist in the hardcore punk band Orchid, purveyor of natural wines and proud husband of a Torontonian, decided to move north to be closer to his in-laws in Toronto’s West End.
Coming from New York’s stratospheric real estate market, he envisioned purchasing a massive house and living high on the hog. To his surprise, he discovered that housing costs in Hogtown were on par with NYC’s. He soon found himself writing pleading letters to landlords just to be in the running for a decent rental.
After reading one such letter, two landlords, John Leddy and Matt Molloy, rented one of their Junction apartments to Green and his wife, Emma. Moreover, they were so impressed with his combined background in music and wine that they made him a second offer: to design and run a wine bar they were looking to open in a corner building, formerly a hair salon, on nearby Dundas West.
“I had no experience in service,” confesses Green. “With wine, I had worked in retail. But I drank in many bars and knew what I liked.”
There were two things in particular that Green liked – and missed not having in Toronto. One was classic New York hotel bars – such as Bemelmans (The Carlyle) and King Cole Bar (The St. Regis) – where “you can get a bucket martini for 30 bucks and some salty snacks in a cool room.” The other was “some of the divier spots in Brooklyn.”
Doc’s Green Door Lounge was born out of the happy marriage of those two seemingly antithetical nostalgic yearnings. The name, if it doesn’t say it all, says enough – and conjures up a good deal more.
As a lounge, Doc’s hearkens back to the kind of Rat Packy joints where you leave your cares at the (literally) green door. Inside, the lighting is sultry, the tunes smooth. You slouch into a leather banquette, then settle into an exquisitely chilled martini, prepared with insouciant panache by dapper English barman, Nicholas Elliott.
Deep soothing green predominates beyond the door, permeating the walls, chairs and aforementioned banquettes, playing off the bright tiled floor and custom-made mahogany bar. Original brass and Art Deco windows add to the retro vibe as do vintage film and art posters, the latter touting Toronto exhibitions of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Green designed the bar himself with Michael Vadino, a designer pal from Brooklyn, building it from the ground up. The resulting long and narrow space, which seats 40, is artfully casual, deliberately unfussy and resolutely adult.
As for “Doc,” it was the mysterious but ubiquitous nickname of Harold Dunham, who also happened to be Green’s beloved grandfather. Both Doc and his wife were keen drinkers – he loved beer while she swore by Bailey’s (right up until her death this year, at 104) – so the association with a bar seemed natural.
Despite its laid-back veneer, there’s a lot going on at Doc’s. By day, it operates as a coffee shop, where locals can trickle in and hang out with their laptops while nursing a latte (Sam James supplies the beans) and savouring pastries delivered daily by neighbourhood bakery extraordinaire, Noctua.
Due to his background, Green also wanted a place for wine in the space. If you head back to the patio (yes, there’s a patio that seats 30!), you’ll pass Deep End, an independently branded wine shop (with its own Instagram account). Here you can pick up a bottle of responsibly-farmed, additive-free, organic, biodynamic and/or natural wine, produced from small, indie vineyards in both Canada and overseas.
Boasting the same criteria, Doc’s wine menu offers an eclectic selection you can savour sur place. In addition to approachable bottles that will please “Chardonnay moms and Cab Sauv dads,” wine nerds will be thrilled by the likes of Tschida’s Birdscape, an Austrian co-fermentation of red and white grapes that sits in the rose world, but is provocatively bigger and bolder. There’s also a Slovakian orange by Slobodne Vinarstvo, outrageously pure and a little bit wild after spending 30 days on the skins in concrete eggs.
As thoughtful as the wine is the beer. As much as Green is impressed with Toronto’s craft beer scene, when he overheard patrons at his local Junction barbershop griping about the preponderance of IPAs and lack of Buds, he decided to add Bud (in bottles) and Coors Light (in cans) to the menu, along with shot specials and some worthy non-alc cocktails, “so everyone’s covered.”
However, the main event at Doc’s is definitely the spirit-forward cocktails, with martinis as the showstoppers.
Says Green: “There are so many exciting cocktail places in Toronto doing really interesting stuff, but there aren’t a lot of places just focused on classic cocktails. Often, I just want to go and have a martini or a Negroni and the idea that I could walk five minutes from my place and have a beautiful martini made me incredibly excited.”
Seemingly, the rest of the neighbourhood is incredibly excited as well. Since opening in December, Doc’s has been packed, with patrons clamouring for the top-selling martinis expertly executed by Nick Elliott.
“Jayson’s vision was to make classics done well and that’s my favourite thing,” declares Elliott, who favour drinks with minimal garnish and maximal elegance that are aesthetically pleasing.
Although Elliott possesses a deft touch, his use of top-shelf premium spirits – Plymouth gin and Ketel One vodka – helps take the drinks to another level. “It’s a ridiculously hard thing to make a spirit,” he acknowledges. “So I like to highlight all the hard work that’s already been done for me.”
Elliott’s cocktails are all classics with twists. But the twists aren’t outlandish, or trying to impress. They’re twists with a reason – and a purpose.
Take the espresso martini so currently in vogue. While most bars use vodka and Kahlua in equal proportions, Elliott veers into the vodka (Tito’s) and espresso, going light on the Kahlua and simple syrup. The satisfying upshot is a drier, more alcohol-forward adult drink that avoids cloying sweetness. Instead of the coffee bean garnish that nobody ever eats, a dusting of nutmeg adds an aromatic edge.
The gin-forward Stoney Negroni features dry Plymouth gin and a perfect 50:50 split of dry and sweet vermouth. Recognizing that Campari’s bitterness can overwhelm the vermouth, Elliott subs in Capelletti Bitters (a bittersweet love child of Campari and Aperol). The garnish – a Castelvetrano olive – is Elliott’s all-time fave.
The Dr. Bobby Burns is similar to the standard version, but Elliott rinses the coupe with Laphroaig peated Scotch, infusing the traditional mix of Johnny Walker, Guerra Rojo vermouth, Benedictine and orange oils with a rich smokiness that lingers cozily in your mouth.
Although martinis are Doc’s bread and butter, Doc’s Dirty Martini is the Holy Grail of martinis. It starts with a base of Plymouth gin or Ketel One vodka mixed with Guerra dry vermouth. An olive-blue cheese brine adds unexpected pungency, deliciously complicated by two finalizing touches: a Maldon-salt saline and blue-cheese-stuffed olive garnish. Needless to say, the drink arrives in a perfect state of chill.
Meanwhile self-starters can take advantage of the Build-Your-Own-Martini menu in which you select the base spirits as well all the garnishes (and yes, there are patrons who opt to have ALL the garnishes!).
Cocktails may be king at Doc’s, but the mocktails are worthy consorts. Indeed, when Green was auditioning Elliott for the role of bartender, his first test was to concoct an innovative non-alc drink – the results of which caused him to be hired on the spot.
You’ll understand the wisdom of Green’s decision upon taking a sip of The Junction, an unconventional melange of fresh pineapple juice, cucumber, lime, coconut water, house coconut syrup, toasted sesame oil and green pepper hot sauce. Simultaneously light and fresh, citrusy and spicy, with a kick of umami, it bears an uncanny resemblance to Japanese cold noodles in a glass. It’s become so popular that non-abstainers order it along with a shot of tequila, arguing it makes for a killer Margarita.
Packing both a caffeine wallop and some subtle cola notes, the Caffe Shakerato is a coffee highball. It features Sam James espresso spiked with maple syrup, orange blossom water and an underlying base of non-alc amaro. Tonic water adds effervescence, freshly grated cinnamon some sweet spice.
Decidedly more citrusy is the Sonic Spritz, a dry and very refreshing mixture of homemade lemon-lime sherbet along with non-alc Martini Vibrante, verjus, soda and tonic.
Although Doc’s is unabashedly about the drinks, the snacks will steal your heart (and more than satisfy your appetite). Owing to a small, stove-less kitchen, the menu is minimal and the options are cold, a climatic detail that shouldn’t dissuade you in the least once you’ve demolished the complimentary dish of Japanese rice crackers and dried, crunchy broad beans.
For nibbling, there are house-marinated mixed olives, served with a gentle sprinkling of orange zest. Crunchy, wonderfully briny lacto-fermented pickles are made by a local supplier, as are most of the robust snack items.
The vegan cashew cheese dip plays like gorgonzola while possessing notes of port wine that pleasantly sneak up on you. Proudly vegan in that it’s not at all trying to replicate dairy cheese, this dip stands deliciously on its own – although you’ll appreciate the buttery Ritz crackers on the side.
The whipped brie is the real (and very tasty) deal, with triple cream brie, beat to a thick lusciousness, then topped with hot honey and crushed pistachios. Scoop it up with hearty slices of Noctua’s sourdough rye (although gluten-free crackers are also available).
Equally spreadable and way too easy to wolf down is the velvety rich chicken liver mousse. Spiked with brandy and orange, and topped with a duck fat capper, it also comes with generous hunks of Noctua sourdough.
All snacks pair perfectly with the wines and the cocktails. Then again, everything at Doc’s pairs well with the cocktails, including the soundtrack, “slaved over” by Green, who moonlights as a DJ. Expect to hear everything from disco and ‘70s yacht rock to hip hop, post punk and Afrobeats, tunes that are eclectic but never overpowering since the main thing is to invite conversation – and lingering.
So linger on. And when it’s finally time to leave, expect a liquid blessing from Doc himself. Behind the bar, a secret door, topped by a framed photo of Doc, opens to reveal a vintage decanter filled with a “special spirit” – usually rhubarb amaro. This last libation is known as “Doc’s Door.” Shoot it back for a final dose of comfort before heading from the lounge out through the green door and into the night.
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