I need a salad or something, ’cause…Jesus. What a week of food & drink.

Wednesday we tried the new local hotspot, the rooftop at the Broadview Hotel. The view was great, the ambiance was douchy, the burgers were fine, the wine was pretty good, and the bill was…a lot. I’ll go back when the buzz has worn off and just have a drink.

The next night I met up with T-Bone for our month-late co-birthday celebration. We tried Grey Gardens for the first time. Stellar wine list, pretty good food, nice vibe. Again, super-expensive for what we got. Getting there and back made me remember why I hate/avoid Kensington Market though. Sweet Cab Franc with dinner though.

Friday Lindsay and I popped in to The Wren after work to demolish their bottle list. We had so many great beers — the Indie Alehouse Dead Spadina Monkey, the Bellwoods Motley Cru, Bellwoods Grandma’s Boy, and Bellwoods Weft & Warp — and filled ourselves with fried buffalo cauliflower and burgers. I love that place so much.

Saturday we met up with CBGB who were in town visiting, and decided to finally try Lake Inez. It was so, so worth the wait. They also have a top-notch bottle list (we had Bellwoods Jutsu on tap, then split bottles of Rodenbach 2014 and the Nickel Brook Proud As Funk) and the food was outstanding:

• Japanese deviled eggs (kewpie mayo & yuzu kosho, topped w/ arare cracker, roe & nori)
• Filipino bbq pork skewer (soy & 7-up glazed pork shoulder, slow-cooked and grilled over japanese charcoal w/ a spiced vinegar sauce)
• summer corn fritter (seasoned with shichimi togarashi and burnt citrus mayo)
• heirloom tomato & watermelon XO salad (sun dried tomato dressing, crispy lotus root, and xo sauce made w/ dried scallops & shrimp, chinese sausage, and shaoxing wine)
• spicy charred broccoli (flavoured w/ chili jam, oyster sauce, lime, and crispy anchovies)
• market fish Kinilaw (filipino-style ceviche w/ coconut vinegar, lime, serrano, avocado, cilantro & cassava chips)
• salmon ‘Sinigang’ (pan seared bc salmon, coconut polenta, vegetable fricassee, tamarind/miso sauce, chimichurri)

Good value for money too — we were all surprised when the bill came, and in a good way.

After dinner we all went around the corner to Godspeed Brewery and met up with M+LK for some of their beer. I’m still not 100% in love with it, but the new Dai Dai was pretty good, and I liked the stout better on draft than when I had it in the can. They had Norm Hardie Cab Franc on tap too, so…win. It was a really fun night. Gerrard & Coxwell: who knew?

.:.

Cover photo from the Wren website