Cravin’ designer poutine?

[attach]1972[/attach]Sometimes ya gotta have your feet hit the street to get the latest shops and services scoop. One hot and humid July afternoon, I meander along the Queen East strip to see what’s on the retail radar in the Beach.

Poutine reincarnated

Past the fire station east of Woodbine I notice a new resto called Karma Bar & Grill, an attractive red-washed building set off from the street with a front terrace.

For a moment I wonder if this isn’t some ethnic fusion place that’s become so vogue-y of late.
But owner Deborah Bennet, who’s dressing patio tables with red and white polka dot tablecloths, clearly has gone in a different and more whimsical direction.

Only a month into her new enterprise, Bennet tells me she actually used to own a resto in the same space, then bought the building only to sell it in 2007 when she started a family. She recently bought the building back after the former owners went out of business — hence the karmic factor.

Karma’s basically a burger joint that’s open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 4 p.m. on, where you can chill and watch comedy skits on the patio Thursday nights.

Bennet’s obviously a bit of a hoot herself, telling me it’s her mission to bring poutine back to the masses — check out the menu posted outside and you’ll see there’s a whack of different gravy, frites and cheese medleys, including a “designer poutine” with everything but the kitchen sink available for toppings.

And if you can eat the $36 triple patty “Frat Burger” in 15 minutes your next one is free. So far, no one’s dared try.

1910 Queen St. E 416-686-3919

Shop shuffle

I haven’t done poutine since the 1990s and plan on keeping it in a past life, though I’ll go back for a laugh and pint one night.

Maybe I’ll wear the new A.X.L. dress I pick up at ENDS for a screaming $15. Alas, ENDS closed its location a few doors east of its mother ship corner location, but it looks like there is a new Yorkville location I didn’t know about that could have replaced it.

As in the flagship store we all know and love, there are also stretch dresses by Guilty, also $15 and you know they’ll go fast.

1930 Queen St. E 416-699-2271 [url]www.endsclothing.com[/url]

Binz, by the way, has taken over the former ENDS place and knocked out a wall to connect it to its space next door.

1943 Queen St. East 416-690-4611 [url]www.binz.ca[/url]

French dressing

Speaking of inexpensive dresses, I was thrilled to know The Embellished Room opened in the Beach a few months back. I know the shop from the midtown area and am already well acquainted with its everything-for-$29.99 philosophy.

If you haven’t yet been there, it’s worth a gander. The ladies’ clothing, again $30 apiece, is mainly from France and is a mix of trend-driven items for the 20-something set combined with garb I’d don in a fashion heartbeat.

Shiny patterned scarf dresses mix with linen-like wide leg pants and the most lovely cotton-polyester peasanty tops. The place is crammed with clothing racks but the walls are an inky grey and there are girly mirrors and chandeliers everywhere.

Call the look French mass market chic, not a bad thing in my books as you can get designer panties in the supermarkets in France.

I’ll so be back to update my summer wardrobe.

1978 Queen St. E 416-546-5164

Roasting roots

I finally make it to my destination to meet Marisca Widaja-Lewis, co-owner of the newly opened Prana Coffee.

As Lewis whips me up the most delicious deluxe iced cap I’ve ever had (no more Timmy’s for me, alas)— it’s a caramel flavour and has lovely gritty coffee bits swirling inside — I learn that there’s a strong coffee connection in her family.

Her great-grandfather was a coffee roaster doyen in her native Indonesia in the 1800s, and the roasting tradition has stayed in the family over the years.

Lewis tells me she always smelled like coffee when she was growing up and hated it, but she’s since embraced her roots, opening a coffee house in Etobicoke with biz partner Brandon Pitt before relocating it to the Beach.

Only two months in and the new place is already a local hangout, with Lewis roasting beans in a tiny roaster and selling eight different coffee types and blends along with homemade muffins and such.

We chat for almost an hour and Lewis knows every one who comes in by name. Former customers from Etobicoke still come in; the lovely embroidered cushions and stools that are scattered in the charming window seats are a gift from one of them.

Look for regular poetry meetings, Mac meetup groups and other artsy community happenings on the website.

2130A Queen St. E 416-699-4000 [url]www.pranacoffee.com[/url]