Things are coming full circle for David Schwartz. He opened his newest restaurant, Linny’s, in September — his third project in a three-year span. Following great success with MIMI Chinese and Sunnys, two Michelin-recognized restaurants in downtown Toronto, his latest venture has given him a new hat to wear as creative and culinary director for his restaurant group, Big Hug Hospitality. The trope of chef-turned-creative-director is something we see often, especially as one finds success in an industry as hostile and unforgiving as hospitality. Still, the case with Schwartz is different.
Feeling uninspired while studying political science at Western University, he pivoted to a degree in food and beverage management at Fanshawe College. In the years following, Schwartz took several trips abroad, exploring traditional Chinese cuisine along the way. His travels ultimately formed the foundation for two of the best Chinese restaurants in the city, which he opened alongside his partners Braden Chong and Brandon Marek. Now, Schwartz is introducing Linny’s, a project that sits closer to home, bringing together his passion for hosting with his own familial roots.
Named after his late mother, Linda, the restaurant is more identifiable with him as a person than his previous projects. Here, he has taken on one of the most daunting tasks in the restaurant industry — the steak house. Schwartz makes a point to describe Linny’s as a deli steak house, specifically, and for good reason. He explains how his dream was to open a deli, and the steak house concept just allowed him to marry these two elements together.
“I’ve always worked better with constraints,” says Schwartz, referencing what the menu must look like to identify as both steak house and deli. The parallels exist in things like homemade sauerkraut and pickles, or Caesar salad and fries, but it’s in replacing prime rib with pastrami that we see just how defined these lines are.
“The timelessness of mid-century design is what we wanted to run off; that feeling of not knowing if it’s been there forever or if it was built yesterday.”
David Schwartz on Linny’s.
While Linny’s hasn’t yet claimed its place on the Michelin list alongside Schwartz’s other two projects, the menu itself certainly maintains the same quality. Caviar and challah service, the chicken liver toast, white fish, and of course, the steak itself are held to the highest standard. Cocktails such as the Borscht Milk Punch (a blend of aquavit, organic beet juice, raspberry syrup, lemon juice, vodka, rose syrup, and strained kefir served over a giant ice cube and garnished with a sprig of dill) offer playful references to eastern European cuisine. Even the wait staff balances between the warm, familial hosting that Schwartz grew up surrounded by and the charming fine-dining service one expects from a true steak house experience (bartenders donning black bow ties, hosts wearing waistcoats — classic without being stuffy, traditional without an ounce of pretentiousness).
Schwartz was equally determined to strike the perfect balance when it came to the space itself. When designing Linny’s, Schwartz was having a hard time articulating what exactly he wanted the steak house to look like. It was only after a trip through Palm Springs with his wife and friends that he found something to direct the compass in his design approach — an orange mid-century modern house phone. From that, he was able to start identifying an idea rather than a visual reference for what would make Linny’s feel like a restaurant. Visually, subtle notes of inspiration from that very phone are evident through the restaurant — the window to the kitchen, mirrors across the dining room, and shelving at the bar being just a few clues.
As Schwartz puts it: “The timelessness of mid-century design is what we wanted to run off; that feeling of not knowing if it’s been there forever or if it was built yesterday.” While the Italian burl wood lining the walls and banquettes alludes to the more figurative components of coziness, his mother’s recipes hanging throughout the restaurant are what give it the hospitable spirit that most spots miss from a design standpoint. It’s in this way that we should critique the steak house. Is the steak good? Of course. Is the service kind and personable? Also, yes. But that shouldn’t be what makes it a steak house. Instead, Linny’s checks the box because of its inherent patina, a quality that some restaurants get through time, and others get only through perfect execution.
Photography by Daniel Neuhaus.
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