Category: Food / drink

I did *NOT* run up the Rocky steps

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For the past three days I’ve been in Philadelphia at a work conference. It was a really interesting one, put on (in part) by Wharton business school. Refreshingly, instead of trapping us in a great hideous ballroom for the whole time, they conducted four sessions in stunning, mostly historic, venues: the Franklin Institute, the College of Physicians, the brand new Museum of the American Revolution, and the Wharton school itself.

Because of my flight timing, and the prime location of our hotel (the stunning Ritz-Carlton) I managed to squeeze in some great spots.

Zavino, a casual pizza (and pasta) and wine bar, fed me a terrific gnudi special, an enormous beet salad, and some Sangiovese.

After caffeine-ing up at La Colombe and doing a little work I decided to try out Monk’s Cafe. The front bar was busy but I snuck into the back bar, and had a great time. It was quiet back there so the bartender (John, I think?) and I got to chatting, and he pulled some killer beers for me: a Russian River Consecration sour and an Almanac blackberry gose.

Since I was now on my way to the conference I decided I’d better get some more coffee in me, and stopped at Elixr on the way back to the hotel. Straight up one of the best espresso shots I’ve ever had.

During the evening’s sessions, where they fed us dinner, I had an obligatory Yuengling. After, once the evening had wrapped up, I tried Brü, a craft beer + wurst place I’d walked by earlier in the day. It was…super-loud and full of drunk dickbags, but I found a seat at the bar where I could watch hockey (WPG vs. PHI) and drink beer. I fended off bros while drinking an Avery Raspberry sour, a Rodenbach Alexander, and Half Acre Chub Step coffee porter.

On Friday we were in sessions from 7:30 to 9:30, so I did exactly nothing fun.

This morning I got up extra-early so I could return to Elixr before the conference re-started, and the cappuccino lived up to the standard the espresso had set earlier in the week. Absolutely top-notch.

Today, when my session ended I had a bit of time before my flight, so I grabbed lunch at a classic (kind of touristy, but still classic) local spot: McGillin’s. It’s an old tavern dating back to 1860 which is found down an alley. Sweet. I had a philly cheese steak and cole slaw and a pickle and a bag of chips, and a Lancaster milk stout, and it cost me $12 with tax.

Despite a bit of schlepping around back streets due to the marathon today, I got to the airport in pretty good time. Then I saved even more time because I have PreCheck, so I had two hours to kill before my flight. Luckily as soon as I walked through security I saw a Vino Volo. I had a Mencia and a Sangiovese, and I’m drinking a California Cab as I finish writing this.

Pretty solid trip, all in all, and it made me REALLY want to come back to Philly some day.

[UPDATE: I left Vino Volo as soon as I saw my plane pull in. As soon as I got to the gate I got called to the desk, and found out I’d been upgraded. Wasn’t expecting that. Smooth, comfy flight, followed by probably my all-time fastest exit from Pearson. Travel score!]

Le Party

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Late last week we were hosting Lindsay’s mom, aka Party, and thought we should take her to some of our favourite spots. While I was at work they went to White Lily Diner without me. The nerve.

Anyway, Thursday night we went to The Wren for burgers & beer. We had chipotle buffalo cauliflower, a smash burger, an uncle buck burger, and my favourite: the big smoke sandwich. I had an Indie Alehouse Outrageous Fortune, and Lindsay and I shared bottles of Bellwoods Grandma’s Boy, Bellwoods Weft & Warp, Bellwoods Motley Cru.

Friday night we had a drink at home (some Adamo Pinot Noir, which was terrific) before heading to dinner. We stopped first for a cozy glass of red at Chez Nous. Okay, fine, two glasses: the Malivoire Foch and Leaning Post Syrah.

Then it was on to dinner at Lake Inez. We’d been there with CBGB a few months ago and loved it; this visit might have been even better. We had the sunchoke skewers, the Filipino BBQ pork skewers, roasted squash salad (which had a kick), the bistek tartare, and the 5-spice grilled striploin. That sounds like a lot, but shared among three people it left enough room for both the Filipino purple yam cheesecake and the pear sorbet & gingerbread. All this, of course, was paired with a selection from their stellar bottle list: the Bellwoods pink guava Jelly King and Bellwoods Psidiumism among them.

Saturday morning we got up early in an attempt to secure a table at Bonjour Brioche, but even an 8:30 arrival presented problems. Since all the tables inside were full we sat outside in their heated patio, but on a morning where it felt like -17° with the windchill this turned out to be a bit of an adventure. We survived though, and left well-stuffed.

That afternoon, after Lindsay dropped Party off at the train station, we met up at C’est What for lunch. Lindsay had the jambalaya; I had the butter chicken. I drank a Muskoka Raspbeery Coco Lait, and a Shillow Knowledge Is Porter, and we shared yet another Bellwoods Jelly King.

By dinnertime we were too lazy and unwilling to brave the cold to do anything other than order from Double D’s. Saturdays!

 

“Well, what would you call it? A hobby? I’d say it’s more than that. Look at the consequences. The stakes are very high.”

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This past Sunday, after a brutal week at work, I needed a day of nothing but downtime. Thankfully Lindsay was good with that.

We had an amazing breakfast (sausage, eggs, hashbrowns for Lindsay; pork chop w/ apple sauce, maple pecans, and mustard seed jus for me) at White Lily, then retreated home to drink Benjamin Bridge bubbly on the couch.

We spent the rest of the day finishing the first season of both Mindhunter (imdb | rotten tomatoes) and The Deuce (imdb | rotten tomatoes), both amazing series. I’d just finished season one of Fargo too…so much amazing TV to get through.

 

Rouge de Mékinac

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Somehow, between drinks and dinners and work and whatever, I forgot to blog about a quick two-day trip to Montreal for work. Between meetings I managed to try a few new coffee places (Tommy, Crew Collective & Café) and a new beer bar (Pub BreWskey), and grab a whisky at a familiar old hotel (Le Place d’Armes).

From one French-speaking city to another: we’ve off to France tomorrow!

Cover photo from Caroline's Culinary Delights

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay

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This weekend was all about celebrating Lindsay’s work after the fact. She had a big event last Thursday, after which we were out pretty late celebrating. Friday we were both so wiped we just ordered a pizza from Double D’s and passed out.

Saturday, betwixt errands, we lucked into lunch at The Auld Spot (it was supposed to be closed) and had a boar burger + giant Caesar salad + some special pints, and enjoyed the outdoors even on an October day.

While eating lunch we decided to book dinner at Ruby Watchco, and hit it later that night. We shared beet salad, sirloin with veggies+potatoes+bone marrow, cheese, and grilled peaches+cake+ice cream. We came home and finished off a celebratory bottle of NS bubbly.

Today we scarfed breakfast at Bonjour Brioche, bought tons of groceries, and took off to Burlington (!) to see an exhibit, the catalog for which Lindsay had contributed to. Before hitting the gallery we tried to eat pizza at Son of a Peach, but it closed early. We had lunch at Paradiso instead, which worked out pretty well, and I grabbed an excellent espresso from Tamp Coffee.

We dragged our asses home and made a faux-thanksgiving dinner: small chicken, crazy stuffed sweet potatoes, and a bottle of Domaine Darius Chardonnay.

.:.

Cover photo from Caroline’s Culinary Delights

Cover photo from the Southbrook website

Projectos

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Last night we scrambled home from work to get ready for a visit from our friends Mike & Heather. They live just down the street but because of scheduling it’s never easy to find times that work for our common ingesting & imbibing needs.

They came round bearing meat and cheese, and we opened a special wine we’d brought back from Portugal: a 2003 Niepoort Projectos Chardonnay. It was a beautiful little thing, maybe the wine that convinced Lindsay to like white wine at all.

We followed that up with a local Sauvignon Blanc from Five Rows, since that’s their preferred grape but they’re not used to the Ontario style. We also sent them on their way with a Le Vieux Pin sauv blanc so they could sample the left coast version.

We were supposed to go to dinner afterward, but we were all so full of meat and cheese that we just walked to their place (which had been the dessert plan all along) to admire their beautiful loft, play with their beautiful dog, and drink their beautiful booze. They had, unbelievably, a 2011 Le Clos Jordanne Claystone Terrace Chardonnay. They didn’t know what a rare treat they had on their hands; I practically forced them to open it.

Speaking of unbelievable: after that Mike opened a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue and Heather opened a bottle of….some tequila that made me want to give up all other forms of tequila. Then Mike dipped into his beer fridge for some treats like a Prairie Flare and a Lindemans gueuze and I think some other things, and definitely some Portuguese custard tarts. We stumbled home and crashed out around 2:30.

Which made it feel WAY too early when we both woke up around 7:30. The day quickly turned into a jumble of errands, stress, and food, which at least included lunch (finally!) at Khao San Road (excellent), coffee at Quantum, and a visit to the popup LCBO on King West (where I bought the 2013 Southbrook Poetica Chardonnay) before we came home to buy a ton of groceries and pick up some framed prints. If we can stay awake we may or may not take in the Nuit Blanche installations in our neighbourhood.

.:.

Cover photo from the Southbrook website

Viande

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Last night we had an even better Jacobs & Co experience than back in February — one for the ages. Our grand feast:

Caesar salad
Benjamin Bridge 2011 Brut

14oz Canadian Prime Ribeye (from Hereford in Guelph)
4oz A5 Black Tajima California Cut Striploin (from Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan)
Duck fat french fried potatoes, sauteed rapini, foie gras
Dunn 2007 Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon

Bourbon caramel cheesecake with maple bacon and maple pecans
Grahams 20 year Tawny port

The steak was as good as last time (maybe better), the service was excellent, the cheesecake was killer, and even with corkage fees we paid hundreds less for our meal than last time because we brought our own kickass wine. Seriously, I’ve been hanging on to that Dunn for just such an occasion, and I have several others like it that I wouldn’t open for anything other than Jacobs-quality steak.

A la prochaine, Jacobs.

.:.

Cover photo from the Jacobs & Co. website

Work work work work EAT work work DRINK work work work EAT work work etc.

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In amongst all the work we ploughed through this weekend, we’ve eaten pretty well too. Surprising, right?

Friday we were too tired to do anything but order pizza from Queen Margherita and drink a BUNCH of wine.

 

Saturday we tried to have brunch at White Lily but the line was daunting, so we backtracked to Eastbound. We had Bench sour beer and mussels and fries and an octopus tostada, so not brunch really, but there you go. We swung past Saulter Street Brewing on our way (not really) home.

 

We had dinner plans at Carisma late on Saturday, but first we stopped in at DW Alexander. In all the years I lived in that neighbourhood I’d never managed to get a drink there. Turns out they were opening for the evening just as we walked up, which felt like fate. We enjoyed the music as the place filled up, and drank killer cocktails:

  • Old Fascist: Bulleit bourbon stirred with vecchio amaro del capo, house-made bitters & turbinado sugar
  • The Vixen: Bulleit bourbon, chambord, dry vermouth, vanilla syrup, chocolate bitters
  • Prickly Bush: gin, green chartreuse, lemon, ginger anise syrup, rosemary cucumber syrup
  • The Dutchess: Bombay Sapphire gin shaken with St Germain elder flower liqueur, sauvignon blanc, lemon & vanilla

Then, the main event: a typically amazing dinner at Carisma. We shared the burrata (still the best in the city) and scallops and prosecco. Lindsay had a truffle pasta; I had the half-chicken. We shared a bottle of Morellino which I learned is essentially Sangiovese. We shared cheesecake. SO GOOD.

 

Sunday we were moving a little slow, so we just grabbed brunch from Skin + Bones, and groceries for the week so we could get back to normal. Sheesh.

 

Cover image from the TIFF website

TIFF17

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This past weekend was a très Toronto weekend. First there was a Jays game on Friday (a loss, boo) with Joe, bookended by drinks at the Boxcar Social on Harbourfront and the Boxcar Social on Temperance.

Lindsay got home from a work trip in the wee hours of Saturday, so we slooooowly got up and about and had brunch at Lil’ Baci, followed by our first TIFF screening of the year. It was Louis CK’s stealth movie (he made it outside of the studio system, so no one but the cast and crew knew what it was about) I Love You, Daddy (tiff). It was written like a modern film but shot like a classic (35mm black & white), which made it pretty fun. I don’t want to give away much, but like all LCK work it was funny and insightful and difficult. Outstanding cast, though, and fun Q&A. [UPDATE 10 Nov 2017: this movie takes on a pretty gross veneer in light of recent allegations against Louis C.K.] Afterward we had a slightly disappointing dinner at my old local Mercatto.

Sunday we doubled up, getting in a very long (two movie) line at the Elgin to see The Square (tiff) which had won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It was funny, sharp, contained not one but two bizarre primate-related scenes, and — best of all — completely took the piss out of marketing pitches. A little too long, but well worth watching. Afterward we rushed (our film started very late) over to the Lightbox and had a deliriously marked-up glass of mediocre wine at O&B Canteen.

Our final film of TIFF — seven short films, really, part of the Wavelengths program — was Figures In A Landscape (tiff). I’d never ventured into Wavelengths before, but hey…when dating an art curator, right? It was a mixed bag, some really interesting (Mr. Yellow Sweatshirt, (100ft), Rose Gold), some meh (Yeti, Heart Of A Mountain), one beautiful (Flores) and one just fucking weird one involving giant cartoon fruit gamboling through the Vietnam war (Division Movement to Vungtau), but I guess that’s always going to be the case with the festival’s showcase for the avant-garde.

After we tried going to King Taps but it was rammed, as was Carisma. We ended up trying Ardo for the first time (in this incarnation; I visited Toba several times) and sheeeeiiiiit was it a good call. We shared a damn fine burrata and had a salsiccia pasta (me) and funghi pasta (her) and cannoli and a lovely bottle of 2013 Nebbiolo Passeggiando from Langhe. Top meal all around, and actually cheaper than the subpar dinner at Marcatto the night before. I can’t wait to go back.

.:.

Cover image from the TIFF website

Grey Lake Wren Speed Hotel

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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