Tag Archives: Great Lakes Brewery

South of the border bacon & eggs @ Chadwick’s

Now, I KNOW my main man Guy Fieri is all about chilaquiles — but they ain’t so easy to find in Toronto, bro. (I have only actually had them twice.) So we heard that Chadwick’s, this funky little joint on Dupont, that’s serving up all kinds of Tex Mex and Latin American fusion food on its brunch menu, had chilaquiles — but they come with eggs on top. Guy Fieri would soooo not approve!!!!

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Now the eggs might come with this dish, but here on Triple B, we’re kicking things up another notch by adding a side of bacon, and then putting it right on top. (Dude, the First Rule of Flavourtown is Always Add Bacon!) This thick-cut pork belly, along with some runny poached eggs, mixed in with those tortilla chips, a few radishes, cilantro, and two kinds of salsas — verde AND roja — it’s like a festival of funk in Flavourtown! And you’ve got two different textures with this dish — the chips on the outside are still hard and crunchy, while the ones that are soaking in sauce are chewier (and easier to cut, cuz this is kinda messy to eat with your hands). Either way, you can’t go wrong, bro!!!!

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We’re washing ‘er down with a Great Lakes Stout, their best impression of a Guinness. This Canadian take on an Irish breakfast smoothie goes down nice ‘n smoothly, at at 4.3% I can shotgun seven of these and still dance a jig, son!!!!

This bar’s alright, if you like IPAs…

Now, unlike my brother from another mother Guy Fieri, we don’t have Dives in our name on Triple B. But that doesn’t mean we only frequent the most upstanding drinking establishments — sometimes, we just want a good, cheap beer in a funky joint with punk rock on the stereo, like Bryden’s on Bloor St or Squirly’s on Queen West. So when I heard about this place called Wasted Youth Bar, just a drunken stumble from Ossington Station, it seemed like my kinda place. And with 6-dollar beers on “Fucked Up Fridays,” well, I just might have a couple… 😉

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We’re starting off with Canuck, a Canadian classic and one of my favourite IPAs. I know they’ve got other beers — more on that in a minute — but when I think of Great Lakes Brewery, this is the first one that comes to mind.

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But now we’re about to funk it up a notch with a Miami Weiss white pale ale from Great Lakes. Dunno the IBUs on this one, but it’s definitely hoppier than its Canuck counterpart. And I’d kinda like to see what it looks like in a glass…but this joint ain’t classy enough for glasses, bro!!!!!

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Speaking of funky, this Burst New England Pale Ale fits the bill. It’s a lot lighter at 4.5% and less hoppy, making it highly crushable. I could probably pound at least seven of these…

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Now, they’ve only got two things on the food menu at Wasted Youth: hot dogs and nacho chips. (No, not nachos, just the chips.) And while those are a few of my favourite things, I just needed something more substantial after slaying seven IPAs. Good thing they let you order takeout from other places. In my drunken stupor, I Ubered up this chicken souvlaki from a nearby joint called East Coast Donair & Grill. Was it the best souvlaki I’ve ever had? No, not really. But I was drunk and hungry, and it got the job done…

Oh, and I paired it with one of the three beers currently on tap — People’s Pint Italian Pilsner. I guess you could say I needed a break from IPAs. 😛

I dunno bro, but I don’t think we’re in Little India anymore…

So, we’re hanging out at Lake Inez, this brand-new craft-beer Asian-fusion sharing-plates place on Gerrard St, over by Coxwell. Now most joints in this part of town are Lahore Tikka This, Chicken Masala That, Hanging Out Second Avenue Eating Chicken Vindaloo…but this place, this place is totally different. You almost wouldn’t know it’s there—they’ve only got a small sign on the door—and you definitely don’t see it coming, but they’ve really some funky dishes, dude!

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Now, I don’t always eat sunchokes, but when I do, I load ‘em up with bacon, green onions and sour cream—baked potato style, bro! The texture is sorta like a potato skin, but they’ve got a nice smokiness, grilled up over Japanese charcoal ‘n all. Pretty sure I could slam 16 of these…but then I wouldn’t have room for the main course!

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Now, they call this a Large Sharing Plate, but it’s really just a light snack in Flavourtown. This Vietnamese-style pork chop comes in about 17 pieces, and it’s topped with a caramelized fish sauce, crunchy cashews, and a pineapple/cucumber salsa. It’s pretty different from any pork dish I’ve ever eaten—that flavour profile is honky tonk redonkadonk—but you know I’d eat it off a flip-flop if we weren’t in the middle of January!

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Of course, you can’t go to a place that has 18 local craft beers on tap and drink only water, so when visiting Lake Inez, I drink Lake Effect IPA from Great Lakes Brewery. This one packs a punch, at 7%, but it actually wasn’t very bitter, especially for an IPA. Lemme tell ya, it sure tastes nice with a pile of pork and a side of sunchokes, son!

TORONTO BEER WEEK: Heeeere, piggy piggy!

Now, it’s been a little while since I’ve had some real-deal BBQ, so when I heard that Great Lakes Brewery was serving up some pulled pork and beef brisket, along with five-dollar craft beers, I took the subway almost all the way out to the end of the line, then got on a bus, son!

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The brewery is just north of the Gardiner, on the way out to the airport. And today they’ve got some BBQ, craft beers on tap, and a roots-rock cover band, to boot! Not that I needed an excuse to get afternoon drunk, or anything…

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I think I had at least one of all of these. Nice pumpkiny flavour on the Saison, the Chill was pretty chill, and the Canuck IPA was famously bitter. I will say that the Karma Citra tasted very similar to the Canuck, cept with a bit more citrus and a lot more alcohol. But of course, I’m mostly here for the food…

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Now, the pulled pork was pretty legit. Nice chewy tang, cooled off by the coleslaw, and the BBQ sauce was on point. But the hush puppies were definitely the star of the show. You take some deep-fried falafel balls and throw some tartar sauce on top, and that’s more country than Aaron Lewis, bro! Pretty sure I could eat eight or 10 of these, and hey, they’re serving ’em up till 6, so I just might go back for seconds…

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