Calling Food Nation…

Prohibition has released it’s Spring/Summer menu 3 minutes ago.  I don’t really live here but happened to be having a pint and updating the blog for tomorrow’s post when my menu was replaced in front of me.  They are asking for input (as always) and they have modified their previous themes with a few enhancements and a few additions and price alterations (which appear to work out in the favour of the public, for the most part).

Here’s a few enchanting promises:

1)  Fried Squeeky Cheese.  Quebec Cheese curds (beer battered) with 3 in-house sauces (Andoulaise Aoili, Curried Ketchup and Lemon Dill Aioli) – 8.95.
2)  Haute Poutine.  Toronto continues to flip over my favorite food group.  Duck fat fries with duck confit, PQ curds, Duck Crackling and Fois Gras Jus.  11.95.  Duck fat fries with the sauces above – 6.95.
3)  Pulled Pork Sammy.  Wapoos Cider (from the fabulous Prince Edward County)-braised pork shoulder with smoked cheddar, grilled and buttered focaccia.  11.95.

There’s a new chef in town and it’s well worth trying out.  Be sure to check out the newly styled back room, complete with disco ball in tow.  Service remains friendly and beer is plentiful.

The entire area is a fantastic place to explore – a few local wall murals follow:

Explore the area and enjoy some of their delicious looking molten cupcakes – it`s definitely a place and area that is worthy of exploring.

Last night marked our return to The Roy – a fairly new Irish Pub opened in the east end (Leslieville) area of Toronto in the space vacated by the now defunct Kubo (their famous Babycakes have lived on through the wonderful Lil Baci next door).

The beer is plentiful and the food is great.  This Irish-styled pub has all the details of the real deal – including a very authentic carpet that is soft to the touch even through a pair of shoes.  We were there opening night and it’s been packed most nights since – like much of Leslieville this summer be sure to arrive early if you want to guarantee yourself a seat.

The food is something special as well.  It’s not an attempt at a gastropub – rather an attempt at being a pub with authentically good pub food.  The fish and chips are near behemoth and are as tasty as they look.  They make their own nacho chips from scratch and offer regular or sweet potato fries.  Artisan sausages and homemade meat pies are other clear winners that show what the Roy is all about – they take the food as serious as their bar rail.

Our service has also been fabulous – friendly with a side order of cheeky and seem to be interested in being there and having as much fun as the rest of us on the other side of the bar.  They are a definitive part of the atmosphere and make The Roy and fun place to come and return to.

It’s a friendly place with a local feel.  Quick conversations with other tables near you are fairly common and it’s quickly becoming a place where everyone could know your name.  Expect to rub shoulders with your neighbor and come on out for a fun, local evening!

I sit here writing on the eve of the fourth chef’s menu that Dana and I will enjoy together (dinner reservations for 8pm tomorrow evening).  I am most excited and will certainly fill in the kind folks here over the next few days.

Our first tasting menu was about 4 years ago.  It was a surprise for Dana’s birthday.  We had both talked about it and had separately wanted to try a tasting menu long before we reacquainted and started to date.  I had made a previous plan with a friend that we would save our pennies and eat at Susur together if we weren’t dating anyone within 18 months – Dana and I met almost 12 months later and it would be another 18 months before we got to try a tasting menu.

We shared a 15 course meal which came with wine pairings.  Dinner was a 4-5 hour event with seperate service, somalier and private conversations with the chef who prepared our meal in front of us.  The restaurant was shaped like a horseshoe.  We sat side-by-side overlooking the sunken kitchen and could see our meal cooked within feet of where we sat.  Our raised perch allowed romantic and private interlude and we could invite the chef into the conversation by simply raising our tone.

Dana and I had different dishes and enjoyed different servings and sampled 30 dishes and paired beverages (portions of both were small but delightful).  It was my first taste of gourmet poutine and also of a chinatto red wine – a sweet and peppery desert wine that tastes similar to Brio Chinatto.  I still remember many of the courses, the impeccable service and the constant stream of surprises like it was yesterday.

The bill was extravagant (still is by our standards) and the memory was sharp and delightful.  We vowed to do this type of thing again with one constraint – when we started forgetting individual meals of this scale or confusing memories of these types of events, we would stop.  Tomorrow will be tasting menu #4 and we continue to build our memory so there’s still some room for more of these experiences.  Alinea and Susur followed our initial experience (name of restaurant will be revealed in the next paragraph) and BiteMe! (Thuet) is going to be #4.

It was an odd bit of news when I received an email from our friend Nat informing us that, after 6 years, Perigee closed it’s doors in the Distillery.  6 years of great food and great service have given way to high prices, a declining high-end food market and slow economic times.  Perigee was famed for it’s open kitchen and great food.

Perigee, you will always be our first and hold a special place in our heart!