A Night in the Museum

On a cool spring night, at the end of the work week, lines of people gathered outside the ROM  (Royal Ontario Museum). This was the first night of their Friday Night Live series. For eight Fridays in May and June, a party is coming to the museum. DJs, bands, food trucks, and bars will invade the galleries of art, history, and dinosaur bones. And we were lucky enough to be at this first evening.

Each night has a theme and this one was #ROMink, celebrating their current Tattoos: Ritual, Identity, and Obsession exhibit. So it was open to the guests, along with most of their regular exhibits. But the show dedicated to the history of body art only let people in at 8:00, so we had time to eat first.

There were many food truck's providing tempting fare all over the museum. Of course, they can't bring their trucks into the galleries. It also didn't appear as though they could cook inside and nearly everything was pre-made with hot food coming out of chaffing dishes. Although understandable, this did lead to a few misses both on the creativity and the execution fronts. But that didn't mean there weren't some excellent morsels. By far the best bite we had was served up by Matt Basile and the Fidel Gastro team. They were doing tacos, and we had the spicy chicken and their brisket. We could have gone back for many more, they were so good.

Jen thought that touring a museum with cocktail in hand was the perfect way to go about it and that the ROM should make their bars permanent fixtures. 

After a sampling a few food stalls and having a drink, we headed up to the Tattoo exhibit. It's not in a large gallery so we were happy to have gotten there early while it still wasn't too crowded. Although the staff did seem to be restricting entry, so maybe it never reached an uncomfortable level.  The show concentrated on the cultural development of tattoos of various ethnic groups and brought it from the traditional to the more modern Western art form.

When we rejoined the party it was in full swing. The occupancy seemed to have quadrupled since we left the main galleries to see the special exhibit. This was probably the result of the ROM's ticketing policy. Buy you're ticket in advance and you can get in at 7:00, but wait until the night of and you have to wait until 8:00 to buy a ticket at the door and entry is not guaranteed (so it's best to plan ahead). We caught some dance tracks on the main floor and jazz band on the second, had some more food and drink, and called it a night. After a long week at work, we just can't dance the night away like we used to. But we knew we'd be coming back again.

If you do go, tickets are $16 and its best to buy in advance unless you like waiting in long lines and trusting to chance. Inside, all food and drink is $6 dollars each and tickets have to be purchased in blocks. The ticket kiosks by the front door get long lines but there are ones near every bar, and some of the kiosks further in barely had any line at all.

The Great Icewine Weekend

Niagara has been one of our favorite spots since long before we moved to Toronto. Once every couple of years, we would make the pilgrimage, driving the seven and half hours from Montreal to visit some wineries and take in a few plays at the Shaw Festival. Over the years, we’ve watched new wineries sprout up and others grow from small start-ups to industry leaders.

Since the move, we have made the (less arduous) drive monthly instead of annually. However, last weekend was our first experience with the Icewine Festival.

We had hoped to get out to it last year, but David’s work had him out of town it simply wasn’t possible.

This year we decided not just to go but to make a weekend of it.

Discover

We drove down to the peninsula on Saturday morning. The cold had settled in and the forecast called for -15 with the wind-chill. Somehow this seemed appropriate and the snow lingering between the trees in the orchards and the vines in the field set the mood wonderfully.

For those who don’t know, Niagara is the spit of land nestled between lakes Erie and Ontario, just south of Toronto. Historically, its southern location and longer growing season made it an ideal spot for fruit farms harvesting peaches, apples, and cherries. But grapes did well here too. And over the last twenty years, a serious wine industry has taken root. Some producers stock the LCBO and export around the world. Many are smaller and sell only in their shops along the wine route.

Drive east along the peninsula and you come to Lake Ontario and have to make a choice, go right and head to Niagara Falls and Buffalo, or left and go up to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Our choice is usually left.

Niagara-on-the-Lake is a charming little town filled with quaint shops and some wonderful restaurants. It is also home to the Shaw Festival. And in the summer time, you’ll likely find the town packed to the rafters with tourists and day-trippers. In the winter, it’s a little quieter.

We arrived on the peninsula around eleven in the morning and made our first stop at Red Stone winery. One of the features of the Niagara Icewine Festival was the Discovery Pass—a coupon program, where for $40 you get to try icewine and food pairings at eight different wineries. Red Stone was a participant, a newcomer to the scene, and quickly becoming one of our favorites.

They were pairing their 2010 Cabernet Franc icewine with a venison, dark chocolate chili. As it was explained to us: traditionally icewine has been served with dessert, but the sweetness of the wine actually works well with spicy food as the sweet and spicy balances each other out. And this pairing made us believers. This was one of the best bites of our whole tour. The chili was remarkably rich. The venison was slow braised and perfectly tender. There was a good but not overpowering heat to it, and the drier than typical Cab Franc icewine worked amazingly with it.

We continued along hitting more wineries and taking in the beautiful country scenery. At Vineland, they did not serve an icewine in the pairing but a new Cabernet Franc they just released. This might be viewed as cheating, but the generous Cuban with ham, pork belly, and artisanal pickles made the stop well worth it. And despite it not being an icewine, the Cab Franc was very good and the pairing really worked.

Another highlight was Flat Rock, were we had pork belly again. This time it was roasted with parsnip puree and paired with a 2013 Late Harvest Gewurztraminer. Then there was out of this world porketta at Reif. Not only was it a delicious morsel, but it was an experience as a whole pig was roasting in the back cellar room. And one of our other favorite pairs was the East Coast seafood chowder served with a Vidal icewine at Konzelmann. The chowder was generous with the seafood and had a great hit of black pepper, which proved again the magic of the spicy-sweet combo.

In town

It was late in the afternoon when we pulled into Niagara-on-the-Lake and checked in at our hotel. We stayed for the first time at 124 Queen, a boutique hotel right in town. Using space above the shops on Queen Street and located in scattered properties around the town center, it proved to be a luxurious and comfortable place to make our home base.

We had dinner that night at Treadwell Cuisine restaurant. This is hands down one of the finest restaurants in the region and perhaps the entire province. Treadwell hits our farm-to-table sweet spot and we’ve enjoyed every meal we’ve had in this cozy little restaurant tucked just off busy Queen Street.

Some incredible roasted meats were on the menu that night and Jen enjoyed the Asian-style braised short ribs that were reminiscent of old-school Canadian/Chinese spare ribs. And David was extremely pleased with the night’s special, a take on cassoulet with a whole lamb shank and white beans.

After dinner, we attended the Icewine Cocktail Competition. Held in the Icewine Village as part of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival (which is different although easily confused with the Niagara Festival). Wineries and local restaurant used the sweet wine to make unique cocktails and tasting was available to all. Our favorite? Inniskillin’s Perfect Pear that combined their Riesling icewine with Knob Creek bourbon and pear. Although many were tasty, this could be added to our regular repertoire.

But it wasn’t just drinking. For most of the event, a band was playing some traditional funk and getting the crowd up to dance. And keeping moving was necessary as it was a cold winter night that pushed our warm weather gear to their limits. If dancing isn’t you’re thing, there were fire pits stationed about, which provided a lot more relief than the tables and bar that were made out of solid ice.

Day two

We had heard great things about the Willow Cakes and Pastries bakery, so we made it our stop for breakfast Sunday morning. David had perhaps the most Canadian breakfast of his life with coffee and a maple bacon doughnut which was crazy good.

In the afternoon, we returned to the Icewine Village for their daytime event. Vineyards filled the booths and offered tastings of their icewines and some local restaurants served food. The weather was thankfully warmer than the night before and allowed for a leisurely tour of the various stalls. We sipped from our glasses at the ice tables and listened to a few of the music acts that took the stage.

Thinking of going?

We had originally hoped to get this blog post up earlier in the week for anyone going this weekend. A little late but there is still one day left to get out there and experience some of these amazing experiences. The Discovery Pass and all participating wineries will still be underway. And if you don’t think you can get eight wineries in, get one pass and share it between a couple. It’ll get you four great tastings, In Niagara-on-the-Lake, a big tent was set up on Queen Street last Thursday for the big White on Ice Dinner and is still up this weekend for their Shop, Sip, Sample, and Savior event.

Catching up for the holdays

We have been out of touch the last couple of weeks, finding ourselves increasingly busy with preparing for the holidays as well as a trip out of town. But before things get really crazy, we wanted to catch up on a wonderful evening we spent earlier in the month.

Chrismukkha

Originating as a pop culture reference on the TV show The O.C., Chrismukkah is the hybrid family tradition of celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas. This duality of cultures was something Chef Ariel Coplan and his business partner Jacob Fox of Thoroughbred Food & Drink  both experienced growing up, so when the good people at U-Feast approached them about doing a one of a kind dinner they took on the challenge of merging the tastes of two separate traditions into one nine course meal.

Before getting on to the food, a few notes about the hosts of the evening. If you have been following the blog then you know that we simply loved our first experience with U-Feast. The combination of great food, good value, a unique foodie experience, and the chance to meet and converse with other similarly minded people makes it tempting to go to every single one of the events they hold. If you live in the Toronto area and you haven't signed up yet, you absolutely should. And if you don't live in Toronto, rumor has it they will be expanding to other cities in the future.

We had not dinned as Thoroughbred before. and although the food we had this night was not on their regular menu, the experience was so wonderful, with each bite being memorable and the serving staff being incredibly gracious that we will definitely be coming back.

And a special word of thanks to ACE Bakery, who helped sponsor the event. Pictured above is one of the centerpiece loaves of bread they baked for the occasion. They also raffled off an amazing basket of their products, which we were incredibly fortunate to win. It was the perfect prize for any foodie and David was so happy about it, he didn't even mind carrying it home on the subway.

The Feast

Things started off with a tasty bite of bacon Challah, which set the irreverent mood of the night. This was served along with a Manischewitz cocktail. It was followed up with sweet potato latkhahs with ricotta and caviar. The sweet potatoes added a faint callback to Christmas side dishes with the sweetness and slight squash taste influencing its otherwise traditional flavor profile. We were off to a good start.

Next up was a deconstructed take on a bagel and lox. Served more as a salad, the crouton-like everything flavored bagel added a good wallop of savory, while the fresh greens and radish gave it a crisp, clean finish.  

  

The turkey matzahball soup was one of the most noteworthy dishes of the evening. Rich and comforting, this served up Christmas dinner in a bowl with all the requisite turkey, stuffing, and cranberry flavors.  

Chef Coplan's take on Kischkah came out next. Served up was a dried fruit mincemeat and blood sausage. This was one of David's favorite dishes as the sweetness of the mincemeat played off the the rich, offal quality of the sausage perfectly. And Jen commented, "I want to eat a tray of tarts made from this mincemeat."

The butter poached lobster with scalloped potatoes was a holiday memory from visiting family Atlantic Canada and might not be what most people think of when they picture a Christmas or Hanukkah meal. But that didn't take anything away from the flavors. The only unfortunate thing was that the bacon jam intended to accompany the dish only hit the table after it we had fully consumed it. It was a shame because one could see how it would have added complexity to the lobster.

  

Our last savory course was the salted meat. This consisted of a luscious piece of pastrami style brisket with parsnip, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. The portions of the dinner had been kept small with each consisting of a bite or two per person,but by this point we were getting very full. Not that we left anything on the plate.

Dessert consisted of eggnog marshmallow and spice cake donuts, providing a wonderful sweet end to this amazing dinner. 

Beer 

The beer for the dinner was provided by High Park Brewery. The English Pale Ale they had on tap was excellent and had many people at the table wishing it was available in the LCBO. One couple even tried making arrangements to pick up a case personally. We were lucky enough to sit next to Dan, one of the founders, and got to chat with him about the brewery's creation and its development. The new company was started by four friends, who all lived in the High Park neighborhood and who shared a passion for beer. We were happy to get the inside track and look forward to encountering more of their brews in restaurants across the city. We wish them well.

Last Words

Happy holidays to all our readers! May this be a joyous time with your families regardless of what faith you celebrate. And may you take the time to connect with the traditions of your past while creating new ones for the future. For us, it should be an interesting Christmas this year with the windows open instead of the fire blazing.

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

Last weekend, we kicked off our holiday season with a blitz of Christmas activities, starting off with the most insanely large craft fair we had ever been to and ending with fireworks over City Hall.

The One Of A Kind Show

With over 800 vendors, the twenty-five (very long) aisles of the One of a Kind Show can take a while to go through. Located at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place it is on until Sunday (December 6th). If you're looking for some unique gifts or wanting to support local artisan's this is definitely the place to go, You will find art, furniture, clothes, soap and beauty products, food, and much, much more. 

Toronto themed T-Shirts are available

If you go, here are some things to know:

• It's big. Plan on at least three hours and up to a couple of days to see it all. We were pretty speedy about it and were there for about four hours. This also means comfortable shoes are a must.
• If you buy your tickets in advance, it's cheaper and you don't have to wait in as many lines when you arrive.
• Taking the street car? Get off at the Strachan stop instead of Exhibition Place and you'll be right at the entrance.
• If you're planning on making a lot of purchases, bring a bag to hold them and which is comfortable to carry (the plastic bags provided get heavy and cut into your hands).
• Bring bottled water. There is no restrictions on bringing bottles in and they are exorbitantly priced on site. Also halfway through at the back, their is a fresh water station where you can refill them.
• There is food available if you need to stop for a meal. There are a few sit down places about the aisles such as the cafe, a sandwich shop, and a Pizza Pizza.  But also tucked away in a nook at the back are a couple of food trucks.
• All of the chocolate, cakes, and other goodies make great gifts but since they are all located in a few rows roughly around Aisles E (sorry I forgot to note down the exact area), plan to tackle these strategically. Nearly everyone of these vendor's of consumable goods are giving away snacks and it's a welcome blood sugar boost when your energy is flagging. We accidentally reached this oasis near the end of our day and were incredibly thankful for it.

Cavalcade of Lights

After shopping until we were nearly dropping, we grabbed some dinner, then headed over to the Cavalcade of Lights. Located right outside City Hall, we joined thousands of other Torontonians for this celebration featuring live music and culminating in the lighting of the Toronto tree and fireworks.

It was a lovely, if cold, event that really brought out both the Christmas spirit and the city pride.

December is a busy month and it's just gotten started. We'll be keeping everyone posted of our adventures here as well as on Twitter and Instagram. 

We are currently celebrating the one year anniversary of our move to Toronto. So many of our adventures happened before starting this blog that we will be doing a year in review. Expect some posts in the last few days of the month with all of the highlights of our fun times in this great city.

Last Saturday, We attended The Gourmet Food and Wine Expo, although it may have been more accurately named: The Wine, Beer, Liquor, Cocktails, and Gourmet Food Expo. It was a telling (and more than a little ironic) that upon entering we were greeted by a representative for a M.A.D.D. associated non-alcoholic beverage company. That appeal to moderate drinking was soon lost as liquor took center stage. Granted, you didn’t need to get loaded wandering around the convention center, but we witnessed many who chose to. And even while trying to take a conservative approach to the drinking, there were so many tempting beverages to try, it soon became a marathon for our livers.

The show

This was the third major food festival of the year which we've attended and although we enjoyed ourselves and had a good time, it was the least memorable of the trio. Why? Well as stated above, the focus wasn’t really on the food. There were food vendors and some really good ones, but they seemed vastly outnumbered by the wine, craft beer, and other alcohol purveyors.  Kiosk that offered food were so few and far between in some stretches, we found ourselves wondering when we’d get to the next one. This was unexpected for an event with "gourmet food" at the head of its title.

Another reason we were disappointed was that the cost. Instead of small bites for a few dollars, thee were larger portions with prices to match. Most items went for a minimum of four dollars and it wasn’t hard to spend six to eight per plate. This made it harder to try a lot and sure made you run through the tickets quickly. 

Which brings me to my final complaint: the tickets. Organizers really need to modernize and move to an electronic payment method like Taste of Toronto or Toronto Food & Wine were using this year. The plasticized tickets were cumbersome and a challenge to tear off, especially once you were holding a purchase in one hand and a wine glass in the other.

The drink

There was no lack of choice in this department. If there is a style of wine, beer, or liquor you enjoy, you were bound to find it. David was overwhelmed with the craft beer selection and we tried many fantastic wines that we will be looking out for the next time we’re at the LCBO. But unlike a wine tasting, these pours were rather substantial and more often than not we turning up things we would have loved to try because our glasses were still nearly full. We mostly kept clear of the hard alcohol but we did have to end the day with some fine cocktails made with gourmet mixers from Fever-Tree. 

I feel that since this was such a big part of the show, I am being neglectful with describing the choices that were available and the great things we sampled. And the truth is we did neglect the beverages. We took almost no pictures and we kept few notes. We were there for the food and perhaps we stuck to that notion too rigidly during our tour.

The demonstrations

Throughout the day there were many different presentations and tastings.We attended The Wine Sisters' holiday tasting. Erin and Courtney Henderson are both sommeliers, who run an event planning business here in Toronto. A small fee was required but this was offset be the four wine tastings that the sisters walked us through. The show covered proper tasting techniques and many holiday entertainment tips. The sisters gave a lively and entertaining change of pace to the day and after a few hours of walking around the convention center, a welcomed chance to sit down. The four wines we tried were under $25 crowd pleasers perfect for the holidays. And one of their top tips was to always hold the glass by the stem, not just to keep your hand from warming the wine (the reason we knew) but to keep oily deposits from building up and grossing out the people you're mingling with.

The Food

There were a few items that we had read about before coming, like the sushi burrito and the "Pig Mac" (on a side note, this was actually the third sandwich in our travels we’ve had called a “Pig Mac.”), but we found both lacking as the concept proved better than the execution. As far as high concept street foods go, we’d have top award the spam sushi the winner. Although not all that original (it’s been a staple in Hawaii for years), it wasn’t something you often in the T.O. and it was our first chance to try it.

But the hands down winner of "the best thing we ate" prize was the Filipino poutine from Casa Manila. We’re huge fans of this North York gem and were eager to see what they brought to GFWE. We had a couple of their extremely tasty skewers but the decedent chicken sauce doused with aioli and sriracha covering our fries wowed us with it’s tart sour notes and generous but not overpowering heat. It was something we could have eaten a few plates of. But then we would have needed a long nap.

Runners up would be: Little Fin’s shrimp and bacon mac & cheese. It was a small portion but packed big flavors; and Bake Three Fifty’s build your own ice cream sandwich. Selecting from different cookies, ice creams, and toppings, it was easy to construct some truly wild and heart clogging combinations.

The verdict

Although we were disappointed that the focus of the event wasn’t on gourmet food, we would recommend it. And in fact, we did recommend it later that night when it came up in conversation. Perhaps next year our expectations will be more in line with the spirit of the show and we’ll go in thinking more about the wine and beer we’ll be trying rather than the food.

U-Feast, We Feasted

Monday night, we were lucky enough to take part in a unique foodie experience: the "Wet" Your Appetite  dinner by Matt Basile. The night was organized by U-Feast, a young company with big dreams.

U-Feast is the brainchild of a few local entrepreneurs, including Terry Mocherniak and Kenn Koid, who I spoke with at different points during the night. The concept is to create an online community of food lovers and create fun and unique experiences for them. Toronto is staged as the testing ground for the enterprise, which began offering "pop-up" foodie events in May of this year, but their goal is to go international with it.

We first heard about U-Feast at Toronto Food & Wine, and we were intrigued, first by the novel idea and then by the amazing looking dinners they were advertising on their website. With the events usually taking place on week nights and not being entirely sure what we were getting ourselves into we hesitated a bit, but finally decided to take the plunge with this one.

A big draw was chef Matt Basile, the hot, young chef storming Toronto's culinary scene with Fidel Gastro and his restaurant Lisa Marie on Queen West. Lisa Marie has been on our radar for months and we had just been waiting for an opportunity to dine there. But this dinner offered something remarkably unique: we wouldn't just get to try Basile's food, we'd get to see his interpretation of Filipino street food. Matt Basile has recently returned from a trip to the Philippines and every dish was inspired by his experiences in their wet markets. As he said afterward: the food wasn't exactly traditional but all of the flavors you would expect are there. It had his own twist on them and also Toronto had made an impression upon them. As people who have spent time around chefs and seen firsthand the injection of inspiration that comes from experiencing new cuisines, this really spoke to us something that could be amazing. 

Not your average dinner party

The night dinner was held in an area of town more famous for its meat packing industry than fine dinning. Walking up to the nondescript building next to a self-storage facility made us feel like we had taken a wrong turn somewhere. But once we stepped through the door of the loft space and smelt the heavenly aromas of food, it was clear we were in the right place. The location, a it turned out, is Matt Basile's studio kitchen used for photo shoots and the filming of cooking shows.

The night had a convivial atmosphere of a friend's dinner party, where no one knew each other. As one guest was overheard to say, "But it's a party where you don't feel guilty about not sticking around to clean up." A room full of strangers could have become a quiet and cold place but the common love for food broke down any barriers and as people eyed the preparation of the meal with a glass of wine in hand, the conversation was loud and friendly.

The Feast

At a cozy, communal table, the feast was served up family style, starting with sambal head on prawns and smoked lechon lettuce wraps. The prawns were gorgeous and meaty packing lots of sweet flavor offset by the spicy sambal sauce. The pickled cucumber that accompanied it wasn't just garnish, it was just as good as the seafood. The pork lettuce wraps was one of the stars of the night. By midway through the meal, it was winning the informal poll of people's favorite bite. The meat was succulent and smokey. The pickled mango, sweet, tart, and fresh. And the fried pork skin light, salty, and crispy

Wine was being poured by John Paul Adamo of the Adamo Estate Winery, a vineyard in one of Ontario's non-traditional wine making zones and one of the event's sponsors. John Paul accompanied this first round with a  crisp and refreshing Chardonney Musque

From there, we moved on to spicy curried mussels and adobo chicken wings. The mussels were perfectly cooked and the broth was lively with coconut, green curry, and kalamansi limes. To sop up all that wonderful broth, coconut cheddar  hominy grits were brought out. They were rich and creamy and worked some fantastic alchemy with the curry. As for the wings, the smoke taste wasn't overpowering and added to their addictiveness. It was hard to stop eating them with all their fall-of-the-bone goodness and the platter sitting temptingly close. These dishes were perfectly paired with an Adamo Riesling, which had the right amount of sweet to balance the spicy and the right amount of citrus to balance the richness.

By this point we were getting to know some of our dining companions well and restaurant recommendations were flying across the table quickly. It was a nice change from a restaurant atmosphere. Just about everyone here was a foodie and no one was here for some other reason than to revel in the food. It was also nice that you didn't get any odd looks for photographing the food, since everyone was doing it.

Offered not so much as a palate cleanser but more of a respite from the meat heavy plates that had been served so far, the black noodles were the next to land on the table. Traditionally these are cooked in copious amounts of lard but Basile went with duck fat and it's impossible to say that was a bad decision. This simple looking dish just may have been the best of the night. My only complaint was that only one poached quail egg topped each family style bowl and I wanted my own. It was incredibly rich and decadent making it a revelation—this is how you cook noodles, people! Along with the noodles out came the Pinot Noir, which provided a surprising compliment with it's subtle fruits and acidic backbone. 
.

We were starting to feel more than full, but we weren't done yet. Our last course was whole sea bream and stewed eggplant and king oyster mushrooms. The fish was lovely, delicate and light and the eggplant was creamy and tart. We wished we could wind back time and save room to eat more of these late arrivals, because it was feeling like we were bursting at the seams.

The night ended the way it began with lots of conversations. The hosts and the chef were out among us diners, talking about this wonderful experience we all had just been a part of.

Future feasting

U-feast is a concept and a business I hope will thrive and grow. This celebration of food culture is something that any resident of Toronto who loves food should experience at least once. As for the two of us, we're already anxious for our next adventure with them.

Halloween

Last Saturday was an important day in our calendar. A day where we usually go all out with costumes, a huge party, and with much time spent decorating and cooking. This being our first Halloween in Toronto, things were a little quieter. Our temporary housing doesn’t have the space for much more than a small get-together and all of our (many) Halloween decorations are boxed up at the back of a storage locker. So we decided to get tickets to an event and a have nice dinner beforehand.

Scary good

Despite that headline, there was nothing scary about Byblos, although it was hard to believe how good dinner was. We've been dying to try it for months, and it didn’t disappoint.

We ate upstairs in their very chic dining room. The décor was a beautiful blend of classic and modern. Showpiece light fixtures hung down just about everywhere, giving it the feeling of some indistinct era of the past or perhaps the future.

The service was incredible. There is something special about any restaurant the exceeds expectation in the service department. Service can so easily make or break a dining experience—it can elevate mediocre food and ruin wonderfully prepared meals. But when it's attentive, friendly, never hovering, and exceptionally helpful...and the food is amazing, then you know you have a winner.  Which might be why Byblos is a hard place to get a reservation, especially on the weekends.

The cuisine is described as Eastern Mediterranean and consists of items from the Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, and Israeli culinary traditions. Our waiter wasted no time making us feel at home with the somewhat unfamiliar selection and was generous with his help and suggestions.

We started off with two incredible cocktails that surprised us with their fresh and original flavors. Then we ordered six plates to share between the two of us consisting mainly of a selection of appetizers. I could easily spend a few pages gushing about the food that greeted us, but I'll save you having to read through it all with some food porn pix.

 

 

One of David’s favorite things about the meal was that thought was put into how the food came out. The dishes we ordered were brought to us in sensible courses, rather than simply their placement on the menu. So we got our grilled octopus main before our lamb ribs and duck kibbeh appetizers. It was a small thing but it showed the level of care that Byblos puts into its food.

We were pretty full by the time we were done, but not so full that we weren’t tempted by the dessert menu and ordered a couple, which were pleasantly light and not overly sweet.

The Main Event

But the big event was the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. The symphony’s airing of films with a live orchestra providing the score occurs fairly regularly and the week before they did the same with Back To the Future. If you have never been to one of these screenings, you should definitely take advantage. It is an incredible way to elevate a night out at the movies into an event. And you don’t even need to spend a lot on the tickets because at Roy Thompson Hall, there really isn’t any bad seats.

We were pleasantly surprised by the amount of concert goers (and performers!) who showed up in full costume. Jen regret not wearing hers, but only slightly as the theatre was on the warm side and would have been hot under a wig and extra garb.

The movie is a classic for a reason, even though a few out-dated lines generated laughs from the audience. But overall, seeing the beautiful 35mm print on the big screen play out the twisted tail of Norman Bates generated all the right amount of tension and creep that one could ask for.

Thoughts of next year

So that was our first Halloween in the big city and it already has us thinking of next year. We found out about the Toronto Public Library Foundation's Hush, Hush party a little too late to attend this time, but a Halloween party in a library...how can we say no to that.