Two new, but very different, dining experiences this week.
First, earlier this week I had dinner at Toronto Hunt Club. I know someone who’s a member and he’s been trying to get me there forever. Stunning view at that place for sure, good food (we had lamb and oxtail) and a decent wine list (we had a bottle of Australian Cab/Shiraz) but…manoman, am I ever not a private club guy. Pick any of your standard reasons why. But also, I saw an older couple there who sat side by side through dinner and as far as I could tell didn’t utter a single consonant to either other for two-ish hours and MY GOD is that ever my nightmare. Anyway. Seems like a gorgeous spot, and the food wasn’t bad, but…yeah.
Then today, whilst out for a walk, I found myself walking by Maha’s Egyptian Brunch and there was no line (!) so I just ducked in and ate some breakfast: a delicious Egyptian omelette and glass of beet juice. It got me one step closer to a personal 2024 objective: to try all the Michelin-recognized (at least, according to last year’s list) restaurants east of Yonge before the end of the year. More on those objectives in my year-end roundup…which, I guess, I’ll be writing about eleven weeks from now.
Earlier this week I tried The Rosebud for the first time. The food was quite good (deli plate; beets w/ grapes, hazelnuts, and marjoram vinaigrette; confit duck leg + seared duck breast w/ sour cherry, olive, and pistachio pistou) but the real standout was the wine selection. Lots of stuff by the glass I’m just not accustomed to seeing, like Picpoul, Pinot Nero (done as a white wine; so little skin contact it practically looked like water), and Semillon. I finished with a bit of Chinon for the duck.
At the very end of the week, I received some welcome news. As I’ve written about here before, I spent much of the spring and summer studying for the WSET level 3 award in wines. I wrote the exam on July 4th, and learned later that it takes ten weeks to get your results. At ten weeks + one day, I received an email telling me I’d passed the theory portion with distinction, and the tasting portion with merit (so, a little less strong than the theory). I was frankly much more worried about the theory bit, partly because that’s what most people fail, and partly because in my practice exams leading up to the final exam I’d not done very well. But some excellent coaching by the course instructor got me across the goal line.
I took a special bottle out of the cellar to celebrate. We had it last night with Lindsay’s little brother, after dinner at Avling and some Ed’s ice cream on the way home. Felt fitting for us three to celebrate with an award-winning Nova Scotian sparkling.
Not all weekends feel rejuvenating — especially as summer is now most definitely turning into autumn — but this one did.
On Friday Laura came over after work. No occasion other than a catchup, and an excuse to pull some fun bottles out of the cellar. We started with a 2015 Bethel Heights Chardonnay from the Willamette Valley, which was underwhelming. I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again: I’ve been spoiled by Ontario chard. Anyway, then we ordered some pizza and did a side-by-side of two 2014 Syrahs: the 2014 Le Vieux Pin Équinoxe from the Okanagan, and the 2014 Esk Valley Winemaker’s Reserve from the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke’s Bay. It was the eldest vintage of my remaining Equinoxe Syrahs vs. a formative wine for Laura. I preferred the Le Vieux Pin; she preferred the Esk Valley. Lindsay kept shtum. Now that the WSET trauma has worn off (I still don’t know the exam result, by the way) it feels good to explore wine for enjoyment more than education.
Yesterday, feeling slightly worse for wear, I met up with my old friend Jenna at Ladybug. Apart from a brief hello at a random Fran’s diner, I hadn’t seen her in eight years — she was just always closer to Nellie than to me, and divorces have a way of cleaving friend groups. In any case, an Instagram comment led to us making a brunch plan, and it was lovely. I mean, the food was good and everything (my pancakes were covered in so much whipped cream I scaled the dish as much as ate it) but the real treat was just reconnecting with her. Hearing about her and the changes in her life, and seeing how well she’s doing. She was always one of the warmest and most genuinely charming people I’d ever met, and that hadn’t changed. We said our goodbyes for now, with hopes for another meetup soon. I got kind of emotional on my walk home — a little sad, but mostly grateful.
If I’m heading downtown for work, I try to pack in multiple work/colleague visits to make it worthwhile. Such was the case this past Thursday when I was able to reconnect with a former financial challenger compatriot at the Spadina outpost of Neo, stop by the newest location of Fahrenheit (so yes, I was well-caffeinated), work for a bit on the patio at Gusto 501, and finally try out Ladybug with Dan B once the work laptop was shut for the day. I even squeezed in a quick stop at Chez Nous on the way home. (So yes, I was well-wined too.)
I liked Ladybug a lot. Nice patio (the weather is finally good for that), fun & interesting wine selection, tasty food (Dan and I split olives, shrimp, meatballs, and the short rib), and lovely staff. I’m keen to sit inside next time; I remember liking the decor from back when it was Odin.
We spent last weekend in Stratford. We packed a lot into 48 hours.
Friday
After a long drive out of Toronto (is there any other kind?) and a brutal rainstorm, we arrived in Stratford and checked into the Bradshaw Lofts before checking out the wine bar downstairs, Brch & Wyn. We had:
stone fruit w/ fresh mozzarella, walnuts, basil, peach romesco
chicken nuggies w/ brch dry rub, spicy mayo, lime
massaman flatbread w/ beer coconut curry, cashew, chili crisp, pickled chili
some very tasty & well-curated wines: I remember there being a local orange wine, a Gewurz, a Sonoma Chard, and two local Cab Francs
We threw it all down our necks quickly; we had a play to get to — Cymbeline (link). My haiku review:
A twist on Shakespeare Casts Cymbeline as queen; pretty good but kinda long
By long I mean: 90 minutes into the play the lights went dark, which we figured was a shockingly abrupt end, but it turns out ’twas only the intermission and there was another 90 minutes to go. We made it, though. We all made it.
Saturday
Luckily Brch & Wyn is also an excellent coffee shop, so I grabbed us caffeine and breakfast downstairs. We watched some Netflix in the room (I’ve been forced to watch Love Island once again, so that betting may ensue), we made an unscheduled run to Wal-Mart (don’t ask), and then went out in search of lunch. After bumping into a few non-starters — NB: Stratford runs on a schedule, and the 2pm plays drive a lot of people into a noon lunch — we braved the lineup at Features, a Stratford institution. We banked on their ability to turn tables quickly, and it paid off: we had a table right away, with plenty of time to make it to our next play. I even had time to stop at The Ashborne Café for an espresso.
Our second play was the Ibsen classic Hedda Gabler (link). My haiku review:
Stellar work all ’round “People don’t do such things!” No, But our Hedda does
After a quick walk home and more bingeing, we were off to dinner at Lovage. It really feels like a home away from home now (to wit: earlier in the day, while walking around town, we were recognized by our favourite host Abra!) and on this occasion it didn’t disappoint. Here’s what we had:
Lobster salad
Marinated peppers
glasses of Ontario orange and Portuguese white
Fried squid w/ shishito peppers
glasses of Chablis and Sicilian white
Short rib special (described to us as “pastrami-adjacent”) w/ white kimchi
a half-bottle of Tondonia Rioja
Crème-frâiche ice cream + blueberry sorbet
glasses of Port and Madeira
Sunday
Once again: caffeine and breakfast from Brch + Wyn woke us up. We had to check out by 11, but our brunch reso wasn’t until 12, so we killed time sitting in a park on a summer day. Just as we were leaving I saw a hawk fly full-speed into the top of a tree, followed by the screaming chatter of a squirrel(?), then the hawk falling out of the bottom of the tree and flying away. Couldn’t tell if it was a successful hunting expedition or not.
As noon approached we walked to Revival House for brunch. Just as we were about to be seated Lindsay realized I didn’t have my umbrella. It’s the best umbrella I’ve ever owned so I didn’t want to lose it. We walked back to the park, relieved to find it there, and returned to Revival. It’s a converted church (with some stunning gardens out front) that feels quite cozy inside. We had cocktails, a fried chicken sandwich (me) and eggs bennie (Lindsay), followed by an almond coffee cake and some coffees, and then were off to the Studio theatre, just kitty-corner from the restaurant, for our final play.
The Edward Albee play The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? (link) has been much celebrated since it was first performed in 2002. All four members of the cast had been in Cymbeline Friday night, and one — Rick Roberts — was someone I watched many years ago on Traders. My haiku review:
Dark, hard, weird viewing This animal collective Comes wholly undone
It was a good thing we’d gone back to get that umbrella, because our walk home was through pouring rain. As was our drive home, pretty much the whole way. And that wasn’t the half of it: we knew there’s been weather warnings all over southern Ontario the past few days (including a tornado that touched down in nearby Ayr) but driving home and seeing cars submerged on flooded highways really brought it home. (Also, different kind of danger, but we also saw Batman.)
So, a successful 48 hours overall. Not sure we’ll return to Stratford next year for plays (we might go just to eat at Lovage, and maybe try cocktails at Elizabeth which we missed this time) but I feel like we did it right this time.
Why do the weeks leading up to vacation always seem the busiest? I suppose the pressure to pre-emptively “make up” for the weeks away (work, errands, friend check-ins, etc.) plus the actual logistics of travelling make that fairly real…though I’m sure there’s some confirmation bias at play as well.
Real or imagined, it’s certainly felt like a busy week.
I realized my passport was going to expire sooner than I thought, so I spent a couple hours at the passport office on Monday.
I wrote my WSET 3 exam Thursday, thereby crippling my own hand by having to write for 2.5 hours. With an actual pencil, readers! Like I’m in the olden times or something. Anyway, it’ll take two months to find out how that went, but I’m very glad to be done studying.
I finished season 3 of The Bear, which wasn’t nearly as good as the first two seasons, but I still thought it was okay. I also watched a lot of Euro matches, and luckily tuned into final few moments of the Canada-Venezuela Copa America match — just in time to see Davies score, Crépeau save, and Koné send Canada through.
I met Matt for lunch at Ardo. Lindsay and I had drinks at Mercantino e Vini (you can buy glasses or bottles from the shop out front, and sit in the cozy seats at the back) with Kirsten, and then we all ate a late dinner down the street at Ascari.
It won’t be a quiet weekend. At this point I’m just hoping for manageable.
We’ve just gotten home from two weeks on the east coast. We wanted to be out of the/any city for a while, so we booked an AirBnB in Grande-Digue NB, about 30 minutes from downtown Moncton, so I could continue to work.
The place was right on the water, lovely and private without being isolated. We enjoyed the sunshine and salt air and gorgeous view across Shediac Bay. We saw plenty of birds (herons, ducks, even a bald eagle) and a deer wandered through our yard the first night. We relaxed on the back deck and on the lawn and on the couch and on the beach. We had lobster rolls and donairs (and donair pizza) and fresh produce from Les Digues and fried clams from local staple Chez Leo. We even squeezed in a quick trip to the farm to see my family, and one day Lindsay’s mom dropped by.
I did end up being in Moncton for work most days (and tried a few new places, like Mama’s Charcoal BBQ, the Moncton instance of The Old Triangle, and the Dolma rooftop bar) but most days I was pretty anxious to get home to this peaceful view:
Earlier this week I met up with Dan and Abtin for dinner at Aera, a new steak & sushi place on the top floor of the new Well complex at Front & Spadina. By the time I fought my way through Toronto traffic, the lads had squeaked an order of Champagne in under the happy hour wire. Good thinking.
The view was pretty tremendous — we were sat right at the window, staring at the CN tower, the lake, etc. Apparently the tables on the other side get the sunset, but we weren’t bothered. It was busy — between the view and it making Toronto Life’s list of best new restaurants there were crowds of people as interested in being seen as eating. But it didn’t feel douchey or crowded at all.
The best part of the night was seeing them both and catching up, of course. Dan even brought a bottle of 2016 Domaine Queylus ‘Summus’ for us to share. I like that we all keep wines tucked away with the idea of sharing it over a great steak.
Here’s what we ate & drank:
Bubbles
NV Veuve Clicquot, Brut, Champagne
Appetizers
New Brunswick oysters
spicy scallop roll: avocado, spicy scallops, chipotle mayo & tobiko
2022 Domaine de la Pépière, Muscadet Sur Lie, Loire
The week started off well but got progressively worse.
Last weekend Lindsay’s brother #2 arrived for a week. Always fun when he’s in the house. I’d just completed my WSET3 week 3 tasting (more on that in some other post) which meant there were a bunch of delicious white wines available. We ordered Thai and drank grand cru Alsace Pinot Gris and Tokaji for dessert.
On Sunday night we went to White Lily for dinner, and stopped at Chez Nous on the way home.
On Monday I met someone for a work drink at The Chase, then hustled back home for dinner at Wynona with Lindsay and Laura. I don’t remember exactly what we had, but I think it was something along these lines:
Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly unremarkable, but by Wednesday evening I was starting to feel sick — sort throat, stuffed up, etc. No one else in the house was sick even though we’d done everything together. It was probably too soon to develop anything I’d picked up the day before at the office, so…I guess it was that work drink on Monday? Who knows. Anyway, Thursday was very tough, and by Friday I was barely able to work. We had reservations for the three of us at Ricky + Olivia’s but I was so sick I had to bow out. I was in bed by 8:00. Today hasn’t been much better; I’m definitely scuffling.
As always, the lone bright spot about being sick is that I sit still long enough to catch up on some TV, so I’ve watched all of S1 and half of S2 of The Bear.
Earlier this week I had a work dinner at Paradise Grapevine on Geary. I’m rarely impelled to travel to the west end of Toronto (little wonder: that Uber trip took 47 minutes) but I’ve always wanted to check out the urban winery, so…off I went. It turned into a fun little evening. We ordered just about everything on the menu; the duck leg, heirloom carrots, and beef cheek were the standouts. We got bottles of Cremant de Jura, Paradise Grapevine’s own skin-contact Pinot Gris / Muscat Ottonel, as well as their Cab Franc from the Wilms vineyard, and finally glasses of Don PX.
Afterward, a few of us walked down the street to 915 Dupont for a couple of cocktails. My old fashioned made with Japanese whiskey was decent, but a little too smoky. But my Negroni made with coffee-infused gin was very tasty indeed. I had a sip of somebody’s Big Wave cocktail, and wish I’d ordered one. I was not nearly cool enough to be in that place, but I liked it.
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 