Month: June 2025

Transplanted Jacobs

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

In what has become an annual tradition, I met up with Dan B and Abtin at a steakhouse. As with last year I was late — I left plenty early but Toronto traffic took care of that.

This was my (and Dan’s) first visit to the newly-moved Jacobs & Co., and it was a beauty of a meal. Some horrible news the day before made the mood more subdued than it might have been, but if anything it was a needed balm.

Here’s what we had:

  • Cocktails
    • the classic cheese popovers
    • Martinis & sparkling
  • Appetizers
    • Jacobs Caesar salad
    • Crudo
    • glasses of Gavi
  • Mains
    • Pinnacle Farm “Little Joe” 12oz Ribeye from Queensland, Australia
    • Japanese X Wagyu 8oz California Cut Striploin from Hyogo Prefecture
    • Brussels sprouts
    • King Oyster mushrooms
    • a bottle of 2013 Sena from my cellar
  • Dessert
    • glasses of Madeira (because they were out of the Palo Cortado jerez)

Important footnote: they still have the takeaway chocolate muffins!

The space was pretty stunning too. Sure, the old place was good, but it was starting to feel just a bit dated, and the building looked like a bunker. Also: King Street West wasn’t exactly convenient. Now, a location right in the south core, with some outdoor space to boot, has me excited to go back.

Signature Blackbush

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After going 45ish years between my first and second visits to PEI, I returned this past week, not ten months later.

After landing on the new Porter route that flies directly to Charlottetown, I was met by colleagues and had dinner downtown on the waterfront at Salt and Sol. Then we were off to Blackbush Resort where we’d hold our meetings for the following few days. Over that time we had ice cream from Harry’s Dairy Bar, wore PEI dirt shirts, ate a delicious meal catered by The Old General Catering House, sat around a fire pit, happily accepted coffee picked up by colleagues at Receiver, biked to Dalvay By The Sea for a big group dinner (in which I ate the biggest pork chop I’ve ever seen — and one of the best too), and walked along a classic sandy PEI beach. Oh, and got eaten alive by mosquitos.

We all left Thursday morning, after getting to see some more PEI countryside and scarfing down some breakfast at Budley’s in the Charlottetown airport. Less than 72 hours there, and nearly all of that focused on work, but we managed to pack in quite a bit of fun too.

Sicily & Bulgaria

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A week of tiny firsts.

I had a work-related dinner at Bar ARDO (Ardo’s trendier sister spot, presumably?) for the first time earlier this week. Food (Mediterranean grilled octopus w/ cucumber, cannellini beans puree, mint; Golden beets w/ red endive, baked ricotta, dates, pumpkin seeds, micro cilantro, Ardo’s vinaigrette; Sua Maesta’ Rigatoni w/ brasato sugo, Sicilian pecorino, parmigiano; Branzino w/ chimichurri sauce) was pretty good, and the BTG wine list was pretty solid.

Then, later in the week, I met a friend at East End Vine where we sat in the window and availed ourselves of their funky list. I had a nice Melon, an excellent Sylvaner (which my friend liked so much she doubled-down on), an Italian rosé, and a Bulgarian cabernet (which the owner dubbed the “party wine”). As far as I can recall, it’s my first time trying wine of any kind from Bulgaria.