Author: Dan Dickinson

Xmas 2023

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

After a brief visit back in Toronto, we returned to Moncton for a few days (Highlights: sausage & ricotta pizza at Tide & Boar brewing, discovering a not-really-a-hangover cure at Carrabba’s. Lowlight: the 1:55am fire alarm in the hotel on our first night.) before driving to the farm for a couple days.

My mom was violently ill for most of our visit, but other than that it was nice to hang out with family, eat too much, play crib & Uno, and relax — even if it was for less than 48 hours.

We’ve now made the drive to Bedford, where we’ll stay for a couple of days before attempting to get a couple days to ourselves.

Taste

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

A couple days ago we got back from Moncton. I’d been there nearly two weeks, Lindsay about half of that.

  • Weather was all over the place. From warm and rainy some days to full snowstorms to bitterly cold to heavy windstorms. That’s the Maritimes in almost-winter, I guess.
  • I mentioned the family & farm visits in my last post, but I also got to have a drink with a former vendor-side colleague who’s moved east, and an old university housemate who I hadn’t seen in (does quick math) 30 freakin’ years. We ended up in the same line of work, which was fun.
  • New places I tried this time: Gusto (not bad) and India King (very good), plus a bunch of delivery places because it was so g-d cold. I also got some intel on other good places, so the list has been refreshed for next time.

Movie week

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

After visits from my family last weekend (Tide & Boar with brother #2 et al on Saturday; Chalet Swiss with mom & dad on Sunday) I had the week to myself in Moncton. I was able to catch up some movies while absentmindedly working in the evenings, until Lindsay arrived Thursday.

The Killer (imdb | rotten tomatoes) wasn’t David Fincher’s best work, but it was still one of the better movies I’ve watched this year.

Lou (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was far from a great movie. It wasn’t even all that good. But manoman, can Allison Janney just carry a thing. It had no business even being as entertaining as it was.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Stillwater (imdb | rotten tomatoes) so I was pleasantly surprised when the combination of mumbly roughneck Matt Damon + class politics in Marseilles ended up a relatively touching story about family connections.

Fair Play (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was okay, I guess, but I felt like I’d seen it already when I watched Industry.

After a 24-hour bout of sickness Friday, we drove to the farm yesterday and will be here a few more hours. It’s pretty nice to be able to come get this level of recharge with only an hours’ drive.

Betty’s East

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Earlier this week we met up with M2H2 at Betty’s East, the reincarnation of a now-closed King East spot that we all loved, now in the home of what was The Burren, and Ceilidh Cottage before that. It was good to catch up for the first time in ages, and to have…you know, beer. Which I don’t have very often anymore. After a nice hazy IPA I stuck to my usual poles, a light sour and an imperial stout.

They also brought a bottle of 2018 Tzum Fèis Spring Ephemeral Scorched Earth Vineyard that had been sitting in their cellar, so we walked home with a lovely parting gift.

As I type this I’m in Moncton again, having arrived last night, and I lucked into a fridge stocked with local craft beer. I’m also about to head out and meet brother #2 and family at Tide & Board Brewing, so I daresay there’s more craft beer in my very immediate future.

Post Lily

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I wanted this post to be about Leaning Post winery’s 10th anniversary party yesterday, about their delicious wines, and Ilya and Nadia and all the nice people who work there, and the amazing library wines (2013 Lowrey Pinot, 2013 Wismer Chardonnay, etc.), the yummy food, and so on. Unfortunately the drive there and back was a nightmare of traffic and we spent twice as long in the car as we did drinking wine. It’s hard to be enthusiastic about these events that are ostensibly under an hour away when you know your soul is going to be crushed by the Gardiner.

Still, it was fun to try that 2013 Pinot again. Pretty sure the last time I had it was eight years ago at Barque along with three other winemakers producing Pinot from the Lowrey fruit.

This morning’s activity was a little closer to home: breakfast at White Lily with Matt & Lisa on a crisp, sunny fall day. Makes me think this whole car thing is a scam.

Return to Grey Gardens

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Six years after my first (somewhat underwhelming) visit, I had dinner at Grey Gardens with a work friend. Much better this time ’round, I must say.

  • Food
    • side stripe shrimp ~ tomato xo, scapes, black olive
    • kampachi ~ cabbage, yuzu, kombu
    • smoked fish ~ chips n’ dip
    • cauliflower ~ maitake, dill, lemon
    • duck ~ turnips, sweet potato, mustard
    • bavette ~ potato, cipollini, bordelaise
  • Drinks
    • Ardoisières 2022 ‘Silice’ Savoie / Bourbon Old Fashioned to start
    • bottle of Chateau Phelan Ségur 2014 Saint-Estèphe with most of the food
    • glasses of Bodegas Toro Albala 1955 Don PX Convento Seleccion for dessert

Apart from how delicious virtually everything was, the other remarkable thing was the guest at the table next (but perpendicular) to ours who kept throwing her body backwards in fits of laughter and very nearly ending up in our food.

I continue to not get Kensington Market though. Never have. Probably never will.

Detroit + donair: a fusion I didn’t know I needed

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Once again I was back in Moncton this past week. Of note:

  • I sat next to someone I used to work with on the flight there, and another ex-colleague on the flight back. Last time I saw a former member of a past board of directors. I didn’t expect Moncton flights to be this kind of reunion hub.
  • Once I arrived I set out for my usual dinner plan: buy two bottles of wine at the Experience store, and get a baseball steak at The Keg. On the walk there I was a murmuration of Starlings just outside the hotel — I didn’t get video, but someone else did.
  • New places I tried this time: Cinta Ria (very tasty Malaysian), Taj Mahal (very good, even if I forgot to order rice), and the Tide & Boar brewpub, where I drank some very good beer and ate an extremely delicious (if far too big) Detroit-style donair pizza.
  • No family visits this time — it was a bit last-minute, and I was pretty heads-down whilst there — but there’ll be plenty more chances.

===

‘

‘

Blue Ascari

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Two excellent meals in Toronto this week, the first at a familiar neighbourhood place, the second at a new (to me) steakhouse in my old neighbourhood.

First up was Ascari. We’ve eaten there many times, but this might have been the best visit yet.

  • Cocktails
    • Negroni
    • 2020 Pra Otto Soave
  • Appetizers
    • insalata di burrata w/ roast carrot / chestnut / radicchio / endive / orange / roasted garlic vinaigrette
    • zucca fritti w/ lemon thyme / spiced honey / amaretti
  • Mains
    • agnolotti di ricotta w/ carrot / yam / brown butter / pumpkin seed tuile
    • campanelle con salsiccia w/ pecorino and ramp sausage / broccolini / fresh chilli
    • 2020 Capezzana Barco Reale di Carmignano
  • Dessert
    • Amaro Nonino
    • Villa Marone Malvasia Passito

Everything was good, but the fall-inspired agnolotti and zucca fritti were both unbelievable. The zucca might as well have been dessert.

Later in the week I had a work dinner at Blue Blood, the new-ish steak house in Casa Loma. It was fun to take an uber back there, through my old neighbourhood (it occurred to me I moved there 25 years ago because I. Am. Old.) and atop the hill I used to run up most days.

I wasn’t doing most of the ordering, but as best I can remember here’s what we ate:

  • Appetizers
    • grilled octopus w/ chorizo sausage, scallion, cherry tomato, aged balsamic
    • chilled jumbo prawns w/ housemade lemon + gin cocktail sauce
    • oysters
    • table-side classic Caesar salads
    • Big Head Chenin Blanc, Niagara, Canada
  • Mains
    • 12oz canadian prime centre cut filet, aged 28 days from Green Bay, PEI
    • 18oz bone-in rib eye from Wichita, Kansas
    • Wagyu filet tasting: 4oz American Mishima reserve, 4oz Australian MB9+, 4oz Japanese Kagoshima A5
    • sautéed broccolini w/ mornay
    • creamed Welsh farm corn w/ corn nuts
    • sautéed hand-foraged woodland mushrooms
    • 2018 Mullineux ‘Schist’ Syrah, Swartland, South Africa
  • Dessert
    • coconut cream pie: butter graham crust, coconut bavarois, whipped cream w/ toasted coconut, pineapple coulis
    • royal cheesecake: west coast black raspberry, white chocolate
    • 2013 Château de Suduiraut Sauternes

Back to NB

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Three weeks ago Moncton was so hot I was sweating as I walked around. This past week, my first return trip for my new job, started with a day so cold I needed a scarf. It moderated through the week, but still…fall came on quickly.

No visit to the farm this time, but my parents, brother #2 and my s-i-l drove over to have dinner at The Keg, my second visit there in the week, so I ate my weight in baseballs. I also picked up food twice from Red Satay, given how close it was to where I was staying. Brix was similarly close by, thus it was my coffee home base, but I did also have an exceptional cortado down the street at Epoch Chemistry. I also tried quick lunches from Fahda’s (meh) and La Vida (pretty good) during the week.

My wine plan — buy two bottles I’ve never tried before from the EXPÉRIENCE store my first day there and drink them over the course of the week — worked pretty well. I picked up a lovely Garnacha-forward blend, and a 100% Merlot from Saint-Émilion.