Calling all caviar connoisseurs! For one night only, the prestigious Maison Kaviari will join forces with Lucie’s chef de cuisine, Arnaud Bloquel, and Axyon Canada’s caviar expert, Grégoire Doulain, to present a luxurious caviar dinner.

On June 13, 2024 at 6pm, for $250 per person (including gratuities and excluding beverages), guests will receive a four-course gourmet dinner highlighting different varieties of Kaviari caviar.

For over 40 years, Maison Kaviari has meticulously selected the finest caviars and seafood. With grains refined in Parisian laboratories and packed in numbered tins, each caviar case is a unique treasure, offering a magical and unforgettable tasting experience. Proud suppliers to MICHELIN-starred chefs both in France and Canada, Kaviari’s farmed caviars are well-celebrated.

“Our commitment to quality and sustainability ensures each caviar selection is not only a pleasure to taste but also a testament to our dedication to environmental responsibility.” David Macouin, international director of Maison Kaviar.

This will be an exclusive event with only 20 seats available. Tickets for The Caviar Experience can be purchased HERE.

Le Comptoir de Lucie

Four-course menu exclusively offered every evening at the bar

Le Comptoir de Lucie – an exclusive, casual culinary concept with a playful twist on dining, available Monday to Saturday evenings exclusively at Lucie’s beautiful bar. Do as the French do and find your joie de vivre!

For $98 per person (excluding taxes, gratuities and beverages), guests will receive a four-course, ever-changing tasting menu in which chef Arnaud Bloquel plays with the freshest ingredients that match the season.

A sample menu of Le Comptoir de Lucie includes: canapes, amuse-bouche, L’oeuf (poached egg, black truffle, chanterelle mushrooms, Comté cheese cream), Les Saint Jacques (scallops, chanterelle roasted almond, granny smith apple, cider emulsion), L’Agneau (Roasted Ontario lamb saddle, green olive cream, chickpea, reduction jus), La Framboise (raspberry confit, meringue, tarragon cream herbaceous sorbet) and mignardises (petit four).

Lucie’s renowned resident bartender Raimey Bristowe offers special beverage pairings each night to elevate the experience.

Le Comptoir de Lucie highlights the grandiose spirit of Lucie in a whimsical way. Guests can mingle at the bar, have lots of laughs and indulge in delightful bites and libations.

Tickets for Le Comptoir de Lucie can be purchased HERE.

Lucie partners with the Canadian Opera Company

Official restaurant and catering partner in conjunction with Lucie’s own catering company, The Social Catering & Co.

Lucie and Lucie’s catering company, The Social Catering & Co., will be coming on board this year as the official restaurant and catering partner for the Canadian Opera Company! One of the first events, powered by The Social Catering & Co., will be the COC’s Fine Wine Auction which takes place later this year from November 26 to December 3.

From the bold flavours of BBQ at The Carbon Bar, exquisite French cuisine at Lucie and modern Italian at Amano Trattoria, The Social Catering & Co.’s thoughtfully curated menus blend each of its innovative brands from restaurateur Yannick Bigourdan with new, creative ideas to deliver top of the ladder food and service to customers.

For over 20 years, the COC’s Fine Wine Auction has been a widely respected Toronto fundraiser that plays a crucial part in helping to support the Ensemble Studio, which provides Canada’s most promising emerging artists with the rigorous coaching, creative opportunities and mentorships required to flourish as thriving opera professionals.

For further details on upcoming partnered events with the Canadian Opera Company, please stay tuned!

A reel of highlights from our experience at LUCIE:

What a pleasure hearing KEVIN KWAN speak as part of Hot Docs’ Curious Minds & Author Talks series, in celebration of Asian Heritage Month. You know Kwan as the genius who penned the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy, plus Sex and Vanity which soon will be made into a movie via Sony Pictures. He just released his latest, LIES & WEDDINGS and spoke with Shinan Govani about the Novel centering on Rufus Leung Gresham, a bachelor of pedigree and eligibility who has inherited a pile of debt, with his scheming mother Arabella plotting to pair him with a wealthy women to resolve the problem.

Kwan also dished a little on the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians musical, TV series set in its universe, plus also the eagerly-awaited second film in the Franchise.

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

From romantic comedies to boldly experimental shorts, movie lovers can dive into MUBI’s electric offering of LGBTQ+ cinema this Pride season and year-round. Beginning June 1, 2024 MUBI will launch A PLACE OF OUR OWN: QUEER SPACES ON FILM a new collection, featuring a blend of iconic queer films and lesser-known LGBTQ+ films, showcasing the vibrant representation of queer cultures in social spaces where diverse queer identities have flourished.

The Last Year of Darkness (Documentary) – Now streaming exclusively on MUBI
Dir. Benjamin Mullinkosson, 2023 MUBI Release*
Attuned to the energy of nightlife in the Sichuan capital, Benjamin Mullinkosson’s immersive documentary pulsates to the euphoric beats of electronic music. A love letter to the city’s charismatic nonconformists and the fabled club that provides a queer haven amid an ever-changing urban landscape.

Maurice’s Bar (Animation, Short ) – Streaming June 1
Dir. Tom Prezman, Tzor Edery, 2023
In 1942, on a train to nowhere, a former drag queen remembers a night from her past in one of Paris’ first queer bars. Remnants of customer gossip recall this mythic bar and its mysterious Jewish-Algerian owner. Maurice’s Bar won the Silver Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2023.

Casa Roshell (Documentary) – Streaming June 1
Dir. Camila José Donoso, 2017
Music plays, drinks are served and the last boundaries are suspended: those between gender; gay, straight and bi; reality and fiction. Roshell and Lili run a small transformist club in Mexico City, where men of all ages and backgrounds come to watch, cruise or learn how to dress in drag.

MUBI’s extensive year-round selection of queer films includes notable releases such as Ira Sachs’ Passages and Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom. Additionally, Andrew Haigh’s Weekend, Zaida Carmona’s Girlfriends and Girlfriends, Sebastián Silva’s Nasty Baby, and many others are featured in the PRIDE UNPREJUDICED: LGBTQ+ CINEMA collection.

PASSION

Passion (Drama) – Streaming exclusively on MUBI June 26
Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
To celebrate the recent release of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Silver Lion winning masterpiece Evil Does Not Exist, MUBI exclusively presents Passion, which remained unreleased in the US until last year. Following a couple whose engagement announcement causes their small group of friends to slowly fracture, this is an awe-inspiring film that bears many of the staples that Hamaguchi would become known for while bouncing along to its own emotional velocity.

DAD & STEP-DAD

Dad & Step-Dad (Comedy) – Streaming June 1
Dir. Tynan DeLong, 2023
Streaming on MUBI just in time for Father’s Day, Dad & Step-Dad is a comedy about family, communication, insecurity, and the fragility of the male ego. In an effort to bond for the sake of Branson, their 13-year-old son, Jim and Dave, a dad and a step-dad, spend a weekend in a cabin upstate together with their shared kid. However, tensions start to mount as differing parenting techniques come to the fore.

CHASING RAINBOWS: FILMS BY THE ROSS BROTHERS

To celebrate the release of Gasoline Rainbow, MUBI presents a career-spanning retrospective of American raconteurs Bill and Turner Ross. Featured is their long unavailable, SXSW-winning debut feature, 45365, which explores the town of Sidney, Ohio in a way that only the Ross brothers can summon. Alongside it is their sensational collaboration with David Byrne, Contemporary Color, filmed partially at Toronto’s Scotiabank arena and features colour guard teams from Quebec and Kitchener-Waterloo.

MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS

My Blueberry Nights (Drama, Romance) – Streaming June 30
Dir. Wong Kar Wai, 2007
Starring Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, this Palme d’Or nominee follows Elizabeth who leaves her memories behind after a nasty breakup and chases her dreams across the country. Picking up a series of jobs to support herself along the way, the myriad of lost souls she meets help her to understand the journey as part of a greater exploration within herself.

HAND-PICKED BY ISABEL SANDOVAL

This June, MUBI invited Lingua Franca director Isabel Sandoval to hand-pick some of her favourite films from the MUBI vaults. Included in Sandoval’s curation is a wide-ranging selection of films reflecting her eclectic personal taste, including Nelly Kaplan’s folklore cult A Very Curious Girl, Peter Strickland’s Duke of Burgundy, a daring erotic drama exploring a sadomasochist relationship, Lee Chang-dong’s Cannes prize winning psychological thriller Burning, Olivier Assayas’ tale of dualities and brooding power dynamics Clouds of Sils Maria and so many more.

This summer, slip into the warm, passionate, and hilarious embrace of Improv! World-renowned comedy juggernaut The Second City is offering a week-long series of free 90-minute drop-in classes from Monday, June 3rd – Sunday, June 9th, 2024.

Afraid of commitment but still craving big gains? We get it. We’ve also been burned by (more than one) gym membership contract. There is nothing to sign and no need to commit to a full term. Just come get your toes wet in the warm waters of comedy.

But… why take an improv class? Glad you asked. Here are five key reasons:

Boost That Confidence. You’ll be encouraged to think on your feet and trust your instincts. As you become more comfortable in class, you’ll naturally feel more confident in your everyday life.
Enhance Creativity. Improv is an incredible way to flex your creative muscles. The more you practice, the more innovative and imaginative your ideas will become.
Communication is a Skill. Active listening and responding to your scene partners are crucial skills in improv AND everyday life. Refining these skills can help improve your personal and professional relationships.

• Make New Friends. According to the Harvard Journal of Science*, when you show up to participate or engage in something you’re interested in, the likelihood of meeting someone who shares that interest increases by a whopping 75,000%. *Not a real publication
  Fifth Bullet Point to be discovered by you! Improv is all about discovery, spontaneity, and FUN! Jump into a class and find your own fifth bullet point (and sixth… and seventh…)
  Come have a sweaty and fun summer fling with The Second City. (Not that sweaty though, we have air conditioning. More of a metaphorical sweaty. You know what? Forget we said sweaty.)

Click here to register.

About The Second City:

Since opening its doors as a small Chicago comedy cabaret in 1959, The Second City has grown to become the world’s premier improv and sketch comedy institution. Boasting stages and Training Centers in Chicago, Toronto and New York City, The Second City has served as the training ground for some of the world’s foremost comedic talents. Its illustrious alumni list includes names such as John Belushi, John Candy, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key, Eugene Levy, Tim Meadows, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Suzy Nakamura, Catherine O’Hara, Amy Poehler, Gilda Radner, Sam Richardson, Joan Rivers, Amber Ruffin, Jason Sudeikis, and Steven Yeun, among countless others. The Second City has been the first name in laughter for sixty-five years.

Elevation Pictures is thrilled to announce that ANORA, directed by Sean Baker and starring Mickey Madison, has won the Palme d’Or at the 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival. The Film follows an exotic dancer’s challenging relationship with the son of a Russian oligarch.

The Canadian distributor also will release RUMOURS which premiered to raves, starring Alicia Vikander and Cate Blanchett. The Guy Maddin film centers on World leaders who meet at the G7, but get lost in the woods whilst trying to compose a joint statement on an unspecified global crisis. Beset by thick fog and menaced by undead bog bodies and a giant brain, they navigate the tortured passions between them.

The INSIDE OUT 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival is back on now till June 1, 2024 at TIFF Lightbox and online! Now in its 34th edition, the Festival boasts 106 films from 25 countries this year, including several exciting titles like opening night selection MY OLD ASS, starring Aubrey Plaza which just premiered at Sundance to raves; SPARK starring The Polititian‘s Theo Germaine and decorated Olympian-turned-Actor Danell Levya; CORA BORA starring Hacks’ Megan Stalter; Series STORIES FROM MY GAY GRANDPARENTS; and a pair of Best Friend Comedies in SISTERS and EXTREMELY UNIQUE DYNAMIC. WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP is the closing night selection, centering on a band setting out to ignite a musical revolution.

It was a pure delight seeing some of the incredible talent behind some of this year’s titles at the Festival on the colourful carpet last night at TIFF Lightbox, as part of Opening Night celebrations.

We chat with the following about their bonding experiences and what they hope audiences will take away from their productions:

•Theo Germaine and Danell Levya of SPARK
•Harrison Xu and Ivan Leung of EXTREMELY UNIQUE DYNAMIC
•Sarah Khasrovi and Kausar Mohammed of SISTERS
•Scott Farley, Jane Moffatt, James Kall, Alexander Nunez and Tricia Black of STORIES FROM MY GAY GRANDPARENTS

More on tickets and showtimes here.

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA is set to dominate Memorial Day weekend with $27.5 million (and $35 million through Monday) from 3,804 theatres, garnering 89% on the Tomatometer. This is a Prequel to 2015’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth.

In second is Animated Feature GARFIELD THE MOVIE with a solid $24 million ($30 million through Monday) from 4,035 theatres for Sony Pictures. It gets 35% on the Tomatometer.

Third goes to IF with $16.8 million ($21.7 million through Monday) from 4,068 theatres for Paramount Pictures. In its second week its tally is brought to $64.2 in North America.

Fourth goes to KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES with $12.8 million ($16 million through Sunday), taking its run to $125 million for 20th Century Studios.

THE FALL GUY gets fifth with $5 million ($7 million through Monday), a run of $73 million for Universal Pictures to date.

Little Sister Portland is excited to announce the latest addition to Toronto’s vibrant brunch scene! Enjoy a weekend brunch at Little Sister Portland every Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm. Get excited about a menu with an array of flavours to add to your weekends!

Enjoy the Indonesian Breakfast dish complete with nasi goreng topped with sunny side up eggs, accompanied by savoury elements like rich peanut sauce, crispy shrimp chips, and tangy pickles. For those seeking a unique brunch item, the Balinese spiced lamb burger is a showstopper. Juicy, tender lamb is expertly spiced, and served on a toasted bun. See the full menu below.

Brunch menu:

The Indonesian Breakfast $22

Nasi goreng, satay ayam, peanut sauce, shrimp chips, pickles, two sunny side up eggs

Tomato Sambal & Eggs $19

Poached eggs in fresh tomato and red pepper sambal, cilantro, grilled sourdough

Steak & Eggs $34

Grilled flank steak, two fried eggs sunny side up, corn hash, fresh chili sauce

Fried Chicken & Waffles $23

Indonesian fried chicken, spiced waffles, pickled chilis, gula java syrup

Bacon & Eggs $23

Grilled smoked pork belly, fresh chili sauce, pickled red onion, pineapple slaw, corn hash, two fried eggs sunny side up

Waffles & Fruit $19

Spiced waffles, tropical fruit salad, coconut whipped cream, gula java syrup

Lamb Burger & Fries $24

Balinese spiced lamb burger, curry ketchup, lettuce, pickled coleslaw, fries

Mushroom Toast & Eggs $22

Rendang mushrooms on grilled sourdough, two poached eggs, arugula salad

Sip and savour with unique beverage offerings! Kick off your day with a Breakfast Margarita, infused with marmalade – because who says you can’t have a margarita for breakfast? Or, enjoy a 90 minute bottomless mimosa special, with the usual juice pairings (and one unique surprise addition)! See the full beverage list below:

Brunch Beverages:

Breakfast Margarita $19

Patron silver, triple sec, pineapple, chili, mint, lime, breakfast marmalade

Indo Citrus Sangria

Single – $18

750ml Carafe – $55

St. Germain, limoncello, coconut liqueur, white wine, watermelon, lychee, coconut lemonade

It’s All Gone Peach Tong

Single – $18

750ml Carafe – $55

Dillon’s melon gin, peach liqueur, citrus cordial, cucumber, mint, peach black tea

Kintamani Rum Punch

Single – $18

750ml Carafe – $60

Bacardi tropical rum blend, house rum blend, passion fruit liqueur, mango, hibiscus red berry cordial, caribbean tea blend, angostura bitters

Electric Lemonade

Single – $18

750ml Carafe – $55

Grey goose citron, blue curacao, blue raspberry, chamomile ginger tea, citrus cordial, lemonade

House Mimosas

Single – $12

Bottomless (90 minutes) – $40

13 street sparkling brut/brut rosé

Choice of juice: lychee cactus pear, orange, grapefruit

Caesars Classic $15

Grey goose, worcestershire, clamato, tabasco, garnishes

Caesars: Auntie Pickles Big Dill Energy $17

Dill and jalapeno infused hendrick’s gin, cucumber and dill pepper sauce, green tabasco, house pickle brine, worcestershire, clamato, house pickles

Espresso Martini House Classic $18

Absolut vodka, kahlua, espresso

Espresso Martini: Double Double $18

Altos reposado tequila, screwball peanut butter whiskey, kahlua, berry dust, espresso

Non-Alcoholic Beverages:

Balinese Jamu Juice $13

Fresh turmeric, fresh galangal, ginger, honey, lemon, lime

Muy Bueno $13

Pineapple chili mint, lime cordial

Lychee Spritz $13

Lychee cactus pear, lemon cordial, sparkling water

To experience the rich, vibrant flavours of Indonesia right here in Toronto, reserve your seat here! For more information, follow Little Sister on Instagram @littlesisterto.

Netflix Canada and Mr. Will are thrilled to give Toronto readers a chance to attend a special Advance Screening of Netflix and Shondaland‘s BRIDGERTON SEASON 3 PART 2! The invite-only Screening takes place 7 PM on June 3, 2024 at The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre and you are encouraged to wear your finest Regency attire!

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK, IG or X! Tag a friend that you’d like to bring! Enter as many times as you wish.

Rules and regulations here.

BRIDGERTON Season 3 Part 2, arrives June 13, 2024 at 3 A.M. EST only on Netflix.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

Benoit Blanc returns in his most dangerous case yet. The new title of the upcoming Rian Johnson KNIVES OUT film has been announced! Cannot wait to see the new Cast!

TITLE: WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY
DIRECTOR: Rian Johnson
WRITER: Rian Johnson
PRODUCERS: Ram Bergman, Rian Johnson
CAST: Daniel Craig