Category: Friends

Ba Rizabell

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night I had dinner with T-Bone at Bar Isabel. I forgot to write anything down or take any pictures. There wasn’t much break in the conversation; our server could barely get our order in. I remember an Isabel Fashioned, a cured meat plate, jamón croquetas, shishito peppers, tostadas with tuna and pig’s ear, a big pork dish, a quarter octopus, and a bottle of English sparkling…Coates & Seely, I think? And some 1962 Don PX to end off. It was all veeerrrrrrrrrrry tasty.

Afterwards we walked off some of that food and had a drink at Archive. T-Bone had a Sancerre. I had a Pearl Morissette Pinot from Sonoma. We planned our next dinner and hugged goodbye and caught Ubers in oppositely directed vectors.

Eigensinn Farm, again

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Nearly three years ago we ate at Eigensinn Farm, Michael and Nobuyo Stadtlander’s place in Singhampton, and reckoned we’d never probably never go back. Then, a few months ago, a plan formed with our friends Brian & Mandy to book a dinner (their first time) along with their friends who live nearby. After a lot of follow-up emailing we got the date we wanted, and after some wine planning last week and some road-tripping yesterday we arrived in beautiful Grey County at the friends’ place. It was great having a home base nearby; doing the trip up and back in the same night last time was a little much. Plus, their place is beautiful and they have a dog and a cat, so I was happy. The cat hated me though.

As for dinner, I didn’t think it could possibly live up to my memory of our first visit. I was so wrong. Here’s what we had:

Amuse geule. This was a collection of six or seven things on a horseshoe-shaped plate: a Malpeque oyster, a bit of perch in butter and hazelnut, a bit of pig head cheese, a white fish in a dill sauce so good we licked it off the shell it was served on, something that looked like prosciutto, some kind of cured meat wrapped around a chunk of pear, another cured (and smoked) meat on a triangle of toast, I think one other thing that I’m forgetting. We were handling the wine pairings for the first half of the meal, so we paired this with a 2005 Benjamin Bridge Brut Reserve — a hit, it seemed, with all those who hadn’t tried BB before.

Lobster soup with asparagus. Until we got there we didn’t know what kind of soup this would be, so we brought wine options. Once we found out it was bisque-y we opted for the 2009 Hidden Bench Tête de Cuvée Chardonnay, and it didn’t disappoint. Neither did the soup — great buttery chunks of lobster and asparagus, and the broth was so good we (nearly) all tipped the bowl up and drank every last drop.

Composition of Eigensinn Farm piglet. I mean…seriously. It was so succulent and delicious I almost cried. The wine we paired it with — a 2009 Maison Roche de Bellène Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot — was something I’d been holding onto for a special occasion, and this dish certainly qualified. It was goddamned amazing. All of it.

Pickerel with sugar snap peas. Delicate, flaky but still meaty…just perfect. The wine was another game-time decision since we didn’t know how the pickerel was prepared, so we went with a 2015 Five Rows Sauvignon Blanc.

Black currant sorbet. I was glad to see the palate cleanser is still served in the upside-down bottoms of broken wine bottles.

We went for a short walk around the garden before the main course, during which Brian took over and opened his sparkling: a dry & delicious 2009 Trius 5 Blanc de Noirs. Palates: cleansed.

Eigensinn Farm lamb with garden vegetables. Madre de dios. It was so delicious we (who had been pretty boisterous all night, probably to the annoyance of some of the other guests) went quiet and just made moaning noises. Enough. Mercy. No mas. For this Brian broke out a 2007 Southbrook Poetica Cab Merlot, which I think I would have loved a little more had it been a little less Merlot-heavy. But that’s my thing. We quickly finished that bottle, though, and opened another special one: a 2012 Ravine “Stadtlander” Reserve red blend, which had been signed by chef himself. It put a nice little personal signature on the evening, and how amazing of Brian & Mandy to share that with us.

Cheese with walnut raisin bread. There were three cheeses: a Grey Owl (my perennial favourite), a mild blue (Benedictine from Quebec, I think?), and a third which I can’t remember but which was delicious. They all were. We finished off the rest of the Stadtlander reserve.

Dessert with strawberries. Uh, yeah. We expected a small dessert. Out came three desserts on the plate which, to be totally honest, I don’t quite remember. Nellie says there was a crumble of some kind and some sage ice cream. I just remember being really full. I also remember that we had it with the friends’ Colaneri late harvest Riesling. Oh, they told us while we were eating that one of the desserts had hand-written fortunes inside. That explained the over-chewy bite I had just pulled out of my mouth and had attributed to their first miss of the evening. Needless to say I could not read my fortune.

Petit fours. Sure, okay.

All in all, this meal was significantly better than our first visit, and probably ranks in my top ten of all time. We left feeling very fat, and very happy.

.:.

This morning the friends fed us a grand feast (bacon, eggs, french toast done in a waffle-maker, and enough coffee to waterboard my hangover) and we were on our way back to the GTA. Brian & Mandy were headed elsewhere so they dropped us at the GO Train to Union Station, which afforded us an excuse to check out the food vendor market on Front Street. I had an excellent brisket sammie from Carbon Bar, and Nellie had a lobster roll. We’ll be headed back there in some upcoming weekends.

Cover photo by Chris Connolly, used under Creative Commons license

Re-Cava

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Since going to Cava a few weeks ago I’ve been meaning to return with Nellie, and Wednesday night we did. We had to meet friends nearby around 8 anyway. It wasn’t as epic a meal as last time I was there, but we did just fine:

  • pincho of valdeon with sherry-roasted figs
  • croqueta of jamón with caper-sultana sauce
  • roasted beets with honey, valdeon, and grilled escarole
  • jamón iberico, salchichon, chorizo, and idiazabal cheese

Had some good wine too, obviously.

I will say, though, that both in terms of the food and the value for money, I’d have to say that I prefer Patria. Twice now we’ve gone, both times being blown away by the food, and both times come away paying less than we’d expected. So while Cava’s a good midtown option I think Patria will remain at the top of my Spanish craving list.

.:.

Cover photo by Chris Connolly, used under Creative Commons license

Chimps Batch Jays Owen

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That was a busy-ass week. Fun too.

On Tuesday we grabbed some dinner at Wine Bar and then went to see a talk by one of Nellie’s heroes, Jane Goodall. Such an impressive human being, and her final story of the night (shown below) pretty much says it all.

On Wednesday we grabbed dinner at Batch with our buddy GB, visiting for the week.

On Thursday I met my buddy Joe at the new Bar Hop (my first visit, believe it or not) where I had an excellent Burdock session saison and then availed myself of one of his Jays tickets, with which we watched the Jays beat the Yankees. Labatt’s acquisition of Mill Street at least meant I could have a 100th Meridian to go with this view:

Last night we went over to our friends A+A’s place and had a seemingly Dan-tailored evening: grilled meat and charcuterie, stellar beer (including a Gueuze Tilquin they brought back from Brussels, bless their little hearts), cool music that made me want to start collecting LPs again, and a cat named Owen who blithely tolerated my attention. We turned into pumpkins on their couch. It was, after all, a busy-ass week.

Posting this at Mockingbird:Robin am

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Uh…so, we went up to our friends Kaylea + Matt’s Bat Lake cottage last weekend, but I’ve waited so long to write this that I’ve forgotten all the clever things (or, all the things I thought clever at the time) I’d planned to use for the title, or interesting color for the weekend. I just remember that we ate well (obviously) and drank even better (still obviously) and relaxed and played some Cards Against Humanity and did a Pinot Noir blind tasting and ranked the Canada Heritage Minutes and spotted birds and visited Boshkung Brewery and I made everyone watch basketball and Nellie barely made it home.

Cover photo by Thomas Hawk, used under Creative Commons license

Meat loop

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Through weird circumstance we found ourselves eating at NAO again last week. And then again last night. Not that we mind, of course. But we’re starting to dig a rut.

Last night the sommelier continued his usual record of outstanding wine selections…a 2003 Roche de Bellène to start, a fantastic Montepulciano to bridge us through to the steak, and then a phenomenal cab sauv from Banshee with the meat itself.

Last week the sommelier wasn’t there so BC and I did our best to pair (and held our own, I think) before coming further downtown for some cocktails. Unfortunately D.W. Alexander was packed, and CC Lounge was fucking awful, so we came home and drank some wine instead.

.:.

Cover photo by Thomas Hawk, used under Creative Commons license

Alo

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On Tuesday Nellie and I met T-Bone and The Sof for dinner. We’d booked Alo months ago (not long after our first visit for a Pearl-Morissette dinner), such was the wait time required to get a table at one of the hottest restaurant in the city.

The menu is simple: a five-course tasting, with a choice for each course. That made it easy to try everything, so long as Nellie and I shared…which we did, more or less. It ended up being an absolutely outstanding meal.

Here’s the menu:

Amuse Bouche

  • Broccoli, preserved lemon, ginger / Domain Baud ‘Brut Sauvage’ Cremant (Jura)

1

  • Quebec Foie Gras, beets, pear, greek yogurt / Spy Valley Johnson ‘Envy’ Pinot Gris 2011 (Marlborough)
  • Aged beef ribeye, bone marrow, watercress, shallots / Schiopetto Fruilano 2013

Bread course

  • Pain au lait / Turres ‘Floralis’ Moscatel Oro

2

  • Hedgehog mushrooms, celery root, chicken skin, radish / Tissot ‘Patchwork’ Chardonnay 2014 (Jura)
  • Burgundy snails, parsley, black garlic, pearl onion / Dalrymple Pinot Noir 2013 (Tasmania)

3

  • Hamachi, citrus, parsnip, fennel pollen / Aphros Loureiro Vinho Vere 2013
  • Nova Scotia Lobster, squash, turnip, savoy cabbage / Gaia ‘Thalassitis’ Assyrtiko 2014

4

  • Perth County rack of pork, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts / Thierry Germain Domaine des Roches Neuves Saumur Champigny 2014 (Loire)
  • Muscovy duck, kale, salsify, pomegranate / Tolaini ‘Valdesanti’ 2011 (Tuscany)

Ummm…parsnip course?

  • Parsnip, coffee, orange

Chocolate course

  • Smoked dark chocolate, cranberry, pistachio / Toro Albala Don Pedro Ximinez Gran Reserva 1986 (Montilla)

5

  • Sea buckthorn, Earl Grey tea, Bergamot / Azienda Agricola ‘499’ Moscato d’Asti
  • Carrot cake, clementine, lemon balm / Southbrook Vidal Icewine 2006 (Niagara)

 

The dark chocolate + Don PX course might have been the single best combination course/wine pairing I’ve ever had. I almost passed out.

.:.

Cover photo from Alo’s website

 

Cover photo by Martin.Cos, used under Creative Commons license

Happy 2016

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To celebrate the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, we had a few friends over. Matt & Kaylea co-hosted, and we opened a little wine and served a little food. Here’s the menu:

OYSTERS

  • Malpeque
  • Lucky Lime
  • Glacier Bay

Paired with

  • Stratus White 2010 (ON)
  • Bachelder Chardonnay 2012 (Bourgogne)
  • Fielding Rock Pile Pinot Gris 2013 (ON)
  • Benjamin Bridge Brut Reserve 2005 (NS)
  • Steam Whistle Pilsner (ON)
  • Muskoka Detour Session Ale (ON)

 

EAST COAST

  • Grilled lobster rolls
  • Garlic cheese twists w/ donair sauce
  • Fried pepperoni

Paired with

  • Lightfoot & Wolfville Chardonnay 2013 (NS)
  • Pearl Morissette Chardonnay 2009 (ON)
  • Le Vieux Pin ‘Ava’ Viognier/Marsanne 2013 (BC)
  • Boxing Rock Cascadian Dark Ale (NS)
  • Uncle Leo’s IPA (NS)

 

SUSHI

  • Ahi Tuna
  • Organic Scottish salmon

Paired with

  • Thirty Bench ‘Wild Cask’ Riesling 2013 (ON)
  • Hugel & Fils ‘Jubilee’ Pinot Gris 2009 (Alsace)
  • Weihenstephaner (Germany)
  • Blanche de Chambly (QC)

 

MEAT

  • Lamb lollipops
  • Flank steak
  • Venison rolls

Paired with

  • Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 (USA)
  • Yacochuya Malbec 2005 (Argentina)
  • Pierre Amadieu Gigondas 2012 (Rhone)
  • Domain Queylus Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2010 (ON)
  • Boshkung Milk Stout (ON)
  • Innocente Charcoal Porter (ON)

 

MIDNIGHT

  • Perrier Jouët Grand Brut (Champagne)
  • Bruno Paillard Premier Cuvée (Champagne)
  • Duval LeRoy Brut Reserve (Champagne)
  • Roederer Estate Brut Rosé (California)
  • Peller Ice Cuvée Rosé (ON)
  • Mikkeller Black Imperial Stout (Denmark)

 

There was sabering of champagne bottles, a grill fire, and cheers-ing at midnight.

Kaylea and Matt spent the next day here. We lazed about, watched the entire first season of Game Of Thrones, played Cards Against Humanity, ate the charcuterie and pulled pork we didn’t get to the night before, posed action-figure Daryl Dixon in odd ways, and drank a bunch of other sparkling.

Two days later there was some cleaning up:

.:.

Cover photo by Martin.Cos, used under Creative Commons license

A man’s gotta eat

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

My whole life for the past few months has been about work: Go to work, come home, eat dinner, open the laptop, do more work, sleep (not enough), wake up still thinking about work. Repeat.

I’ve still managed to get some pretty good meals into me though, and with good friends too.

A few weeks ago Nellie and I went to Rodney’s for the first time with a bunch of colleagues. It was a fun night, but a funny thing happened too: our server and I slowly came to the realization that we went to Dalhousie at the same time, lived in the same residence, and played intramural basketball against one another. Small world.

Not long after I met up with my buddy Pat, in town from Milwaukee, at the Monk’s Table.

Earlier this week Nellie and I went to an Ontario Wine Society event at Barque Butcher Bar. We tasted several Pinots from a single vineyard (the Lowrey vineyard in St. David’s ON) but made by four different wineries: Bachelder, Leaning Post, Adamo, and Five Rows (who own the vineyard). Barbecue isn’t what you’d normally think of as a wine pairing, but it was damned tasty. If I find myself out around Roncy again I’ll definitely find my way back there.

Last night we reprised our recent meal at NAO, this time with T-Bone and The Sof. It was even more epic than the first one: a ton of great starters, three delicious steaks (order of deliciousness: the swinging rib Canadian prime; the David Blackmore wagyu rump; the bone-in US prime) and sides, and some outstanding wine. The sommelier (who remembered us from last time) picked a couple of bottles that weren’t on the list, and both were tremendous: a Babosa Negra from the Canary Islands, and a Forefront Cab Sauv from California.

.:.

Cover photo from the Barque site

 

The California experiment

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Pearl Morissette is one of my favourite Canadian wineries, but until a month or so ago I didn’t know they were also producing wine in California. I found out when I saw an announcement about a dinner at hot new Toronto restaurant Alo, featuring these California wines from PM. It was such a hot ticket (and Alo is such a small restaurant) that the event sold out in minutes, but they scheduled a second seating and Nellie, Kaylea, and I got tickets.

Winemaker Francois Morissette was there to speak about each of the California wines, and a few surprise Ontario wines as well. All the wines were predictably delicious, but we were just so impressed with how he’s found a balance in the Californian wines: using all the advantages of the hot (but not too hot, based on their vineyard locations) without the overbearing, overwrought, over-oaked tendencies too often found in California bottles. These are California wines made with the restraint of a Burgundian winemaker.

The menu, as best I can remember provided by P-M…thanks Milt!:

  1. Pan au lait with fleur de sel
  2. Matsutake mushrooms, turnip, celery, chicken skin
  3. Carolina gold rice, foie gras, bonito
  4. Yorkshire rack of pork, romano bean, artichoke, mustard
  5. Beef brisket, king oyster mushroom, parsley, garlic
  6. White chocolate cremeux, toasted oats, quince (Note: Cori Murphy is a bad-ass pastry chef)

The rice + foie gras dish sounds like it should have been terrible, but it was goddamn delicious. And I hate foie gras.

The wines:

  • Blackball Riesling
  • 2012 Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay
  • 2012 Baranoff Vineyard Pinot Noir
  • 2012 Caldwell Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Niagara Viognier
  • I know I’m missing another Ontario wine. I just can’t remember what it was, goddammit.

All in all, an outstanding meal. I really want to go back Alo now, and we’ve already ordered some of the California wine.

After dinner we still wanted more wine, so we decided to meet up with more friends at Archive. The girls started drinking sparkling; I stayed on the Pearl Morissette with the 2012 “Dix-Neuvième” Chardonnay. I lost track of what everyone got, but after we shared a bottle of Cab Franc from Saumur I was out of there. The rest of the group partied well into the night.