Monthly Archives: May 2022

Pairing Belgian beer with Atlantic seafood @ Pearl Diver

Now, I don’t usually think seafood when I think of Belgium — hey, the country is surrounded by land on three sides. But at Pearl Diver, this funky little seafood joint on Adelaide, they’re importing Belgian beers from across the pond to go along with some off-the-hook seafood dishes…so naturally, I had to try two or three.

We’re actually starting off with a beer that’s not Belgian, though. I’m a pretty big fan of Blanche de Chambly, a Belgian-style wheat beer from Unibroue in Quebec, so when I heard they had a blueberry version, Blanche de Chambly Bluet, I totally had to check it out! It’s more tart than fruity, but still not too strong — it definitely tastes more like beer than fruit punch, which is a good thing.

We’re pairing that with the one-two punch of scallops and pork belly, along with some asparagus, almonds and a green, minty sauce. The menu says these come three to an order, but they actually gave me four…not that I’m complaining!

But now we’re heading across the pond with Saison Dupont, a blonde ale straight outta the farmhouse. Unlike most saisons you see over here, this isn’t a sour beer, but rich and malty at 6.5% — which is actually kinda light for a Belgian.

For the main course, we’re going with Atlantic cod with grilled zucchini, potatoes, avocado and pineapple salsa, along with some sort of spicy donkey sauce at the bottom. Fish was cooked perfectly, zucchini added a nice touch…but this dish was actually quite spicy. Guess I’m gonna need another beer, bro!!!

This Westmalle Trappist Tripel kicks things up a couple notches at a hearty 9.5%. It’s got a strong flavour that’s literally bananas — and bananas is good! I think I’m gonna need some dessert with this one, though…

Their chocolate brownie seems pretty tiny, but it’s also quite tasty. You’ve got nice bites of chocolate, along with some raspberries, blackberries and a white chocolate sauce. Doesn’t quite soak up the booze when you’re drinking Belgian tripels, though. I guess that’s what the sticky toffee pudding is on the menu for…

Drinks and small bites with a view @ Writers Room

Although we’ve had a couple false starts along the way, it looks like it’s finally rooftop patio season in Toronto, bro! We’re hanging out at the Writers Room Bar, on the 17th floor of the Park Hyatt, where they’re serving up cocktails inspired by Canadian writers — like the Wordsmith, which has a quote from Mordecai Richler beneath it on the menu:

This drink mixes dark rum with sweet vermouth and bitters, for a little extra kick at the end. It also feels a little strong — especially when you’re drinking on an empty stomach. 😉

Speaking of which, these fried maitake mushrooms are some nice little bites, with a sweet chili honey and a side of ranch. Definitely in my top five deep-fried mushroom dishes, bro!!!!

Their Mini Park Burger totally lives up to its name. It’s really just a slider (and a $19 slider at that). Still, it’s pretty tasty, with some onion jam on the bottom and gouda cheese on top…I just wish there was more of it to go around.

If you’re looking for something bigger, their Korean fried chicken comes with lettuce wraps, a little bit of kimchi cauliflower and a little bit of donkey sauce and peanut sauce. I’m not sure you actually get more deep-fried nuggets here than you do with an order of maitake mushrooms…but hey, it does come with lettuce, so there’s that.

Now, I wouldn’t normally order a beer at a cocktail bar…but when they told me about this off-menu, in-house special, you KNOW I had to try it! Their Kabosu IPA is brewed exclusively for the hotel by Folly Brewpub (which we already know is too legit to quit), and it mixes in some Japanese citrus fruit for a taste that’s both hoppy and sour. I think I’ll skip the Margaret Atwood absinthe/cognac cocktail and have another one of these instead… 😛

Mac Daddy lobster mac and cheese @ Pink Sky

Now, in my books, mac and cheese is more of a side dish, not a full meal. But when I heard that Pink Sky, this funky seafood joint on King West, was serving up a lobster mac and cheese with a full lobster inside, you KNOW I had to check it out, bro!!!!

I gotta say, this was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. But while the dish wasn’t exactly huge, it actually had some of the biggest noodles I’ve ever seen in a mac and cheese. I mean normally, I can get 4-5 macaroni noodles in every bite, but this rigatoni was so massive that I had to cut each individual noodle in half, bro! Throw in some big chunks of lobster and a nice, creamy cheese sauce, and I’m not complaining — even though I could probably eat at least two of these.

While you won’t find any craft beer here, they do have Hop Valley Bubble Stash IPA on tap. I hadn’t even heard of this beer until I found it at the Scotiabank Arena a year or two ago (apparently it’s brewed by Creemore), but I gotta say, for an IPA, it checks all the boxes. It could even give Goose Island IPA a run for its money as my new favourite macrobrew! Just stay away from the Goose Green Line APA, though… I learned that in Chicago, bro!!!!!!!

Eating all the tacos @ Añejo

May 23, 2022
greedocatucci
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Anejo Restaurant, barbacoa, chorizo, churros, fish tacos, Mexican food, tacos

So we’re hanging out at Añejo, this funky Mexican joint on King West. Last time we were here, I went to town on this Mexican meat mountain in Flavourtown, which was soooo outta bounds, bro! But you KNOW we can’t go to a Mexican place and not eat tacos — so that’s why it’s time for another visit.

Now, this place has got about a dozen tacos on the menu, but the fancier ones only come in threes. However, you can get their “Tacos Classico” in any combination of one, three or six — and with six different kinds, that means I’m having one of each.

Forget about saving the best for last — we’ve having this one first, son! I’m talking Barbacoa, a super tender pulled beef short rib with crunchy bites of raw jalapeños… I could slam, like, six of these alone!!!

But we’ve moving right along to the Chicken Tinga taco. I usually find chicken tacos to be boring, but this one was a cut above — meat was very tender, although it did not have much of a kick.

On the other hand, the Braised Mushrooms Taco is both the sauciest and spiciest one so far. Not quite as hot as the mushroom birria at Rosalinda… but I definitely needed a few sips of Michelada after this!!!

The Chorizo Crumble was not too dry or too spicy. Basically, it was like ground beef — except it’s sausage. Oh, and a bunch of of it fell out the back…

When it comes to pork tacos, though, I preferred the Pulled Pork. This one gets the job done with a nice little tang, son!!!

Crispy Fried Tilapia was both crispy and flaky. A bit of the house made crema really kicks it up a notch!!!

But you KNOW we’ve still got room for dessert, bro! Last time, I tried the tarta de chocolate, but now we gotta go for the churros. Hot ‘n crunchy, with a whole buncha powdered sugar, and some chocolate sauce on the side for dipping… There’s nothing wrong with that at all!!!

Goin’ all Guy Fieri on fish and pasta @ Fieramosca!!!

May 20, 2022
greedocatucci
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Fieramosca, Italian food, pasta, seafood, tagliatelle, tiramisu

Dude, you KNOW this is body by Italian food, bro! So when I heard about Fieramosca Trattoria, this funky little joint on a side street just a meatball’s throw away from St. George, I definitely had to check it out! This place has been dishing out Italian classics since 1980, so you know it’s gotta be good. And while there’s no shortage of pizza, pasta and meat dishes on the menu — they’ve even got not one, not two, but three different versions of veal scaloppini –we decided to go with the Grigliata Mista di Pesce, aka grilled seafood platter:

You won’t miss Meat Mountain when you’ve got this smorgasbord of seafood, son! There’s three different kinds of fish here — salmon, halibut AND sea bream — plus calamari and tiger shrimp, along with a whole lotta potatoes, peppers, green beans and two baby carrots. Dude, this is enough food to feed at least two people…and since I actually shared this dish, I still had room for pasta:

I am sooooo trippin’ balls over this mushroom tagliatelle, bro! You’ve got three kinds of shrooms — oyster, porcini AND shitake — on top of thick, chewy noodles in a white wine cream sauce. Shut the front, back and side doors!!!!!!!!

But you KNOW we’ve still got room for dessert, bro! This leaning tower of tiramisu tastes just like Nonna makes it — except maybe for that chocolate sauce swirl around the outside. But that didn’t stop me from scarfing it all down, son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Killin’ a cacio e pepe pizza for breakfast, bro!!!

So, we’re hanging out at Stock T.C., this funky joint at Yonge & Eglinton that’s a collaboration between Sud Forno, Terroni and Cumbrae’s. I am no stranger to any of these places, whether it’s the square pizza at Sud Forno or the rooftop patio at Terroni on Price, where they’re serving up one of my personal favs, the Focu Meu. So it’s pretty safe to say that I’ll be ordering pizza here, too.

Now, Stock T.C. has got 15 different pies in the sky, but it was the last one on the menu that caught my eye: Cacio e Pepe Uova e Tartufo. It’s like a delicious run-on sentence in Flavourtown!!!!

OK, now let’s break it down. You’ve got a nice, chewy, thin-crust pizza topped with cheese and pepper, with two kinds of cheeses — mozzarella AND Percorino Romano, bro! Then they put not one, but two eggs in the middle, and shred a whole buncha black truffle overtop. Now, the cheesiness of this pizza is pretty good on its own, but when you get some egg yolk in there, and maybe a bite of truffle, that right there is the ticket!!!

Now, this place only has six beers to choose from — and one of them’s non-alcoholic — so instead I went with a Caesar. I gotta say, this drink was not very spicy, and I couldn’t really taste the booze. I might as well have been drinking a Krombacher 0.0, bro!!!!

CHITOWN CHOWDOWN: Burgers and Beers of Doom @ Kuma’s Corner

Man, I have been wanting to go to Kuma’s Corner ever since I first heard about the heavy metal-themed craft beer & burger joint a few years back. So there’s no way I was gonna leave Chicago without checking this place out, bro!!!!

With so many awesome burgers on the menu, it’s hard to pick just one…but I went with the Sourvein, named after the North Carolina sludgesters. Basically, it’s a thick n juicy bacon cheeseburger topped with fried chicken n waffles, smothered in maple syrup and a spicy donkey sauce, which I scarfed down to the tune of “Deadly Sinners” by 3 Inches of Blood. Man, even the chicken is pretty good on its own…but throw in the beef, bacon and a bite of that waffle, and that just takes it to the next level, bro!!!!

When it comes to beer, we’re starting off with a Zombie Dust IPA from Indiana’s 3 Floyds Brewing. Clean, crisp and not too hoppy, checking it at 6.5%. Gotta love that awesome artwork too!

This Blueberry Sleazecake from Wake Brewing is a fruited sour that tastes like blueberry juice, and is deceptively strong at 6.5%. Man, this would go great with some Motley Crüe on the stereo — but it seems like the playlist here is mostly modern melodic death and Viking metal. (They’re pretty heavy on Lamb of God and Amon Amarth.)

But it only gets heavier from here, bro! This Imperial Blood of the Unicorn from Pipeworks Brewing is a red IPA that checks in at 9.5%. This is quite tasty — a nice balance between the malt of an amber and the hops of an IPA. But let’s just say there’s a reason why they serve it in a little snifter…

And since they don’t have a dessert menu, I am going for some liquid dessert with this Dino S’Mores Russian Imperial Stout from Off Color Brewing. Rich, chocolatey, and 2.5 times as strong as a Guinness — you ain’t drinking this one for breakfast, bro!!!!

CHITOWN CHOWDOWN: This funky BBQ joint is honky tonk redonkadonk!!!!!

Man, I loves me some BBQ, so when I found out that Guy Fieri had visited Honky Tonk BBQ, this funky little joint in the Pilsen neighbourhood, you KNOW I had to check it out, bro! That episode was back in 2009, but I gotta say, this place stands the test of time…

I ordered the Delux Personal Platter, and my food was ready in about 5 minutes. You have a choice of pork or brisket, but I went with the brisket — and it was some of the most tender brisket I’ve ever tasted! There’s just a hint of dry rub here, but other than that, this meat really doesn’t need any sauces or seasonings…

On the side, this dish comes with cornbread, a hot link and your choice of side — I went with the mac and cheese, which was nice n creamy. Cornbread was soft and easy to eat, once you got it out of the corn wrapper, and the sausage was smoky, crispy and more than a little spicy. Nothing wrong with that at all…

Of course, when I saw they had Bacon Candy on the menu, I had to get me some, son! Thick, chewy bacon covered in brown sugar makes this equal parts sweet and meat — it’s a winning combination in Flavourtown!!!

CHITOWN CHOWDOWN: Al’s Italian Beef vs. Portillo’s Hot Dogs

Now, after you’ve had a few drinks in downtown Chitown, you *might* wanna eat something. Good thing they’ve got late-nite institutions like Al’s Italian Beef and Portillo’s Hot Dogs to meet your drunken needs, serving up Italian Beef, Chicago Dogs, and everything in between! We’re gonna stick with the classics, though. Can Al’s make a better hot dog than Portillo’s? How does Portillo’s Italian Beef stand up to a place with Italian Beef in its name? That’s what we’re about to find out…

Al’s Italian Beef

The Chicago Dog, while compact, had a nice snap, good tang from that neon relish, and a little kick from the hot peppers. It even comes with fries, which taste fresh-cut, nice and hot with just enough chew.

I ordered the beef dipped, which meant it was extra messy, with the bread barely holding it together. And paying extra for cheese sauce was not a good idea, since most of it ended up in my hand, not my mouth. But man, this beef is sooooo tender…. This one’s gonna be hard to top!

Portillo’s Hot Dogs

Now, Portillo’s definitely has a better dog — it’s nice and beefy, and only $3.59 (although it doesn’t come with fries.) The pickle is big and juicy, and almost overpowers the meat, while the bun is soft and slightly smushed.

I also got my beef dipped here, although they didn’t ask me if I wanted cheese or peppers, and it just came plain. (I guess there were a couple peppers hiding in there somewhere, but they were pretty well hidden.) They also use a thicker, tastier bun than Al’s, so it doesn’t seem as soggy. When it comes to the beef, it’s not as tender or as flavourful as Al’s — but it’s still a pretty tasty sandwich.

Final Verdict

Well, I guess you can say both these places live up to their names. Portillo’s had the better Chicago Dog…but when it comes to the best thing I ate, between the two places, I gotta go with the Italian Beef from Al’s.

3-course Mother’s Day brunch @ Gallery Grill

We may have been raised by wolves on Triple B, but that doesn’t stop us from going to Mother’s Day Brunch, bro! We’re hanging out at the Gallery Grill, this funky joint inside Hart House on the U of T campus, where they’re serving up a three-course Mother’s Day brunch for 50 bucks. Mama, Mama, I’m coming hooooome!!!!

Now, the starters were all salad, except for this one soup. So I went with the cheesiest salad available, with Buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes and arugula. I think this would go pretty good on top of a burger, bro!!!

For the main course, we’re doing steak and eggs, son! Steak is a nice medium rare, with two sunny-side up eggs, a couple pieces of toasted baguette bread and some bland, unseasoned homefries. Oh, and there’s also a side salad. Dude, this has gotta be the most salad I’ve ate all year!!!!

For dessert, we’re crushing a 70% chocolate sorbet, with crunchy chunks of aquafaba meringue. Apparently, aquafaba is the liquid left over from a can of chickpeas. #TheMoreYouKnow, bro!!!!!

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