A Slight Tasting of the Beer

Hello,

Time for me to write about some beers.

Last week I had the pleasure to attend a beer tasting for Toronto Beer Week at the Beer Bistro on Kings st. just East of Yonge st. This tasting was put on by the good people at The Lost Abby and Port Brewing and was held in a private back room that ended up being packed with fellow brewers and critics alike. Me being a well knows blogger I of course was the talk of the town.

6 beers were sampled with each being given a little introduction and background. Here is what I thought of them all:

The Lost Abby - Avant Garde Ale 6.8%: Fairly crisp, little bit of a warm bread factor at the end. Nice drinking beer that could be used for many occasions.

The Lost Abby - Lost and Found Ale 8.0%: Warm. Brown sugary with the taste getting up your nose a bit. taste in and of itself and maybe wouldn't have it with strong other tastes. Made running over blow torched raisins.

The Lost Abby - Red Barn Ale 6.8%: This one is spiced up. Ginger and pepper are prominent. Apparently however long it sits different flavours start to come out. Almost an apple juice front then roll into the spices.

The Lost Abby - Carnevale Ale 6.5%: Had a tart sort of start with a warm Cinnamon back. This is a meal drinker I would have with meals.

Port Brewing - Old Viscosity Ale 10.5%: 20% of this beer sits in a Bourbon barrel for a while then gets reintroduced to the rest of the batch. It is a sipping beer with Vanilla and woody flavours.

Port Brewing - Older Viscosity Ale 12.5%: This is where the whole batch sits in the Bourbon Barrels. There is no carbonation in this with it looking a bit like Yager. Not my favourite but loved to try it.

Both of these breweries are in California and you can get select choices of them at the Beer Bistro and I have no idea where else. All websites are below for you to check out.

http://www.portbrewing.com/

http://www.lostabbey.com/

http://www.beerbistro.com/

Philty McNastys Oakville Style

I will depart a little away from my normal area and travel to the outreaches of Oakville.

This is an interesting place to write about because all of the little things that made this night intreaguing.

I would like to go on record to say that I do not usually like suburban bars/restaurant because they all have to be driven to and I do not think that goes well with the whole drinking thing at all. Sure you can have a DD but who wants to be that?

The layout of this place was the coolest thing. There were normal restaurant parts to it but also a fairly large semi private room to the side as well as a bar area. There was a little bit for everyone. The bar is centre located (which I like) but the far side of the bar has about 3 steps up to it so that the people sitting at the bar are on regular chairs not bar stools. I really like this as it adds comfort to the awesojmeness of sitting at a bar. However, I think we were seated in the coolest place of all. We were seated in a mock kitchen equipped with a 70s fridge, stove, china on the walls, and a sink as well as a big TV on the wall. It gave the impression that you were just sitting at home and someone was serving you there.................. in the 70s.

As you know, or will come to know, I like deals on food and drink. This place had one for each day so whatever your fancy you could find a day you like whether it be chili Fridays or all you can eat fish and chips Thursdays. I had the fish and it was great. This also wasn;t one of those "You have to eat everything on your plate before we bring you more"places either. I finished my fish and not yet my chips and the guy brought me more just fish. 2 thumbs up for me.

Standard beers were on tap and the service was good so all in all a good night. If you are in Oakville you should hit it up.

New Wild Wing

Now I know what you will be saying. "But Duncan you already reviewed a Wild Wing on your Wing Blog" (wingitTO.blogspot.com). This is a truth but there is a new one that opened up about 3 blocks from my house at Bayview and Millwood that I want to write about. So if you don't like it stop reading now...............

OK now that they have all gone we can get on with it.

Solid outing. Just with the guys this time. Tuesday and Thursdays it is 1.5lbs of wings for the price of 1.

This place is a really funny setup because it started off as a Country Style Donut shop. If you still look hard enough you can figure out where the counter was and how it was set up. This place is small but a really good alternative for Duffs if the line is insane. Standard Wild Wing Menu with lots of choice. The wings are saucy and I had the Spaghetti Western (Med with Parm and Italian) and the Mustang Ranch (Spicy Mustard and Ranch) which were good. There was a really good TV situation going on with tons around and while they did not have all of the sports channels right now they are on order and will be there soon seeing as they only opened this week.

The real surprise and the best thing of the night was the onion rings. They in themselves were good but if you add an order of the Gar Par sauce (Garlic sauce with real Parmesan cheese on top) they are fantastic. I suggest you try this at most restaurants you go to especially Wild Wing.

Solid experience and I will be going back.

PS: There is a Baskin Robbins next door so there is built in desert.

Cheers,

Duncan

O.Noir

I thought I would start off with one of the most interesting places that I have ever had the pleasure to eat at. A restaurant that has no lights at all.

I know I know. I was sceptical at first too but that was before the whole experience started.

It was set up pretty well. Out party was five people and when you enter you sit in a lit area with a bar and wait for your party to arrive. This is actually the place that you order as you have to see the menu to do it. It is a standard 3 course meal and is not that expensive at $39 per person. The Menu has some nice choices on it but I was most intrigued by the surprise options. This is where for any of the courses or all of them if you so choose they will bring you out a surprise dish and you will not know what it will be and it isn't even on the menu. Of course I choose to have all of my food a surprise and even my cocktail a surprise. Others with me not so adventurous.

You are then led into the dining room following the person in front of you led by your blind waiter. Oh yes I didn't even mention this that all the wait staff are legally BLIND!! The dining room is quite loud as you lose one of your senses you tend to speak louder.

I had no idea what to expect because how do you eat without seeing the food? After about 5 mins you become oriented and start to get a hang of remembering where you put your drink and how much food you might still have. You end up eating really close to the plate as you cant see the fork and by the end of each course you have to feel around to see what is left on your plate. The courses are given to you by the wait staff by placing it touching your shoulder and then you taking the plate from them.

I loved it. Decent food (salad with goats cheese and fresh fruit and almonds to start, Chicken veggies and potatoes for main and passion fruit sorbet with fruit for desert were the surprises) and a really different atmosphere were just what we needed for this birthday dinner. You will never run out of things to say as you end up talking about the meal the whole time and people tend to cut loose a bit more if others can't see them.

http://www.onoir.com/TO/frames.htm

Go to this place,
Duncan

Welcome!!!!

Welcome to the TO Chow Down!!

While discussing with my friends one day I thought it would be interesting to lay out all of the places that we go to eat in this city whether they be a regular place that we visit often or a place that we have gone for the 1st time. It might be interesting to get all of the thoughts on the place.


Suggestions are always welcome as we are looking for all types of food places all over the city. Be it take-out, or pizza or fine dining or even Veggie i welcome it all and will never turn down a good meal. People will have their own criteria and their own tastes. Follow who you like and feel free to add your own comments.

The regular contributors will be Lindsay Hunter, Kristin Rodgerson and myself Duncan MacLellan. Feel free to e-mail me any suggestions and write ups of your own and I will post them.

Cheers and Good Eats to all,
Duncan