Cucina Buca Is Back at Yonge and St. Clair, and the Wait Is Nothing New for This Address
Cucina Buca took roughly four years to open at 2 St. Clair Avenue West. This fall it took about five months to come back.
In May, the Italian restaurant at Yonge and St. Clair had a dining room that was, as Streets of Toronto put it, "totally cleared-out." In June, food writer Stephanie Dickison reported in her OPEN/CLOSED column that it was temporarily closed "due to water damage." In mid-October, reservations opened again. By October 23, Streets of Toronto had confirmed it was back, with the same kitchen team, the same menu and only subtle updates to the dining room.
For Deer Park, the bigger story is what King Street Food Company has built around the reopening. The company behind Buca, La Banane and Jacobs & Co. has also tied Bar Buca, its all-day bar and café, to this same address. That makes 2 St. Clair West the group's midtown base, even though it has also been one of the group's slowest projects.
The history of this corner explains why the October reopening drew attention. It also shows how long the company has been committed to Yonge and St. Clair.
The group lost its midtown bar at Yonge and Eglinton in 2020 and kept working at 2 St. Clair West through the long pre-opening delay. Bar Buca's name is now back in midtown, at that same address.
The space helps explain why the company stayed. When Cucina Buca opened, Streets of Toronto described a two-storey room designed by Constantino Design Studio. It has soaring ceilings, large windows, a mezzanine over terrazzo floors on the lower level, curved architecture and natural white oak finishes. Few restaurant rooms in Deer Park have that kind of volume, and it can't be put back together quickly. That explains why a water-damage repair took a full summer.
The kitchen took a similar amount of time. The same 2022 coverage said the focaccia di Recco, a very thin focaccia filled with soft cheese, "took four years to perfect." That matches the restaurant's four-year path from its 2018 announcement to its 2022 opening.
General manager Emanuele De Donno explained the location in 2022. "Yonge and St. Clair is in the midst of a revitalization and we're excited to bring our unique style of hospitality and amazing food to this great neighbourhood," he told Streets of Toronto. "We have high standards and look forward to introducing our passionate approach to cuisine and service to families in the area."
The restaurant's own site now describes it as "a modern Italian inspired trattoria in Midtown Toronto." It promises handmade pasta, focaccia di Recco and dishes from a Josper charcoal and wood-fired oven, and says that in the dining room, "service follows your pace."
Streets of Toronto said the menu came back unchanged. The current prices below come from the restaurant's OpenTable listing as of November 9, 2026, and may change.
| Dish | What's in it | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Pansotti | ricotta-filled pasta, brown butter, squash, sage, St. Brigid's butter | $26 |
| Cavatelli | hand-rolled pasta, mussels, heirloom cherry tomato, garlic, chili, lemon, basil | $26 |
| Rigatoni all'anatra | duck egg pasta, mascarpone, duck offal ragù, Venetian spices | $28 |
| Polpette di Buca | veal and buffalo ricotta meatballs, preserved tomato, pine nuts | $28 |
| Tagliatelle al ragù bianco | white ragù Bolognese, aceto balsamico, Parmigiano Reggiano | $29 |
| Risotto alla Milanese | carnaroli rice, slow-cooked veal shank, bone marrow, saffron, gremolata | $34 |
| Polpo | grilled Moroccan octopus, legume salad, gremolata, arugula | $39 |
| Branzino | whole grilled sea bass, Cerignola olives, capers, peperoncino | $48 |
The pastas in the table run from $26 to $29, and the listing's Spaghetti Pomodoro comes in lower at $23. A weeknight bowl of pansotti is a different kind of evening from the $48 whole branzino. Streets of Toronto's reopening note also mentioned grilled gnocchi, seafood from the Josper oven and the focaccia di Recco, which it called the restaurant's signature dish.
The 2022 opening coverage listed the restaurant as open Tuesday through Saturday. The restaurant's site now lists lunch Monday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner Monday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. That puts Monday on the schedule and gives anyone working near the corner a weekday lunch option.
Bar Buca is where the address becomes more than one restaurant. In a July profile, Streets of Toronto described it as the company's all-day bar and café and "a wedge of that excellence for a fraction of the price." The menu in that profile included:
That profile describes the concept in general, and the details at St. Clair may differ. The Bar Buca format is built around breakfast, coffee and late-night food, while Cucina Buca serves lunch and dinner.
Bar Buca is also a return for the brand. It was last in midtown at Yonge and Eglinton, and that location closed after the October 2020 lockout. Six years later, the company has connected the bar to the address it kept through the pandemic. The official Bar Buca page is at buca.ca.
Not everything at 2 St. Clair West belongs to King Street Food Company. Lil E Coffee Cafe has its own suite, #107, in the same building. The Yonge + St. Clair BIA listed it in a September 2026 guide to coffee shops for remote work The guide describes it as part coffee shop and part social enterprise that gives young people training and work experience.
The BIA guide says Lil E pours coffee from Calgary's Rosso Coffee Roasters and stocks baked goods from Toronto bakeries. Seating is limited but set up for laptops, with outlets at counter height and stools with backs.
The same guide recommends The Coffee, which it calls "a newer addition to the neighbourhood," up a few steps at the back of the lobby at 30 St. Clair Avenue West. Per the BIA, it has a "Purist" coffee menu and pastries from Circles & Squares. Between the two buildings, the west side of the intersection now offers a calm morning coffee, a weekday pasta lunch and a two-storey dinner room within about a block.
Reservations go through OpenTable, which you can also reach from the Cucina Buca site. The restaurant's phone number is (416) 840-9822, and the address is 2 St. Clair Avenue West, Suite 100.
If you live near Yonge and St. Clair, Claire Speedie follows these corners closely. That includes which addresses are getting new investment and how a room like this one changes an evening for the streets around it. If you're wondering how your home's value reflects what is happening on your block, New Chapter Homes can walk you through it. Start your new chapter with a home valuation.
Claire has a keen interest in investment properties and looks forward to continuing to help her clients build their real estate investment portfolios.