It was our night

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Earlier this week, on their grand opening night, we were lucky enough to get a seat at Ricky + Olivia‘s new restaurant. It’s right around the corner from us, and such a welcome addition to the neighbourhood. Laura and James had a table, and we hitched a ride with them.

First of all: stunning space. You enter at the bottle shop, walk through the little casual lounge, and into the dining room. Great look and feel in there, and we all commented on the innovative use of a narrow space.

Second: the wine list. All Ontario, bless ’em. A few beers, a few cocktails, and some inventive martinis which got raves from the half our table who ordered them.

Third: the food. Delicious, cheeky, simple, showy. We shared everything. I posted a hastily-snapped pic of the menu below, and we ordered more than we omitted:

  • Cocktails
    • Martinis, sparkling
  • First wave
    • Chips + dip
    • Crepe cake
    • Steak tartare (this is dressed like a Big Mac, and was so goddamned good we ordered a second one before we’d even finished the first)
    • Radishes
    • Caesar salad
    • Big Head ‘Raw’ Pinot Gris
  • Second wave
    • R+O burger
    • 1/2 Chicken
    • Roast Pork
    • Glazed Tofu
    • French fries
    • More Caesar salad
    • Hidden Bench ‘Bistro’ Pinot Noir
    • Fourth Wall ‘Bricolage’ Rosé
  • Digestifs
    • Amari, I think from Limited Distilling

Most importantly; the company. What great people to spend an evening with. Not to mention Ricky + Olivia themselves, and their whole team.

Before we knew it, it was after midnight and we were the last table by a country mile. We managed to peel ourselves out of there, with some difficulty; I hadn’t stood up in four hours, and my legs let me know it. Mercifully (though perhaps dangerously) it’s only a 5-minute walk from home.

“Windhouse” sounds more polite than “Pumpjammer” so let’s go with that

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I’ve just spent the week in Moncton, a more-or-less monthly occurrence now. This time it was rainy — very rainy. But at least it wasn’t snow or sleet.

I managed to try some new places this time, not just the same-old. On Monday I made a quick run to my favourite ANBL, and finally grabbed apps & beers at Pumphouse.

Tuesday I grabbed coffee at Brix, had lunch with my team at the Tide & Boar brewpub, and dinner with colleagues at Cinta Ria.

Wednesday I had drinks with more/other colleagues at Carrabba’s, and took a salad to go.

Thursday I decided to treat myself and had dinner, solo, at The Windjammer — a Moncton institution, but new to me. On the way I stopped in once again at the best ANBL, and found they were doing a little wine tasting. I just missed the Champagne, but sampled a fantastic Chablis and some excellent Beaujolais from Morgon. Good timing, I must say. Then, off to dinner.

The Windjammer wasn’t busy; I had a large booth to myself. The staff were just lovely, and matched my pace (i.e., I never waited for a course to show up, but never felt rushed) perfectly. My meal:

  • Amuse-bouche of beetroot and smoked salmon
  • Beet & goat cheese salad
    • Champagne
  • Granita (palate cleanser)
  • Bone-in ribeye w/ vegetables & Béarnaise sauce
    • Chianti
  • Chocolate truffles
    • Port

The steak was cooked perfectly, if a little over-salted. Still, I demolished it. They also very sweetly gave me a little jar of smoked salmon to take home, but I forgot it! Gutted.

Since it’s a long weekend I’ll leave Moncton this morning and drive to the farm for a couple of days. Just in time for the end of maple season!

POSTSCRIPT

It was a fun weekend at the farm. I tried to help out a bit with what turned out to be a very busy maple season, but I’m far too rusty. A bunch of family showed up Saturday and Sunday to partake of some maple, so that was an unexpected bonus. I also squeezed in a few hours up the road visiting one of my oldest friends, who I haven’t seen in…god, I don’t know how many years. But we got caught up, and fell right back into our love for music, and laughing about the days when we were kids. When I left he told me he loved me, and I told him the same. I’ve missed him, a lot. I’m excited to get more chances to see him.

“All my visions lead to horror.” “Because you lose control?” “Because I gain it.”

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Finally, last night, and for some reason in the middle of one of the worst snowstorms Toronto has experienced all winter, we went to see Dune: Part Two (imdb | rotten tomatoes) in the theatre.

First, it was as sweeping and grand and beautifully shot as I’d heard. I’m glad we saw it on a big screen, though it wasn’t their biggest…part of me wishes I’d seen it on an epically big screen the first weekend.

Second, I like how this film played up the religious angle, especially the sectarian divide between the Fremen. It seemed a clearer evolution to me of the jihad vs. how the book seems (in my memory, anyway) to jump to it more jarringly.

Third, I thought they improved on some gaps / weak points in the book. Chani and Paul’s journey, for example. Or Chani in general, frankly. Denis Villeneuve was open about making Chani and stronger character, and it showed here, right down to the final shot. And in terms of plotline, too, it felt like it deviated from the book in just the way it should when there’s obviously another film (hi there, Anya Taylor-Joy) coming, a luxury Frank Herbert likely didn’t have.

So yeah: worth the wait, and deserving of the heady reviews it’s been getting.

White Lights

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Last night, for the third time in 15 years, I saw the Rural Alberta Advantage live. For the second time in a row, Lindsay missed them play because she was sick. Luckily I was meeting Shannon & Warren there, for their first time seeing the RAA. (On the way out we bumped into Mike & Heather too.)

Speaking of first times: how had I never seen a show at History before? What an great venue. Big space, excellent sightlines, fantastic sound, lots of bar & bathroom capacity, even a seated mezzanine area that looks pretty enticing.

Anyway, the concert: fantastic. They’re always good, but this was top-notch. The first time I saw them live they were just starting out, playing in a tiny venue (Lee’s Palace), and you were really immersed in that energy. Last night, in front of 10x as many people, it still felt that way. Maybe it’s because they were back in their hometown. Whatever it was, it worked. Lots of stuff from the new album, but plenty of old favourites like “Tornado ’87” and “Frank, AB”…all the Alberta disaster singalong songs, really.

The setlist:

  • CANDU
  • Bad Luck Again
  • Don’t Haunt This Place
  • 3 Sisters
  • Four Night Rider
  • Tornado ’87
  • Vulcan, AB
  • AB Bride
  • Drain the Blood
  • Stamp
  • North Star (Nils solo)
  • Don’t Wake Up
  • White Lights
  • Plague Dogs
  • Edmonton
  • Frank, AB
  • Brother
  • Terrified
  • —ENCORE—
  • In the Summertime
  • Alright
  • Conductors
  • The Dethbridge in Lethbridge

“Come on. America would never elect somebody like David Duke, President of the United States of America.”

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The lone upside to being sick, by which I mean have-to-stay-in-bed-for-entire-days sick, is bingeing TV shows. I finished the last couple of seasons of For All Mankind (interesting concept, but in season 4 it’s feeling strained), the entirety of Black Earth Rising (which was excellent, and I would have watched much sooner if I knew what it was about), and S3 of Slow Horses which was predictably excellent and took all of an afternoon. I also incorporated BlackKklansman (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at some point, not to mention a bunch of other movies I’ve seen a million times but just needed to fall asleep to something.

I seem to be mostly out of the woods…maybe back to like 70%. So as much as I want to go see Dune 2, this weekend is probably going to be about work catch-up.

Ride On

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I was pretty psyched to see an announcement from Jack White about a month ago saying he was going to reissue Big Sugar‘s classic album Five Hundred Pounds, or 500 Pounds as it was labelled in the US.

It’s one of my favourite albums of all time. It came out over 30 years ago, but I still listen to it regularly. My brother, my dad, and I all picked the song “Wild Ox Moan” when we independently made our 50-best-songs-of-all-time lists fifteen years ago. It was one of the best (and probably one of the two loudest) concerts I’ve ever seen.

It’s a nice feeling that so many more people will get to experience this album, and this band, now. Thanks Jack.

Look, look: an American fox

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Last night we saw American Fiction (imdb | rotten tomatoes) at the Fox Theatre, followed by dinner at Mira Mira.

So, first things first: what an excellent movie. Funny, insightful, multi-layered. Jeffrey Wright was outstanding, but everyone in it was just so strong. I want to watch it again right now.

It was my first time at the Fox, an independent community theatre in the Beaches. Old-school feel, and very much a neighbourhood place. Given the strength of the lineup they have there, I can see us going there a lot.

Mira Mira used to be an ordering mainstay for us, though I think the food was probably coming from their other, now-closed location. This was our first time at the sit-down diner/restaurant though. Pretty good, even though we were in and out quickly because of how late we arrived.

  • Appetizers
    • Ontario burrata w/ warm peach & honey cardamom compote, toasted pistachios, grilled sourdough
    • Cocktails (Negroni, whisky sour)
  • Mains
    • 10oz bone-in Kassler pork chop, brined & smoked w/ sauerkraut, cherry jus
    • seafood bisque w/ saffron, scallops, tiger shrimp, mussels, sweet corn, chives & toasted challah
    • glasses of cab sauv and chard

Fun things I’ve done in the last couple weeks

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  • Went to an extensive Ontario cab franc tasting at Chez Nous. Like, 40-odd different bottles. It would have felt overwhelming if it hadn’t been a dream come true for a CF nerd like me. It also afforded me a chance to ask Ricky + Olivia about their soon-to-open restaurant.
  • Drank some very yummy older wine.
  • Saw Mitski on Superbowl Sunday, her second show in three nights at Massey Hall. Her setlist was heavily weighted to her new album, but there were plenty from previous albums as well. I assumed there would be few if any changes from the previous night’s setlist (there were none, in fact) so I knew I wouldn’t hear “Best American Girl” or “My Body’s Made Of Crushed Little Stars” (I think the chorus from that one is going to keep it out of rotation for a while) but I did get an excellent rendition of “Washing Machine Heart” to close out the night. Emilie Hanskap in The Star does a more eloquent job of describing the concert than I could; suffice it to say it was a pretty landmark show.
  • Finished Doctors and Distillers (goodreads), a book I’ve been slowly reading for months. A really fascinating look at the history of spirits, cocktails, wine, and so on, and how they were used medicinally throughout the ages. I learned a lot, and wanted a lot of cocktails. (Also, I now know the etymology of the word cocktail.)
  • Had dinner & drinks at our friends Shannon & Warren’s place last night. Warren made excellent Detroit-style pizza, and we drank some good wine (probably slightly too much of it) and were sent home with surplus tiramisu.

My pedestrian brushes with Canadian rock royalty

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Some people have stories about opening for or partying with rock stars*. My handful of interactions with Canadian musicians I’ve admired have been significantly more boring. In chronological order:

  • In high school I attended a two-week music camp in Halifax called Summer Rock. In attendance were Joel Plaskett and the rest of Thrush Hermit. I didn’t meet them; they were just there. Also, one of Anne Murray’s kids was in the same music camp, which meant she was there for the final show.
  • At a …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead / Explosions In The Sky show in 2002 Danko Jones tried to push me out of the way so he could see the stage better. The man is very very short.
  • In the year I lived around Yonge & Bloor in Toronto I’d see Geddy Lee a lot, either walking around Rosedale or occasionally at the Varsity movie theatre. I think I exchanged pleasantries with him in the theatre one time.
  • I met Mark Holmes, formerly of Platinum Blonde (though I guess they’re still touring?) when he co-owned the Mod Club in Toronto.
  • At a beer & cheese tasting Lindsay and I sat at a table with Nils Edenloff from The Rural Alberta Advantage. It was the first time I worked up the courage to introduce myself and say what a big fan I was.
  • Because I was a subscriber and donor to the West End Phoenix I’ve traded circulation/delivery-related emails and texts with Dave Bidini who’s the editor-in-chief of the paper, but also a noted author and guitarist/vocalist in the Rheostatics.
  • Dallas Wehrle, bass player for The Constantines, ate dinner in our back yard along with his partner who’s our friend and former colleague.

* I do have a near-miss on this front though: my brother worked with a guy who knew Martin Bulloch from Mogwai, and they got me on the guest list when I saw them in…probably 2001 or so? I thought being on the guest list just meant we had free admission to the show; I didn’t know it also meant I could meet the band. Apparently after we left Marty was wandering around Lee’s Palace looking for us. Dumb Dan. Probably just as well; Mike and I were utterly deaf after that show.

TV is a flat circle

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I’ve been very into the new season of True Detective. I loved season one, which I believe was also early in the McConaissance. Season two was garbage; season three was better.

Part of why I’m liking season four is the linkages to season one. It made me want to go back and watch season one, which I did last week whilst in Moncton. I’d forgotten how good it was.

One other linkage in season four: the appearance of Nivi Pedersen, who I just finished watching in season four of Borgen.