Category: Food / drink

DC

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last weekend we flew to Washington, DC. Lindsay was speaking at a conference. I tagged along.

THURSDAY

We got an early Porter flight out, arrived at Dulles airport, and Uber’d through a severe rainstorm to the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, MD. That town is just down the Potomac River from DC and seemed like some kind of weird manufactured resort town. Literally within sight of downtown. Anyway.

 We desperately needed lunch, and walked around the corner to Succotash for some…well, maybe not southern, but southern-inspired food. We had cocktails (Lindsay: mint julep; me: Succotash / Maker’s Mark private select bourbon), oysters, crispy fried okra, hush puppies, a dirty chicken Cobb salad (her), and fried chicken sandwich (me). I also found a tasty Troegs Brewing “Javahead” stout on the bottle list.

Thus sated, we walked back to the hotel, watched some March Madness, and did a bunch of work. With some napping added in.

Eventually we needed dinner, and walked downstairs to Old Hickory, the steakhouse in the resort. We weren’t expecting much, but we were pretty pleasantly surprised. We had some champagne, followed by Lindsay’s lobster bisque w/ sherry reduction, citrus crème, crostini and my butternut squash soup w/ cinnamon & black pepper meringue, paired with a couple of California chards. Our mains came out much more quickly than we expected, so we didn’t quite have room for the 7oz waygu center cut sirloin and 22oz (!) cowboy ribeye we ordered (along with french fries and asparagus), and the bottle of 2015 Trefethen Family cab sauv we ordered barely had time to breathe. Aside: I met the Trefethen family nearly six years ago, while on safari in Botswana. Was never able to try their wine until now.

FRIDAY

Mostly work, day two was, within Linds prepping for or at her conference talk, and I working or calling into meetings. As soon as we were done we left that weird little village and took an Uber into DC proper, driving through a crazy rain/sleet storm along the way. Eventually we arrived at our home for the next two nights: The Line DC.

Hotels don’t often blow me away, but this one did. It’s built in a century-old church (which resembled a temple, to my eyes), has style coming out its eaves, and attracted huge crowds of diners and hangers-out. They broadcast/podcast content from their lobby. Their rooms are gorgeous. Their dining options are all superhotspots. Even their coffee shop was killer.

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After checking in we had snacks (french fries w/ yuzu aioli, nori; burrata w/ shishito peppers, persimmons) and some cocktails at Brothers & Sisters in the lobby while we waited for Lindsay’s friend Shannon to arrive. Once she got there we had drinks in our room and caught up until it was time for dinner (downstairs, again) at their main restaurant, A Rake’s Progress.

We ate potato gnocchi w/ braised rabbit, glazed roots, shiitake, and winter herbs; lobster tagliatelle w/ shiitake and lobster butter; kilt greens w/ crisped ham, spelt crumb, egg, and hot bacon mustard dressing; an enormous pork blade steak (chopped up) w/ steamed buns and pickled ingredients…basically a bunch of bao ingredients; and a bottle of 2016 Lioco “Estero” Chardonnay from the Russian River valley.

Our server, by the way, was a phenomenon. She guided our choices, she was an utter delight in terms of fun and demeanor, and it actually felt like she took such care of/with us. The three of us told her that our dinner felt like therapy. Anyway, I’m gutted that I can’t remember her name, because she was a goddamn treasure. 

From there, Shannon stumbled into an Uber, and we stumbled upstairs to bed.

SATURDAY

We had pre-ordered room service, and it was the best hotel breakfast we’ve had since Champagne. That fit nicely with our leisurely morning, just enjoying the room, until we eventually scooted downtown. We decided to see what was on at the Hirshhorn. Lots of good stuff, as it turned out, including the latest in Rafael Lozano-Hemmer‘s Pulse series. Much of that was lovely, but the experience was ruined for us when two huge families had a get-together followed by a fucking proposal. This they did while whooping and hollering and illuminating the scene with their phones, all in a room where the very exhibit calls for quiet and darkness. What utter trash. Pull it together, morons.

Anyway.

After that (and the rest of the museum, which was all pretty impressive) we grabbed a late lunch at The Partisan, the only nearby place which my beer research had flagged. It’s attached to a butcher shop, so all the meat we had was spot-on. I had a chicken that had been brined, rotisseried, and then deep fried in beef fat; Lindsay had an Italian sandwich the size of her head. We each sampled deeply from their excellent beer list.

Luckily, the National Portrait Gallery is right around the corner, so we had enough energy left to do that. We saw some good work there, like a statue of Gertrude Stein or a brain-breakingly photo-realistic painting of Maya Angelou. We also saw so many more morons…the kind of people who wait in line to take a picture of themselves in front of the presidential portrait of Barack Obama, without ever actually looking at it. Or, more egregiously, the Instagram couple who kept striking poses in front of Nam June Paik‘s Electronic Superhighway (link) to the point where you couldn’t even get close to Florida or Georgia. Picture this type of pose, but much much cheesier and worse:

Sigh.

Back to the hotel, then. Shannon joined us for dinner again, this time meeting us at a used bookstore around the corner, and we decided to try our restaurant — Tail Up Goat — early in case they could seat us. 

On the walk there we passed Malcolm Gladwell and a friend. I pointed that out to Shannon and Lindsay, and we proceeded to shit-talk his writing methods. I mean, he’s entertaining, and I love his podcasts, but the way he extrapolates trends out of anecdotes drives me nuts. Lindsay and Shannon had other criticisms. Anyway, we walk around the corner and into the restaurant. I held the door for the people who’d been walking behind us and realize…it’s Malcolm Gladwell. They’d been looking for the same restaurant, and walked behind us for the last hundred feet or so. And, presumably, heard all our comments. Cool. Cool. Ugh.

Sadly, or luckily, they did not have our table ready. Michelin-starred restaurants don’t have much vacancy; who knew? We walked back to our room, drank a little wine, and eventually returned to find our table waiting. And about ten feet from our fellow Canadian. We shook it off, and focused on dinner.

Which. Was. AWESOME, by the way. We started with cocktails (I don’t know what my companions got, but mine was called the Alright Alright Alright and I must have said it twelve times. Anyhoo. Here’s what we ate & drank:

  • berbere sausage w/ apple mostarda, puffed flax seed
  • focaccia w/ meatballs, stracciatella, almond pesto trapanese, aronia berry vinegar, basil
  • yellowfin tuna crudo w/ pomelo, pine nut syrup, basil, fennel pollen chicharrones
  • casarecce pasta w/ ramp sausage, pea shoots, pecorino, carrot + chili honey, aleppo breadcrumbs
  • seared halibut w/ acqua pazza, fermented + pickled fennel, salsa verde, calabrian chilies
  • a bottle of Chablis; I don’t remember exactly which, but we bugged the sommelier for some time before arriving on it, and I tried to change her mind about Gewurztraminer by telling her about the Klipfel Clos Zisser Grand Cru.
  • for dessert Shannon had tea, Lindsay had Madeira, and I had something I’d never tried before: a glass of Keo St. John Commandaria from Cyprus

We closed the joint down. Mercifully, Gladwell was already gone. We stumbled home and tried to watch a bedtime Jeopardy but I was asleep before Johnny had finished welcoming Alex.

SUNDAY

After another stellar breakfast we packed up. Lindsay headed to Shannon’s place to hang out; I decided to see some of Washington. I saw the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr Memorial, WWII Memorial, National Monument, and a bit of the National Gallery. It was sunny and 20° so I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for a while looking at the reflecting pool, and walked the whole way along the mall. What a day.

Afterward I was thirsty, so I went back to The Partisan.

I killed more of their beer list until it was time to Uber back to The Line, grab our luggage, get one last coffee at The Cup We All Race 4 in the lobby, call another Uber, pick up Lindsay, and head to the airport. We had a bite and some wine at the Vino Volo there (the first I’d ever seen), found our gate, endured the short-but-felt-long flight home, and crashed into bed.

In short: we like DC. Not National Harbor so much, but definitely DC. Adams-Morgan (where our hotel was) was a strange beast of a neighbourhood, but the city has a lot of green space and great restaurants and sights to see. And a good friend.

Little rest in store for us weary travelers though — we’ll be over the Atlantic by midnight Thursday.

.:.

Cover photo taken inside Rafael Lozano-Hemmer‘s Pulse exhibit at the Hirshhorn. And no, I did not use flash.

“It’s pronounced colonel. It’s the highest rank in the military.”

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https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32t465

This past weekend we drove down to Ithaca, NY. In part to check out Cornell, in part to check out the town itself, and a little bit to check out the drive there and back. Just in case it becomes a regular thing.

We took the scenic (read: non-toll) route there, which led us through some scary country. More than one Trump sign. Ugh. Not a good start.

Finally we pulled into Ithaca, checked in to the Marriott on the Commons, and set out to find some lunch. And, more importantly: beer. We hit the Ithaca Alehouse, ate some great burgers, drank some good beers, and had a long conversation with a local guy named Mike. Turns out he’s a musician / actor / comedian / etc. named Mike Brindisi. He calmed our fears about the town, confirming what we thought, that it’s not unlike the Austin of New York State. So we felt a bit better.

Mike told us about a good restaurant — Gola — to try that night, and we made a reservation. A few hours later, though, Lindsay felt sick. Then sicker. Then pukey. Then…post-pukey. Maybe the burgers weren’t so great after all? So we didn’t go out to dinner at all, just had them send up some plain food (and a few local microbrews for me) and got some rest.

The next day, after a big breakfast at Monk’s and some shopping at Home Green Home and a quick stroll around the rest of the commons, we had lunch at Coltivare. Or, brunch, rather. It was a cute place with a jazz band playing, but the service was off and all the menu items were creative to the point of being misleading. Like, the chicken and biscuits I almost ordered were actually just biscuits covered in gravy. And Lindsay’s gravlox & carrot wasn’t salmon, it was carrot shaved and smoked and sliced to look like salmon. So…yeah. Anyway, it wasn’t bad, but it felt like a bit of a (pricey) miss.

On the way home we bought some used books at Autumn Leaves and bought coffee at Ten Forward (definitely the only Star Trek-themed vegan cafe I’ve visited), dropped everything at the hotel, and drove up to the Cornell campus to visit the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. After that we crossed the street to see the waterfalls, which are We stuck our head into the Uris library too, which is gorgeous.

That night Lindsay had a dinner at Simeon’s so I posted up at the bar at Monk’s, ate dinner, plowed through their (very good) beer list, met a Cape Bretoner (!) at the bar next to me, listened to music (it was St. Paddy’s), and waited for Lindsay to get back. The night ended with more drinks and long heartfelt talks with the Caper’s wife. Anyway. Happy St. Paddy’s?

Monday we (somehow) got up early, had more breakfast, and drove back up to Cornell for more appointments. While Lindsay had her meetings I walked back to said gorgeous library, set myself down on a couch at the window, and worked for a couple of hours. Not a bad venue!

With that done we said goodbye to Ithaca in hardcore-American style — burgers and shakes at Five Guys — and drove home. We took toll roads this time, which took us up and along the shore of Cayuga Lake, which was far more picturesque than the drive down. Apart from a whiteout along the way, it was a pretty solid return trip.

Fun trip, if kinda tiring. Whatever happens next, at least we’ve seen Ithaca. And the colonel.

Cover photo from the Bymark site

Behind

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SO far behind on recounting things here. Honestly, it’s been a pretty frenetically busy period, so I keep forgetting about stuff. Here, then, a loose collection of a few ways I’ve entertained myself betwixt work & life.

On the flights to/from London I watched five movies: Mission Impossible: Fallout (imdb | rotten tomatoes), Annihilation (imdb | rotten tomatoes), The Old Man & The Gun (imdb | rotten tomatoes), Can You Ever Forgive Me? (imdb | rotten tomatoes), and Somm III (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Annihilation was weird, but the rest were all really good. I mean, Somm III was maybe too inside-baseball for anyone not super into wine, but it was right in my sweet spot.

I’ve been lucky enough to see two Raptors games too, and I think maybe the curse has been broken. I watched them run the Celtics out of the building, and saw them take down LeBron and the Lakers too.

I had a work dinner at Bymark, my first time back there in over a decade, and almost fifteen years after my first visit. For the first time, I did not get the burger.

We also had a reunion-y last weekend, as we had dirty diner breakfast with Brian + Mandy + Charlotte & Brock + Margaret at Fran’s, where I also bumped into wee Jenna McCutchen. That day we did a bunch of work at Boxcar before going next door to Chez Nous. We expected to see Laura there but instead saw Olivia (of Ricky + Olivia) who Lindsay knows from way back. It was good to catch up with everyone. We’ve been so busy for the past six months that we miss…people.

.:.

Cover photo from the Bymark site

Patel, di Nisio, Fung, Tarocco

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Thursday night we went to the opening of a not new, but re-branded gallery: Patel Gallery, which we’d known as Project Gallery. We’d been a few times, and bought a gift there for friends, but last month Lindsay bought some pieces for work and I swooped in after she was done to buy one for myself. See bottom of this post for what, exactly. (I love it so much.)

The opening was nice — I saw Bigfoot, and met a few nice new people, including one whose husband is from Amherst. Afterward we went to Ascari for dinner, and a lovely one at that. An Italian winemaker (Francesca di Nisio) was there to discuss her wine, of which we had a flight: a Pecorino, a Cerasuolo, and a Montepulciano. Lovely, all. We had them with a small meat and cheese board, the highlight of which was some local honeycomb.

The rest of the meal — Arancini Cacio e Pepe; rapini w/ poached salt cod, lemon, almonds, and chili flakes; caramelle w/ kabocha squash & mascarpone filling, sage, brown butter, capers, and lemon (Lindsay); and pappardelle w/ braised beef cheeks, black pepper, fried shallot, marjoram, and grana padano (Dan) — was sensational. Most of it went with a bottle of 2006 Il Tarocco Chianti Classico, which was goddamn outstanding.

Lion Head Ginger Jar Art Vase in Blue and White by Dominique Fung

Both axes

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This past weekend we invited Laura from Chez Nous Wine Bar to come by and try some Ontario wine I’d been holding on to. She did, and she brought Descendent Pizza, as if we didn’t already like her enough.

But first! In an Eastward feint, we started with a 2013 Blanc De Blanc Extra Brut Late Disgorged from Lightfoot & Wolfville. It was as lovely as always, and I continue to enjoy watching NS sparkling shock people who don’t know such a thing even exists.

Next up was a…I don’t know what this is technically called, but a horizontal (?) of 2013 Thomas Bachelder Chardonnay, all from vineyards in Niagara: one from the Saunders Vineyard, one from the Wingfield block of the Wismer Vineard, and the Foxcroft block of the Wismer Vineyard. Despite my love of Wismer, the Saunders was the consensus favourite. Beautiful stuff, nicely integrated. The Wismer bottles were good too, but the Saunders won the day.

The final arrangement of the night was a vertical of Thirty Bench Cabernet Franc: the 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015 vintages. For the sake of our livers we decided to pull the 2013 and focus on the 2010 and 2012 (generally regarded as among the best Niagara red vintages) and the 2015, which has won some fanfare.

Alas, the 2010 — at least, the bottle I opened — has not held up. The fruit and depth is all gone, just leaving behind a vegetal and slightly sour wine.

The 2012 was an enigma…it had much more to it than the 2010, almost bombastic-ly so, and it’s nearly 15% ABV seemed to drown out any complexity. However, leaving the remainder in a mostly-covered decanter overnight seemed to help it, as it seemed eminently more drinkable the next day — hungover though we may have been.

The 2015, on the other hand, might deserve all the hype. With maybe two hours’ decanting it had already opened up beautifully, and powerfully. I have a few more bottles laying down right now and I can’t wait to sample them in the coming years.

I still have a bottle of the 2010, and two of the 2012 put away, so it might be time to dig them out and see how they fare. I don’t hold out much hope for the 2010, but would like to see if I can extract wins from the 2012s. And I’m that much more intrigued by the 2013 now as well.

Wynona

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After hearing the buzz for quite a while, we finally checked out Wynona last night for a late dinner. I didn’t realize how close it is. I also didn’t realize that it’s a 2-minute walk from CBGB’s old Toronto house. Definitely wasn’t anything that good nearby when they lived there!

It’s a small room with an open kitchen, but felt so cozy and comfortable. The staff was lovely and so much fun, and so enthusiastic about their food and wine. We sampled widely:

  • grilled house focaccia
  • cured albacore tuna, mixed citrus, compressed melon, pine nuts
  • burrata, fig, ham, honey, almond, fennel pollen
  • charred cauliflower, harrisa, monforte goat yogurt, puffed kasha
  • carrot agnolotti, maple butter, smoked chestnuts
  • grilled branzino, brown butter, capers, olives
  • cheese

We had glasses of sparkling from the Loire to start, glasses of Roussanne/Marsanne and Albarino with the first three courses, a wonderful bottle of Gamay with the mains & cheese, and Sauternes to finish.

It’s only a 20-minute walk from our place, so once winter breaks we’ll be able to walk there (and eventually enjoy their patio). I don’t think we’ll wait that long for visit #2 though.

Also: for this shit

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Wow. Last night reminded me that I am, in fact, an old man.

First, an always-stellar pastrami sandwich from White Lily (along with two new-to-me Godspeed beers, the Oberkassel Altbier and the Ochame Green Tea IPA) before I left Lindsay with Maeg and Brit to consume some sparkling Ontario chardonnay and catch up. I rejoined them later at Boxcar Social where we had beer flights. I had samples of Sawdust City Hygge, Bench Folklore Dark Sour on Twenty Valley Cherries, and Blood Brothers Unify or Die before getting a glass of Dieu du Ciel! Péché Mortel on nitro, which was just the creamiest treat ever.

We closed the place, then got snacks and watched TV until 3am, as if I’m not far too old to do that. So I’m a liiiiiiittle tired today, but I shall persevere just as soon as I pour this decanter of coffee down my neck.

In conclusion: Ow. *Snore*


Cover photo by David Stillman, used under Creative Commons license

The best of everything from 2018

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As is my annual wont, I’ve collected and curated lists of my favourite consumed media from the year. All listed alphabetically, unless otherwise specified.

.:.

My favourite albums of 2018

Freedom by Amen Dunes

I guess I’ve been out of the loop by not listening to (or being aware of) Amen Dunes before, but this album grabbed me and kept twisting all year. Sounds desperate and struggle-y but joyful and determined at the same time.

7 by Beach House

Nothing new from Beach House here, but a standard-issue Beach House album is still miles better than almost everything else.

God’s Favorite Customer by Father John Misty

I’ve always been hit and miss(ty) with FJM, with the last album a few years ago only offering up a couple of songs I liked, but this one went a little beyond that and kept luring me back.

Nearer My God by Foxing

I went from feeling like I should like Foxing’s last album and not, to assuming I wouldn’t like this one but then totally getting into it.

With Animals by Duke Garwood & Mark Lanegan

I remain a sucker for Mark Lanegan’s voice no matter what he does (he also guested on Neko Case’s album below) but this dark, brooding, electronic-tinged collection des dirges became my go-to focus/chill music this year.

Pissing Stars by Efrim Manuel Menuck

Speaking of electronic-tinged, this dronier, lighter (in musician count, if not in subject matter) offering from the Godspeed You! Black Emperor member swings from soft to intense to nuts in the space of a song.

Kin by Mogwai

Because I’m Dan and this was Mogwai.

I’m Bad Now by Nap Eyes

Probably less catchy than their sophomore album, but also more mature. They continue to blend elements of bands I don’t really like into something I love.

Hell-On by Neko Case

Neko Case, goddamn hero. Putting out an album after all the personal trauma she went through is remarkable; that it’s this good is amazing. Or maybe that’s what made it possible? Either way, the chorus of “Winnie” might be the most thrilling few seconds of any album this year.

Messeducation by St. Vincent

When you’re an Annie Clark-level genius you can take one of the best rock albums of last year and turn it into an album of stripped-down piano renditions that often sound like they’re sung by an unstable cabaret singer, giving it this whole other layer of broken-down, surging fragility that maybe only her voice could manage.

.:.

My favourite songs of 2018

  1. Amen Dunes . “Miki Dora”
  2. Beach House . “Pay No Mind”
  3. Boy Genius . “Souvenir”
  4. Car Seat Headrest . “Famous Prophets (Stars)”
  5. Neko Case . “Winnie”
  6. Father John Misty . “Mr. Tillman”
  7. Foxing . “Lich Prince”
  8. Duke Garwood & Mark Lanegan . “L.A. Blue”
  9. Albert Hammond Jr . “Dvsl”
  10. Laura Jean . “Girls On The TV”
  11. Efrim Menuck . “A Lamb In The Land Of Payday Loans”
  12. Mitski . “Washing Machine Heart”
  13. Mogwai . “Donuts”
  14. Nap Eyes . “White Disciple”
  15. Parquet Courts . “Total Football”
  16. Pusha T . “If You Know You Know”
  17. Saba . “BUSY / SIRENS”
  18. St. Vincent . “Pills (Piano version)”
  19. US Girls . “Incidental Boogie”
  20. Young Fathers . “Turn”

.:.

My favourite movies of 2018

I have all but abandoned my film obsession of past years, and as such can only offer the following nine films (versus my usual ten) which I would even consider for barely scraped together a best-of list. Note that I haven’t yet seen The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, BlacKkKlansman, The Death of Stalin, A Fantastic Woman, Free Solo, The Hate U Give, Hereditary, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, A Quiet Place, Roma, Shirkers, Sorry to Bother You, A Star Is Born, Three Identical Strangers, or a host of others.

22 July

I’m a sucker for Paul Greengrass’ style and have always admired how he handles volatile topics, but I still wasn’t sure how this one — about the slaughter of dozens of kids in Norway by a right-wing nutter a few years ago — would come off. I needn’t have worried though.

Avengers: Infinity War

It’s difficult to thread together story lines and characters from a dozen different superhero movies into a coherent, entertaining flick, but the Russo Brothers did it again. Even if it did take 2.5 hours.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Almost as much gimmick as movie — choose-your-own-adventure is something Netflix can entertain where others can’t — but it works within the frame of Black Mirror’s underlying thread of technological dread. Great soundtrack too.

Black Panther

The hype was real. A vehicle for propelling ahead the MCU, but also a visually striking and clever extravaganza.

Call Me By Your Name

Such a lush, emotional, honest love story. It left Lindsay and I both very tingly afterward. It also made me want to move to Italy immediately.

First Man

A straight procedural with an ending we all know — Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon — that was somehow riveting, thrusting us right into these claustrophobic and disorienting compartments. Damien Chazelle is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors.

Girl

Our favourite film by far at this year’s TIFF, Girl was an intense examination of puberty, transition, and obsession. It was also a masterclass in performance by a first-time actor.

I, Tonya

Last year we watched an HBO miniseries that made us feel sorry for the Unabomber. This year we watched a movie that made us feel sad for Tonya Harding. Really good use of the present-day interview method, and some absolutely staggering performances from Margot Robbie and especially Allison Janney.

The Kindergarten Teacher

Still on the topic of obsession, Maggie Gyllenhaal nailed it in this small, quiet film about a teacher fascinated by the innate talent of a student, with threads of regret, maternalism, and ennui running throughout.

The Post

Again, no surprises with the story here, but gets bonus points for being extra-relevant in a time when the press is under direct attack by the sort of politicians who recognize it as a potent defense against totalitarianism.

.:.

My favourite TV shows of 2018

Granted, we haven’t watched The Deuce season 2, Handmaids Tale season 2, or Mr. Robot season 3, nor any of Atlanta, Sharp Objects, Better Call Saul, or The Americans, and we barely started Barry.

Big Mouth

Maybe the best analysis of puberty, combined with the most LOL-worthy moments of any show I watched this year. Very extreme at times, but always kind of sweet and silly in the end.

Billions

Pulpy and over the top, but the pivot into an attack on Trump-style capitalism and cronyism is an interesting one. And anything with that cast, pulpy or otherwise, is worth watching.

The Good Place

Cleverly hilarious, but also a thoughtful examination of philosophy, humanity, good vs. evil, merit, attraction, the idea of soulmates, Ted Danson dancing, and Janets.

Homecoming

We watched the first four episodes of this at TIFF and got hooked on the story and Sam Esmail’s style. (So many staircases!) We signed up for Amazon Prime largely so we could finish watching the season when it came out.

Killing Eve

We just started watching this while on Christmas vacation. The characters, the dialog, the fashion, the style, the locales…we were captivated right from the get-go. Sandra Oh’s a national treasure.

Last Week Tonight

Consistently the funniest and most insightful show on TV.

Making A Murderer

Somehow I was just as sucked into season two as season one, even though nothing really happened. I figure it was force-of-nature Kathleen Zellner.

Silicon Valley

Still and always, a bundle of huge, uncomfortable laughs mixed in with tech/business stuff that hits a little too close to home sometimes. Jared is straight-up one of my favourite characters on television.

Wild Wild Country

An absolutely bonkers tale of a cult taking over a mass of land in Oregon, the townspeople who fight back (but who don’t come off nearly as well as they think they do) and a power-hungry second-in-command who sends the whole thing spinning off the rails. High, weird drama.

Wormwood

An blend of documentary and recreation of events stemming from CIA experiments with LSD in the 1950s. I don’t usually love it when shows blend the two styles but it worked here. Technically this aired in December last year but I didn’t see it until 2018, so.

.:.

My favourite books of 2018

I definitely did better this year, reading seven books, vs. three last year (and none at all the year before). Listed in the order in which I read them.

Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded by Simon Winchester

I’ve had a lifelong curiosity about massive disasters, so I picked this up at a used bookstore in Halifax last Christmas and read it in January. Can’t say it was a masterpiece but I learned a lot.

On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

An impulse buy from Book City, I read this on one trip to Ottawa and back and felt better-armed for having done. It’s helpful and instructive to recognize the warning signs of encroaching tyranny — it’s not some well-marked monolith that appears suddenly — in these times. I’ve read too much about the rise of fascism in the 1930s to feel at ease right now.

October by China Miéville

It took me over a year to read this — I kept pausing to read other books — as it’s so dense, despite Miéville’s narrative skill. I can say this: it’s as gripping as the tale of ten months of hundred-year-old Russian political intrigue can be made to be.

Disrupted by Dan Lyons

The story of a late-career writer who got wrapped up in the latest tech boom (and called bullshit on the whole thing) this book reminded me of my own experience — albeit as a much younger employee — in the dot-com boom 18 years ago.

Child Of God by Cormac McCarthy

God, Cormac MCarthy books are bleak. But God, do I ever love them.

Around The World In 80 Wines by Mike Veseth

This was a gift from Lindsay that made me want to quit my job and become a wine + travel writer. I learned a bunch too, like why a lot of famous Port producers have British names.

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

Any Americans who are actually concerned about the safety, soundness, and good functioning of their country and government shouldn’t read this book. Or, you know, maybe they should.

.:.

My favourite meals of 2018

Man, we ate well this year, but surprisingly more so abroad than in Toronto.

Toqué, Montreal

One of the best tasting menus I’ve ever experienced, and maybe the best wine pairings too — there’s a reason why Toqué is one of the best restaurants in Canada.

Taste at Rustic, Dublin

One of a pile of amazing meals we had in Dublin, this Japanese-influenced place followed a visit to a lovely wine bar, and came out of nowhere with sticky pork and chicken karage and Wagyu beef and the like. There was also a cocktail called the Three Sisters so good I ordered it twice.

Chapter One, Dublin

We ducked into this Michelin-starred restaurant for lunch, and had one of the meals of our lives. The food was stellar, the wine pairings immaculate, and the service impeccable to the point of being absurd.

Maison Publique, Montreal

In what was effectively our goodbye to Montreal and Lindsay’s old neighbourhood, we made our final trip to this favourite restaurant. They sent us off with a bang, top bottles of Canadian wine, and ice cream with sparklers.

Alexander, San Francisco

After a conference in San Francisco I had a solo meal at the chef’s bar at Alexander’s in San Francisco. The kitchen kept sending over fun little treats like Hamachi and scallop crudo, the steak was phenomenal, and the Sommelier led me down more than a few intriguing paths.

Treadwell, Niagara on the Lake

On a quick jaunt down to Niagara I introduced Lindsay to this place, my favourite in the town. It was a spectacular meal; we had such trouble deciding between dishes we ordered extras, and my pork dish was mind-blowing.

M’eat, Toronto

A new addition to our neighbourhood this year, this place uses an entire animal at a time. They also, we learned on our first visit, prepare it perfectly: our steak was outrageous. So were the duck tataki, beef carpaccio, venison tartare…and on it went.

Taiko, Amsterdam

We spent a good chunk of our brief time in Amsterdam this year at this long, luxurious, Asian-inspired meal. There was a dish called a cappuccino of cepes (aka porcini mushrooms) that was absolutely otherworldly.

Ekstedt, Stockholm

The first Michelin-starred stop on our Scandinavian trip started with diced reindeer heart boiled in just-melted butter and poured into a taco, and it only got better from there. The hay-flamed beef was one of the best bites of anything I’ve ever had. All the wines were impeccable. Astonishing.

SK Mat, Gothenburg

After traveling west to Gothenburg we had a full eight-course tasting menu for Lindsay’s birthday, along with her dear friend Tess, at another Michelin-starred joint. We had the premium wine pairings too, obviously, so by the end of the meal things were a bit hazy, but I remember a particularly good Grenache Blanc.

Honourable mentions: a visit to Jacobs & Co. where I tried a 1929 Don PX; 400 Coups in Montreal where our adventurous wine orders led to the sommelier pouring us several bizarre digestifs; our second-to-last visit to Maison Publique in Montreal with Sara & Mark; an unreal breakfast at Meet Me In The Morning in Dublin; and Lindsay’s first visit to Patria.

.:.

My favourite (new) beer of 2018

Listed in chronological order. To the great surprise of no one who knows me, my list was dominated by sours, porters, and stouts.

Le Trou du Diable Le Coq

Boxcar Social’s bottle list is always good for a few finds, and I’d somehow never tried this TDD sour before. Among all the other great beers we tried that night, this one stood out.

Burdock Auko

Lake Inez’s bottle list is similarly impressive, and this sour aged in cab franc barrels blew us away during an equally impressive LI meal, offsetting the spicy dishes perfectly.

Dieu du Ciel Péché Termopilas

As with last year, one of the best beers I drank all year came from a little grocery store in Montreal, in the annual Péché Mortel variety pack. This was like a lighter, more subtle version of the standard Péché, and almost as perfect.

Thornbridge Brewery Cocoa Wonderland

I tried this near-perfect porter whilst sitting in a little booth at Against The Grain in Dublin, noshing and playing board games with Lindsay after a museum adventure.

Oast House Toasted Walnut Bourbon Porter

I’ve always had a fondness for Oast House’s browns and porters, but this one was killer. The toastiness tamped down the bitterness of the walnuts which usually turns me off, and the bourbon barrels did the rest.

Blood Brothers Black Hand

I was kind of surprised I’d ever had this one before given how much I love Blood Brothers, but I guess maybe I’d tried all their other stouts while somehow missing this one? Regardless, this one’s an amazing example of a simple yet well-executed stout.

Rodenbach Caractère Rouge

Back on the topic of amazing bottle lists, we have The Wren and their deep, wide list. Lindsay and I often share bottles so we can sample more, and one of the best of the year was this special variant of her favourite, Rodenbach.

Gueuzerie Tilquin Stout Rullquin

And now, the ultimate beer list: at Akkurat in Stockholm they have a bottle list the size of a phone book. We delved deeply, and found an aged vintage of the original Gueuze Tilquin, but because it’s been one of my favourite beers for many years, I didn’t include it here. But almost as good was this sour stout collaboration between Tilquin and La Rulle.

AleSmith Hawaiian Speedway

Having travelled across Sweden to Gothenburg, we found ourselves at a cool little spot eating delicious doughy pizzas and picking beers off what might have been the best pound-for-pound draft list I’ve ever seen. This tropical stout was just the best of an amazing lineup I sampled over two days.

Four Winds Pomona

The list ends where the list began: the Boxcar Social Summerhill bottle list. Lindsay and I grabbed this big bottle of sour while we waited for some Yeah Yeahs pizza to come sliding through the wall. It was gorgeous.

.:.

My favourite moments of 2018

  1. Seeing Frightened Rabbit with Mike & Heather on their 10th anniversary tour of The Midnight Organ Fight. Just months, it turns out, before singer Scott Hutchinson took his own life.
  2. Yelling “Pa’lante!” along with Hurray For The Riff Raff at the Opera House.
  3. Short rib and well-aged Ontario reds at Brian & Mandy’s place in Niagara.
  4. Celebrating my brother’s upcoming career move with Dom Perignon.
  5. Watching a play written, directed, and performed by women in Dublin the night before Ireland voted yes.
  6. Lying in the grass in St. Stephen’s Green with Lindsay on a perfect day.
  7. Walking the beach in Pugwash after T&K’s wedding, not knowing how badly my face was getting sunburned.
  8. Dinner with my mom and a bunch of extended family during a quick visit to Toronto.
  9. Celebrating my mom & dad’s 50th wedding anniversary at the farm, surrounded by friends & family.
  10. The day my contractor told me he was done renovating the kitchen and bathroom.
  11. Tasting whisky and artisanal chocolate outside on a patio at SF MOMA.
  12. Having my ass kicked by St. Vincent at the Sony Centre.
  13. Seeing GY!BE play the “Sad Mafioso” portion of “East Hastings” live at The Phoenix.
  14. Meeting Nils Edenloff from the Rural Alberta Advantage at a cheese & beer tasting.
  15. Slipping into a Beach House trance at the Sony Centre.
  16. Lunch on the patio at Two Sisters in Niagara on the Lake, the perfect remedy after a stressful drive.
  17. The day Kramer first came up the stairs to hang out with us.
  18. Every moment we spent in our suite at the Conservatorium hotel in Amsterdam.
  19. Lindsay, Tess, and I devouring Bubbies (mochi ice cream treats) in a loft in Gothenburg.
  20. Meeting a Constantine at a friend’s poetry reading.

.:.

Cover photo by David Stillman, used under Creative Commons license

Byward and back

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I was in Ottawa most of last week for work. I spent most of it staying at the Chateau Laurier, and ate dinner at their restaurant Wilfrid’s early in the week. There I discovered a trove of excellent Ontario wine, including a Le Clos Jordanne 2010 Chardonnay and a Bachelder 2011 Lowrey Vineyard Pinot.

The next day, between meetings, I snuck in lunch at Clover, including more Chard from KIN, a winery in the Ottawa Valley. So yeah, they have wineries in the Ottawa Valley now, I guess. I also had some familiar wine at a work event that night.

The next night I had a nice dinner at CBGB’s place outside(ish?) of town. It’s been so long since I’ve seen them. It was a great, if too short, visit. I wish I could have stayed for CB’s birthday this weekend, but I had to get back. I couldn’t even stay too long that night, as I had work to catch up on.

I decided, though, to do work near the hotel rather than in it. I went to Brother’s Beer Bistro and had a couple of killer beers. I love that place. I’ll be hard pressed to spend time in Ottawa and not want to go.

The next morning I went to Bluebird for coffee and breakfast, spent most of the day working, and then flew home. I’ve spent so much time on those Ottawa/Montreal Porter flights that I barely even notice them happening around me anymore.

Saturday we helped a friend celebrate her Champagne birthday in a very packed house full of people in 90s dress. So yeah, part of my was right in my element, and part of me was terrified. 😐

And I didn’t even mention all the wine

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Christ, I’m full. What a weekend of eating.

First, on Thursday, we met Mike & Heather at Lake Inez. They’d never been; we had maybe our best meal there ever — which is saying something. We shared deviled eggs, miso-molasses pork skewers, teriyaki beef tartare, fried yukon gold potatoes w/ bonito+nori+okonomi, gyoza sausage roll, sancho pork side ribs, and several amazing bottles of beer.

Friday, after work, we had drinks at the Summerhill Boxcar, brought home Yeah Yeahs pizza, and re-watched the first few episodes of House of Cards.


On Saturday we ended up eating a lot of leftovers and doing stuff around the loft as it was so shite outside, but did order some bbq from Greenwood Smokehouse and watched Sour Grapes (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a documentary about this con man who duped people into buying millions of dollars worth of fine wine.

On Sunday we got up early to have breakfast at Bonjour Brioche, then worked at our local Boxcar for five hours, walked over to White Lily for some lunch, and came home to watch 22 July (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Not the lightest way to end a weekend, one might say.

.:.

Cover photo by 3dom, used under Creative Commons license