I found a great beer bar. About 70 taps, all the ones I tried were fresh, the most you pay is $4.50 for a 16 oz pint in a sleeve. The bartenders know the beers. They can recommend a beer from all the taps they have at hand with an uncanny expertise (or is that experience?) based on what a newbie asks them for.
There is a pool table. Free popcorn. A slate of regulars who look like they were just taken from some movie set - a B movie.
There is one TV - it sits above the bar, and the 'tenders let the regulars who sit there have the remote.
The bartender will help you order-in take-out from every place in town, including one pizza place that is awesome. One of those thick pizzas where you think you can eat more than one piece, but you really can't.
People talk to you.
And, they have 10 IPA's on tap! Real IPA's, not pretend "kiss your cousin" beers like Keith's. Lagunitas, Stone, Magic Hat, Middle Ages, Victory Hop Devil, Smutty Nose, Ithaca Brewing Company Hop Flower and Double IPA, Southern Tier IPA, and IBC Cascazilla Red, which is a super hoppy red ale, that really is an IPA.
There is one small problem, though.
The pub is in Ithaca NY. Home of Cornell University.
This bar was 8 minutes walk from, and 20 minutes walk to (after) where we crashed on our recent Finger Lakes winery tour. And the 20 minutes does not include a stop at the Hot Truck. I had the Shaggy - Hot and Heavy: This delight is a quarter loaf of french bread with meatball, sausage, cheese, onion, garlic, red hot pepper and grease and garden. I know I ate it all because there was nothing left the next day.
I had a pretty good vacation. I think.
Oh, and we toured some wineries, too.....
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Schwartz's Revisited - Smokin' Meat
Some time ago, I had some fun with Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and Tiger Woods. This during the President's Cup last year.
Well, this week, I got stranded in Montreal with the Riesling Princess on our way back from drinking far too much all over northern NY and southern ON.
So I did what I had to do. I took her out to Schwartz's. She has never been there.
Okay. So I was wrong. The Main is good, but Schwartz's is better. Are you happy now? Our server was even polite, sort of. I mean he didn't swear at us, he turned to face us when he farted. All positive things.
We were there in the middle of a snowstorm that was trapping us in Montreal (there are few better places to be trapped) and the place was still about 80% full at 10 pm on a Tuesday night.
And the meat was fine. Very fine.
And Benelux (corner of Sherbrooke and Jeanne Mance) after was at least as good. Great hefeweizen, and very good West Coast Style Pale/IPA.
Well, this week, I got stranded in Montreal with the Riesling Princess on our way back from drinking far too much all over northern NY and southern ON.
So I did what I had to do. I took her out to Schwartz's. She has never been there.
Okay. So I was wrong. The Main is good, but Schwartz's is better. Are you happy now? Our server was even polite, sort of. I mean he didn't swear at us, he turned to face us when he farted. All positive things.
We were there in the middle of a snowstorm that was trapping us in Montreal (there are few better places to be trapped) and the place was still about 80% full at 10 pm on a Tuesday night.
And the meat was fine. Very fine.
And Benelux (corner of Sherbrooke and Jeanne Mance) after was at least as good. Great hefeweizen, and very good West Coast Style Pale/IPA.
Thai One On
The regular Friday pub.
The regular Friday beers.
But something different is happening this week. No-one orders food from the pub menu.
Six semi-sober adults are still hungry at 7 pm.
Chabaa Thai has been sitting right up the street from the pub for a while now (since September, for chrissakes!!) and I have yet to eat there. Let's not forget that I met owner, and chef Wen Prathumma at a stag party... a very Canadian stag party that he seemed to be somewhat unsure of his correct mode of behaviour at, back in early August. Let's not forget that I helped Wade D. with the wine and beer list for the place. No, let's just say I've been an idiot and taken this long to show up and eat.
So, we walk the 50 metres up Queen Street and sit down to eat.
Well, the joke is on me. The food was amazing. And I warn you. There is one thing on the menu that will completely confound you, send you running home to fire up the BBQ and then waste a large amount of pork ribs to try to re-create this dish. The BBQ Pork Ribs were not of this world. I don't know how he does it (but I am going to try to find out) but these things are puffy. Like airy, like soft, melt in the mouth, spicy, sweet, cherry goodness. We had a certain "celebrity chef" with us at dinner (oh, how he hates top be called that...! {correction -it seems he does not mind at all!}) and he was unsure just how this delicacy was created. And trust me, that says a lot, because he really knows ribs.
That is not to say the rest of the food was not excellent, but these ribs were something else altogether. Next time, I am getting three orders and sucking them all back by myself. And next time may be as soon as I can get there.
The Massaman Curry Pork, Ginger Beef with Mushrooms, Spicy Chicken Noodles, Fresh Spring Rolls (with mint leaves), and everything else I tried, were all really good.
The wine we chose, a Fetzer (California) Gewurztraminer worked very well with almost everything, only losing itself a bit on one red curry dish. Some of the party had Hoegaarden Witbier (which has coriander in it), which is usually amazing with Thai food, and others slurped back Pilsner Urquell without complaining.
Wen apparently was the original chef at start-up for both Baan Thai and Talay Thai. The first as an almost indentured servant at Baan Thai, to where he came after finishing third in some big national cooking competition in Thailand, and then starting up Talay Thai with a brother (at least that's the rumour I heard). Now he is on his own, but not really, as his fiancé, Kim Dao, rumoured to be the daughter of a local restaurateur, is a partner not only in life, but in business.
I have eaten at every place in town that does Thai food now, I believe. None compares to this.
The regular Friday beers.
But something different is happening this week. No-one orders food from the pub menu.
Six semi-sober adults are still hungry at 7 pm.
Chabaa Thai has been sitting right up the street from the pub for a while now (since September, for chrissakes!!) and I have yet to eat there. Let's not forget that I met owner, and chef Wen Prathumma at a stag party... a very Canadian stag party that he seemed to be somewhat unsure of his correct mode of behaviour at, back in early August. Let's not forget that I helped Wade D. with the wine and beer list for the place. No, let's just say I've been an idiot and taken this long to show up and eat.
So, we walk the 50 metres up Queen Street and sit down to eat.
Well, the joke is on me. The food was amazing. And I warn you. There is one thing on the menu that will completely confound you, send you running home to fire up the BBQ and then waste a large amount of pork ribs to try to re-create this dish. The BBQ Pork Ribs were not of this world. I don't know how he does it (but I am going to try to find out) but these things are puffy. Like airy, like soft, melt in the mouth, spicy, sweet, cherry goodness. We had a certain "celebrity chef" with us at dinner (oh, how he hates top be called that...! {correction -it seems he does not mind at all!}) and he was unsure just how this delicacy was created. And trust me, that says a lot, because he really knows ribs.
That is not to say the rest of the food was not excellent, but these ribs were something else altogether. Next time, I am getting three orders and sucking them all back by myself. And next time may be as soon as I can get there.
The Massaman Curry Pork, Ginger Beef with Mushrooms, Spicy Chicken Noodles, Fresh Spring Rolls (with mint leaves), and everything else I tried, were all really good.
The wine we chose, a Fetzer (California) Gewurztraminer worked very well with almost everything, only losing itself a bit on one red curry dish. Some of the party had Hoegaarden Witbier (which has coriander in it), which is usually amazing with Thai food, and others slurped back Pilsner Urquell without complaining.
Wen apparently was the original chef at start-up for both Baan Thai and Talay Thai. The first as an almost indentured servant at Baan Thai, to where he came after finishing third in some big national cooking competition in Thailand, and then starting up Talay Thai with a brother (at least that's the rumour I heard). Now he is on his own, but not really, as his fiancé, Kim Dao, rumoured to be the daughter of a local restaurateur, is a partner not only in life, but in business.
I have eaten at every place in town that does Thai food now, I believe. None compares to this.
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