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| - Leslieville Pumps doesn't just set the precedent of what a gentrified gas station is like, it is literally the fuel stop where everyone knows your name--cue in the Cheers theme song here. Unless of course you're literally like that awkward guy in that Chevy Cruze 'Gas Station' telly commercial, who nobody knows. Feel free to stop the soundtrack anytime now.
Bought by a couple of young guys from my understanding, this gas station has been done up to conform to a more hipster-esque taste, with its affinity towards vintage materialist nostalgia. On the surface, Leslieville Pumps is made to look like one of those kitschy roadside small town fuel stop/general stores you come across after a long drive (Young's General Store in Wawa, Ontario, comes to mind). If anything else, it gives my 'hood more of a charming village feeling rather than it being just another annexed (and gentrifying) Toronto community. Regardless, the Pumps attracts a varied clientele of all walks of life, from well-heeled neighbourhood foodies to late-night cabbies.
In terms of it being a "general store," I've been to truck stops and small town gas station/general stores stocked with way more provisions than this middle-of-Toronto business. You'll find they have the basic variety store varieties that every gas station in town has: soda, chips, and the like.
Most folks who go here however, aren't here to fuel their cars nor stock up on nonexistent fishing gear. They come for their fresh cooked foods.
Unlike most other gas stations in the GTA, Leslieville Pumps is equipped with a kitchen (it used to be a Country Style coffee kiosk). They sell baked goods, but the kitchen is really there to pump out elevated gourmet comfort fuel for human stomachs that wouldn't be that much different from the stuff you'd find served at a truck stop. There are some tables inside for those who want to eat in, as well as a recently installed patio area, spruced up with shrubs and umbrellas to disguise the view otherwise of their fueling station and Queen East.
The kitchen is known to surprise many who don't expect much of gas station food. They have a reputation for pumping out some mean sandwiches. Their pulled pork sandwich is a screaming juicy monster to die for, I'll give'r that.
By contrast, they recently started offering fried chicken and waffles. And that turned out to be a boring disappointment, as I stared and ate away a uninspiring slab of flat chicken and flabby waffles, accompanied by a pear-infused syrup that is heavy in spicy heat and pear flavours--probably the only gastronomic fun I got out of that order.
For what is basically glorified takeout fuel stop food, i find it quite pricey; you'll find yourself spending at least $10 per entrée. The service... meh. Yeah, you might get a hello and a smile, but you'll find the world-famous chattiness tend to be reserved for the recognised regulars, whom apparently are very numerous. Everyone else, including myself who rarely has a reason to stop here, may feel like the awkward guy in that Chevy ad. Yeah... and I live and grew up here?
Leslieville Pumps is for what it's worth, a very novel only-in-Leslieville business concept. Enjoy the stuff they post on the pumps though. East side, yo.
{Who needs a car when you got the TTC: the 72 or any 501-2-3 streetcar to Carlaw Avenue.}
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