Posted on
June 1st, 2011
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2 Comments
Okay, to be fair, I had a hankering for packaged pancakes and fake maple syrup on Sunday, so in that respect I found the New York Cafe Restaurant Bar & Eatery satisfying. Aside from the fact that Sarah has nice memories of the place, however, I can’t dredge up enough reasons for coming back. The prices were reasonable, but I would attribute that more to Aunt Jemima’s influence than to smart cooking. The staff were friendly enough, and the decor cheerful, but if you ask me those things should be secondary to the food. Maybe it’s because the Cafe is trying to be everything at once which, as is aptly demonstrated, usually results in not being good at anything in particular, but for a Danforth staple you’d think they’d have gotten over that problem by now.
New York, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures
Posted on
June 1st, 2011
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2 Comments
Be cool, baby!
(by dipping your jibblies in ice water, for example; frigidity is bound to follow)
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures
Posted on
May 30th, 2011
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2 Comments
Sarah and me had a tasty sampler meal courtesy of the brand-spanking-new St.Louis location at 528 Yonge Street. Thing is, I’m not keen on pushing a new joint just ‘cuz they stuffed me ‘n my gal’s gobs but, in all honesty, if they can keep up the quality of the food we scarfed down last week, I’ll happily recommend the place.
The two headliners, wings and ribs, did well with me; the rack was tender and ensconced in a thick, smoky, ribby sauce (thumbs up), and the wings were crispy and properly spicy (thumbs up again). They weren’t breaded or really very saucy, two things that would bother me on wings of lesser quality, but it worked out well with these ones.
I would’ve liked to have washed our din-dins down with a pint of Rickard’s White but they weren’t quite stocked up ahead of the official opening today. They’re also working on the patio to get it down to legal dimensions, I’m told, so in the meantime the best you can do is sit in the big window facing Yonge. I could think of worse things.
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures
Posted on
May 30th, 2011
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Comments Off on We don’t really need cops, right? Just selectively? Right? Right??
Filed under: Dispatches, SarahD
Posted on
May 24th, 2011
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Comments Off on Chris Hume’s Worstest Buildings #2: It would’ve been ugly even in the 70s
I get the impression that Chris had made up his mind about this “Worst Buildings of Toronto” selection a long time ago. The sore-thumb slab that Humie affectionately refers to as “condominiums”, however, doesn’t jump to mind when I think of Bloor and Lansdowne. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I was out in that area; now I don’t care to remember.
“I don’t know what to say in its defense except that, I guess, that it provides housing for a large number of people”, is the only positive comment that the Chris offers. I would only add a voluminous barf sound of some sort to round off that review.
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Videos
Posted on
May 23rd, 2011
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Comments Off on Chris Hume’s Worstest Buildings #3: A Breakfast For Dogs
Chris doesn’t pull many punches with his third-worst Toronto building, Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management. Among the building’s most admirable traits he includes the facts that it’s on a busy downtown corner, it’s above a Canadian Tire, and has a parking garage. To me, this does not a good building make. In fact, this would barely qualify as a worthy parking lot.
However, Humie’s commentary describing the building as “a dog’s breakfast” is a little unfair, only insomuch as Ryerson is known for acquiring existing locations, usually individual rooms within buildings like Chris’ other favourite, the Toronto Life Square building. What I mean is that Ryerson’s not 100% responsible for the shape of the building, though their lack of follow-up aesthetic is something we can collectively laugh at. Or weep.
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Videos
Posted on
May 21st, 2011
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Comments Off on My interwebs is developed of tubes
Yep, you could probably drive a truck through Corus Quay. Occasionally the tubes are filled to capacity (it’s why they have a traffic light at the top).
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures
Posted on
May 20th, 2011
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Comments Off on Chris Hume’s Worstest Buildings #4: Down and Dirty
Contentious is a good word to describe the Toronto Life Square Building, a.k.a. 10 Dundas East. Typical lamentations include descriptions like “ugly”, “awful”, “disappointing”, and “my grandmother wouldn’t take a crap on this thing, and she wears diapers!”
The fact that Chris Hume chose this particular building for the number five slot in his “Worst Buildings of Toronto” list is kinda like saying, “I don’t like Hitler”, or “that Bin Laden guy was a jerk” — most people would tend to agree.
For me, the Toronto Life building isn’t the affront on North American culture that some people insist it is, but its thin, crowded interior with its centerpiece of narrow escalators is a total letdown after walking under that massive facade. I don’t know that this building would’ve made my own top-five-worst list, but Toronto could certainly do a whole lot better.
Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Videos
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