Xmas 2019

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

We just got back from ten-ish days in Nova Scotia. We’d intended to skip Christmas this year in favour of a summer visit, but Lindsay’s broken ankle saw to that.

We got in plenty of family & pet time, both in Halifax and on the farm. We pied. We nogged. We saw friends. We played some crib. I drove around a lot. We had a weird night of singing 80s songs at brother #2’s house.

The (non-turkey-related) culinary highlight for me came early in the trip. Lindsay went out with her friends for dinner at EDNA, while brother #1 and I went to The Ostrich Club in the Hydrostone. It was really excellent food, and a fun time. I even got to try a wine varietal for the first time.

  • Koji aged bison crudo, porcini crème fraîche (Pearl Morissette Cuvee Blu Orange Wine)
  • Pan-seared halibut, chimichurri, vegetable pave (Grosjean Vigne Rovettaz Petite Arvine)
  • Chocolate tart, pine nut caramel, cultured cream sorbet (Port)

Already trying to figure out when I can slot in a return visit.

I already miss the family, but we’re back in Toronto for a quiet week, which we both sorely need. Kramer clearly missed us too; he hasn’t stopped silent-meowing at us since we got home.

“They fly now?” “They fly now.”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’m back in Nova Scotia right now. More to come on the whole trip, but first this: on Boxing Day my dad, my brother, my sister-in-law and I went to Moncton to see Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (imdb | rotten tomatoes).

It wasn’t the best Star Wars movie by any stretch, but it was entertaining, and touching, and wrapped everything up nicely, and sent all fans of the franchise off with the warm and fuzzies.

Take-no-Tani Kuromame

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’ve been a dozen times but it’s always a treat to eat at Jacobs & Co. steakhouse, this time with two colleagues. We tried a three-wave approach.

We started with a Jacobs Manhattan, and then the classic: Jacobs Caesar Salad.

Round two was a 12oz Angus ribeye, La Morocha Farms (San Luis, Argentina) split three ways, with a side of sautéed rapini w/ anchovy butter and chili flakes. We had it with a bottle of Chateau Léoville Las Cases 2005 Grand Vin I brought with me.

The final wave was a phenomenal 8oz A5 Take-no-Tani Kuromame California cut striploin (Nagi-Okayama, Japan) with a side of beefsteak tomatoes w/ feta and oregano. This one we paired with something more subtle, a fruity and delicious Ferrer Bobet “Vinyes Velles” 2015 Priorat.

No one had room for dessert, so we made do with some Sauternes, and were off into the night.

“I’m just trying to understand how a person can buy a fish, and not know what kind it was.”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’d been waiting for The Irishman (imdb | rotten tomatoes) to come out on Netflix, and then I had to wait for a 3+ hour window in which to watch it. But I did manage it last weekend.

It was…exactly what I expected. Which is to say, an amazing Scorsese flick. I do think there’s a bit of nostalgia embedded in that 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but I have no issue with lauding an impeccably* crafted story, even if it’s a fairly familiar one.

* Impeccable, except that digital anti-aging method. Yikes.

“Chekhov.”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Lindsay and I have both been so busy that we haven’t had much of a chance to just have a normal Saturday night out. Last night we finally managed it.

First we had dinner at The Civic in the Broadview Hotel:

  • Petite Thuet sourdough w/ cultured butter
  • freshly shucked west coast & east coast oysters w/ hot sauce, horseradish, lemon
    • glasses of Champagne
  • 36oz herb-crusted bone-in dry-aged ribeye w/ confit shallot, roasted sunchokes
  • crispy potatoes
    • bottle of Malbec

Then we went to the Crows Theatre to see Stars: Together, a play by and about the band Stars. It was musical-ish and autobiographical-ish, not quite like anything I’ve seen before.

We capped off the evening with glasses of wine (including one of the mulled variety) at Chez Nous.

Today we’re right back at it but it was nice to shut off for those few hours last night.

“And you were on a horsey!”

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I watched a couple of movies while chilling the past couple of days, and inadvertently did myself a Brad Pitt double feature.

I can’t believe I waited so long to see Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood (imdb | rotten tomatoes) given it’s a Tarantino flick. It was incredibly entertaining, and such a colourful recreation of that particular time. Not sure whether it was a faithful retelling stylistically, but it sure looked great. Fun little Inglourious Basterds references too.

I really didn’t know what to expect from Ad Astra (imdb | rotten tomatoes) — I don’t even remember it coming out. It was okay…like a shorter, blander Interstellar.

ēst

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Last night we finally tried ēst restaurant, which opened in our neighbourhood a few months ago. Their Instagram account has been filling my mouth with saliva since then, so were glad to make reservations when our friend SueB suggested it. Unfortunately she had a sudden engagement which pulled her away at the last minute, but we carried on.

The space itself is beautiful — it’s hard to believe this is where Sugarloaf Bakery used to be — and quite comfortable. The room holds two groups of four, eight two-tops, and a handful of bar seats. They wisely resisted the urge to cram one more table in.

The service is a teeeeeensy bit on the stuffy side, but our server James warmed up to us through the meal, and Sommelier Tiffany Jamison-Horne was delightful. She pulled some deep cuts for the premium wine pairings too, as you can see below. I didn’t get any notes on producer and vintage of the wines, but think I can remember everything generally.

  • Cocktails
  • Omnibus amuse-bouche: (1) prawn hot dog w/ chive mustard, brioche; (2) pork cheek w/ fish sauce caramel; (3) sunchoke skin w/ whipped sunchoke, sunflower seed condiment; (4) red pepper chip w/ fermented red pepper relish, cashew sour cream
  • Red fife bannock w/ butter covered in dried Saskatoon berries
    • Franciacorta
  • Squid w/ grilled cabbage, vegan XO sauce
    • Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes
  • Smoked corn broth w/ poached lobster, foie mousse
    • Pinot Gris from Alsace
  • Potato dumplings w/ cultured butter
    • Pearl Morissette “Metis Blanc” Chardonnay
  • BC Steelhead trout w/ kohlrabi, sesame sambal, potato emulsion
    • Etna Bianco
  • Sixty-hour sous vide short rib w/ beef fat confit leek, jus (Dan)
    • Merlot/Cab blend from Margaux
  • Smoked duck breast w/ radish top pesto, marinated radish, duck confit sourdough doughnut (Lindsay)
    • Pinot Noir from Sancerre (!)
  • Sea buckthorn cream soda palate cleanser
  • Root vegetable sundae: potato skin ice cream, sweet potato brownie, parsnip dulce de leche
    • Pedro Ximinez from Montilla-Moriles
  • Orange & olive caramel petit fours
    • Sauternes

In short: one of the best tastings menus I’ve had in some time. That includes Smyth in Chicago earlier this month, which sports two Michelin stars and cost us twice as much. Usually there’s a course in every testing menu that underwhelms, but every course we tried last night was 100% on point. That bannock course, served along with a lesson in colonialist misdeeds, was every bit as memorable as Alo’s famous milk bun intermezzo.

It sounds as if their menu will be expanding in the new year, but we’ll be back before then. As phenomenal as the short rib was, I need me that duck.

Sexy self-help

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

On Tuesday Lindsay and I went to see Sasha Velour‘s Smoke & Mirrors show at the Danforth Music Hall. I didn’t really know what to expect — all I know was the famous Whitney Houston lip sync that Lindsay showed me when she was on Drag Race.

I was pretty blown away though, especially by the second half. The combination of a few great songs for the lip sync and the visuals felt like something I hadn’t seen before, and that gave me pretty visceral thrills at a few points. I mean, I get that I’m hardly an expert at drag revues, but Sasha dancing to Le Tigre’s “Deceptacon” backed by in-tux video Sashas was one of the cooler things I’ve ever seen on stage.

The Now Toronto review, while complimentary of some areas, called the visuals “obvious” and the show beholden to “the standard for drag […] set by Drag Race“, and I can see that, even though I think there has to be some audience service for what brought that big a crowd out in the first place. But the obvious (and even sweetly ragged at times, like during the Judy Garland number) visuals and choreography was part of what I admired about the show. Like, this growing pain of stepping onto a huge stage. This Herculean effort to bring a creative vision and narrative to life in the face of what I can only assume are ridiculous and frustrating barriers, not to mention logistical challenges. This pulling along of that TV audience into something more substantive, even if it wasn’t as substantive as it might have been. (Is it ever?)

To me it felt like bootstrapped brilliance. Like an artist who felt compelled to get this show out of them and into the world for everyone to see.

To me those will always be the best kind.

Photo by Kym Ellis on Unsplash

Cerveza -> Vino

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’ve been undergoing a change this year. Or, more specifically, a narrowing.

While I’ve always been a big fan of both beer and wine, lately I’ve been shifting my focus much more to the latter. I stopped trying to keep up with new craft beer releases in Toronto. I haven’t even been to the reborn Volo, which would have seemed unimaginable a few years ago. I’ve even mostly stopped drinking it, except for when I take advantage of a newly-discovered trove of excellent beers at the Rosedale Diner that turn half-priced from 3-5. Anyway.

In lieu of beer I’ve been leaning toward wine. I have lots of it at home, I live down the street from an excellent all-Ontario wine bar, and I’m taking an intro wine course at George Brown. People laugh a bit when I say that because it sometimes seems to them like I know a lot about wine, but really I’ve just tasted a lot. This course has been super helpful in understanding a bit more of the method, the nomenclature, and how to properly describe what I get on the nose and palate. We’ve already covered the major areas of France, Eastern Europe more generally (flitting over Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Greece), Italy (which I missed whilst in Chicago), and, yesterday, Spain & Portugal.

Earlier this week I happened to also get an early look at Spain in a tasting event with John Szabo. He walked us through wines from several regions of Spain, throwing in notes on food, history, beauty, architecture, etc. as well. It all just made me so excited for my trip (or trips?) to Spain early next year.

I mean, it’s not like I needed an excuse to get more into wine. But here we are.

.:.

Cover photo by Kym Ellis on Unsplash