Barchef

     Saturday night out. After having dinner at a cute Italian place (Cinquecento Cafe) my friend and I wandered North towards home looking for a bar to have a drink or two before we called it a night.

     Getting to Queen street we headed East and ended up in the centre of the rock bar/club district. I love the vibe and the music blaring out of all the venues, people littering the sidewalk smoking, wearing dark clothes, chains, lace, and oh so fun items I have grown to adore. We stopped at Barchef and upon my friend's remark of "never been," I dragged her in. 

We entered the darkened room full of people who clearly didn't fit in with the rocker vibe of Queen West. I noticed people seemed to be slightly dressed up, as my eyes trailed along the lush fabrics, and modernized victorian decor. We maneuvered our way through the packed room; headed for the bar. Deep smells of herbs, oils, and fruit filled my senses, as loud fifties dance music pumped from all walls. 

     All the patrons have smiles, and I noticed a giant screen playing black and white Charlie Chaplin-esq films. This made me smile… as did the two seats that opened up at the bar directly in front of us. 

Sitting down, I wrestled a menu from my distracted neighbours and began to see the beauty of true mixology. House-infusions of molecular gastronomy, and flavour combinations of eccentricity, sent a tingle up my spine in excitement. 

It took us about ten minutes to get the attention of a bartender and we ordered our first round. Given, I understand it also takes ten minutes to make certain cocktails. 

     I decide on the "Four Seven Two" which is a deliciously smooth bodied bourbon mojoito with cola bitters. My friend ordered the "Strawberries and Lavender", which takes a little more time to prepare. Upon smelling it, the lavender was in the forefront with the strawberries to follow. When tasting, it was the complete opposite, strawberries filled your mouth with a remanence of lavender for a pleasant moment afterwards. This drink is geniusly created with strawberry infused gin, Lavender infused grand marnier, with fresh lime, elderberry bitters and a lavender sugar rim of delicious.

As we wait for, and enjoy our first round of drinks, I notice the "very" busy, good-looking bartenders. They all are wearing fifties-esq apparel, with Modernized vests, fedoras, and collars with ties. All three of them are tossing, and preparing quality cocktails as fast as they can. 

     I watched one make the "smoked manhattan". He used a blowtorch to ignite a dish of hickory vanilla wood chips. As the wood chips burned, he took a chunk of ice and hand-carved it to the perfect size. Placing that it a cocktail glass, he mixed the manhattan, which contains crown royal, cherry vanilla bitters, vanilla cognac, and hickory smoked syrup. The wood chips finish burning, and he placed them into a container that allows the martini to sit on a platform above the smoking wood chips. The dome (of the container) is closed and the smoke stays incased inside.  The drink is then served to guest further down the bar, who looks excited. Once most of the smoke is dissipated from the dome, a server removed the drink and gave it to a guest. Once this drink has been served, the bar is left with the ambrosial fragrance for a pleasant while. Although I was incredibly tempted to try this concoction, my wallet would not allow me to do so ($45 for the manhattan).

     The man to my left strikes up a conversation about the establishment, and seems completely fascinated. He is a visitor to the city, and the three of us have some decent conversation. He's not creepy or trying to pick us up, just genuinely having a good time.

      I got playful with the busy bartenders at one point or another, and they were friendly enough given how busy they were. Overall we had an absolutely great time. I highly recommend this place to absolutely anyone who has an interest in mixology as an art form. This cocktail menu is leaps and bounds away from a rum and coke, that will leave any liquor lover begging for more.

End of a relationship...

When you hit "that" end, when you can feel your days are numbered, it is a strange feeling. Do you find yourself constantly thinking, "this will be the last time we…."? Your current relationship dictates how you approach the situation. It can be a morose, or a reliving time when it comes down to the last days. 

You gather with friends, celebrating their departure from your life whether positive or negative. Regardless of their impact on your life, they've changed you. You've shared moments,  memories, and experiences. 

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive" ~Anais Nin

Only time will tell what your future relationship has in store. Whether it be long distance, painful memories of a happier time or just a lack of communication, one can hope always for the best possible outcome. To hope for a possibility for that person to continue to exist in your life, or just your thoughts.

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." ~Albert Schweitzer

Positive thoughts, get on the right track

It has been forever since I have written anything in this blog. I feel that is okay, as no one reads it anyways.

Recently my life has a done a crazy shift around. Once you get out of the burning building, through the flames, through the smoke and heat, out into the street and you heartbeat begins to return to normal, only then do you start to grasp the new situation you have been handed. At this point you can check and feel your wounds and decide how you are about to live for the next five minutes.

I am currently in this moment, although I have been stretching it out. Instead of being proactive with my time, I have been enjoying the lack of responsibilities.  

Hopefully now I can gain some determination and start working towards my dreams. Life is about climbing that staircase, one step at a time. I have gotten to a great flight of stairs, but I have sat down. I need to force myself to continue walking. Only I can make myself do so.

Dinner at Cinquecento Cafe

I had this past Saturday night off! That NEVER happens in the restaurant industry, so I decided to take full advantage of it. I met a friend and we headed to Queen West to check out the legacy that is Terroni. However, after arriving there and seeing the line out the door and down the block we decided that we were in need of some other delicious eats. 

I pulled out my trusty I-phone (Glitz) and checked on Urbanspoon. We ended up at Cinquecento Cafe (791 King St. West, Toronto). We were impressed finding a Italian place not too far away. 

Starting the evening off right, we ordered a decently priced bottle of Malbec, and decided to split the Antipasto plate to start. When it arrived we were pleasantly surprised. Although there was only a small amount of meat (some salami and Mortadella), the fresh grilled vegetables were so plentiful. There was shaved parmesan, grilled eggplant, olives, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, grilled zucchini, pickled eggplant, and even a mini caprese salad with fresh basil and all. Each of the vegetables had been brushed, grilled, and/or seasoned differently and the flavours were very impressive.

We followed this with Nona's recipe of stuffed shells. The three groundmeats were cooked and seasoned delightfully, and packed into larger sized pasta shells. Presentation was good and each were neatly decorated with a light amount of herbs. It was a perfect amount of food to finish off with dessert. 

We choose the tiramisu… probably not the best part of the meal. There was a lack of flavour to it, not too strong espresso taste or lady finger sponge, and it seemed drenched with whipcream, covered in caramel sauce. Overall a good experience. The owner was kicking around and made a point to check on us during our dinner. I plan to go back at some point, looking around the restaurant I noticed the pizza's looked huge with a great Italian thin crust. The other pastas looked packed with flavour and like quite generous portions.